Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962
This 1956 photo of Marilyn hugging a copy of the ancient Greek statue, ‘The Discus Thrower’, at Joe Schenck’s Beverly Hills home can be seen in the sumptuous new Milton Greene book, The Essential Marilyn Monroe. It also appears in The Women, a pop-up exhibition at the new Assouline bookstore in the Royal Poinciana Plaza, organised by gallery owner James Danziger and on display from January 12-16, reports the Palm Beach Daily News.
The author and music historian Richard Havers died on New Year’s Eve aged 66 after a short illness, Jazz FM reports. He was known for his books about the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, and highly regarded volumes on jazz record labels Verve and Blue Note.
Marilyn in Words, Music and Pictures, his 2010 book, included a supplementary CD. Co-authored with Richard Evans, it is a beautiful tribute to Marilyn (although the text is occasionally a little too reliant on dubious sources like Robert Slatzer.) It was later the basis of a UK ‘bookazine‘ (minus the CD), and a reissued hardback, Marilyn in Words and Pictures.
Rodeo star Wilbur Plaugher, who made an uncredited cameo appearance in Bus Stop (1956), has died aged 95, Fox26 reports. He played a clown in the famous rodeo scene, filmed in Phoenix, Arizona.
In an article for the Jewish Press, Saul Jay Singer explores the Judaism of Marilyn and Arthur Miller, including their 1959 appearance at an American Friends of the Hebrew University dinner at Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.
“Invited along with her husband to address a United Jewish Appeal (UJA) conference in Miami, Monroe wrote a speech about why she believed that Jewish institutions, especially Israel, deserve broad public support, but she ultimately declined to deliver the address when the UJA rescinded its invitation to Miller after his House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC ) indictment. She did, however, later attend a dinner held on September 27, 1959 in Philadelphia by a chapter of the American Friends of the Hebrew University where Miller was awarded an honorary degree to commemorate his ‘distinguished achievement in the Dramatic Arts.’
Shown here is a unique and rare item from my collection, a program from that historic event on which Monroe has signed and inscribed ‘To Stevie – Happy Bar Mitzvah! Marilyn Monroe.'”
