#leslie o'sullivan

[thecosmiccircus]

Book Review: 'A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows' by Leslie O'Sullivan

Ella O’Dwyer has always been a little timid. New places, new people, new situations, large crowds, high places, anything that isn’t part of her tightly controlled little corner of academia scares her. But now her Grandmother has passed away and secrets are coming to light. Her grandmother leaves her a ring with the inscription “find me” and a plane ticket to Ireland. After a great deal of…

[fairrryprose]

[BOOK TOUR] WILD AZURE WAVES (ROCKIN' FAIRY TALES #3) // LESLIE O'SULLIVAN

I'm incredibly thrilled today to present WILD AZURE WAVES, the third book in the captivating swoonworthy magical romantasy ROCKIN' FAIRY TALES series of Shakespeare/Fairytale mashups by LESLIE O'SULLIVAN, hosted by ESCAPIST BOOK TOURS. I've previously talked about the first book, Pink Guitars and Falling Stars, and Wild Azure Waves is every bit as deliciously romantic, every word like a shot of magic into your veins. Such seamless blending of magic and whimsy and romance makes this series quite beloved in my heart, and I so look forward to every book. This third book, additionally, is laced through with an undercurrent of melancholy that makes it at once heart-wrenching as it is heart-mending. To check out other stops on the tour: https://escapistbookcompany.com/2023/01/30/the-heros-journey-wild-azure-waves-by-leslie-osullivan/

///

Book Blurb:

In book three of the Rockin’ Fairy Tales series of Fairy Tale/Shakespeare mashups, The Little Mermaid meets The Tempest in a fantasy romance where fated mates, second chances, and a supernatural love triangle determine the destiny of all.

Rai Cloud, a once promising singer, faces the loss of his record company and his career until one fateful night a mystery woman saves him from a stormy sea and sings him back to life. The voice of his elusive rescuer must be the missing piece to reignite his musical gifts. If only he could find her!  

Before Tani Emerson’s spirit can cross over to the afterlife, the Sea Witch, Sulaa Kylock, intercedes to offer Tani a bargain to earn a way back to the living and reunite with her first true love, Rai Cloud.     

Tani must now succeed in challenges set forth by the Sea Witch. In spirit form, she’s charged with convincing Rai she’s not merely an illusion and they will be granted a second chance at love. 

Harder still is the need to sabotage the steamy romance brewing between Rai and Azure Tempesta, a sweet and sexy singer from the popular musical act, The Mermaids, who inspires Rai to make the music he thought only his mystery savior could awaken.      

See Also: 

(This is our attempt at a bit of fun. We ask our authors to come up with a few short, clever, possibly pop culture laden, descriptions of their books just to give a little taste of what’s to come for readers.)

Mermaids Are Real • Splash and Sing • Tattoos Never Lie

///

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Azure-Waves-Rockin-Fairy-Tales-ebook/dp/B0BS74YYFH/

///

My review:

4/5 stars

At the heart of this book is a tale of heart's fate and destiny's message, of redemptive love and soul-twines and music and passion, greed and parental control and what it means to be alive and to belong. All our characters here are dealing with grief in one way or another -- Rai Cloud, our island rock musician, sweet and sensitive, grappling in the aftermath of losing his whole family and first love to a tragic fire, pining after lost and imagined and newfound loves, while facing a decision as to what to do with Cloudpath Music, the record label lovingly started by his parents, to honor their legacies and wishes; Tani, half-alive and longing to return to form to be with her first love Rai, so much so that she strikes a deal with a manipulative sea witch; Azure Tempesta, mermaid and daughter of said sea witch and part of the sister musical ensemble The Mermaids, the name so apt in more ways than one, bound by her mother's expectations to a life confined underwater when she wants to roam both land and sea -- and manipulations and magical battles ensue.

Melancholy and magic are intricate twins in this tales, woven delicately and with gorgeous evocative prose as always, set in a beguiling island landscape of moon deities and sea songs and fate. Sweet, sexy, and stirring all at once. Oh, and as you can see in the artwork above, we have a cute feisty little fox Kitae, Rai's companion, who is so fun and adorable!

As a reimagining of The Little Mermaid, I read it as Azure, being the titular mermaid of course, and Tani both representing different aspects of the fairytale. Azure, the mermaid who falls for and rescues the washed-up Rai (singer, dreamer, wanderer, lover) on the shore; giving up her singing voice; longing to belong to both land and sea. Tani, half-alive and unseen, desperately longing for human form, to pursue her prince. Both of them are The Little Mermaid, and you can't help but feel for both of them and the love that drives them, the quest for humanity.

