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Megan Fox Removes MM Tattoo

Just for laughs: Marilyn with a Megan Fox tattoo

Starlet Megan Fox (Transformers, Jennifer’s Body) is a longtime Marilyn fan. ‘She was one of the first people I saw on television, like, literally moments after I was born,’ Fox claimed – rather incredibly – in 2009. ‘Every time I heard her voice growing up I would always cry. I wouldn’t know why when I was younger, but now have my own theories. I’ve just always empathised with her.’

However, it seems Megan has now had a change of heart. The tattoo of Monroe on Megan’s arm is now being removed. ‘I’m removing it,’ Megan told Amica magazine recently. ‘She was a negative person, she was disturbed, bipolar. I do not want to attract this kind of negative energy in my life.’

It’s important to realise that while Marilyn clearly battled with emotional issues and suffered from depressive episodes, she was never conclusively diagnosed with any mental illness. Labels such as ‘personality disorders’ and ‘bipolar’ are modern concepts and we should be wary of imposing them retrospectively.

Mental illness is clearly something Megan worries about. Last year she told Wonderland magazine, ‘I basically read every book ever written about Marilyn Monroe. I could end up like that because I constantly struggle with the idea that I think I’m a borderline personality – or that I have bouts of mild schizophrenia. I definitely think I have some kind of mental problem and I haven’t pinpointed what it is.’

Perhaps Megan doesn’t want to be seen as a ‘tragic’ figure in the way Marilyn is sometimes depicted. And I can understand Megan changing her mind about a tattoo and having it removed. I never thought it was a particularly good likeness of Marilyn, anyway.

However, it is rather a shame that Megan seems to be masking her own insecurities by casting Marilyn as a bad influence. In her Examiner column, Elisa Jordan writes:  ‘My biggest concern about this entire situation is that Fox implies that psychological disorders are “negative.” The wording and sentiment are unfortunate, as they reinforce stereotypes that mental disorders are somehow bad or that people with them should be avoided. While it is doubtful that Fox intended to offend anyone, she has nonetheless shown insensitivity to an entire group of people.’

Megan Fox is a pin-up for our time, just as Marilyn was in her early career. I have seen her act only once but I thought she had great screen presence. Unfortunately, Megan hasn’t chosen her roles well and, so far, her performances haven’t lived up to the hype.

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Friends Recall Marilyn’s Mystique

Marilyn by Harold Lloyd, 1953

In an article for LiveAuctionTalk, Rosemary McKittrick examines Marilyn’s enduring appeal, quoting friends and other celebrities, including actress Arlene Dahl, singer Diahann Carroll (who also performed at the Kennedy birthday gala), and actor Michael Shaw (who was interviewed for Taraborrelli’s 2009 biography of Monroe.)

‘ “I’ve never see anyone stop a room like that,” said actress Arlene Dahl. “People just wanted to stand near her, smell her fragrance, breathe the same air as she.”

“It’s certainly her beauty I remember most,” recalled songstress Diahann Carroll. “As I sang, I distinctly remember being somewhat distracted by her gaze. Her tragic beauty, so vulnerable…so lost.”

Her friend and acting coach Michael Shaw saw her arrive one day at Fox studio. Marilyn was wearing a pair of pedal pushers, flat shoes and a simple scarf. He said no one paid any attention to her because she looked like a 14-year-old kid. Then she went into her dressing room and said, “Well, time to put her together.” About 40 minutes later she came out and there was a total transformation. Marilyn Monroe walked out, he said. She was a knockout. ‘

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Sugar in the Meadow

Some Like it Hot is screening at Grantchester Meadows on August 28 at 8pm, reports Cambridge News.  The film soundtrack will be played to each individual through headphones (sometimes called a ‘silent-disco’ screening), so the meadow will remain quiet other than people laughing, crying or singing along to the film. You can pre-book here

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Sharon Corr’s Fantasy Dinner Guests

 

Marilyn is already something of a fixture on many people’s fantasy dinner guest lists. Talking to The Scotsman, singer Sharon Corr adds a new twist:

“I’d invite Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, just to see how they really got on; Yeshua Ben Josef, to ask him if he was actually Cat Stevens; Oscar Wilde, to capture the moment for all of us; and Debbie Harry, for a little punk flair. We’d eat a lot.”

