Eddi Fiegel - Dream a Little Dream of Me: The Life of Mama Cass Elliot

Dream a little dream of me

Eddi Fiegel is a freelance writer and broadcaster. Her work has appeared in the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and Mojo and she is a regular contributor to BBC 6 Music. She is well known for her interviews with artists across the musical spectrum from Paul McCartney to kd Lang, David Bowie and Ennio Morricone. She is the author of the highly acclaimed John Barry: A Sixties Theme. She lives in London.

Also by Eddi Fiegel

John BarryA Sixties Theme

Eddi Fiegel

Dream
a
little
dream
of
me

the life of
Mama Cass
Elliot

Pan Books

First published 2005 by Sidgwick & Jackson

This edition published 2006 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-330-54070-4

Copyright Eddi Fiegel 2005

Cass Elliotts sleeve notes for Denny Dohertys Waiting for a Song reproduced by kind permission of TKO Licensing Ltd.
Everybodys Been Talking lyrics reproduced courtesy of Kim Fowley.

The right of Eddi Fiegel to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in anyform, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the priorwritten permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable tocriminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Introduction

Writing Dream a Little Dream of Me has been little short of an epic adventure. Finding the reality behind the Mama Cass myth led me on a search which spanned nearly four years and three continents. From Hollywoods leafy hills and the outer reaches of California, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, Massachusetts and New York to downtown Johannesburg, South Africa and the more far-flung corners of England, it was a memorable trail. Casss friends and acquaintances were never, by any stretch of the imagination, dull and my encounters often proved highly entertaining.

I will give you a hundred dollars, David Crosby told me, if you can find a single person who says they hated Cass. It was not a challenge I actively sought to meet, but despite having spoken to over a hundred friends, colleagues and relatives, Crosbys dollars are still safe.

I soon found out that few who encountered Cass Elliot ever forgot her. Long before she was famous, she made an indelible impact on almost everyone she met. She had a talent for forging friendships and for making even the most casual acquaintance feel that they were a trusted confidante. In the notoriously shallow worlds of entertainment and showbiz, Cass stood out as a beacon of genuine warmth and inspired unparalleled affection.

Throughout my research I repeatedly found that those who had known her, whether they had been close friends or merely passing acquaintances, were almost without exception willing to sit down and take time out for no personal gain, to remember her, often simply for some small episode or act of kindness which she had once shown them over thirty years ago. Many also mentioned how glad they were that someone was finally according Casss life, talent and personality the attention and respect they deserve.

I was too young to have known Cass myself but whilst still in my early teens, I was struck by the sound of her voice both on her solo recordings and those with the Mamas and the Papas and was intrigued to know more. Her story seemed immediately fascinating and later on, once I embarked on the writing of this book, it only became more so as my research progressed. Inevitably, however, ascertaining the truth behind many situations was far from straightforward as the past and its events are invariably elastic, particularly when going back three decades and more. Ask ten people about a single episode and you will often get ten different versions, particularly as Cass lived much of her life in an era when peoples minds and memories were often clouded by stimulants of one kind or another. I therefore endeavoured to talk to as many people as I could in order to reach my own conclusions and come as close as possible to a true understanding of her experiences and examine her life and work accordingly.

My thanks must consequently go to all those who agreed to be interviewed. In particular, those who not only agreed to cast their minds back three and in some cases, four decades, but also to open their homes and address books to me: Denny Doherty, for a warm, hospitable and often wonderfully entertaining time in Canada as well as the many subsequent phone-calls, Michelle Phillips, for making long interviews seem like a fun afternoons chat with one of my best friends, Leah Kunkel, for remembering her sister and family over a series of epic interviews, Owen Elliot Kugell, Henry Diltz, Nurit Wilde, Lou Adler, Roger McGuinn, Gary Burden, Hal Blaine, Carl Gottlieb and Allison Caine, George McGovern, Stephen Sanders, Cyrus Faryar, Chip Silverman, Ken Waissman, Shelley Spector Ipiotis, Jerry Cohen, Israel Young, Tom Smothers, Esther Samet, Diane Hamet, John E. Brown, Leon Bing, Keith Allison and Judy Henske, Walter Painter, Dougal Butler, Dot Hendler, Maggie Phillips, Richard Sparks, Don Levinson, Priscilla Lainoff Stein, Micki Leef Stout, Toby Kobren, Rose M. Andrews, Gina Gaspin and David Platt.

Two other close friends of Casss, Tim Rose and Zal Yanovsky, were both tremendously enthusiastic about my project, but did not live to see its completion. Tim took time to reminisce at length on his days with Cass in the Triumvirate and the Big 3 whilst Zal similarly remembered back to his days in Greenwich Village and Washington, DC with the Mugwumps before contacting me the next day with suggestions for further people I could talk to.

Other interviewees (in alphabetical order) were: Eddie Abramson, Joanne Baretta, Barry Bethell, John Bettis, Caren Bohrman, Bob Bowers, Harvey Brooks, Rodney Burbeck, Bob Cavallo, Mike Clough, Laurence Cohen, Ray Cooper, Caroline Cox-Simon, David Crosby, Joe Croyle, Barry Dennen, Donovan, Appie Evintoff, Frank Evintoff, Paul Evintoff, Lil Finn, Ralfee Finn, Kim Fowley, Lois Ganna, John Gardner, Kay Garner, Terri Garr, Jill Gibson, Russell Gilliam, Nick Gravenites, Larry Hankin, Ramona Heinrich, the late David Hemmings, Jim Hendricks, Eric Hord, Bones Howe, Les Hurdle, Bob Ingram, Erik Jacobsen, Henry Jaglom, Bruce Johnston, John Keats, Lee Kiefer, Marijke Koger-Dunham, Paul Krassner, Pat LaCroix, Marvyn Laird, Fran Landesman, Sharon Paige Lisenbee, Dave Mason, Lee McBride, Spanky McFarlane, Barry McGuire, Lewis Merenstein, Barry Morgan, William Morgan, Paul Morrissey, Graham Nash, Del Newman, Joe Osborn, Van Dyke Parks, Shawn Phillips, Peter Pilafian, Alan Pollock, Mike Sarne, John Sebastian, John Simon, Bobby Simone, Marc Strange, Peter Tork, Donald von Wiedenman, John Wallowitch, Jan Walman, Miranda Ward, Vanessa Ware, Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams and Tyler York.