Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962
This week marks 63 years since Marilyn married Arthur Miller, and the newlyweds (as photographed by Jack Cardiff a few weeks later) Grace the cover of Le Nouveau Magazine Litteraire‘s summer double-issue (#19), as part of a feature on ‘Literary Couples and Crossed Destinies’, with a short profile inside by Philippe Labro. The magazine is now available from the Newsstand website for £7.78.
Thanks to Eric Patry and Fraser Penney
This joyful photo of Marilyn – taken by San Francisco Examiner staff photographer Bryant at her City Hall wedding to Joe DiMaggio – is featured in Facing West: Camera Portraits from the Bancroft Collection, a new free exhibition at the Bancroft Library in the Doe Annex of UC Berkeley, on display until March 15, 2019. “There were many photos of the couple together,” says curator Jack Von Euw, “but we liked this one that focused on Marilyn … It’s like an homage to Hollywood stardom.”
The house at 122 East Ridge Road, Waccabuc (in upstate New York), where Marilyn married Arthur Miller 61 years ago this week, is now on sale for $1.675 million (£1.29m) reports the Telegraph. It was then the home of Arthur’s literary agent, Kay Brown – she was not, as the article claims, Marilyn’s manager. You can view the listing here.
Today marks the 61st anniversary of Marilyn’s marriage to Arthur Miller, on June 29, 1956. Over at History Buff, Mary Miller (no relation, I assume) looks back on a ‘tragically beautiful’ wedding, quoting a diary entry from Marilyn herself.
“I am so concerned about protecting Arthur I love him—and he is the only person—human being I have ever known that I could love not only as a man to which I am attracted to practically out of my senses about—but he [is] the only person … that I trust as much as myself—because when I do trust my- self (about certain things) I do fully.”
Marilyn’s final home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles has been sold for $7.25 million after being listed in April, reports the L.A. Times. (And in auction news, Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio’s wedding certificate has sold for $122, 500 at Goldin Auctions.)
The San Francisco Chronicle has reposted their front page from January 15, 1954 – the day after Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn at City Hall.
“’Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio wedded the girl of his and many other men’s dreams yesterday afternoon in San Francisco City Hall,’ the story read.
‘The time and place of the wedding was kept a closely guarded secret and only 500 people managed to hear about it in time to turn the corridors outside Municipal Judge Charles S. Peery’s chambers in a madhouse,’ The Chronicle’s Art Hoppe wrote.
‘Marilyn, it seems, had made the mistake of calling her studio in Hollywood yesterday morning and letting it in on her plans to be married at 1 p.m. A studio official casually mentioned it as fast as he could to all the major news services.'”
And just FYI, January 14 has seen some other significant events – including the release of Clara Bow’s It in 1926, and the publication of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar in 1963 (less than a month after her suicide.)
Vanity Fair has released footage shot by Milton Greene at Marilyn’s 1956 wedding to Arthur Miller, as well as on the set of Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl, to promote the current Greene exhibit at the Morrison Hotel Gallery in Los Angeles. While most of the footage has been seen before, it is still a rare glimpse behind the scenes of Marilyn’s fabled life.
This week marks the 62nd anniversary of Marilyn’s marriage to Joe DiMaggio, on January 16th, 1954. Doug Miller looks back at their wedding in an article for the Major League Baseball website.
“‘Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio wedded the girl of his and many other men’s dreams yesterday afternoon in the San Francisco City Hall,’ read the newspaper story the next day in the San Francisco Chronicle, written by Art Hoppe.
‘Marilyn Monroe, who packs no mean jolt herself, said she was very happy. DiMaggio said he was also very happy. Also happy was the battery of columnists which has spent no little time in the past two years running down rumors that the two were already secretly married, were to be married, or were not speaking to each other.’
The report said that the location and time of the ceremony had been kept secret and ‘only about 500 people managed to hear about it in time to turn the corridors outside Municipal Judge Charles S. Peery’s court into a madhouse.’
The reason?
‘Marilyn, it seems, had made the mistake of calling her studio in Hollywood [the day before the wedding] and letting it in on her plans to be married at 1 p.m. A studio official casually mentioned it as fast as he could to all the major news services.’
With that cat out of the bag, the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. were forced to host an impromptu press conference led by the hard-hitting question, ‘Are you excited, Marilyn?’
Monroe, the Chronicle wrote, giggled and said, ‘Oh, you KNOW it’s more than that.'”
Marilyn is the focus of attention in two vintage fashion blogs this week. The UK-based We Heart Vintage looks at Marilyn’s refreshingly simple wedding attire, while Canada’s Va-Voom Vintage compiles ten Marilyn-inspired style lessons – from capri pants to ‘wiggle dresses’.
Thanks to April and Kim
Westchester Magazine‘s Tom Schreck tackles a reader’s question about the wedding of Marilyn and Arthur Miller, who was then a Westchester County resident.
“The couple didn’t actually get married in Arthur Miller’s home—Miller lived in Connecticut. And, not unlike the rest of Norma Jeane’s life, the story is a little complicated.
According to biographer Randy Taraborrelli, Marilyn found out about Miller’s intention to marry her during his testimony in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (which, if you ask me, isn’t the most romantic way to propose marriage). [Actually, Arthur made the announcement to reporters outside the courthouse – not during the hearing – ES Updates.] Miller mentioned he was planning a production in England and he was going to travel with a woman he hoped to soon make his wife. That was news to the former Mrs. DiMaggio—and she wasn’t thrilled that it was broadcast without her permission.
On June 29, 1956, the couple held a press conference to announce their engagement just after a member of the paparazzi following them was killed in a car crash. Monroe was distraught over the tragedy, but that night the couple traveled to the White Plains courthouse and were married by a justice of the peace in a service that lasted less than four minutes. Two days later, a Jewish ceremony was planned at the home of Miller’s agent, Kay Brown, in Waccabuc.
Brown lived at what is now 122 East Ridge Road. About 25 guests attended the secluded and unannounced service.”