Marilyn’s Dreams Are Made at Bonham’s

First posted here on October 26, 2013 What Dreams Are Made Of: A Century of Movie Magic‘, is an auction curated by TCM at Bonham’s on November 25. Several Marilyn-related items are featured, including this rare photo of the newylwed DiMaggios in Japan, and the Millers on the set of Let’s Make Love, both signed;...

Amy Greene Remembers Marilyn

First posted here on October 26, 2013 Amy Greene, widow of photographer Milton Greene, was interviewed recently by Gotham magazine. “What was it like to live with Marilyn Monroe? AMY GREENE: I’m a very secure woman, so she was fine. She never got out of line, and I never got out of line, and we became...

Stanley Kauffmann, Marilyn and ‘The Girl’

First posted in October 2013 The American film critic Stanley Kauffmann has died aged 97, Indiewire reports. Although he didn't think highly of Marilyn's acting, Kauffmann once named Some Like it Hot among his ten favourite films, and also reviewed The Misfits for The New Republic. Back in 1955, Kauffmann edited Marilyn Monroe as the Girl, a...

Keeping ‘Abreast’ of the Marilyn Rumour Mill

First posted here on October 13, 2013 First reported by Reuters, the upcoming sale of Marilyn’s medical files at Julien's Auctions has led to a media blitz of speculation (mostly unfounded) about the history of Marilyn’s plastic surgery. In a blog for Allure, Joan Kron fills in the gaps. “The story of Monroe’s surgery starts...

Dr. Gurdin and Marilyn

First posted here on October 9, 2013 The upcoming sale of Marilyn’s medical files (at Julien’s in November) has spawned many sensationalist headlines. However, the files have raised some important points which have largely been overlooked – so I’m going to briefly address some of these issues here. Most of these stories pertain to plastic surgery,...

Marilyn’s Redbook Award, and More, at Julien’s

First posted here on October 8, 2013 Some interesting Marilyn-related items are featured in the upcoming Icons and Idols auction at Julien’s, set for November 9th. My favourites are these Korea photos, taken by Daryl Mitchell, who served in the Korean War from August 1952 to August 1954 as ‘Senior Still Photographer’ of the 101st Signal Battalion. There...

Lester Bolender: Marilyn’s Foster ‘Twin’

First posted here on October 1, 2013 Born in 1926, Lester Carl Bolender was placed in foster care at an early age. Albert Wayne and Ida Bolender, who later adopted Lester, also cared for a little girl also born that year. Norma Jeane Mortenson, or Baker, was the grand-daughter of Della Monroe Grainger, a neighbour of the...

Marilyn, Ella, Eartha and the Mocambo Mystery

First posted here on October 1, 2013 I’ve just finished reading America’s Mistress: The Life and Times of Eartha Kitt, a fascinating new biography by John L. Williams. In the blurb, Marilyn is mentioned as a friend of Eartha’s. But other than a charming photo of Eartha talking with Marilyn and Arthur Miller at the Waldorf...

Remembering A.C. Lyles and Marilyn

First posted here on October 1, 2013 A.C. Lyles, a veteran producer of Westerns for Paramount Studios, died on September 27, 2013, aged 95. Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1918, he moved to Hollywood as a teenager and began his long career as an office boy at Paramount Studios, later becoming a producer of films...

Dale Corvino: ‘Marilyn Was My Mother’s Babysitter’

First posted here on September 27, 2013 Dale Corvino‘s delightful reminiscence of Marilyn’s little-known connection to his mother’s family, the Rizzos – neighbours of the DiMaggios in San Francisco – is published in full at Salon today. “‘Marilyn Monroe was my mother’s baby sitter,’ I used to tell the neighborhood kids, whenever our rambunctious play took us...