The only things I would've appreciated being added to the tale is more exploration of Tani and Rai's relationship before her death, to cement the desperation that drives Tani to the deal with Sulaa the sea witch to get back to Rai, and more of Azure and her sisters, whom I feel have untapped potential for more exploration of their characters and struggles and their bond.

///

Book Information:

Wild Azure Waves by Leslie O’SullivanSeries: Rockin’ Fairy Tales #3 Genre: Romantasy Intended Age Group: Adult Pages: 275Published: February 9, 2023 Publisher: City Owl Press, Mystic Owl imprint

///

Content/Trigger Warnings:

Shown on Page (things clearly told to the reader): 

Supernatural captivity

Fairy tale violence

///

Author Bio & Information:

Leslie O’Sullivan is the author of Rockin' Fairy Tales, an adult romance series of Shakespeare/fairy tale mash ups set against the backdrop of a fictional Hollywood music scene. Coming in September 2022 is her Behind the Scenes contemporary romance series that peeks into the off-camera secrets of a wildly popular television drama. She’s a UCLA Bruin with a BA and MFA from their Department of Theater where she also taught for years on the design faculty. Her tenure in the world of television was as the assistant art director on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” Leslie loves to indulge her fangirl side at cons.

Linktre: https://linktr.ee/LeslieOSullivanWrites

Website: https://www.leslieosullivanwrites.com

Newsletter Sign Up: https://www.leslieosullivanwrites.com/about-5

FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/leslieosullivanwrites/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslieosullivanwrites/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeslieSulliRose

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@leslieosullivanwrites

FB Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/acompanyofreaders

[elloras]

Ted Lasso: Man City

[lunar-years]

*possibly these are not all actually underrated but I barely see discussion about them So. In my humble opinion, etc.

[fanficfanattic]

Archive Deep Dive continues with a selection from Living Proof. This was one of the first fics I read when I went out looking for Jamie and Phoebe friendship/mischief.

They both have shitty fathers, which is a terrible club to be in but at least they aren’t alone?

[thegreatimpersonator]

five comfort characters & five tags! tysmm for tagging me @loumands <3

Pat from Enid Blyton's The O'Sullivan Twins

Malcolm Bright from Prodigal Son (he is a comfort character im not accepting any other opinions)

Aza Holmes from Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec!

this guy

@bettyrightnow @littleoblivions @singlethread @barbielifeinthematrix @withyouagain <333

[ao3feed-tedlasso]

A Goal Beyond the Pitch

https://ift.tt/3FTf0ct by BuckOPhobia When James Tartt Sr. arrives at Wembleys changing room after the man city game, he’s accompanied by a young girl who seems out of place. Unbeknownst to Jamie Tartt, this girl is his younger sister, molly, whom his alcoholic estranged father has kept secret for the three year she has been alive. The revelation comes as a shock to Jamie, especially when James Sr.'s chaotic entrance ends with his abrupt removal from the scene due to his troublesome behaviour, leaving molly behind. Suddenly thrust into the role of mollys legal guardian, Jamie finds himself juggling his high-pressure football career with the responsibility of raising an infant he barely knows. As Jamie struggles to adapt to this unexpected new role, he begins to uncover the challenges and joys of sibling life. From navigating mollys emotional needs and integrating her into his world, to dealing with his own unresolved feelings about their estranged father, Jamie faces a steep learning curve. In this touching exploration of family, responsibility, and redemption, Jamie Tartt discovers that love and connection can turn the most unexpected situations into the most rewarding ones. Words: 2762, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Ted Lasso (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M, Gen Characters: Ted Lasso, Coach Beard (Ted Lasso), Jamie Tartt, Original Female Character(s), Georgie | Jamie Tartt's Mother, Dani Rojas (Ted Lasso), Rebecca Welton, Roy Kent, Keeley Jones, Dr. O'Sullivan | Roy Kent's Sister, Phoebe (Ted Lasso), Kenneth the Bus Driver (Ted Lasso), Will Kitman, Nathan Shelley, Sam Obisanya, Isaac McAdoo, Colin Hughes, Leslie Higgins, AFC Richmond Players (Ted Lasso), Trent Crimm, Rupert Mannion, Zava (Ted Lasso), Mae (Ted Lasso), Moe Bumbercatch, Richard Montlaur, Simon (Ted Lasso), Thierry Zoreaux, Julie Higgins (Ted Lasso) Relationships: Jamie Tartt & Original Female Character(s), Jamie Tartt & Everyone, Keeley Jones/Roy Kent, Julie Higgins/Leslie Higgins, Keeley Jones & Jamie Tartt, Ted Lasso & Jamie Tartt, Roy Kent & Phoebe, Roy Kent & Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Bad Parent James Tartt Sr., Warning: James Tartt Sr., Nathan Shelley Bashing, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety, Jamie Tartt Needs a Hug, Jamie Tartt Gets a Hug, Fights, Blood and Injury, Jamie Tartt is Good With Kids, Supportive Roy Kent, Supportive Keeley Jones, Protective Jamie Tartt, Ted Lasso Acting as Jamie Tartt's Parental Figure, Roy Kent & Jamie Tartt Friendship, Protective Keeley Jones source https://archiveofourown.org/works/57774502 July 30, 2024 at 09:50AM

