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Debbie Reynolds to Sell Collection

Debbie Reynolds, star of classic movies including Singing in the Rain (1952), is to put her collection of Hollywood memorabilia, worth about $5 million, on auction, after failing to find a buyer.

Miss Reynolds, 78, owns several Monroe-related items, including the famous white dress designed by Travilla for The Seven Year Itch (1955.)

‘Most people collect for themselves … but she collected for the public,’ Reynold’s son, Todd Fisher, told Knoxville News. ‘She collected for all of us. She collected for the American people to preserve the history of their industry.’

On his Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog today, Scott Fortner asks, ‘Will the Seven Year Itch subway scene dress come up for auction? If so, will it outsell the “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress, which sold for $1.3 million in 1999?’

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‘Blonde Bombshells’ in San Francisco

As Pola in ‘How to Marry a Millionaire’ (1953)

“Marilyn Monroe (1926-62) is the most famous Hollywood blonde, and she stars in several of the Blonde Bombshells movies playing the Castro Theatre from  Aug. 27-Sept. 5.”

Bay Area Reporter

Friday August 27 – MM Double Bill

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 3pm and 7pm

The Seven Year Itch 4:50 pm and 8:50pm

Saturday August 28 – MM Double Bill

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 3:20pm and 7pm

How to Marry a Millionaire 1:30pm, 5:10pm and 9pm

Sunday August 29

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 3pm and 6:45pm

Monday August 30

Bus Stop 3:20pm and 7pm

Friday September 3

Some Like it Hot 2:45pm and 7pm

Sunday September 5

The Misfits 2:30pm and 6:45pm

The ‘Blonde Bombshells’ season also includes films starring one of Marilyn’s favourite actresses, Jean Harlow, as well as Carole Lombard, Lauren Bacall, Lana Turner and Jayne Mansfield.

Full listings here

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Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Underground’ Marilyn

In this summer release, written and directed by Offer ‘Vince’ Shlomi (better known to US readers as ‘the ShamWow guy’), Lindsay Lohan recreates the famous ‘subway scene’ from The Seven Year Itch, as a skit, but with a difference – this time, ‘The Girl’ pulls a gun on the paparazzi.

In the sketch, one of the characters tells Lohan, “You look like Marilyn Monroe,” to which she replies, “Marilyn never had to wear a SCRAM bracelet!” (This is a reference to Lindsay’s recent jail stint.)

I think this ‘revenge fantasy’ is most likely a spoof on the paparazzi, not Marilyn herself – but please be warned – as the trailer indicates, Underground Comedy Movie 2010 is peppered with violence, sexual innuendo, and profanity.

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‘The Seven Year Itch’ in California

Jacque Wilke as ‘The Girl’

George Axelrod’s original play, The Seven Year Itch,  is being revived at the New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad, California (near San Diego), from today, July 29th, through August 22nd.

“‘You can tell that George Axelrod had a great respect for women,’ says Kristianne Kurner, executive artistic director at the theater. ‘The Girl (played by Jacque Wilke) doesn’t have a name, but she’s really strong. And I think the humor, instead of coming out of a derogatory thing about women, comes from the husband’s guilt. That guilt is really funny.'”

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Summer at the Movies with Marilyn

On the WowOwow (Women on the Web) site today, ‘Mr Wow’ enjoys some classic movies – starting with Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Heat Wave’ from There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), as what song could be more apt in the heat of July?

Two other Monroe movies are also mentioned: Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), not really a ‘summer movie’ but a great film noir with one of Marilyn’s most affecting performances as the disturbed babysitter, Nell Forbes.

An interesting observation is made on the scene in Niagara (1953), where Marilyn, as the trampy Rose Loomis, requests her favourite song, ‘Kiss’. (Monroe had recorded her own version, which was deemed too sensuous for the movie but can found on most MM compilation albums today.)

“She wears a tight, blazing red dress, and when she walks toward the camera, pelvis thrust out, a bit of a womanly belly obvious, it is her most erotic screen moment. (Later, she would look sexy – all butt and bust – but not be sexy.)”

However, surely the ideal Monroe vehicle to watch right now is The Seven Year Itch (1955), as the comic storyline hinges on the unbearable heat of Manhattan in July, and a middle-aged man’s existential crisis when his wife and son leave the city and he attempts to seduce his gorgeous neighbour (Marilyn, of course), via the wonder of air conditioning.