Dear Birthday Girl – Unwrapping the Marilyn Archive

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On what would be Marilyn Monroe’s 97th birthday, here’s a gift from me to all her fans. (The photo above – shot by Ed Feingersh in March 1955 – shows Marilyn looking up at a James Thurber drawing on the wall of Costello’s Restaurant, an Irish bar on Third Avenue in Manhattan,  beloved by the literati.)

As regular readers will know, I’m the author of The Mmm Girl, a novel about Marilyn Monroe – and way back in 2010, I started a daily blog on Marilyn called ES Updates, part of the Everlasting Star online community. After a decade, I moved to a fully independent blog, The Marilyn Report, which continues to this day.

So what is THE MARILYN  ARCHIVE? It’s a way of keeping all the highlights from the ES Updates era online. My focus is on preserving stories of lasting value pertaining to Marilyn’s remarkable life and career, and her enduring cultural impact. So I won’t be repeating the more ephemeral posts about screenings, exhibitions, etc unless they’re still relevant.

It’s a long project, covering Marilyn-related news from 2010-20 – and at the time of writing, I’ve been working on it for a year and am approximately halfway done. I’ll keep adding to the archive whenever I have time, and my posts are usually either chronological or related to topics of current interest. So if you want to know more, please bookmark The Marilyn Archive and search away!

Tara Hanks

Scandal ’63 Revisited: Symposium in Leicester

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A symposium for Scandal ’63 Revisited will be held at Leicester Gallery on Friday, April 14th, ahead of the exhibition’s last day on Saturday. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance here. (The flyer image seen above shows an outtake from Christine Keeler’s iconic photo shoot with Lewis Morley, who later recreated her most famous pose with the Leicester-born playwright and provocateur, Joe Orton.)

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Walter Mirisch: ‘Some Like It Hot’ Producer Dies at 101

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Walter Mirisch, producer of Some Like It Hot, has died aged 101. Continue reading

‘Scandal’ Revisited as New Exhibition Opens in Leicester

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Scandal, the 1989 movie dramatising the Profumo Affair, is showing at the Phoenix Leicester at 7:30 pm this Friday, March 3rd, introduced by producer Stephen Woolley with an onstage Q&A. Whatever you may think of the narrative, Scandal boasts terrific performances by John Hurt as Stephen Ward and Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler (seen above with Bridget Fonda); surprising cameo turns (Leslie Phillips as Lord Astor!); and a fabulous retro soundtrack topped by Dusty Springfield’s comeback hit, ‘Nothing Has Been Proved.’

The screening is in partnership with Leicester Gallery on the De Montfort University campus, where a new exhibition, Scandal ‘63 Revisited: Reframing the Profumo Affair via Art and Artefact, opens on Friday, following a private view from 6 pm – 8 pm on Thursday with Christine Keeler’s son, Seymour Platt. (If you plan to attend the preview, please RSVP to leicestergallery@dmu.ac.uk.) Continue reading

Stella Stevens: An Adventurous Blonde

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Actress Stella Stevens died in Los Angeles on Friday, February 17th, 2023, aged 84. Continue reading