[trustseal]

Waterloo big clock

She did it as a favor for her husband, director John Farrow. This was Maureen O'Sullivan's first film in five years, since Tarzan's New York Adventure, after which she had concentrated on raising her family. Charles Laughton was cast as the villain. Leslie Fenton was announced as director but he was held up on Saigon so John Farrow took over. Jonathan Latimer was assigned to write the script and Ray Milland to star. ) The purchase price was a reported $45,000. (Fearing's earlier novel The Hospital (1939) had been a best seller. Paramount bought the rights to the novel before publication. Morgan's screen name later would become "Henry 'Harry' Morgan" and eventually Harry Morgan, to avoid confusion with the popular humorist of the same name. Noel Neill as Elevator Operator (uncredited).Lloyd Corrigan as Colonel Jefferson Randolph aka McKinley.Douglas Spencer as Bert Finch, a reporter.Luis Van Rooten as Edwin Orlin, a reporter.Janoth falls down the elevator shaft to his death. Janoth shoots Hagen and tries to escape in an elevator, but the car is stuck floors below (jammed there by Stroud earlier while evading the security men). Enraged, Hagen turns on Janoth and reveals that Janoth killed York and that he helped with the coverup. Hagen implores Janoth to clear him, but Janoth tells him only that he will provide him with the best possible legal defense. He confronts Janoth and Hagen and presents evidence that appears to point to Hagen as the killer. Stroud evades the dragnet by various maneuvers, finally hiding in the clock. Building security men sweep the building to find the wanted man. All exits from the building are sealed, and the building's occupants must leave by the main door, with the witnesses watching for the mystery man. Stroud slips away before the witness identifies him to the investigators, who now know that the mystery man is in the building but do not know his identity. Stroud tries to avoid the witnesses, but one of them sees and recognizes him as the mystery man. Asked to paint a portrait of the mystery man, she produces a modernist abstract of blobs and swirls. One is eccentric artist Louise Patterson, who created the painting that Stroud purchased. The witnesses are brought to the Janoth Building. He must also secretly conduct his own investigation to prove Janoth's guilt.Įventually York is identified by the Crimeways team and witnesses are found who saw her on the town with the mystery man. He reluctantly agrees to return to his job and lead the manhunt, to Georgette's disappointment.ĭuring the manhunt, Stroud must appear to lead the investigation diligently while also preventing the investigation from identifying him as the culprit. He discloses enough details for Stroud to know that the mystery man is Stroud himself. Janoth calls to rehire him in order to lead the effort to find the mystery man (without any mention of York). Stroud has since caught up with his wife and son in West Virginia and tells her that he has been fired, but leaves out his adventures with York. Janoth decides to use the resources of Crimeways to find the man instead of calling the police. However, Hagen convinces him that they can frame the man whom Janoth saw leaving York's apartment for the crime. Janoth goes to his assistant Hagen and tells him what happened, intending to surrender to the police and confess. Janoth assumes that York is cheating on him, leading to a quarrel in which he strikes York with the sundial, killing her. Janoth sees someone leaving but does not recognize Stroud in the dark. Stroud and York go to her apartment, but York sees Janoth arriving and Stroud leaves. Stroud spends the evening drinking with York, and he buys a painting and a sundial. When Stroud loses track of time and misses the train for West Virginia, Georgette angrily leaves without him. Stroud goes to a bar to drink and is distracted by the attentions of Janoth's glamorous mistress Pauline York, who proposes a blackmail plan against Janoth. His tyrannical boss Earl Janoth wants him to stay to pursue a missing-person story that Stroud has just cracked, but Stroud refuses and Janoth fires him. Thirty-six hours earlier, Stroud is eager to embark on a long-postponed honeymoon in Wheeling, West Virginia with his wife Georgette and son. The clock dominates the lobby of the Janoth Publications building in New York City, where Stroud works. George Stroud, editor-in-chief of Crimeways magazine, hides from building security inside the "big clock," which is the largest and most sophisticated clock ever built.

