07 Saturday Jun 2008
Posted in Books, Interviews, Marilyn Monroe, The Mmm Girl, Updates
≈ Comments Off on Interviewed at MarilynFan.org
MarilynFan.org was founded in 2003, by Dutch-based web designer Marloes De Vries. With stunning, innovative layouts, unique information and a high-quality photo gallery, MarilynFan is one of the best sites around, and should be the first stop for anyone wanting to learn more about Marilyn Monroe.
Now MarilynFan is back in a new, blog-style format, and Marloes has recently interviewed me regarding my novel, The Mmm Girl. You can read the article in full here
26 Monday May 2008
Posted in Art and Photography, Film, Marilyn Monroe
≈ Comments Off on Cornell Capa 1918-2008
Cornell Capa has died in New York, aged 90. The brother of war photographer Robert Capa, he was a distinguished artist in his own right. He used the term ‘concerned photography’ to describe his work, which blurred the line between image and reality. This shot of Marilyn Monroe is a good example – though it appears to catch her off-guard, she was acting in a scene from The Misfits.
As part of the Magnum group, Capa covered a diverse range of subjects, from the Kennedy presidency to the hidden lives of disabled children. You can view his work here
Read his obituary in The Guardian, here
18 Sunday May 2008
Posted in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction
The Immortal Marilyn: The Depiction Of An Icon, by John De Vito and Frank Tropea, offers new insight into the cultural significance of Marilyn Monroe. As the title suggests, it is not a biography, but an iconography of the star, charting the various representations of her on stage, screen and in documentaries. Continue reading
15 Thursday May 2008
Posted in Film, Marilyn Monroe, Updates
≈ Comments Off on Dear Mr Gable…
Two new articles for my series, ‘Another Side Of Marilyn’, are now on the Immortal Marilyn website. The first, for my ‘Films Marilyn Considered’ column, covers the 1954 epic The Egyptian. And ‘Dear Mr Gable’, for my ‘Marilyn’s Heroes’ topic, considers her admiration for the king of Hollywood, Clark Gable.
11 Sunday May 2008
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Portrait by Jim McDermott
It was a hot, peaceful, optimistic sort of day in September. It was around 11 in the morning, I remember, and I was drifting down the Boulevard St. Michel, thoughts rising in my head like little puffs of smoke, when suddenly a voice bellowed into my ear: “Sally Jay Gorce! What the hell? Well, for Christ’s sake, can this really be our own little Sally Jay Gorce?” I felt a hand ruffling my hair and I swung around, furious at being so rudely awakened.
This is the opening paragraph of Elaine Dundy’s delightful first novel, The Dud Avocado. First published in 1958, it is based on the author’s memories of life as a young American in Paris. Elaine Rita Brimberg was born in New York in 1921, and later moved to Europe to become an actress. She married the legendary English theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan, and moved in glamourous circles. As Elaine found success in writing, her marriage began to deteriorate. After their divorce in 1964, Elaine returned to New York and worked in journalism, writing acclaimed biographies of Peter Finch and Elvis Presley. Her biography, Life Itself, was published in 2001. She died at her Los Angeles home on May 1st, 2008.
To learn more about Elaine Dundy, click here
Read an extract from The Dud Avocado
Read an extract from Life Itself
My review of Elvis And Gladys
A Tupelo friend remembers Elaine Dundy, here
Tara Hanks 
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