Tony Castro's America

'If Marilyn Had Been A Car...' Is A Big Winner

Here's a photo from the Biltmore Hotel ballroom stage just as the presenters announced me winning the Los Angeles Press Club feature writing award.

Read the winning story:

https://lamonthly.org/.../if-marilyn-monroe-had-been-a-car/

 

We've Just Won a Big Journalism Award!

Check out the full story https://lamonthly.org/2024/06/24/lamonthly-wins-socal-journalism-award/

Tragic Death Similarities

 

LOS ANGELES — Lisa Marie Presley died from a small bowel obstruction caused by an adhesion, according to a newly released medical examiner’s revealing surprising similarities between her sudden death in January and that of her famous father Elvis Presley in 1977.

Lisa Marie, who died on Jan. 12 at age 54, had been dealing with a series of health troubles in the months before her death just as Elvis had, including long-lasting fevers, nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting, according to the report.

Those adhesions causing the small bowel obstruction developed after gastric bypass surgery years ago and are a “known long-term complication” of gastric bypass surgery, according to Dr. Juan Carrillo, a deputy medical examiner.
A review of the toxicology results showed therapeutic levels of oxycodone in her blood, but did not contribute to her death, Carrillo said.

Presley died of a “sequelae of a small bowel obstruction,” according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The manner of death was natural.

But according to separate toxicology reports also released the date of the medical examiner report, there were levels of multiple opioids found in Presley’s blood, including oxycodone and buprenorphine, the latter of which is used to treat opioid overuse, the New York Daily News reported.

Presley’s last public appearance was two days before her death, at the Jan. 10 Golden Globes Awards ceremony, where she spoke slowly in pre-show interviews and also appeared unsteady on her feet in behind-the-scenes video footage.

Presley was at the Golden Globes to support Austin Butler, who won the award for Best Actor in a Drama, Motion Picture for his portrayal of Elvis in director Baz Luhrmann’s biopic.

Two days later, she suffered a medical emergency and was found unconscious at her Calabasas home by her ex-husband Danny Keough and was taken to the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, where she later went into cardiac arrest.

No indication was made public at the time of what may have caused the medical issue.

The primary cause of that medical emergency has now been determined to be a bowel obstruction, which could have been brought about by constipation from opioid use. According to reports, Presley had been prescribed opioids during her recovery from plastic surgery just months before her death and had a history of “overmedicating.”

The autopsy report said she had been complaining of stomach pain earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Lisa Marie’s death has raised unexpected similarities to that of her father.

Although Elvis’ death certificate cited his cause of death as a heart attack, he also suffered similar gastrointestinal problems. According to PBS, pathologists Dr. Eric Muirhead and Dr. Noel Florredo found evidence of severe and chronic constipation during a post-mortem examination on Elvis.

PBS reported that Elvis’ constipation issues may have contributed to his death, as he had been seated on a toilet at his Graceland mansion in Memphis when he died and “straining very hard to have a bowel movement — a maneuver that put a great amount of pressure on his heart and aorta.”

Elvis, who was 42 when he died, was also discovered after suffering a medical emergency by someone close to him. His then-girlfriend Ginger Alden found him unconscious in the bathroom.

Another similarity in the last hours of their lives, is that while in the emergency room on Jan. 12, Lisa Marie also suffered heart issues.

Doctors had to implant a temporary pacemaker because of her life-threatening heart rhythms, according to her autopsy report. Her condition continued to decline, the report said, until she went into cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

Also found in her blood were trace levels of the antipsychotic drug quetiapine, which has the potential to increase the fatal risks of opioids, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The Daily News reported that Presley allegedly had been taking weight loss medication and reportedly lost between 40 and 50 pounds in the months leading up to her death.

Presley's autopsy report, released July 13, says Presley's condition is a common complication from bariatric surgery, which is a weight-loss procedure. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is a procedure often done when other weight loss methods haven't worked or if a person has a serious medical condition.

Ten days after her death, friends, family and fans of Presley gathered at Elvis Presley's home Graceland to pay tribute to her. Holding back tears, Priscilla spoke briefly at the service, reading some words prepared by one of Lisa Marie's three surviving children.