[scenesandscreens]

Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)

Director - Cooper Raiff, Cinematography - Cristina Dunlap

"I feel like there are things that you just, like, don't say to me. And I can't tell whether you're, like, holding back a desire to be close or a desire to be distant."

[letterboxd-loggd]

Carry On Teacher (1959) Gerald Thomas

November 27th 2021

[thisdayinwwi]

Nov 2 1917 OTD Photographer Frank Hurley takes this photo, AWM E01223, of Members of the 1st Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, 1st Australian Division listening to one of their comrades tell a story around a lamp in a dugout billet at Ypres. Hurley titles photo "How I did it"

IWM E(AUS) 1223 - List the date as Nov 2 1917 AWM E01223 - Lists the date as Oct 28 1917

Daily Mail says it was colourized by Dr Benjamin Thomas for the Juan Mahony book 'The Digger's View. WWI in Colour'

Left to right, back, standing: 

1118 Private (Pte) Douglas Kyle MM (partially obscured by Gowrie) Pte Stanley Gowrie Corporal (Cpl) Leslie M. Williams MM (with moustache) Cpl Fox; Lance Corporal Reginald J. Perry Pte Sid Wormald Cpl Harry Brown (with moustache)

Sitting:

Pte S. O'Sullivan (partially obscured by Gowrie) Pte William W. Eastwell (or P. Clifford) Pte J. Jackson Pte R. Bennett Cpl S. Turner MM (all facing camera)

Foreground

2353 Pte Sid Hoptroff Pte W. McDougall Pte William Day

[fairrryprose]

[BOOK TOUR] PINK GUITARS AND FALLING STARS // LESLIE O'SULLIVAN (*w/ INTNL GIVEAWAY*)

Today, I'm thrilled to be hosting a spot on the book tour for PINK GUITARS AND FALLING STARS, the first book in fantasy romance series Rockin' Fairy Tales, by LESLIE O'SULLIVAN, hosted by ESCAPIST BOOK TOURS.

##

About the book:

Pink Guitars and Falling Stars by Leslie O’Sullivan

Series: Rockin’ Fairy Tales #1

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Intended Age Group: Adult

Pages: 300

Published: January 6, 2022

Publisher: City Owl Press, Mystic Owl Imprint

##

Book Blurb:

Zeli’s signature pop diva sound and image are nothing short of magical—literally. Her fame comes with hidden costs, a curse that could ruin her voice forever.

Aspiring indie musician, Justin MacKenzie, is determined to kick it to the top of the Rampion Records’ Summer Number One professional vs. amateur singing competition. 

The favorite to beat in the annual televised contest is none other than the label’s smoking hot superstar, Zeli, whose crazy extensions flow the length of a football field. Those ridiculous extensions, coupled with her bubblegum brand of pop are an affront to everything Justin loves about music, until a stolen kiss blazes into a romantic encounter.

Once inside Zeli’s world, Justin discovers things are not as they seem. In their quest to allow the real Zeli to step into the spotlight, the pair must confront the mysterious force behind the dazzle of Rampion’s success. If these star-crossed lovers can’t rally their own magic to defeat the darkness, they will lose everything—including each other.

See Also: 

Rockstars Falling from the Sky • Bubblegum Rock Does Rock • Did You Think to Bring a Ladder?

##

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Guitars-Falling-Stars-Rockin-Fairy-ebook/dp/B09N6KRQ15/

Publisher Direct: https://cityowlpress.com/product/pink-guitars/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59760181-pink-guitars-and-falling-stars

##

My review:

5/5 stars

A thoroughly original and inventive romantic fantasy with a zany-dreamy writing style and a fresh spin on the Rapunzel fairytale. Set against the backdrop of a high-stakes music competition, with bubblegum pink pop princess diva Zeli entrapped and enthralling, indie rock musician and B.A.S.E jumper Justin -- Zeli's lucky star -- seeks to not only win the music competition that will catapult him to stardom, but also Zeli's heart and freedom. This book reads like glitter and stardust, like a song of the heart set free and realising every dream. It's unafraid to take liberties with its fairytale inspiration, and weaves fairytale and reality so seamlessly together, poetic and fever dream-ish all at once, with captivating characters and a steamy swoony romance, full of yearning and tenderness too. So devastatingly enjoyable, this is one dream of a start to a fascinating, sexy-sassy-funny, original series of Hollywood fairytale retellings.

