Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I would give this memoir more than five stars if I could! I loved it! By the end, I felt like I knew Cassandra Peterson thoroughly. She shares the good and the bad in her life, the ups and the downs, without rose-colored glasses, and all in a voice authentically and recognizably her own. The book is full of fascinating tidbits I didn’t know, like the fact that Elvira was originally going to do the voiceover on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” not Vincent Price. And speaking of Vincent Price, apparently he taught Peterson how to cook fish in her dishwasher! There’s a ton of name-dropping in these pages, famous and soon-to-be-famous people she rubbed elbows with or had romantic trysts with, but I’m okay with that. I’m here for the juicy gossip (of which there is plenty, believe me). YOURS CRUELLY, ELVIRA is one of the most enjoyable memoirs I’ve read. I really can’t stress enough how much I loved it. Cassandra Peterson, as much as her creation Elvira, is a living legend.
