Category Archives: Marilyn Monroe

Brighton Shows Love (and Pride) for Marilyn

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Art and Photography, Brighton, Marilyn Monroe, Politics

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Brighton Pride is the biggest event of its kind in the UK, and one of the most popular worldwide. This weekend, a rainbow ribbon of graffiti streamed across my hometown – including this mural at the old Methodist Church on 88 London Road. Created by The Postman and broken//hartist, after Richard Avedon’s 1957 photograph, widely known as ‘Sad Marilyn‘ – all the more touching as this Pride weekend coincided with the 57th anniversary of Marilyn’s passing, and she will always be loved by our LGBTQ+ community.

Some Kind Of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe

04 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction

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In 1954, Marilyn Monroe was rehearsing ‘Do It Again’ as part of her show for U.S. troops in Korea, when the officer in charge of her tour deemed the Gershwin standard “too suggestive,” and insisted she change the title to ‘Kiss Me Again.’ “People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of as a person,” she remarked in her memoir, My Story. “They didn’t see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts.” Her comment inspired the title (and epigraph) for a new book, Some Kind of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe by Amanda Konkle, assistant professor of literature and film studies at Georgia Southern University. Continue reading →

‘Madame X’ is a Birthday Girl

14 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by in Books, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Music, Updates

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In my 35+ years of fandom, this is the first time a Madonna album has dropped on my birthday – and it’s a masterpiece! As well as the delectable Madame X, I also got a copy of Marilyn Monroe In Spain, a wonderful book by the artist, author and museum owner, Frederic Cabanas … “Saludos a todos mis amigos!”

Sunshine Blondes: Marilyn and Doris Day

14 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Film, Marilyn Monroe

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“You take the grey skies out of my way
You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day…”
– Wham!, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ (1984) Continue reading →

Marilyn’s Monsters

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Art and Photography, Books, Fiction, Film, Marilyn Monroe

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Marilyn Monroe has long been an inspiration to artists and writers. Among the many books devoted to her life and image are a number of comics and graphic novels. Kathryn Hyatt’s Marilyn: The Story of a Woman (1996) and Dana Gachman’s recent contribution to the Tribute series both opt for fairly conventional, if sympathetic narratives. It is from outside the USA that more imaginative retellings have emerged, such as Sergio Toppi’s 16-page comic, plus two full-length books: Jean-Francois Charles’ Shooting Star (2006) and Jose Correa’s Dreams of a Butterfly (2012.)

Tommy Redolfi’s Holy Wood was first published in France in 2016, and is now available in English as Marilyn’s Monsters, published by Life Drawn, a literary imprint from comic book publisher Humanoids. The French-born Redolfi now lives in Los Angeles, and has made several films as well as other graphic novels, including a 2007 tome about one of Marilyn’s idols, Mae West. Marilyn’s Monsters comes with an endorsement from cult filmmaker David Cronenberg: “A brilliant, hallucinatory meditation on the phenomenon of Marilyn Monroe. It will alter your understanding of both Hollywood and Marilyn.” Continue reading →

Artists in Love: Marilyn and Arthur Miller

04 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in Marilyn Monroe, Television

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This article was first published at Immortal Marilyn in October 2017

Artists in Love is a ten-part documentary series, produced in Italy for the satellite channel Sky Arts, and first broadcast in 2016. Among the famous couples profiled are the Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; opera singer Maria Callas’s tortured relationship with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis; plus singers Johnny Cash and June Carter, and filmmaker Federico Fellini and his actress wife, Giulietta Masina. Continue reading →

The Ladies of Rockhaven

20 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by in Books, History, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction

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Nestled among the hills and mountain ranges just beyond Los Angeles, Crescenta Valley was home to the indigenous Tongva people for thousands of years. During the Spanish colonial period it became part of the San Gabriel Mission. By the late 1800s, its warm, dry climate was attracting both tourists and health seekers, and after his wife’s death from tuberculosis, Dr. Benjamin Briggs moved there to build a sanitarium for those suffering from lung ailments. His success encouraged others to follow suit, including Merritt Kimball who founded a sanitarium for psychiatric patients. Perhaps the most unique of these pioneering establishments was Rockhaven, a sanctuary for vulnerable women opened by Agnes Richards in the 1920s.  Continue reading →

2018: A Year in Film and TV

18 Tuesday Dec 2018

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I’m lucky enough to live just around the corner from the Duke of York’s, England’s oldest independent cinema; and so this year I made the most of my Picturehouse membership. I like movies that blend a touch of realism with a sense of style: Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo and Kore-Eda Hirokazu’s Shoplifters satisfied those needs.  Continue reading →

Marilyn: A Public Icon, in Private

05 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction

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Charles Casillo is a multi-talented author, actor and screenwriter. His books include the novel, The Marilyn Diaries – a reimagining of Monroe’s final years – and a biography of the novelist and gay icon, John Rechy. Casillo was also a consultant and researcher for J. Randy Taraborrelli’s The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. In an appendix, Taraborrelli acknowledged Casillo as one of the “true experts” on Marilyn’s life, an “’ultimate’ Marilyn Monroe fan who understands her character and personality so well.” Now almost a decade later, with Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon finally published, Taraborrelli hails it as “the book he was always meant to write.” Continue reading →

Marilyn in Hollywood: The ‘Confidential’ Years

24 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by in Books, Fiction, Film, History, Magazines, Marilyn Monroe

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Samantha Barbas is a professor of law at the University of Buffalo, specialising in the history of America’s mass media. Her previous publications include Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity (2001), and The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons (2005.) In her latest book, Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Notorious Scandal Magazine, she explores the lurid history and aftermath of a 1950s publishing phenomenon. Continue reading →