Some quotes I loved:

"Through closed lids, a single teardrop flows to the tip of her rounded nub of a nose. Does she cry water or rosy pearls? If I captured that tear with the tip of my tongue, would it taste like cotton candy?"

"I'm star-bound, blasting into the night twice as high as the rest of the troupe. The world is black except for a waxing sliver of moon, pink spotlights on a bubblegum diva, and seven yellow stars falling from a Zeli sky."

"Even though I know it's best to shed soft feelings for Zeli, the ribbons strangle me."

"Oh that I were breath drifting across those dear lips so that I might touch them again."

"Our duet unzips my soul and gives Zeli an all-access pass to places inside me marked off limits, my vulnerability, my heart."

##

Author Bio & Information:

Leslie O’Sullivan is the author of Rockin' Fairy Tales, an adult romance series of Shakespeare/fairy tale mash ups set against the backdrop of a fictional Hollywood music scene. Coming in September 2022 is her Behind the Scenes contemporary romance series that peeks into the off-camera secrets of a wildly popular television drama. She’s a UCLA Bruin with a BA and MFA from their Department of Theater where she also taught for years on the design faculty. Her tenure in the world of television was as the assistant art director on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” Leslie loves to indulge her fangirl side at cons.

Find her at:

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/LeslieOSullivanWrites

Website: https://www.leslieosullivanwrites.com

Newsletter Sign Up: https://www.leslieosullivanwrites.com/about-5

FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/leslieosullivanwrites/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslieosullivanwrites/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeslieSulliRose

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@leslieosullivanwrites

FB Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/acompanyofreaders

##

**GIVEAWAY**

Prize: A Signed Paperback Copy of Pink Guitars and Falling Stars & Swag Pack!

Ends: October 2, 2022 at 11:59pm EST

Rafflecopter link:

##

To check out other stops on the tour:

[elloras]

Ted Lasso: Goodbye Earl

[gatheringbones]

Making Her (In)Visible: Cultural Representations of Lesbianism and the Lesbian Body in the 1990's, by Ann M. Ciasullo:

["THE INVISIBLE BUTCH, OR THE UNREPRESENTABLE BODY

I go back, now, to the question that's been a silent but present one throughout most of this article. On the cultural landscape of lesbianism, in the realm of representation, where is the butch? Given the above evidence, it's clear she remains on the margins, rarely seen. Why? Perhaps most obviously because like the butch, unlike the femme, is not consumable; her relative invisibility on the cultural landscape has to do with her perceived (un)attractiveness. Sue O'Sullivan points out that the butch is "the caricature lesbian whipping girl, the one who serves as the repository of mainstream hatred and fear of feminism's 'excesses'.... She is 'mannish' but not at all stylish and at the same time she is definitely a woman. Therefore she has to be ugly— in other words butch.” Or, as Sherrie Inness, nicely encapsulating this point, maintains: "Butches fail to fulfill heterosexual ideas about what is attractive and sexually appealing in women." In other words, the butch, a woman marked more by conventional masculine characteristics than feminine ones, is considered "ugly." And given the configurations of our mainstream cultural landscape, there is little room for those deemed unattractive. In fact, such supposed unattractiveness is an affront to an image-based culture; such as O'Sullivan contends, "the so-called loony, ugly (read not stereotypically feminine) lesbian, increasingly designated as an arbiter of political correctness, remains a figure for derision and hatred.”

But perhaps such "derision and hatred" towards the butch, and her invisibility on the mainstream cultural landscape, is not so simply explained. Another characteristic attributed to the butch that conceivably marks her as unrepresentable is her socioeconomic status. In Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, Lillian Faderman points out that from the 1920s through the 1960s, the butch-femme pair was usually associated with the working class. Indeed, one need only read Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues to get an idea of the type of blue-collar jobs the "stone butches" of the 1950s and 1960s held, working primarily on docks and in factories. I would assert that this connection between the butch and her working-class status further contributes to her mainstream undesirability. Look for a moment at the following description of butch-femme relations, as described in a 1993 article in New York magazine:

"It was very different when I came out in Texas," says Jean Sidebottom, the editor and publisher of Sappho's Isle, the tri-state lesbian newspaper. "That bulldyke world was very much the scene I first came out into. The first lesbian bar I ever walked into, in Houston, was owned by a woman called Papa Bear. She was mildly obese, with short-cropped, masculine, stone-butch hair. She smoked cigarettes and wore T-shirts and blue-jeans— she had a key chain on her belt loop and a knife in her boot. Her girlfriend was a stripper. There was a certain sleaziness associated with it that I somehow could never accept. It gave you a feeling of being less than a real person." (Emphasis mine)