“I have no idea how to put my mother into words,” Priscilla read. “Truth is, there are too many. Lisa Marie Presley was an icon, a role model, a superhero to many people all over the world.”

Mostly, Presley, with her hooded eyes and smoldering looks that were patently reminiscent of Elvis, became known largely as keeper of his legacy and inheritor of his estate.

Born on Feb. 1, 1968, in Memphis, Lisa Marie was a singer and songwriter in her own right with three albums and hits such as “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “Lights Out.”

Although Presley was famous from the moment she was born and a singer in her own right, she gained her own fame in pop culture with her surprise marriage to embattled pop superstar Michael Jackson and, later, being wed to Elvis aficionado and actor Nicolas Cage.

According to Michael Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, Lisa Marie Presley was the “love of Jackson's life.” Jackson wanted her to have his children, but Presley resisted, feeling the marriage wasn't strong enough and fearing a custody fight if they were to divorce —  which they did.

Both those marriages to Jackson and Cage were short-lived, although more lasting unions brought four children, including her son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 and was buried at Graceland alongside his grandfather Elvis, and now his mother.

Presley left behind three daughters, 34-year-old “Daisy Jones & the Six” actor Riley Keough and 15-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood from her marriage to American guitarist and producer Michael Lockwood.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” said Presley’s mother, Priscilla Presley, in a statement to The Associated Press at the time. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

A Conversation With

TONY CASTRO

 New York Times bestselling author Tony Castro talks about his new book Maris & Mantle: Two Yankees, Immortality and the Age of Camelot, and the role of teammates Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in defining the 1960s in America. Publisher Triumph Books calls Maris & Mantle, "the never before told story of the profound and compelling friendship between the two New York legends." Tony was interviewed by Ashley Chase and the blog Start Spreading the News.

 

What brought you to this subject? And what compelled you to write a book on it?

Roger Maris, pure and simple. And the chance coincidence that I happened to sit in on a Harvard symposium on the Age of John F. Kennedy when Presidential historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. remarked that the early 1960s in America were possibly defined as much by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle as they were by President Kennedy himself. And, of course I had written extensively about Mantle, and this seemed like the perfect place to write a book harkening back to a golden age in baseball and in America and what Schlesinger had said about Maris, Mantle, and JFK being a pop cultural troika defining that era.

What is this book about?

On one level it’s about America’s obsession with the home run not only in baseball but also in politics, entertainment, and pop culture. Sportswriter and author Richard Hoffer once suggested about Mantle and perhaps heroes altogether, that we don’t mind our heroes flawed, or even doomed.  In America, failure is forgiven of the big swingers, in whom even foolishness is flamboyant — and that, yes, the world will always belong to those who swing from the heels. And maybe that’s why Mantle once said, “I guess you could say I’m what this country’s all about.”

Check Out a Sample of MARIS & MANTLE

 

A sample of MARIS & MANTLE is available at https://bit.ly/3petTjq

Signed author copies of the book can be ordered at http://marismantle.com

 

THE M&M BOYS: A PROFILE IN CIVILITY is how presidential historian Michael Beschloss described them more than half a century later, harkening back to a golden age in baseball and America that Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle helped define every bit as much as John F. Kennedy.

MARIS & MANTLE: Two Yankees, Immortality and the Age of Camelot is the first, epic and true story of the Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle friendship forever intertwined in baseball history thanks to the unforgettable 1961 season, when the two Yankee icons spurred each other to new heights in pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. History has largely overlooked the bond between the two men not as titans of their sport, but as people.

 

Guided by Tony Castro, bestselling author and foremost chronicler of Mantle, readers will journey into history, from the Yankees' blockbuster trade for Maris, whose acquisition re-ignited Mantle's career after a horrendous 1959 season, to the heroics of 1961 and far beyond. This dual biography is a thoroughly researched, emotionally gripping portrait that brings Yankees lore alive.

Few figures in American sports have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Roger Maris. Castro's biography gives Maris his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that his slugging and baseball greatness were the result of Roger's countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. "To repudiate his legacy," Castro writes, "is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern home run hitter." Castro's portrait of Roger is a Maris far more human than we've encountered before--from his rise as the son of Eastern European immigrants to his fiery aspirations to beat Yankee fan favorite Mickey Mantle to the most cherished record in all sports.

