Wow! What a stage mother! Gypsy Rose Lee's mother was something else. She gave Lee's original name to her sister when she was born. She was a master at promoting her acts and wheedling to get her way. Karen Abbott's biography, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare - The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, is full of anecdotes about Gypsy and her wild life and career. This biography captures the time in American history when vaudeville faded and burlesque was in vogue.

Gypsy Rose Lee invented and reinvented her past and persona throughout her career. Abbott's biography is full of Lee's adventures. Here are some highlights...

• The love of her life was Mike Todd (who eventually married Elizabeth Taylor).
• She had a son with Otto Preminger. (Her son Eric has an interesting website with a lot of photos of his mother.)
• She wrote several books, including two mystery novels.
• She hosted a talk show.
• She did burlesque, movies, Broadway, and a record.
• She appeared on "Hollywood Squares."

Lee and her sister June had interesting careers, and they came into contact with lots of characters in New York and Hollywood from the 1930s until Lee's death in 1970.