The lesbian Sidebottom describes is a butch coded so with her "short-cropped, masculine, stone-butch hair" and her clothes— jeans, boots, T-shirt. There are no markers of "normality" on Papa Bear; she is not only masculine, she is also masculine and undesirable ("mildly obese"). On James Dean, T-shirts, blue jeans, and the accessories might be sexy. On Papa Bear, these attributes contribute to a caricature of the bull dyke and her hypermasculinity, a caricature that seems to be presented as simultaneously humorous and loathsome. Couple this with the fact that the butch's girlfriend is a stripper, and the entire image— and, by extension, the entire body of the butch— is deemed sleazy. Finally, the last line of the quote— "it gave you a feeling of being less than a real person"— leaves me wondering: what is "it"? What specifically leaves Sidebottom feeling so unlike a "real person"? One reading, of course, might be that she felt uncomfortable trying to fit into butch-femme codes of the 1950s and 1960s. However, given the description that precedes this statement I want to point out another reading: the connection between "being less than a real person" and being a butch (or, more specifically here, a bull dyke.) For even if it was the whole scene that made Sidebottom uncomfortable, in this passage it is Papa Bear who represents the source of not only discomfort, but also "sleaziness." The butch here is presented as working class, masculine, and above all, distasteful. Given these characteristics, this lesbian, clearly, is not palatable in any way. And the ways in which class marks the butch— considerably different from the ways class marks the upwardly mobile femmes or feminine lesbians discussed earlier— only contributes to her unrepresentability."]

[silent-era-of-cinema]

Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel; July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras.

The daughter of Augusta Fredericka Appel (1875–1940) and Carl Appel (1873–1935), Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel on July 25, 1905 in Union Hill, New Jersey (now part of Union City), into a middle-class family of German immigrants who relocated to New York City. She had an older sister, Pauline ("Peggy"), who had been born in Hamburg, Germany in 1900.

Searching for a hobby for their gregarious young daughter, the Appels enrolled Lila in Gus Edwards' kiddie review shows where she was given the nickname of "Cuddles"; a name that she would be known by for the rest of her acting career. Her stagework became so popular with the public that her parents had her educated with private tutors. Edwards would become Lee's long-term manager.

Lillian Edwards, wife of Gus Edwards, was Lee's guardian. When Lee was 15 years old, she went to court seeking an injunction to prevent Mrs. Edwards "from collecting any money for Lila's services." Mrs. Edwards countered that she had spent 10 years helping to shape Lee's career and had invested money in her.

Lee performed in vaudeville for eight years.

In 1918, she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures. Her first feature The Cruise of the Make-Believes garnered the seventeen-year-old starlet much public acclaim and Lasky quickly sent Lee on an arduous publicity campaign. Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and Rudolph Valentino. Lee bore more than a slight resemblance to Ann Little, a former Paramount star and frequent Reid co-star who was leaving the film business and at this stage in her career an even stronger resemblance to Marguerite Clark.

In 1922 Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand, opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi; Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year. Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920s and made scores of critically praised and widely watched films.

As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, Lee's popularity began to wane and Lee positioned herself for the transition to talkies. She is one of the few leading ladies of the silent screen whose popularity did not nosedive with the coming of sound. She went back to working with the major studios and appeared, most notably, in The Unholy Three, in 1930, opposite Lon Chaney Sr. in his only talkie. However, a series of bad career choices and bouts of recurring tuberculosis and alcoholism hindered further projects and Lee was relegated to taking parts in mostly grade B-movies.

Lee was married and divorced three times. Her first husband was actor James Kirkwood, Sr., whom she married on July 26, 1923. They had met on the set of Ebb Tide in 1922. Kirkwood filed for divorce in May 1930 on grounds of her desertion; the divorce was finalized in August 1931. Lee and Kirkwood had a son in 1924, James Kirkwood, Jr., whose custody was granted to his father; he became a highly regarded playwright and screenwriter whose works include A Chorus Line and P.S. Your Cat Is Dead. Kirkwood Jr. was primarily raised by Lee's family in Elyria, Ohio.

In her autobiography, Lee revealed she lost her virginity to Kirkwood before they were married and she fell pregnant as a result. Kirkwood ultimately arranged an abortion for her, and their relationship continued after this only because Kirkwood threatened to tell Lee's mother of their premarital relations.

