Owen Elliot-Kugell, the daughter of late The Mamas & the Papas member Cass Elliot, is setting the document straight on her mom’s demise in her new memoir, My Mama, Cass.
In July 1974, Cass handed away in London from a coronary heart assault when Elliot-Kugell was 7-years-old, dying in her sleep at age 32. Nonetheless, an city legend unfold claiming that the singer had died from choking on a ham sandwich.
“In my youthful years, when individuals would speak to me about my mother, it was at all times concerning the silly sandwich,” Elliot-Kugell advised Folks journal. “I might go over to children’ homes after college and finally one in all their mother and father would ask me, ‘Did your mother actually die choking on a ham sandwich?’ To start with, the chutzpah to say that to a baby is simply loopy but it surely occurred quite a bit. So I felt it was my obligation to determine what that story was all about.”
For My Mama, Cass, Elliot-Kugell spoke with a few of her mom’s pals, together with former Hollywood Reporter columnist Sue Cameron. Elliot-Kugell shared that in her dialog with Cameron for the e-book, she discovered that the author had known as Cass’ house to verify in on the musician. The Mamas & the Papas member’s supervisor Allan Carr was the one to select up the telephone and break the information of Cass’ passing.
“He was crying and upset and he mentioned, ‘There’s a half-eaten ham sandwich on the nightstand,’” Cameron advised Folks. She mentioned Carr, to keep away from hypothesis concerning the nature of her demise, requested Cameron to say Cass had died from “choking on the sandwich.”
Again in 2020, Cameron advised Folks about her telephone dialog with Carr, which she additionally detailed in her 2018 e-book Hollywood Secrets and techniques and Scandals. “I didn’t ask any questions,” she wrote. “I knew she didn’t choke on a ham sandwich. I didn’t consider Allan, however I assumed simply do it as a result of one thing was unsuitable.”
Talking about Cameron’s determination to observe Carr’s request, Elliot-Kugell understands that it was completed to guard each Cass’ legacy and Elliot-Kugell’s nicely being. “In a bizarre means, I’m grateful for that loopy story,” Elliot-Kugell mentioned. “As a lot because it triggered me grief, and folks made jokes, I now understand it stored her related and able to shine once more.”
My Mama, Cass arrives on Could 7. It’s mentioned to incorporate “intimate household and archival images, in addition to interviews and reminiscences from well-known pals, followers and colleagues who beloved and revered Cass.”
