American Blondes: Marilyn and Lana Turner

09 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by marina72 in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction

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Betty Grable, Cindy De La Hoz, Clark Gable, Dore Schary, Endometriosis, Jack Cole, Johnny Hyde, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe, MGM, Mickey Rooney, Otto Preminger, Sweater Girl

American Blondes: Marilyn and Lana Turner

Marilyn Monroe is sometimes described as the last of Hollywood’s great sex symbols. Early in her career she was dubbed ‘the new Jean Harlow’, and she replaced Betty Grable as glamour queen at Twentieth Century-Fox. But what of Lana Turner, blonde bombshell of the 1940s? In her stunning pictorial biography, Lana: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies, co-written with Cindy De La Hoz (author of two books on Monroe), Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane, states that her mother ‘thought Marilyn Monroe was a fine actress besides being a fascinating personality’. Continue reading →

‘Black Dahlia and White Rose’

27 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by marina72 in Books, Fiction, History, Marilyn Monroe

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Black Dahlia, Crime Fiction, E-Books, Joyce Carol Oates, L.A. Noire, Marilyn Monroe

L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories

L.A. Noire is styled like a detective movie of the 1940s. Aesthetically, it pays homage to film noir, while adapting new technologies like real-time action and multiple camera angles. Set in post-war Los Angeles, it also features a jazz soundtrack. Publication of an e-book of eight short stories by some of the world’s leading writers – in genres ranging from literary to pulp fiction – was announced in May. Each piece is set in 1947, the same year that casino owner Bugsy Siegel and Elizabeth Short (‘The Black Dahlia’) were murdered. Continue reading →

‘Mad About Marilyn’ Spring Issue

09 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by marina72 in Books, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Periodicals

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Cindy De La Hoz, Douglas Kirkland, Lois Banner, Mad About Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe, Modern Screen, USS Bennington

My reviews of Cindy De La Hoz’s Marilyn Monroe: The Personal Archive and MM – Personal by Lois Banner are featured in the latest issue of the Mad About Marilyn fanzine, which also includes a vintage article, ‘…and the Lord Taketh Away’, from Modern Screen in 1957; a piece on Marilyn’s 1955 visit to USS Bennington; and a profile of photographer Douglas Kirkland.

If you would like to join the Mad About Marilyn Fan Club, please email Emma: emmadowning@blueyonder.co.uk