Mama Cass's daughter Owen talks

Owen?

I expect that I won’t be the only one who clicks on the link and scrolls down just to see if she’s fat.

I'm not sure I understand the relevance of this book. How many people under 70 know who Cass Elliott was? She was a very good singer and... that's it. And her daughter didn't really know her, as she died when Owen was 7, so what exactly does Owen being to the party that none of Cass's previous biographers did?

Longer write-up from the BBC, who went with the ham sandwich angle.

Owen is pretty cool and the book isn’t just about her relationship with her mom, she spoke to a lot of her mother’s friends and people she worked with. Owen was in an early version of Wilson Phillips before being dropped not long before they got their recording contact.

If Cass had lived, I wonder if she would’ve musically gravitated towards disco music. She certainly has the voice for it and Alan Carr was managing her.

[quote] "...and Alan Carr was managing her."

Considering this specifically, I think everything turned out for the best.

Jokes aside, I would've loved a Cass disco album.

[quote]How many people under 70 know who Cass Elliott was?

r3 I'm not 120 years old and I even know who's Marlene Dietrich. Uh, some of us know about things which happened over 20 years ago. Ignorance.

The kids love Cass. There's clips all over Tiktok. R3 has some fucking old man victim narrative they're trying to keep in place.

Apparently it was Allan Carr who gave the okay for a cover-up, fearing the scandal of perhaps a drug-related death. Then someone came-up with the ham sandwich story.

[quote]There's clips all over Tiktok

Oh, dear.

If there was a Ethel Merman disco album, there definitely would've been a Cass Elliot disco album R6.

NOTHIBG but. Money grab there’s no interesting info.

Cass always has these comebacks where her songs are played on some show or commercial and they go viral. When Lost was on, they hauntingly played her Make Your Own Kind of Music and it became a hit again. Similarly, Dream a Little Dream will always resurface.

Had she lived, she would have likely have transitioned totally into a very popular television performer. At that stage in her career, she was better known for comedy than music because of her really funny and totally likable performances on things like Carol Burnett and the Tonight Show.

I think she played a witch in the Pufnstuff movie.

People may have opened up to her more since she is her daughter. Also maybe some people talked to her that didn't talk to the other biographers.

[quote] I think she played a witch in the Pufnstuff movie.

She did! And she sang this song that I unironically love:

[quote]She put another name, that of her first husband, Jim Hendricks, on the birth certificate. Says Owen, “I always understood it was a platonic marriage and that it had been purely to keep him out of the draft.”

Wonder if Jim Hendricks was gay. Anyway, I'm an admirer of Cass as a performer and singer, but I think it's kind of cruddy to keep your own kid in the dark about who her father is.

From other accounts I've read, Cass seems to have been very needy in some ways. One contemporary of hers said that her house, in Laurel Canyon if I recall, was always full of young men whose attention and validation she seemed to desperately crave. The implication was that they were in some way kept boys.

Perhaps Cass belongs on the "Patron Saints of DL" thread.

Owen doesn’t have any friends.

I didn't know of Cass Elliot until the early Seventies, after the Mamas and the Papas had broken up and she was mostly a solo act. She appeared often on variety shows like The Carol Burnett Show and Sonny & Cher, and the writers didn't know what to make of her so they always had her do elbaorate fat jokes, which apparently she absolutely hated doing. I remember she guest-starred on an episode of Scooby-Doo playing herself, and her character had bought an entire ice cream factory, presumably so she could eat all the ice cream it made. But of course it was haunted by three "ghosts" (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry...)

[quote] Lookalike she's got a juicy memoir coming out next week.

I see what you did there, OP.

So who is the father of this orphan?

I've always said Cass would be a great subject for a "jukebox musical" on Broadway - and who better than Chrissy Metz to play her (seriously) ? Maybe some producers or investors will think of this once the book comes out.

TRIVIA - Mama Cass auditioned for the role of 'Miss Marmelstein' for the Broadway musical 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale'. It was said she always wanted to be a Broadway actress, and this would have been her chance. The finalists were whittled down to two : Cass Elliott and Barbra Streisand.

[quote] "If there was a Ethel Merman disco album, there definitely would've been a Cass Elliot disco album [R6]."

I see your point, R11. It's just a shame it didn't happen.

[quote]Make Your Own Kind of Music

Most recently, Barbie.

[quote]Mama Cass auditioned for the role of 'Miss Marmelstein' for the Broadway musical 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale'.

The "Miss Marmelstein" office chair would've needed to be a forklift.

Chuck Barris produced her TV variety pilot. He said in his autobiography (not the one where he claimed to be a CIA operative) that he thought he was in love with her. He said would say things like he didn't like her because she's fat but she learned how to give great head. She died before they ever got together but it struck a very interesting chord in the book

Although she was a bit before my time, I’ve always really loved Mama Cass. The article mentions how Michelle Phillips revealed to Owen who Owen’s father is. I’m anxious to see how Michelle Phillips is portrayed. I can’t wait for this book.

Chuck Barris was hot.

wow, I didn't even know she had a kid. I was a teen when the mamas and papas were popular. I even saw them at the Monterey pop festival.

Merman was over 30 years older than Cass, I don’t cass would’ve been seen as being old and out of touch the way Memans disco album was since she would’ve been in her 30s. Perhaps in the vein of Esther Phillips brilliant disco cover of What a diff’rence a day makes.

So who is Owen's dad- Allan Carr? Maybe Mama mistakenly put on one of his caftans and sat in the 'wet spot'?

Wasn't it denny Dougherty?

No. Denny wasn't into her and hated himself for it.

A musician named Chuck Day is Owen’s biological father.

R29, it’s so cool that you attended. I bet that was a great show — it’s always lauded.

I’ve listened to about a third of the book. I am enjoying it quite a bit.

