Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962
Staff at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, noticed a number of floral tributes placed by Marilyn’s crypt on her recent birthday. The heart-shaped daisy wreath, at right, was donated by members of Immortal Marilyn, who also raised $311 for the Animal Haven charity.
Sunny Thompson’s acclaimed one-woman show, Marilyn: Forever Blonde, will be performed at North Hollywood’s El Porto Theatre on August 2nd-5th, marking the 50th anniversary of Monroe’s death.
Elisa Jordan reports for the Examiner:
“The parking lot for the El Portal is the same lot used during the day by Lankershim Elementary School where Norma Jeane Baker attended sixth grade in 1937.
In conjunction with the Immortal Marilyn fan club, a special performance of Marilyn: Forever Blonde is planned on Saturday, August 4, for fans visiting Los Angeles during the memorial week.”
You can read my tribute to Eve Arnold here.
Christmas flowers were delivered to Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, yesterday on behalf of Immortal Marilyn.
Above the cost of the wreath for Marilyn this December, $165 was raised to be donated to Animal Haven. All total, Marilyn’s fans raised $685 for Animal Haven in 2011, in addition to providing lovely flowers for Marilyn’s crypt four times a year.
Leslie Kasperowicz attended a screening of My Week With Marilyn this week, and has posted her review at Immortal Marilyn:
“It would be easy to blow off this film because some of the plot is exaggerated or downright untrue. And as fans, we often cannot see past our desire to protect Marilyn from the dumb blonde image, from the exploitation of her life to make a buck. I ask you to try, to go in to this film and watch the story without letting gut reactions and protectiveness get in the way. If you can’t or don’t want to do that, ‘My Week with Marilyn’ is not for you. But if we as fans can be honest with ourselves about Marilyn’s struggles and vulnerability while still maintaining our love for her and pride in her, then I think we can see in Michelle Williams portrayal a true effort to make Marilyn a real person. I don’t see exploitation in this film, and what a relief.”
The annual service for Marilyn, organised by Marilyn Remembered, was held at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles on August 5th, marking the 49th anniversary of her death.
Friends of Immortal Marilyn donated generously to flowers for Marilyn, and $240 was raised for the Animal Haven charity.
Here is the cover of the 2011 memorial program:
And some fan tributes:
A floral tribute was delivered to Marilyn’s crypt yesterday by Immortal Marilyn staffer Jackie Craig, on behalf of loyal fans. $150 was donated to the Animal Haven charity after the cost of the flowers was met.
Flowers were placed on Marilyn’s grave for St Valentine’s Day, by Carla Orlandi on behalf of the Immortal Marilyn fan club. Thanks to donations from fans, another $241 was raised for Animal Haven.
Over at MM Source, Tiffany recounts the story of how Joe DiMaggio once carved his initials, and Marilyn’s, onto the bar at Chicago’s Drake Hotel.
And while on the subject of Marilyn and Joe, here’s a snippet from a 1966 article by Gay Talese, published in his collection of sports essays, The Silent Season of a Hero:
“There are some baseball trophies and plaques in the small room off DiMaggio’s bedroom, and on his dresser are photographs of Marilyn Monroe, and in the living room downstairs is a small painting of her that DiMaggio likes very much; it reveals only her face and shoulders and she is wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat, and there is a soft, sweet smile on her lips, an innocent curiosity about her that is the way he saw her and the way he wanted her to be seen by others – a simple girl, ‘a warm, big-hearted girl,’ he once described her, ‘that everybody took advantage of.'”
Flowers have been delivered to Marilyn’s grave by actress and Immortal Marilyn staffer Carla Orlandi. $255 was donated by fans to Animal Haven, giving a total of $871 raised in 2010 – more than double the amount given in 2009.
