Sami Rose's Reviews > Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius

It is not an exaggeration to say that I’ve been waiting for a major biography of Elaine May forever. What Carrie Courogen does with this book is so special, and as a reader I couldn’t have asked for anything more, especially considering May has worked so hard to disappear.

Miss May Does Not Exist is not just an excellent chronicle of a genius’s life, work, and struggles with an industry that constantly undervalued her singular point of view, but a complete and undeniable argument that many Elaine May fanatics have been making about the importance of her unrecognized legacy for years. It reflects how May’s career doubles as a history of comedy in America and filmmaking in the 20th century, showing up like a hostile Forrest Gump at the exact right moment to change the course of culture time and time again. Throughout the book, Courogen reckons with how May both transfixed and terrified Hollywood in equal measure, by bucking expectations of how cutting & complex she could be compared to the “nice girl” she presented as. She would not let the world flatten her into something easier to understand or perceive, something her male contemporaries were able to do without getting sent to director jail.

Last night, I was lucky enough to attend a packed screening of Mikey and Nicky and got to see the Elaine May renaissance in action. Seeing that many people, just as passionate about her work as I am, crowded into a theater to celebrate her legacy was truly beautiful. If this book does anything, I hope it continues to bring more recognition to someone who is far overdue.