Thank You, Readers!

Ashton Kutcher was among more than 400 who attended Tony's book signing at Lucy's El Adobe Cafe in Hollywood.

People often ask me which is my favorite out of all the books I’ve written, and I always reply that books are like children – you love them all equally but differently.

I stand by that answer, but sometimes the characters in a book will resonate so much with you that you want to continue spending time with them. That happened to me with Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, and also with my newest book, Maris & Mantle: Two Yankees, Immortality and the Age of Camelot. I completed that manuscript two summers ago, and surprisingly Maris stays with me even as I move on as a writer.

Fortunately, the promotion of Maris & Mantle has givien me ample opportunity to keep Roger in my immediate thoughts. He was his own man, and sometimes I feel as though the book is more of a biography of Roger Maris -- a biography of an American original in which Mickey Mantle played an important part.

Of course, you, readers, are my partners in this adventure. For that, I’m so truly grateful to those of you who helped make Maris & Mantle a bestseller at Amazon -- and helped return Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, originally published in 2002, back to the bestseller list this year as well. 

 

 

Why I've Written About Mickey Mantle

I was attracted to the double tragedy of Mickey's youth and his death hanging over him and how he loses the only person who meant anything to him -- his father. Mutt Mantle, the center of Mickey's universe, died tragically young in the spring of 1952, Mantle's second season as a Yankee. And, in his own way, Mickey goes mad with grief and rage. How could you not be moved by that story?

Set in the epic world of baseball in which Mantle has a grand destiny, Mickey's story is just an updating of one of the oldest classics in literature. Whether it's Achilles going mad with grief and rage after the death of his cousin and friend Patroclus. Or Hamlet going mad with grief and rage after the murder of his father. 

Achilles used his rage to help conquer Troy, and Hamlet's rage drove him to destroy the kingdom that had been stolen from his father. 

Mantle? Though he, too, was doomed and without giving much thought to his own health, Mickey led a New York Yankees wrecking crew to championship after championship, becoming certainly the greatest switch-hitter in baseball and arguably -- certainly in the minds of his legion of fans -- the greatest player in the game.

Mickey's is the definitive father-son story of our time. http://marismantle.com

When Mickey Tried to Console Jackie O.

BASEBALL LEGEND MICKEY MANTLE, who lived in fear of dying young of the Hodgkins disease that killed several members of his family, tried to reach out to comfort former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the early 1990s when he learned she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Mickey’s longtime friend Pat Summerall, the former New York Giants football player and sports analyst, told Mantle biographer Tony Castro that he tried to connect the legendary slugger with the widow of President John F. Kennedy.

“But I think that by the time Mickey and the rest of the world were aware Mrs. Kennedy’s was sick that her condition had worsened and she was only seeing family,” Summerall told Castro, whose new book Mantle: The Best That Ever Was will be released April 12 by Rowman & Littlefield.

Book Preview: Mick's True Love, Holly Brooke

"Above Grand Central Station, there used to be this incredibly fabulously opulent apartment that looked like a palace that the original architect built as part of the original design, and in 1951 I knew someone — I knew a lot of people even then — who arranged for me, for us, to stay there one night that summer. And so Mickey and I spent one of the greatest nights of our lives there. It was a romantic, magical evening. We made love all night. We were both young and in love, and he wanted to marry me and spend the rest of our lives together.”

                                                          — Holly Brooke

MICKEY MANTLE FANS, memorize the name Holly Brooke.

In his book Maris & Mantle, author Tony Castro reveals that the Yankees’ switch-hitting icon proposed to New York actress Holly Brooke during his 1951 rookie season and that they carried on a torrid love affair for years even after he married his high school sweetheart just to please his dying father.

Holly’s existence had been known since the 1950s and for decades, sportswriters and authors tried unsuccessfully to interview Brooke – but were never even able to track her down.

'Mantle' Earns A Starred Review From 'Booklist'

Thank you, Booklist, for your Starred Review of MANTLE: THE BEST THERE EVER WAS #MantleTheBest http://MickeyMantle.live