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Best Actress Rewind: 1961

Over at PopMatters, Matt Mazur casts an eye at 1961’s Oscar nominees, and argues that Marilyn should have been on the list: ‘Marilyn Monroe’s final, haunting dramatic turn in John Huston’s The Misfits is a subtle marvel.’

1961’s winner was Sophia Loren, for Two Women. Mazur has previously contended that Marilyn merited a nomination for Some Like it Hot (1959), and also Kim Stanley for her MM-inspired role in 1958’s The Goddess.

Whenever Mazur gets around to 1956, I hope he’ll mention Marilyn’s extraordinary performance in Bus Stop. Not only should she have been nominated that year, I think she deserved to win outright.

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Doomed Fictional Holidays: Niagara, 1953

How do you fit adultery, strangulation and drowning on a postcard? The Guardian awards Niagara 4th place on their list of The 10 Worst Fictional Holidays:

“Doomed holidays dominated the silver screen in 1953. While M. Hulot did his worst in France, director Henry Hathaway chose the Niagara Falls as the backdrop for his film in which Ray and Polly Cutler (Max Showalter and Jean Peters) take a delayed honeymoon. They show up at the falls to find their cabin already occupied by George and Rose Loomis (Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe), and Monroe (above) is about to reveal herself as a force of nature to rival Niagara. Her murderous love life comes close to sending everyone, unlucky lovebirds included, over the edge.”

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Warhol Exhibition in Bexhill, Sussex

Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych (1962) will be among the pop artist’s many famous works on display at a new exhibition, Warhol is Here, opening at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, East Sussex on September 24, through to February 26, 2012. Best of all, admission is free!

“The Pavilion is delighted to announce that one of Warhol’s most important works the Marilyn Diptych(1962), will be part of the exhibition.  The painting, made in 1962, shortly after the actress’ death, comprises two canvasses, each containing 25 silkscreened repetitions of the image of Marilyn Monroe first used as a publicity photograph taken for her role in the film Niagara.  It is considered to be one of the world’s most important pieces of contemporary art and was created at a time when Warhol was moving from being a commercial artist and establishing his reputation as a fine artist.”

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‘To the Beat of Her Own Drum’

Joani Waldor Hannan, the drummer of Sweet Sue’s Society Syncopators in Some Like it Hot, spoke to MyDesert recently:

‘Her nonspeaking role appears early on in a scene of the band rehearsing on a train. She passionately plays the drums directly behind Monroe, who sings and shimmies with abandon.

Hannan’s most memorable encounter with Monroe happened off-screen.

Monroe was standing beside her drum set as a scene was set up, Hannan said, and remarked in her famously breathy voice: “I just love the drums. I wish you’d teach me to play.”

Hannan was speechless. In that moment, she was as starstruck as Monroe seemed nervous.

“She was a sweet, sweet person,” Hannan said about the star. “She was not dumb at all. Always late? Yes.”

Hannan counts the film among her career highlights. But it was not without challenges.

Getting the part required acting in a way that made her uncomfortable. She knew from prior experience performing with bands on USO tours that an “extremely feminine” drummer was wanted.

“I was forced to be a hetero woman,” said Hannan, who is a lesbian. “I had to constantly flirt.”

Though she got dressed up and “swung my hips for the interview,” Hannan said her confident drumming got her the part. The producers wanted band members who were attractive but they didn’t want dainty performers, she said.’

Some Like it Hot will screen at the Palm Springs Art Museum on August 25 at 6pm.