In June 1928, Lee began an affair with John Farrow while Kirkwood was in London.[8] Lee wrote Kirkwood stating she wanted a divorce, and in late September of that year, the two formally separated. Lee decided not to fight for custody of their son because Kirkwood threatened to kill Farrow, Lee, their son, and himself. After their divorce, Lee traveled to Arizona and stayed in a sanitarium. Lee also became engaged to John Farrow, but they separated in 1933 after Lee discovered he was being unfaithful to her. He would go on to marry Maureen O'Sullivan in 1936.

At the beginning of her career, Lee dated Charlie Chaplin.

Her second husband was broker Jack R. Peine, who she married on December 8, 1934. By July 2, 1935, the two had divorced. Lee claimed Peine was a drunk, a gambler, and a cheater. Shortly into their marriage, with Lila looking for a house for the two, Peine took off to Mexico and didn't return for a month.

In 1935, Lee began a relationship with car salesman Reid Russell. In 1936, Lee was living in California with her son, novelist Gouverneur Morris, and his wife Ruth. Lee became engaged to Russell and planned to marry him once he obtained a divorce. On September 25, 1936, Russell's dead body was discovered outside on the hammock by Kirkwood Jr. He had been shot in the head with a .32 caliber one or two days prior. The bullet had penetrated Russell's head and passed through the other side, but the bullet and empty shell were never located. The gun found in his hand was one he kept in his bureau drawer at home.

Her third husband was broker John E. Murphy. According to author Sean Egan in the James Kirkwood biography Ponies & Rainbows (2011), Murphy's will left Lee at the financial mercy of his second wife, who consequently became the manipulative character Aunt Claire in P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, written by Lee's son, James Kirkwood, Jr.

Following the discovery of Russell's body, his death was investigated and treated as a suicide, and Mr. and Mrs. Morris both said that he was suicidal and had made suicidal remarks after losing his job. Lee would later confirm he had threatened suicide on multiple occasions and that he talked about it incessantly.

On November 11, the Los Angeles Times reported that a woman had made a telephone threat towards Russell's mom, Victoria, urging her to stop pushing the investigation into her son's death. The case had recently been reopened after Victoria had a conference with the investigators. Ruth told Lila that Reid had left a suicide note, but that she wasn't going to tell anyone about it. Lee went to the District Attorney's office to say that there was no suicide note, however Morris backtracked and said that there was. Lee herself never read the note, but Morris read it to her, and then burned it in an ashtray. Later in life, James Kirkwood Jr. would confide to a friend, William Russo, that there had been three suicide notes - one in Ruth Morris' jewel box, and two within a newel post on the handrail of a set of stairs in the house. The two other notes were found after the case was closed.

Gouverneur Morris, his wife Ruth, and Lila Lee were questioned by authorities about the destruction of the suicide note. Mrs. Morris claimed she found the suicide note in a box on her dresser drawer two or three days after Russell's body was discovered. Because his death had already been declared a suicide, Morris decided to burn it. Gouverneur Morris added that neither he nor his wife heard the report of a gunshot neighbors recalled coming from the Morris home at about 9 P.M. on September 24, and that there had been no argument prior to Russell's death.

On November 17, the Los Angeles Times reported that Russell's body may be exhumed depending on the report of a ballistic expert who was trying to determine if the .32 caliber revolver found in his hand had been fired recently. The following day, it was reported that Russell's body was to be exhumed as it could not be determined if the .32 caliber had been fired recently because the gun was in such rusty condition. During this time, investigators began to doubt the suicide hypothesis, but still were not considering murder, but rather if his death had occurred somewhere else other than outside on the hammock.

That same day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Russell's mother Victoria claimed that four days before Russell's body was found, a woman had telephoned repeatedly asking for Russell and demanding to know where he was. Investigators were beginning to consider that Russell's death could have been a "love slaying". However, on November 19, his ex-wife told the Los Angeles Times that she believed Russell had killed himself. An entirely new theory was also introduced that day by The Examiner, who ran a story headed, "Racketeering Ring Linked to Russell Case". The source for the information was Detective Lieutenant Harry Leslie Hansen of the Georgia Street Divison, who was an old friend of Russell. The Los Angeles Times carried the story the next day, claiming that Hansen had reported to the District Attorney's office that Russell had told him that he was going to quit his automobile salesman's job to smuggle arms and ammunition to a foreign country. Russell revealed these plans to Hansen when the two had gone on a weekend party five days before his death. The same paper reported that Russell's exhumed body had led a county autopsy to declare that the results of the first autopsy still stood: the wound on Russell's temple was powder-marked and seared, indicating a self-inflicted wound, and that the wound was too small to have been made by either .45 or .38 caliber weapons and too big to have resulted from the firing of a .22, thus indicating that the .32 found in Russell's hand was indeed the cause of death.

