Vanity Fair: Analysing Marilyn

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Pardon me
are you the janitors wife

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caught a Greyhound
Bus from Monterey to Salinas. On the
Bus I was the person
woman with about
sixty Italian fishermen
and I’ve never met
sixty such charming gentlemen—they
were wonderful. Some
company was sending them
downstate where their boats
and (they hoped) fish were
waiting for them. Some
could hardly speak english
not only do I love Greeks
[illegible] I love Italians.
they’re warm, lusty and friendly
as hell—I’d love to go to
Italy someday.

From a 1951 notebook, written by Marilyn during filming of Love Nest. The first line is from the script; the second may have been written during filming of Clash by Night in Monterey less than a year later, shortly after her love affair with Italian-American baseball star Joe DiMaggio began.

This and other excerpts from Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters are featured in ‘Marilyn and her Monsters’, an article for November’s Vanity Fair. A complementary piece, ‘The Writing on the Wall’, analyses Marilyn’s large, extravagantly looped handwriting (which I have often seen as a reflection of her open, generous yet somehow elusive spirit.)

Marilyn at Georgia Tech, 1952

“Dear Helaine and Joe: My aunt worked for Coach Bobby Dodd of the Georgia Tech ‘Yellow Jackets’. Marilyn Monroe came to the university during his tenure and gave him an autographed picture of her wearing a Georgia Tech sweater. The signature reads ‘Best Wishes to Coach Dodd’ and is signed ‘Marilyn Monroe.’ Dodd gave the photo to my aunt. What is it worth? Thank you. — V.C., Augusta, Ga.

Dear V.C.: When presented with a signed Marilyn Monroe photograph, there is always a question about whether she herself signed it. In most instances, genuine signatures were signed in red — but there are exceptions, and we believe this is one of those.”

Seattle Times

John Kobal’s Marilyn: Made in Hollywood

Ernest Bachrach, 1952

This photograph, taken on the set of Clash by Night, is part of an exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, running until September 12.

‘Made in Hollywood’ showcases the collection of film archivist John Kobal, who published one of the first photo books on Marilyn Monroe in 1974. Used copies of Marilyn Monroe: A Life in Pictures are still widely available, and if the presentation is not as glossy as readers now expect, the content – and Kobal’s own commentary – is nonetheless superior to its most of its successors.

Other classic stars featured in this exhibition include Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Swanson, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart.