In 1953, 21 year-old Alice Majcher was working at the Banff Springs Hotel as a chambermaid, and became good friends with a very famous guest – Marilyn Monroe. She shares her memories over at Banff Crag and Canyon.com. (Interestingly, she has yet to see the film Marilyn was shooting – River of No Return.)
“‘She was very sweet and very quiet, very soft spoken and very friendly. She was lovely,’ McDonald recounts while sitting at breakfast on Sunday, May 19, the morning after the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel’s alumni gala celebrating the castle’s 125th anniversary.
The King City resident also describes how Monroe shared her chocolates with her when she came to tidy up Monroe’s room and one time, McDonald even modeled a pair of Monroe’s own shoes for the actress. (The shoes were too big, but McDonald said it didn’t matter.)
‘I just remember her being so demure and just a very sweet person. She treated me nicely, too.’
McDonald has a photo album dedicated to the summer of 1953, including some snaps from the set with leading actor Robert Mitchum and of a few bus boys from the hotel dressed as Mounties for a scene.”