Cass Elliot
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"Mama" Cass Elliot, Baroness von Wiedenman (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a noted American singer who performed with The Mamas & The Papas. She then went onto a successful solo career, releasing nine albums. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she spent most of her childhood both in Baltimore and Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Mama Cass
Elliot, known for her sense of humor and optimism, was considered by some to be the most charismatic member of The Mamas & The Papas; her warm, distinctive voice was a large factor in their success. She is best remembered for her vocals on the group's Billboard hits California Dreamin', Monday Monday, and Words of Love, as well as her first hit as an independent act, Dream a Little Dream of Me.Cass was in love with fellow Mamas & Papas band member Denny Doherty. His affair with another married band member, Michelle Phillips, was one of the causes of the break-up of the band. Elliot resented Michelle's perceived betrayal of their friendship and helped to support the band's decision to fire Michelle in June 1966, when it became clear that John Phillips could no longer work with her. Personal problems within the group and Elliot's desire to go solo led to their dissolution in July 1968.
Cass gave birth to a daughter named Owen Vanessa Elliot on April 26, 1967 without naming the father.
In August 1968, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski moved across the street from Cass, and they quickly befriended her.
Solo career
After the breakup of The Mamas & The Papas, Elliot went on to have a successful solo career. Her most successful recording during this period was 1968's Dream a Little Dream of Me from her solo album of the same name, released by Dunhill Records, though it had originally been recorded for and released on the album The Papas & The Mamas Presented By The Mamas and The Papas earlier that year. She headlined briefly in Las Vegas for the whopping contract of USD$40,000 per week. She was a regular on TV talk shows and variety shows in the 1970s including The Julie Andrews Hour and The Carol Burnett Show. She also made a memorable guest-star appearance on The New Scooby-Doo Movies.At the height of her career in 1974, having just finished performing at the London Palladium theatre, she died of a heart attack. The coroner surmised her heart had weakened to the point of failure owing to Elliot's weight and the effects of several crash diets over the years. She died in the same bed, in the same room – albeit four years earlier – as manic drummer of The Who, Keith Moon, in an apartment owned by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.
Elliot was married twice. In 1963 she married then-bandmate James Hendricks; they divorced in 1968. In 1971 she married Baron Donald von Wiedenman, a journalist, thus becoming Baroness von Wiedenman.
Myths
An urban legend holds that Elliot died choking on a ham sandwich. This is patently incorrect. Shortly after her death, but before her autopsy, The Times published an article that quoted her doctor as speculating that she "probably … died as a result of choking on a sandwich while lying in bed". However, later that week the coroner found no food in her trachea and determined that the cause of death was heart failure. Nevertheless, the juicy rumor spread, with the popular imagination embellishing that it was a ham sandwich (possibly based on an association with ham, pigs, and her obesity). Another version of the story holds that the doctor found a sandwich or partially eaten sandwich in her room, causing him to speculate about the cause of death. This urban legend led to the joke that 'if Mama Cass had given Karen Carpenter the ham sandwich, they'd both be alive today'.Another popular myth about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved after she was hit on the head by copper tubing shortly before joining the band. Elliot had been dogging her friend and former bandmate Denny Doherty to let her join the band. The myth purports that while Cass and the band members were in the Virgin Islands, copper tubing fell on her head and miraculously changed her voice. The myth was started by band member John Phillips as a justification for letting her into the band after initially refusing to allow her to join. He repeats the story himself on the PBS special California Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas and the Papas, insisting it's true. Casey Kasem repeated the story during his show.
The E! True Hollywood Story biography about Elliot reports (and revives) the completely unfounded and baseless rumor that singer-songwriter John Lennon of The Beatles may have been the father of Elliot's daughter, Owen. This rumor most likely originated from Cass's obsession with the Beatle. Many years after Cass's death, bandmate Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her real biological father.
References to Mama Cass in media
- On an episode of Sanford and Son called "The Card Sharps", Skeeter Matthews (Thalmus Rasulala) said, "You must be Poppa Sanford?" Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) replied, "No, I'm Mama Cass!"
- "Make Your Own Kind of Music" is prominently featured in two episodes of the television series Lost, "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Adrift".
- The Lost Experience (an alternate reality game based on the tv show Lost) involved a radio dj who was broadcasting a radio show about his hatred of the fictional organization, the Hanso Foundation. At one point he was naming famous people who affected history and his co-presenter pointed out that none of them were female. In reply to this DJ dan says, "fine, Mama Cass"
- In the British film Beautiful Thing there's a character of a teenage girl obsessed with Mama Cass, while several songs by both her and her group can be heard throughout the movie. Of the sixteen tracks on the soundtrack album, fifteen are songs by either Mama Cass or The Mamas and the Papas.
- The "ham sandwich" myth was used as a joke in . To update himself on the present, Austin Powers is researching people who have died from when he was frozen (1967) to his thawing (1997). For Mama Cass, he writes, "Mama Cass, deceased: ham sandwich."
- Denis Leary makes a comment about Mama Cass by saying, "I think Mama Cass said it best when she said (choking sound)."
- In Father of the Pride, Larry the lion insults a rude pig by yelling, "You people killed Mama Cass!"
- In the film Stranger Inside, directed by Cheryl Dunye, when asked which woman would have the top bunk, the thinner inmate responded, "Do you think I would let Mama Cass and her fat ass sleep on top of me?"
External links
- [Tribute and biography of Elliot]
- [The true origin of the "hit on the head with a pipe" myth]
- [Snopes report on the ham sandwich myth]
- [Image of Cass Elliot's death certificate]
- [Review of Cass' music]
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