Journalist Doug Draper shares this baby photo of himself with his father and Casey Adams, who played honeymooner Ray Cutler in Niagara (1953.) After changing his name to Max Showalter, Adams would play a Life photographer in another Monroe movie, Bus Stop (1956.)
Tantalisingly, Marilyn was nearby when this snapshot was taken – however, one year-old Draper never took his chance to pose with the greatest movie star of all…
“So there I was in front of Niagara Park’s Table Rock restaurant with Casey while Marilyn Monroe was somewhere in the restaurant and people were coming out, saying to my parents how nice Marilyn was and ‘you should go in to see her’. My parents said maybe we should not go in with the baby – Meaning Me!!!!!
And all I am thinking, all these many years later is – ‘Please go in with the baby. Marilyn, who apparently always wanted a baby of her own, might quite likely have been willing to hold me – maybe even cuddle me (wow) – for just one moment for a picture from my dad. And what a picture that would have been, and I’ve never stopped making my poor parents feel guilty about this. And sorry for any offence to Casey Adams.”