In the 1930s she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and briefly stayed at a sanitarium in Prescott, Arizona in 1933. She then moved to Saranac Lake, New York for treatment at the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. Lee made several uneventful appearances in stage plays in the 1940s, and starred in early television soap operas in the 1950s.

In 1973 Lee died of a stroke at Saranac Lake. She is buried at Brookdale Cemetery in Elyria, Ohio.

For her contribution as an actress in motion pictures, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1716 Vine Street. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.

[rockislandadultreads]

Popular Psychology titles available now on the Axis 360 app!

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

4.04/5

Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers -- and why they often go wrong. How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn't true? While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout." Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

4.38/5

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind by Scott Stossel

3.84/5

A riveting, revelatory, and moving account of the author’s struggles with anxiety, and of the history of efforts by scientists, philosophers, and writers to understand the condition

As recently as thirty-five years ago, anxiety did not exist as a diagnostic category. Today, it is the most common form of officially classified mental illness. Scott Stossel gracefully guides us across the terrain of an affliction that is pervasive yet too often misunderstood.

Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Stossel presents an astonishing history, at once intimate and authoritative, of the efforts to understand the condition from medical, cultural, philosophical, and experiential perspectives. He ranges from the earliest medical reports of Galen and Hippocrates, through later observations by Robert Burton and Søren Kierkegaard, to the investigations by great nineteenth-century scientists, such as Charles Darwin, William James, and Sigmund Freud, as they began to explore its sources and causes, to the latest research by neuroscientists and geneticists. Stossel reports on famous individuals who struggled with anxiety, as well as on the afflicted generations of his own family. His portrait of anxiety reveals not only the emotion’s myriad manifestations and the anguish anxiety produces but also the countless psychotherapies, medications, and other (often outlandish) treatments that have been developed to counteract it. Stossel vividly depicts anxiety’s human toll—its crippling impact, its devastating power to paralyze—while at the same time exploring how those who suffer from it find ways to manage and control it. My Age of Anxiety is learned and empathetic, humorous and inspirational, offering the reader great insight into the biological, cultural, and environmental factors that contribute to the affliction.

The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison

3.99/5

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Empathy Exams, an exploration of addiction, and the stories we tell about it, that reinvents the traditional recovery memoir.

With its deeply personal and seamless blend of memoir, cultural history, literary criticism, and journalistic reportage, The Recovering turns our understanding of the traditional addiction narrative on its head, demonstrating that the story of recovery can be every bit as electrifying as the train wreck itself. Leslie Jamison deftly excavates the stories we tell about addiction--both her own and others'--and examines what we want these stories to do, and what happens when they fail us.

All the while, she offers a fascinating look at the larger history of the recovery movement, and at the literary and artistic geniuses whose lives and works were shaped by alcoholism and substance dependence, including John Berryman, Jean Rhys, Raymond Carver, Billie Holiday, David Foster Wallace, and Denis Johnson, as well as brilliant figures lost to obscurity but newly illuminated here.

For the power of her striking language and the sharpness of her piercing observations, Jamison has been compared to such iconic writers as Joan Didion and Susan Sontag. Yet her utterly singular voice also offers something new. With enormous empathy and wisdom, Jamison has given us nothing less than the story of addiction and recovery in America writ large, a definitive and revelatory account that will resonate for years to come.

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison

3.92/5

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.

After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a “real” job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be “normal” and do what he simply couldn’t: communicate. It wasn’t worth the paycheck.

It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world.

Look Me in the Eye is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Asperger’s at a time when the diagnosis simply didn’t exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes you inside the head of a boy whom teachers and other adults regarded as “defective,” who could not avail himself of KISS’s endless supply of groupies, and who still has a peculiar aversion to using people’s given names (he calls his wife “Unit Two”). He also provides a fascinating reverse angle on the younger brother he left at the mercy of their nutty parents—the boy who would later change his name to Augusten Burroughs and write the bestselling memoir Running with Scissors.

Ultimately, this is the story of Robison’s journey from his world into ours, and his new life as a husband, father, and successful small business owner—repairing his beloved high-end automobiles. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien, yet always deeply human.

Is It All in Your Head?: True Stories of Imaginary Illness by Suzanne O'Sullivan

4.05/5 stars

A neurologist's insightful and compassionate look into the misunderstood world of psychosomatic disorders, told through individual case histories