UK Press Says ‘Hello, Goodbye’ to Marilyn

After 165 years in print, the final issue of Scotland’s Weekly News has just been released, naming Marilyn among its top ten newsmakers.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of Yours Retro includes a feature about the Fox blondes – from Shirley Temple to MM – and reader Gerry Dougherty names Gentlemen Prefer Blondes among her favourite movies.

And coming in next month’s issue, Monroe biographer Michelle Morgan will write about Marilyn’s star-crossed romance with Joe DiMaggio.


Remembering Marni Nixon in ‘Yours Retro’

Hollywood’s voiceover artists are featured in the May issue of Yours Retro, including Marni Nixon who helped Marilyn hit the high notes on ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,’ in the soprano introduction and again near the end. For the most part, though, the voice you’ll hear on that classic track from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is Marilyn’s.

Thanks to Fraser Penney

Why Marilyn’s Prescription is Laughter

Laughter may not cure COVID-19, but it’s a great way to get through lockdown. Look at Marilyn, laughing for Sam Shaw and bringing us springtime in Saturday’s Telegraph.

In the current issue of San Francisco’s Marina Times, Michael Snyder becomes the latest film critic to recommend chasing the blues away with Some Like It Hot.

“In dire times, comedy is needed more than ever. Absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco had it right with his observation, ‘We laugh so as not to cry.’ Even if laughter isn’t really the best medicine in a pandemic, it can’t hurt.

Public gatherings have been restricted and major movie releases are being postponed, so I thought I’d note some vintage, spirit-raising film comedies that should be accessible at home in the digital domain. A sense of humor is incredibly subjective. Still, it would be hard not to chuckle, chortle, or at least smile at some point while watching any of the following.

Director-screenwriter Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as two luckless musicians who need to disappear after witnessing a gangland hit. To escape murderous mobsters on their tail, the guys cross-dress to infiltrate an all-woman band and fall under the spell of one of the gals in the group, played by the bubbly, voluptuous Marilyn Monroe. From silly to sizzling, Some Like It Hot is the real deal when it comes to frantically funny fake femmes …”

And finally, if quarantine is limiting your style choices, you could follow Marilyn’s example and slip into a potato sack (as seen in the latest issue of Yours Retro …)

Thanks to Fraser Penney

Marilyn ‘Jumps’ to the Stars

Philippe Halsman’s celebrity portraits are the subject of the latest issue of Reporters Sans Frontières, with a photo from his Jump! series on the cover, and 11 more pages of Marilyn inside. (She previously covered the December 2012 issue, dedicated to Sam Shaw.)

Here in the UK, Marilyn’s early modelling career is featured in an article about movie stars’ lucky breaks, from the March issue of Yours Retro (with Lauren Bacall on the cover.)

Thanks to Fraser Penney

Marilyn Covers ‘Yours Retro’ for Christmas

Marilyn graces the cover of UK nostalgia magazine Yours Retro (Issue 21). It’s her third Yours Retro cover, making her their most popular cover star. And let’s not forget, she also topped the list in their recent special issue, 100 Greatest Movie Icons.

Inside, there’s a four-page feature by Michelle Morgan, ‘Marilyn … Becoming Mrs. Dougherty,’ about the teenage Norma Jeane’s first marriage and the beginning of her modelling career. To learn more on this topic, read Michelle’s excellent book, Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modelling Years, now available in paperback.

Marilyn Brings Back the Blonde in ‘Yours Retro’

Marilyn is a regular favourite in UK magazine Yours Retro, having recently topped the list in a special edition, 100 Greatest Movie Icons, and scores a hat trick in the current issue (#20.) Alongside original bombshell Jean Harlow, she heads up a feature on the tragic fates of Hollywood’s classic blonde, with Peg Entwhistle, Carole Lombard, Veronica Lake, Barbara Payton, Barbara Loden, and Jayne Mansfield bringing up the rear.

Marilyn also pops up in an article about Coco Chanel, and a pictorial preview of the newly-published Hollywood Book Club.

‘Yours Retro’ Names Marilyn as No. 1 Movie Icon

A special edition of Yours Retro magazine, 100 Greatest Movie Icons, is now available in the UK – and Marilyn tops the list! Her Monkey Business co-star Cary Grant takes second place, with Bette Davis (All About Eve) coming 7th, Sir Laurence Olivier (The Prince and the Showgirl) 18th, Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot) 19th, and Clark Gable (The Misfits) 20th. Ginger Rogers (also in Monkey Business) is at #29, Jack Lemmon (also in Some Like It Hot) at #32, Lauren Bacall (How to Marry a Millionaire) at #36, Robert Mitchum (River Of No Return) at #46, Donald O’Connor (There’s No Business Like Show Business) at #58, and Mickey Rooney (The Fireball) is 60th. Bringing up the rear are Montgomery Clift (also in The Misfits) at #73, Claudette Colbert (Let’s Make It Legal) at #87, and last but not least, the great Barbara Stanwyck (Clash By Night) is ranked 90th.

Of all Marilyn’s illustrious co-stars, her good friends Jane Russell (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and Betty Grable (How to Marry a Millionaire) are perhaps the most notable omissions. Marilyn’s 3-page spread is only slightly marred by a couple of misattributed quotes (can you spot them?) Overall, though, it’s a great read for lovers of classic film. Interestingly, The Prince and the Showgirl – which features one of Marilyn’s best performances, but is often neglected – is named here among her top 5 movie highlights. Yours Retro: 100 Greatest Movie Icons is available now from UK newsagents, or to order online from Great Magazines.

Marilyn’s Autograph and Costumes in ‘Yours Retro’

Marilyn is featured twice in the latest issue of UK nostalgia magazine Yours Retro (with Elizabeth Taylor gracing the cover.) Firstly, a portrait of the young Norma Jeane (signed ‘to my dear sister,’ Berniece Miracle), in a feature about autograph hunters; this article also mentions the sale of a baseball signed by Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio for almost $60,000 in 2011 (see here.) Secondly, Marilyn’s so-called ‘snake costume’, designed by Travilla for Bus Stop and seen again on Leslie Caron in The Man Who Understood Women (1959), in the regular Film Buff column.

All About Eve features in a spread about ‘Oscar’s First Ladies.’ And the rise to fame of Diana Dors, labelled ‘Britain’s answer to MM’, is also profiled in this issue – but the comparison is unfair to both women, whose talents were on a par yet very different.