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Marilyn’s Biographer Richard Havers Has Died

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.

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Hollywood Legends: Marilyn Magazine Special

Good news for North American fans: Marilyn – Her Untold Story, a Hollywood Legends Collectors’ Edition magazine special, is now available for $12.99 from stores across the US (and also in Canada.)  Readers tell me it’s a nice visual tribute and a fun collectible, but the text relies too much on rehashed gossip. You can view the contents page below – and if you’re outside the US, a few copies are surfacing on Ebay.

Thanks to Jackie and Fraser

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All About History: Scandalising Marilyn

Marilyn is featured in a new ‘bookazine’, the All About History Book of Scandals, available from UK newsagents or via Newsstand. In its regular edition, All About History profiled Marilyn back in 2015. Unfortunately though, this latest article doesn’t really do her justice.  Over six pages, ‘The Undoing of Marilyn Monroe’ lists her alleged lovers, focuses on her ‘difficult’ behaviour and drug problems (which, in fact, didn’t affect her work until the final years), and rehashes conspiracy theories about her death while admitting that nothing has been proved. It’s most definitely a tabloid perspective and, in my opinion, the photos of Marilyn are the best thing about it.

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Legendary Marilyn at WH Smith

Marilyn Monroe: Movie Legend, a small box-set containing a DVD documentary and magazine focusing on her illustrious film career, is available now for £4.99 at WH Smith stores across the UK. If this looks familiar to you, it was first published in the US as Marilyn Monroe in the Movies (with text by Timothy Knight) back in 2010, then reissued as a gift set, Big Screen Legends: Marilyn Monroe in 2013, and in paperback (minus the DVD) in 2015. Marilyn Monroe: A Life in the Movies, a ‘video-enhanced’ ebook, is also available.

Thanks to Fraser Penney – read more about his incredible collection here

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‘Gone But Not Forgotten’ at WH Smith

Marilyn Monroe: Gone But Not Forgotten is a UK ‘bookazine’ special, published by Instinctive Product Development and currently on sale at WH Smith for £5.99. Photos include a few by Carl Perutz, and the text is by Jessica Bailey. Six free 7×5″ postcards and a folder are also included.

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Marilyn Souvenir ‘Bookazine’

This 64-pp magazine special, published by Compendium, is exclusive to WH Smith stores in the UK, and is currently on sale for £3.99. The text, by Richard Havers, is abridged from his 2010 book, Marilyn in Words, Pictures and Music, and is presented in a red folder with six A5 postcards inside. (The CD included with Havers’ previous book is not available here.) The narrative is a potted biography, but the main attraction here is an eye-catching selection of photos. (Non-UK magazine collectors are advised to watch out for this on Ebay.)