Saturday, March 31, 2012

Back to Squeaky Fromme...
The article below, resonates some of the abuse Lynn endured, and other historical facts (Phil Hartman, Bill Siddons, Gene Kelly, Walt Disney, etc) which Beauders and others offered, in an earlier thread. 
I enjoyed this piece. I'm not familiar with the author, so I can't confirm authenticity on all the facts... but I believe most of the information is excerpted/paraphrased from Jess Bravin's book. 
Works Cited by the Author:  
Bravin, Jess. "Squeaky". New York: Buzz Books, 1997
Harper, Roy. The Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme Interview.  Outer Shell Magazine.
"Success or contentment . . . in any of your pursuits from the most inane, wild dream to down, ground, around-the-corner realities."
-- Inscription from Lynn Fromme in a High School Yearbook.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was born Oct. 22, 1948 to Gertrude Helen and William Millar Fromme in Santa Monica Hospital. They moved a few years later, to where Lyn spent more than a decade of her childhood, a suburb of L.A. named Westchester. Like a lot of people in the area, Lyn's father, William, worked in the aerospace industry, helping to build planes. 
He was described as extraordinarily strict, even during the 50's.  And Lynette's childhood was filled with memories of her father, if not physically, then mentally, abusing Lyn, her mother, and her two siblings, one brother and sister, both younger than Lyn.

Lyn loved to dance, and until she turned 13, she would go on road trips with her dance trio; their group was known as The Lariats. She was the star of the group; her freckled face and red hair and giant smile could be found on all their promotional posters. The older kids even called her "red."  But, while her mother occasionally sewed dresses for shows, her parents were not very encouraging of Lyn.
J. Tillman Hall, Lyn's dance instructor, had many contacts. Gene Kelly would come to watch the Lariats and come backstage to say "Hi," to the dancers.  Meredith Wilson, author of The Music Man, staged one of their performances. Walt Disney presented them with a trophy. They would take six week long bus trips where the Lariats would visit Universities, Fairs, Military bases, working only for room and board. They preformed at Fort Richardson, in Alaska. Out of gratitude, the soldiers gave the dancers some antlers for a freshly killed moose. She went to the White House, and was supposed to meet then Vice-President Richard Nixon. He never showed up. (Nixon Sucks).  She did these bus trips until she was thirteen years old.

She went to Orville Wright Jr. High School. The comedian Phil Hartman attended with her. He said she was, "Very sweet—and very shy." 

As Lynette grew up, her father became more abusive. Just how abusive remains unknown, but she once told a friend that, "Everything I know about sex I learned from my father."

Then she went to Westchester High in 1963 with about three thousand other kids, where she got grades in the A- to B+ range. Then her family moved to Redondo Beach Eventually, she gave up on the Lariats, because her father wouldn't drive her the six miles back to Westchester, nor let his wife drive at all (even though they had two cars). 
At Redondo, she started to date someone named Bill Siddons, who later managed The Doors. They broke it off after his mother called her "disturbed." She had always been more "spiritual" minded.

She eventually got into poetry. Dylan Thomas was her favorite poet. They put her poem at the beginning of the High School's Annual Poetry Journal. She became a beacon of "sophistication."  Some days she would miss school. She had become adept at hiding the bruises her father gave her. After these fights, Lynne would once overdose on barbiturates, and at another time slit her wrists.
At the time, Lyn worked at a canvas factory up to twenty hours a week, stretching the canvas and stapling it to the frames. She would get more depressed throughout her senior year, occasionally burning herself with lit cigarettes, not flinching. Another time, she shot staples into her left forearm at precise three-inch intervals.

Jumping from house to house, gathering respect and getting depressed, until she eventually landed at Venice Beach, where she met "The Gardener." He had known that her father had kicked her out of the house. They talked about the things she hated.
He said, "The way out of a room is not through the door. Just don't want out, and you're free." He was heading up North, and invited her with. She went, and never left him after that.
The Gardner's real name was Charles Manson.

Main Article: http://everything2.com/title/Lynette+%2522Squeaky%2522+Fromme

18 comments:

Kimchi said...

Sorry, that was me that deleted...

Rumor has it that she is back in California, but nothing to corroborate it...as usual..

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Stupid question...

But, wouldn't that violate her parole conditions?

The crazy lady, is gonna get herself thrown back in the slams...

disillusioned said...

Wasn't she in the northeast after her release? I really hope she stays out..

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

She was released to UpState New York.

I believe Marcy New York, to be exact...

disillusioned said...

Yes, yes, that was it Lynyrd! I was feeling tooo lazy to look it up again. Thanks!

MrPoirot said...

Squeaky is back in California? Hmmm, she may have requested to her parole officer to go back. She has sister/brother family in California. Still though, I am surprised the parole officer would let her go back unless the officer isn't familiar with her and her tendency to create rain squalls when the sun is out.

There were some prison interiews on youtube where she became testy about the rumors about her father molesting her. Anotherwords the statements SHE HERSELF made about her father molesting her were lies. I doubt her father molested her. I doubt he was a mean, strict bastard. It is much more likely that her father took as much as he could stand from his obsessive compulsive daughter. Squeaky knew only one way to get along: it was her way or no way. She was a maniacally pigheaded child. Even 25 years into her federal prison stay she still refused to give an inch. She felt it would be wrong to agree to any terms that were not her terms just to get released from prison. She sat in prison 36 years thinking Americans gave a damn about her weird ideology.
Gerald Ford had no more to do with the Redwoods then when he was alive than he does now when he's dead.

