Writing for The National in Dubai, Helena Frith Powell ponders Marilyn’s appeal:
‘When I was 10, The Sunday Times magazine serialised Norman Mailer’s biography of Marilyn Monroe. I don’t know how or why I had heard of her but I collected all the articles and stuck them in a scrapbook, on the cover of which I wrote Marilyn. Unfortunately, my stepfather thought it was unsuitable reading for a little girl and confiscated it…
I can gaze happily at photographs of Marilyn for hours on end. There is something so captivating about her beauty, and also something intangible that draws you back again and again. She seems so much more special than countless other actresses.
But if we’re honest, we don’t remember Marilyn because of her films or even her songs. Rather, there is something about Marilyn the woman that is endlessly fascinating. Her self-doubt, her disastrous relationships, her humour (famously late for everything, she once quipped: “I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time”) and of course, that endearing vulnerability.’