[quote]From other accounts I've read, Cass seems to have been very needy in some ways.

Yeah, for heroin

I wonder if Owen touches on Cass's friendships with the Manson family? Michael Caine recalled meeting Charlie and others at Cass's house, which basically was the go-to house in the canyon where lots of music heavies converged.

R38, that wasn’t even included in Owen’s book. Nothing was mentioned either about Mackenzie and her dad.

I do highly recommend the book. I found it to be deeply honest and quite beautiful.

I don't think what happened to Mackenzie and John has no business being in the book. It was all after Cass' death.

^ I don't think what happened to Mackenzie and John has ANY business

Cass’s house was the go-to house in the canyon because Cass’s boyfriend Pic Dawson was a drug dealer and his father worked in the state department, so he could not be arrested in the US.

The Brits tried to arrest Dawson when the Mamas and Papas took the QE2 to UK but Dawson wasn’t with them…or managed to hide on the ship. Pic and Billy Doyle ran drugs from Canada to the US. There was another guy LAPD talked to who was cleared of the murders because he happened to be flying a weed shipment from the Caribbean at the time. He was obviously a major drug dealer but cops didn’t care.

As we know, both Jay Sebring and Voytek Frykowski were dealing drugs. So was ….Charles Manson. Charles and Tex Watson were trying to become a big deal criminal gang. They were connected to bikers who stole cars for them, which they dismantled at Spahn Ranch and sold for parts. They were connected to other drug dealers like Bernard “Lotsapoppa” Crow and Gary Hinman. Manson thought he killed Crow (Crow survived being shot by Manson) and we all know what happened to mescaline chef Gary Hinman.

All these people connected via one thing - drugs. Cass, Dawson, Doyle, Sebring, Frykowski, Crow, Hinman, Manson, Dennis Wilson, Terry Melcher.

Steve McQueen knew Manson and bought drugs from him. He immediately got a gun and a guard dog after the Tate murders and claimed he was on a Manson hit list.

I mean, it was the 60s and drugs were “new” to a lot of people.. Hollywood had been smoking weed for a long time but hallucinogenics that could be made in a garage or inside a gutted school bus were new and exciting. The original “hippies” were upper middle class men whose dads were in government and the military. They were a protected class. They were having lots of fun until the poor people and ex-cons started heading for California for ☮️ and ❤️

That’s when the original hippies declared hippies were dead and held a funeral ⚰️ 🪦 💨 Too many undesirables horning in on the action.

[quote] I've always said Cass would be a great subject for a "jukebox musical" on Broadway - and who better than Chrissy Metz to play her (seriously

Lena Dunham a dead ringer but we have thus far been spared her singing voice. Adele would be perfect but she is scared of getting fat again.

Michelle Phillips was a close friend of Cass's. Long before the internet, there was an interview in People with John Phillips and he made disparaging comments about Cass's weight (this was years after the band.) In one of the following issues, Michelle had written a letter ripping Phillips a new one. I've never forgotten it and felt affectionate toward Michelle for being a loyal friend even after death.

Owen was initially part of Wilson Phillips before the group adopted the name "Wilson Phillips." Did Owen leave the group on her own, or was she forced out by the other women or by the record company?

Wilson Phillips forced her to leave because they didn't want to confuse everyone with the name of the their band being so similar to that of up-and-coming actor Owen Wilson.

She should be a DL patron saint.

up-and-coming actor Owen Wilson???

it was a joke, r48

According to Owen’s book she and Chynna, Carnie, and Wendy had been rehearsing and working ver hard for months. Something came up and she (Owen) had to suddenly town for a week or two. She begged them not to record without her. They did. Owen was the one who had the idea to form the group (she’d already recorded an album that was never released). She said she was hurt, but got over it quickly. She said the reason she was ousted was that four part harmonies are much more difficult than three part harmonies.

She remained friends with others. It seems as if Carnie and she have been best friends for years.

When Carnie and Wendy recorded a Christmas album they invited Owen to participate. Owen didn’t, but Owen’s husband co-wrote their song Hey Santa!

When Wilson Phillips later reunited and recorded their album of covers, California, Owen sang back up.

R40/R41, I agree that Owen made the correct choice in not writing about Mackenzie’s relationship with John, I don’t necessarily agree with your rationale.

Owen was 7 was her mother died. Her memoir is almost solely about her life after Cass’ death.

R44, I was so curious about Owen’s relationship with Michelle. Mostly, it sounds very nice. Michelle was the person who finally told Owen who her bio father was. One thing Owen mentions in the book is hating the (well-intentioned) dog that Michelle made about Cass on the occasion of The Mamas and the Papas induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

So Charles Manson is her real dad.

[quote]She said the reason she was ousted was that four part harmonies are much more difficult than three part harmonies.

R50. The four Mamas & Papas made it work as did many other rock groups.

R54, she may have said writing for four part harmonies…

You’re right either way.

This chick really did die from choking on her food, and a fat activist to boot.

I just love that song and video at R16.

Mama Cass had one of those unique warm voices everyone loves - like Karen Carpenter.

I can't think of any contemporary voices - probably Adele - with the same resonance.

I think Cass might also had gone onto movies, perhaps in offbeat film roles aka Barbra in “Pussycat” and Liza in “Junie Moon.” Cass had great comedic skills and timing.

Does Owen sing? Does she sound like Cass?

R58 - she really did - she had star power for someone who definitely did not fit what a star looked like.

Her house in Laurel Canyon was a destination place for all types of musicians and artists. She would lay on her couch and hold court - EVERYONE went there.

Some people just have a vitality and personality that you want to be around - I feel like she had that. HOWEVER, I bet she had another side - a depressive and sad side that was difficult to be around.

OP Did the one who was diddling his daughter hit on her?