27 Friday Oct 2017
Posted in Film, History, Marilyn Monroe, Radio, Television
≈ Comments Off on Marilyn in Love … and Art
Tags
Arthur Miller, Artists in Love, Documentaries, Immortal Marilyn, Karina Longworth, Marilyn Monroe, Podcasts, Samantha Morton, You Must Remember This
I have written two new reviews for the Immortal Marilyn website. The first, Dead Blondes: You Must Remember Marilyn, covers film historian Karina Longworth’s podcast series from earlier this year, while Artists in Love: Marilyn and Arthur Miller looks back at a 2016 TV documentary for the Sky Arts channel.
24 Monday Apr 2017
Posted in Marilyn Monroe, Television
≈ Comments Off on Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
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Channel 4, David Gainsborough Roberts, Documentaries, Elizabeth Winder, Frieda Hull, Immortal Marilyn, Julien's Auctions, Lee Strasberg, Lois Banner, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime, Sarah Churchwell
These rare stills are taken from amateur footage filmed in July 1960 by Frieda Hull, one of the fabled ‘Monroe Six’, as Marilyn arrived in New York to make test shots for The Misfits. Miss Hull’s vast archive of candid images went under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions last November, alongside never-seen items from the Lee Strasberg estate and movie costumes collected by David Gainsborough Roberts, in the largest dedicated sale since the Christie’s auction of 1999. This one-off event – raising $11 million in total bids – was the subject of a recent Channel 4 documentary, Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime, which I’ve reviewed at Immortal Marilyn.
At the time of writing, the programme is still available to watch online. And if you’re looking for a more detailed view of the sale, I also wrote a series of reports on my Marilyn-only blog, ES Updates.
02 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Amy Winehouse, Film, Music
≈ Comments Off on Art Decades 5: ‘Amy’, and More
My review of Asif Kapadia’s documentary, Amy, is featured in Issue 5 of Art Decades, out now. Continue reading
17 Friday Jan 2014
Posted in Anniversaries, History, Profumo Affair, Television, Wicked Baby
Tags
Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Christine Keeler, Documentaries, ITV, John Profumo, Mandy Rice-Davies, Profumo Affair, Sex Lies and A Very British Scapegoat, Stephen Ward
Sex, Lies and A Very British Scapegoat was first broadcast on ITV1 on December 22nd, 2013. Presented by the composer and theatrical impresario, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, the documentary marks the end of a year’s reflection on the Profumo Affair, half a century after the first scandal erupted. Focussing on one man’s downfall, the programme also coincides with the opening of Stephen Ward: The Musical. Continue reading
19 Friday Aug 2011
Posted in History, Television, Witchcraft
≈ Comments Off on The Pendle Witch Child
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Child Witnesses, Documentaries, Early Modern History, Jennet Device, Lancashire Witches, Pendle Witches, Phoebe Boswell, Simon Armitage, The Pendle Witch Child, Witchcraft
Simon Armitage – one of Britain’s leading poets – was born in West Yorkshire. Like many local children, he would have been raised on stories of the Pendle Witches in nearby Lancashire.
A grimly intoxicating blend of history, crime and folklore is richly evoked in Armitage’s new BBC Four documentary, The Pendle Witch Child. Next year marks the fourth centenary of the notorious 1612 trial, the largest of its kind in England at the time. Continue reading
16 Tuesday Aug 2011
Wishing Madonna Ciccone a happy 53rd birthday…
Madonna and Malawi: ‘I Am Because We Are’
“People have asked, “Why did you choose Malawi?” I always answer, “I didn’t. Malawi chose me.” Continue reading
16 Monday May 2011
Posted in Film, Marilyn Monroe
Tags
Arline Hunter, Documentaries, Don't Bother To Knock, Dr Ralph Greenson, George Belmont, John Miner, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn: The Last Sessions, Michel Schneider, Niagara, Patrick Jeudy
Marilyn: The Last Sessions is a documentary made by Patrick Jeudy in 2008, based on a 2006 novel by Michel Schneider. Continue reading
16 Monday Aug 2010
Posted in Film, Marilyn Monroe
David L. Wolper was born in New York City, 1928. After studying cinema and journalism at University of South California, Wolper set up a television distribution company in 1949, selling old movie serials to the small screen, then in its infancy. In 1955, Wolper moved into production with his documentary, The Race for Space, featuring unseen Russian footage. It was finally broadcast in 1960, earning an Oscar nomination.
By 1963, Wolper had been dubbed ‘Mr Documentary’ by Time, and had produced many more programs, including the Emmy award-winning Making of the President 1960. When Marilyn Monroe died in 1962, Wolper sent a team of cameramen to her funeral. He was one of the first to propose a documentary about her life, though initially most networks were uninterested.
The Legend of Marilyn Monroe, produced in 1964, is still available on DVD today and remains one of the pioneering biographical works on the actress. Speaking in the 1990s, Wolper said that he believed the authentic quality of the documentary came from it having been made so soon after Monroe’s death, when the people close to her were still alive and their memories fresh. Continue reading
