Rachel Wiley
no. 6, The Fat Issue
Spring 2022
I.
From the New York Times Archives: LONDON, July 29, 1974:
“Mama” Cass Elliot, the American pop singer, died here tonight at the age, of 33.
Miss Elliot, who became famous with the Mamas and the Papas group, became ill suddenly in her Mayfair apartment.
An autopsy will be held. She was in London preparing to give a concert.
Her physician said the singer probably choked on a sandwich.
A Hearty Performer
By JOHN ROCKWELL
Miss Elliot had pursued a solo career since 1968, but she was still best known to the general public as the largest, most visible member of the Mamas and the Papas, a folk‐rock group formed in 1965.
Miss Elliot sang contralto with the group and served as the large, homey foil to the ethereal beauty and the soprano of Michelle Phillips. But by 1967 signs of strain had become obvious in the group, and Miss Elliot precipitated the final breakup by embarking on a solo career in 1968.
If it did not bring her the widespread celebrity and the commercial success she had enjoyed in the mid‐nineteen‐sixties, it still amounted to a successful working career. Miss Elliot appeared in nightclubs and concerts, was a guest on television shows and kept on producing records. At her death, she was preparing for a British tour.
Miss Elliot, formerly Ellen Naomi Cohen, was born in Baltimore on Feb. 19, 1941, and raised in Baltimore and in Arlington, Va. By the age of 17 she had manifested an interest in acting, and had assumed the name Cassandra. Elliot — her father, a restaurateur, had nicknamed her Cass after the Trojan prophetess; the Elliot, she said, later in an interview, was in honor of a friend who had been killed in an automobile accident.
She moved to Greenwich Village at the age of 19, appeared in a number of Off Broadway productions, and directed at the Cafe La Mama. She also began to perform as a folk singer in New, York’s then‐burgeoning folk scene. She was a member of a short‐lived group called the Big Three — which included her husband, James Hendricks and of another group called Mugwumps, which included Denny Doherty, the future Papa, as well as John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, who later helped form the Lovin’ Spoonful.
Miss Elliot’s reputation for honesty and hearty, sometimes self‐parodistic good times did much to endear the Mamas and, the Papas to their fans, Miss Elliot stood as proof that one didn’t have to be beautiful or thin to be successful and idolized and to live in lavish Beverly Hills splendor. During her solo career, Miss Elliot, who stood 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed up to 250 pounds, pursued a variety of crash diets, and at one time claimed to have lost 120 pounds, But she retained her earthy image until the end.
Miss Elliot divorced Mr. Hendricks in 1969, after six years of marriage. In 1972 she was married to Baron Donald von Weidenman, a German nobleman, and later divorced. She is survived by a daughter, Owen Vanessa, from her first marriage; her mother, Bess Cohen; a brother, Joseph Cohen; and a sister, Leah Kunkel.
Erasure of LONDON, July 29, 1974
“Mama” Cass Elliot , the American pop singer, died here tonight at the age, of 33.Miss Elliot, who became famous with the Mamas and the Papas group, became ill suddenly in her Mayfair apartment.
An autopsy will be held. She was in London preparing to give concert.
Her physician said the singer probably choked on a sandwich.
A Heart y Performer
By JOHN ROCKWELL
Miss Elliot had pursued a solo career since 1968, but she was still best known to the general public as the large st, most visible member of the Mamas and the Papas, a folk‐rock group formed in 1965.
Miss Elliot sang contralto with the group and served as the large, homey foil to the ethereal beauty and the soprano of Michelle Phillips. But by 1967 signs of strain had become obvious in the group, and Miss Elliot precipitated the final breakup by embarking on a solo career in 1968.
If it did not bring her the widespread celebrity and the commercial success she had en joy ed in the mid‐nineteen‐sixties, it still amounted to a successful working career. Miss Elliot appeared in nightclubs and concerts, was a guest on television shows and kept on producing records. At her death, she was preparing for a British tour.
Miss Elliot, formerly Ellen Naomi Cohen, was born in Baltimore on Feb. 19, 1941, and raised in Baltimore and in Arlington, Va. By the age of 17 she had manifested an interest in acting, and had assumed the name Cassandra. Elliot — her father, a restaurateur, had nicknamed her Cass after the Trojan prophetess ; the Elliot, she said, later in an interview, was in honor of a friend who had been killed in an automobile accident.
She moved to Greenwich Village at the age of 19, appeared in a number of Off Broadway productions, and directed at the Cafe La Mama. She also began to perform as a folk singer in New, York’s then‐burgeoning folk scene. She was a member of a short‐lived group called the Big Three—which included her husband, James Hendricks and of another group called Mugwumps, which included Denny Doherty, the future Papa, as well as John Sebastian a nd Zal Yanovsky, who later helped form the Lovin’ Spoonful.
Miss Elliot’s reputation for honesty and heart y, sometimes self‐parodistic good times did much to endear the Mamas and, the Papas to their fans, Miss Elliot stood a s proof that one didn’t have to be beautiful or thin to be successful and idol ized and to live in lavish Beverly Hills splendor . During her solo career, Miss Elliot , who stood 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed up to 250 pounds, pursued a variety of crash diets, and at one time claimed to have lost 120 pounds, But she retained her earth y image until the end.
Miss Elliot divorced Mr. Hendricks in 1969, after six years of marriage. In 1972 she was married to Baron Donald von Weidenman, a German nobleman, and later divorced. She is survived by a daughter, Owen Vanessa, from her first marriage; her mother, Bess Cohen; a brother, Joseph Cohen; and a sister, Leah Kunkel.
II.
A Crash That Kills You Slowly
Cass Elliot didn’t die choking on a ham sandwich
but from crash diets and diet drugs weakening her heart;
people believed the sandwich rumor so easily
because of course eating killed the fat woman
rather than not eating.
III.
My Fat Dying Wish When they find my body and inevitably blame the weight of it for the strain it put my heart under be sure to include the pounds contributed by everyone who made my rolls into the hill they were willing to die on
No study measuring the association between weight and health outcomes comes close to appropriately accounting for the impact of fatphobia on an individual’s wellbeing, including how those impacts are likely worst for the fattest among us.
Spring 2022’s feature,
No Health, No Care
Rachel Wiley is a queer, biracial poet and performer living in Cleveland, Ohio with a pretty, spoiled cat. She has performed at slam venues, colleges, and festivals nationwide. She is the author of three full-length poetry collections published by Button Poetry: Fat Girl Finishing School, Nothing is Okay, and the recently released Revenge Body.
Thanks to Barter Member Alexis Notabartolo for proofreading this piece.
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