MrPoirot said...

In addition to what I just posted I think that Squeaky's father and family had no bearing on her descent into infamy rather I think her problems were caused by herself and her decisions and her difficult nature.
Squeaky was not the only Manson member whose downfall was their fault alone. Paul Watkins came from a good family but he bought into drugs and dropping out. Tex Watson came from a good background. So did Nancy Pitman.
Leslie had a mixed background family wise. Her parents adopted two koean children and also divorced which caused Leslie to hit the highway.

Most likely Squeaky had mental issues which her parents were unable to control or understand. It looks like in order to save the other rest of the family that Squeaky's parents were forced to tell her to leave. Squeaky didn't go to Malibu to get picked up, she went to Venice Beach which was good place to find trouble.
However you can't say that Sadie's family treated her well. Gypsy had zero family.

Mrstormsurge said...

We'll soon find out if Squeaky violated her parole. I'd be very dubious to find out that it was OK for her to move back to Cali but I don't recall ever seeing the details of the terms of her parole. Maybe they've never been made public. Anyway, I have read that Manson would call Squeaky's boyfriend in NY and Squeaky would sit and listen but not talk to CM. If true this presumably would be a way for her to have contact with him without having contact with CM and would seem to be a legalistic way to comply with her parole.

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Hi Poirot.

I agree, that some (if not all) of these allegations regarding Lynn's upbringing/childhood, are difficult... if not impossible... to prove beyond doubt (at this point).

It's one of those:
"It likely has some truth... but, take it with a grain of salt"... kinda things for sure.

Heck...
Even if Squeaky were interviewed directly today (ragarding her childhoood)... how much could one take away, without an ounce of doubt?

I personally believe that her father was very strict... and they had a rocky relationship.
I also (tend to) believe the self-abuse allegations.
As for the sexual abuse... I have doubts.
That's my personal "gut feelings", based on nothing more, than pure speculation.

One thing's for sure... she's crazy.
The question really becomes:
Was she born that way?... created that way by her unpbringing?... or both?
Elements of both (nature and nurture, as they say in psychology)... is the most common scenario... which I believe to be true, in her case.

You're right though...
Squeaky has definitely proven herself stubborn, over the years.
I suppose some would characterize that as loyalty or commitment.

At the end of the day...
I kinda like Squeaky.
I can't explain why... but, I do.
I honestly hope, she doesn't do anything crazy, and get herself incarcerated agin.
She's nuts... but, she's likable! LOLOL

Poirot said:
"Gerald Ford had no more to do with the Redwoods then when he was alive than he does now when he's dead".

AHahahahaha
That was a good one.

Probably true.

Or, if nothing else...
He has no more interest in the Redwoods now... than he did when he was alive.
I don't think "redwoods" ever crossed his mind.
Maybe that was the exact source of Squeaky's consternation. LOL
She was "Green", before "Green" was popular! LOLOL

Gotta love the Squeakster! LOL
As my Dad would say:
"There's never a dull moment"
AHahahaha

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

((((((((((STORM-f#cking-SURGE))))))))))

Great to see you man! LOL

starship said...

I shall check directly, however last I checked with my big wig connection with the New York State Police ( in Feb) Squeaky was still squared away in beautiful Marcy, NY...

starship said...

Just a bit further on up the road from yours truly.

Mrstormsurge said...

Thx Lynyrd for making me feel so welcome here. You're a great group here. I agree that there's no way to prove one way or another on Squeaky's upbringing and the abuse. I will say this though: one symptom of something called borderline personality disorder is self-mutilation as in cutting oneself and shooting staples into one's forearm. Not saying that this diagnoses Squeaky as having BPD but it raises the index of suspicion to me. Other sx of the disorder? Intense episodes of rage, stormy relationships, etc. BPD is often associated with abuse. But, of course, it's not proof of it.

And Lynyrd, I freaking love her too.

MrPoirot said...

Interesting diagnosis Stormy. Borderline Personality Disorder was what the shrinks said Sadie had too. I have gone down the lists of symptons in several serious mental illnesses but the only ones I can obviously understand are Bipolar and schizophrenia. The borderline personality disorder sounds kinda like 50 other mental illnesses but schizophrenia has a few symptoms Squeaky has exhibited like shaving her head, self mutilation, hitch hiking, etc etc.
Schizophrenia has a unique symptom which identifies it. Skidzos hear voices. I've never been able to find an example of Squeaky hearing voices so I scratched skidzo off the list.
Squeaky also had at least two recorded incidents of seizures while being a Mansonite. both seiures ocurred after sex. Seizures are common among heavy drug users such as alcoholics and heroin addicts. I doubt Squeaky used much if any, heroin. I think she did a lot of drugs though.

maudes harold said...

Hitch-hiking is a sign of Schizophrenia???? Where did you read that?

MrPoirot said...

Hitch hiking is listed as one of the many symptoms of schizophrenia. So is shaving your head. I doubt that Telly Savalas was schizophrenic. I also doubt that everyone who ever hitch hiked in their life is schizophrenic.
What does it mean? I dunno but you obviously found that interesting. Go do some research yourself and find out what it means. then let me know what you find. I'd be curious myself what it means.

maudes harold said...

My question Mr. P was WHERE did you read that? In the DSM IV?

MrPoirot said...

I don't remember where i read it. I certainly didn't read it in the DSM IV nor the DSM III nor the DSM II. I may have read it in the first DSM .......whatever the DSM is.