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‘Some Like it Hot’ in Toronto


Some Like it Hot seems to be very popular this month – maybe it’s an end-of-summer thing…

“Riverdale Park is getting hot on Sunday.

Movies in the Park present a free screening of ‘Some Like It Hot’ starring Marilyn Monroe on Sunday, Aug. 22.

The movie screens in Riverdale Park East at 8:45 p.m.

People are encouraged to come out with a picnic, blankets, and lawn chairs to enjoy the event with their friends, families and neighbours.

Each movie night supports a local charity; Sunday’s movie supports the Toronto Kiwanis Boys and Girls Clubs in Regent Park.

Riverdale Park East is located at 550 Broadview Ave., south of Danforth Avenue.”

Inside Toronto

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Marilyn on the Tokyo Subway

Umbrellas left behind in the subway (June 1976)

‘This Marilyn Monroe poster aims to remind passengers to take their umbrellas with them when they leave the train. The text in the top right corner — ‘Kaerazaru kasa’ (umbrella of no return) — is a play on ‘Kaerazaru Kawa,’ the Japanese title for River of No Return, the 1954 movie starring Monroe.’

Pink Tentacle

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When Marilyn Met Joan Rivers

“‘It was a 1951 dinner party. I was a first-year English student at Barnard. My father was a doctor and so was the guy who hosted the party. Marilyn was very shy, so they sat her next to the least threatening person in the room – me.’

Growing bold as the night progressed, Joan Molinski (Rivers’s given name) found the courage to advise Monroe that she, too, hoped for a career in show business.

‘Honey, let me tell you a secret, Marilyn told me,’ Rivers continues, adopting Monroe’s feathery voice. ‘Men are stupid and they like big tits.'”

Canada Globe & Mail

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Get the Marilyn Treatment at Lush

“Named after the most famous blonde in the world.

Softness, brightness and shine for blonde hair. Marilyn is for blondes who would like to stay blonde and become even more so, in a gentle, shiny and natural way. Use The Blonde shampoo, then use this pre-wash conditioner as a regular top-up.

Enhances golden tones.

We make it with softening linseed gel, chamomile for lightness and to calm your scalp, saffron for golden colour, lemon for shine and olive oil to moisturise your hair. It also lightens gradually.”

Available at Lush Cosmetics

Reviewed at Ciao

Thanks to Anna-Clare

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Marilyn’s 2010 Memorial at Westwood

Photo by Scott Fortner

Speakers at this year’s service, organised by Marilyn Remembered Fan Club:

  • John Gilmore, author of Inside Marilyn Monroe
  • Noreen Siegel, wife of Dr Lee Siegel, Marilyn’s longtime physician at Twentieth Century Fox
  • Marion Collier, ‘Olga’ from Sweet Sue’s Band in Some Like It Hot
  • Audrey Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald’s promoter (Marilyn arranged for Ella to perform at LA’s Mocambo Club in 1954)
  • Stanley Rubin, producer of River of No Return
  • Lois Banner, Professor of History and Gender Studies at USC, currently working on two books about Marilyn
  • Diana Levitt, whose father, F. Hugh Herbert, directed Marilyn’s first movie, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! in 1947. Diana also took acting classes with Marilyn

For a personal account of the service by ‘misskelleen’, join the 1962 community at LiveJournal


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Thoughts on a Sad Anniversary

Bert Stern, 1962

“The star born Norma Jean Mortensen suffered an almost Dickensian childhood of hardship, which culminated in an arranged marriage to a neighbour’s son when she was just 16. But on the silver screen Norma Jean created a glittering, carefree and carnal image that made her Hollywood’s most enduring sex symbol. It is that sensuously hedonistic yet innocent image fans still fall head over heels in love with.” – John Costello, Irish Independent

“She brought out a protective impulse in people. And, in my opinion, that is part of her movie magic. She was not a sassy sex symbol who ‘owned’ her sexuality. She did not seem calculating about it. There was always the wide-eyed innocence there, in spite of the body made for lovin’ – and that somehow engendered a protective response in audiences … male AND female – so she was one of those very rare movie creatures: a sex symbol whom men loved and desired, but also whom women respected and looked up to … and I think it had something to do with that fragmented innocence peering out of her radiant face. She seemed unaware of the responses she brought up in men, and she never seemed out for sex – the Marilyn Monroe persona was all about finding love. Her gifts as an actress and comedienne are obvious – but her appeal is still rather complicated, which, I suppose, is why people still obsess over her, and talk about her, and pick her apart.” – Sheila O’Malley

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Sheridan Smith: Quoting Marilyn

“I’m really into quotes, like reading quotes by Dolly Parton and Marilyn Monroe and people like that, and Marilyn Monroe’s got a great quote where she says, ‘A career is great but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.’ I mean, I’m such a workaholic that I have always put my work before everything.”

Telegraph

Sheridan Smith (a gifted young comic actress whom UK readers will recognise from TV shows like The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager, Gavin and Stacey) is currently starring in Legally Blonde: The Musical at London’s Savoy Theatre.