09 Thursday Sep 2021
Posted in Film, Marilyn Monroe, Periodicals
≈ Comments Off on Donald Zec: Marilyn’s Man at ‘The Mirror’
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Arthur Miller, Bus Stop, Colin Clark, Daily Mirror, Donald Zec, Let's Make Love, Marilyn Monroe, Niagara, The Mirror, The Prince And The Showgirl
Donald Zec, the British journalist who covered show-business for the Daily Mirror over four decades, has died at the grand old age of 102. Continue reading
16 Sunday May 2021
Posted in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Periodicals
≈ Comments Off on Marilyn Monroe: The Classic Performances
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Arthur Miller, As Young As You Feel, Billy Wilder, Bus Stop, Chris Wade, Clash By Night, Don't Bother To Knock, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, John Huston, Ladies of the Chorus, Laurence Olivier, Love Happy, Love Nest, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe: The Classic Performances, Monkey Business, Niagara, River of No Return, Scenes Magazine, Some Like It Hot, Sophia Loren, The Asphalt Jungle, The Countess From Hong Kong, The Misfits, The Prince And The Showgirl, The Seven Year Itch
“My God, I think there have been more books on Marilyn Monroe than on World War II, and there’s a great similarity.”
So said Billy Wilder, who made two classic films with Monroe – and although the great director was prone to exaggerate, he had the battle scars to prove his point. Marilyn Monroe: The Classic Performances is the latest in an ongoing series from the prolific Chris Wade – a musician and filmmaker in his own right, with an admirable DIY ethic – whose past subjects include Marlene Dietrich, Sophia Loren and Madonna. Continue reading
04 Sunday Aug 2019
Posted in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction
≈ Comments Off on Some Kind Of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe
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All About Eve, Amanda Konkle, Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Bus Stop, Clash By Night, Don't Bother To Knock, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, George Axelrod, How to Marry a Millionaire, Jack Cole, Jayne Mansfield, Kim Stanley, Let's Make Love, Love Happy, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Method Acting, Monkey Business, Niagara, O. Henry's Full House, Some Kind of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot, The Asphalt Jungle, The Misfits, The Prince And The Showgirl, The Seven Year Itch, We're Not Married
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
30 Tuesday Apr 2019
Posted in Art and Photography, Books, Fiction, Film, Marilyn Monroe
≈ Comments Off on Marilyn’s Monsters
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Betty Boop, Bus Stop, Comic Book, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Graphic Novel, Humanoids, Life Drawn, Love Happy, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn's Monsters, Sugar Kane, The Seven Year Itch, Tommy Redolfi
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
05 Sunday Dec 2010
Posted in Art and Photography, Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction
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Andre De Dienes, Arthur Miller, Bus Stop, Cindy De La Hoz, George Barris, Janice Anderson, Jenna Glatzer, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe: The Personal Archive, Platinum Fox, Susan Doll
Cindy De La Hoz is an American film historian, and has previously written about Lana Turner and Lucille Ball, as well as Platinum Fox (2007), a pictorial retrospective of Marilyn Monroe’s career at Twentieth Century Fox. The latter book was followed by a miniature edition, simply entitled Marilyn.
Marilyn Monroe: The Personal Archive is a broader look at Monroe’s life. It also features twenty facsimile documents, and is published in the UK by Carlton Books. In 2008, the US bookstore, Barnes & Noble, released a similar photo-biography with inserts, Jenna Glatzer’s The Marilyn Monroe Treasures, now out of print.
Like Platinum Fox, De La Hoz’s book is lavishly designed, with a cushioned cover and pastel colour scheme. Continue reading
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