When Marilyn Touched Down in Illinois

First posted here on December 23, 2013

A rare photo of Marilyn en route to Bement in 1955 has been posted at The News-Gazette today. She was invited to the small rural town where her hero, Abraham Lincoln – then a lawyer, and just three years later, America’s first Republican president – stayed at the home of Francis E. Bryant while debating slavery with Bryant’s friend, Senator Stephen A. Douglas (his Democratic opponent) in 1858. Marilyn visited Bryant Cottage on that day, and later gave a speech about Lincoln and the history of Bement. For local residents and reporters, however, it was a rare chance to meet a Hollywood legend.

“Marilyn Monroe made headlines — literally — when she arrived on Ozark Airlines at the University of Illinois Airport on Aug. 7, 1955. The movie star’s destination: Bement to judge a beard contest as part of the village’s centennial celebration. ‘Blonde Bombshell Bursts Over Bement’ blared the headline in The News-Gazette.”