As a scribbler for hire I have no say in what headlines appear above my writing. Sometimes I’ve disliked what magazine and newspaper editors chose as titles, but the one set above my Oregonian review of Karen Abbott’s American Rose – “Long before Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Gypsy Rose Lee” – fits just fine. Like later performers and colorful personalities, the vaudevillian turned strip teaser known as Gypsy Rose Lee sought attention and made herself into a spectacle to secure it. Her greatest claim to fame is having claimed fame.
The apt headline appears above the print version of the piece (January 30, 2011, section O, p. 7); the online counterpart ended up with a less descriptive title.
