Remembering ‘Marilyn! The Musical’

First posted here on December 28, 2017 Must Close Saturday: The Decline and Fall Of The British Musical Flop, a new book by Adrian Wright, covers Mort Garson's short-lived 1983 show, Marilyn! The Musical. Despite winning an endorsement from Anna Strasberg, the executor of Marilyn’s estate, the show failed to win over critics and closed...

Jack Allen To Sell Marilyn’s ‘Down Boy’, and More

First posted here on December 4, 2018 Marilyn By Moonlight author Jack Allen is selling off some items from his collection in the Essentially Marilyn auction on December 11, 2018, at Profiles In History – including photographs and the unreleased song, ‘Down Boy‘, as Mike Szymanski reports for Dreamweaver Arts. (The auction also features the...

‘Down Boy!’ Rare Marilyn Song Resurfaces

First posted here on August 23, 2015 Marilyn has been making news in the music world this week, with a story that ‘Down Boy’, an unreleased song cut from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, may be sampled on a new track by hip hop producer Timbaland (who is currently working on his fourth solo album, Opera Noir.)...

Behind Margot Robbie’s Marilyn Homage in ‘Birds of Prey’

Having recently starred as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood, Margot Robbie is no stranger to playing iconic blondes. Now, as she reprises her Harley Quinn role in Birds of Prey (2020), she has recreated Marilyn’s 'Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend' number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, albeit with...

‘Oh, My Stars!’: Multiple Marilyns Open the Oscars

First posted here on February 25, 2015 For a brief, Warholesque moment, a multitude of dancing Marilyns graced the open ceremony of the 2015 Academy Awards. In 'Moving Pictures,' presenter Neil Patrick Harris’s musical tribute to Hollywood (penned by the team behind hit Disney musical Frozen), Marilyn was mentioned in the same breath as Charlie Chaplin, another...

American Dreamgirls: Marilyn and Lana Del Rey

Singer Lana Del Rey has referenced Marilyn numerous times in her career, beginning with this February 2012 cover shoot for Lovecat magazine, in which photographer Ellen Von Unwerth  paid homage to Marilyn’s 1962 Vogue layout, shot by Bert Stern. (First posted here on February 11, 2012.) Marilyn Inspires Lana Del Rey First posted here on...

Marilyn’s Lost Song in ‘The Shape of Water’

First posted here on February 19, 2018 Diehard Monroe fans have noticed a little-known recording by Marilyn in Guillermo Del Toro’s new film, The Shape of Water. Set in the early 1960s, the film stars Sally Hawkins as Elisa, a laboratory assistant who develops a close bond with ‘Amphibian Man,’ the mysterious creature being held captive in a tank....

Marilyn Cited in Harry Winston Court Case

First posted here on July 13, 2014 Marilyn’s famous spoken line from ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ – Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it – was cited in a recent court judgement regarding the famous American jeweler’s brand name, reports IDEX Online. “Harry Winston Inc. has won a long-running trademark dispute involving the...

‘Either Way’: From Marilyn to Ella

First posted here on October 29, 2013 Either Way: From Marilyn to Ella is a new album from French jazz singer Anne Ducros. Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald’s story about how Marilyn lobbied for her to perform at the Mocambo nightclub in Los Angeles in 1954, the album is a tribute to both women. Either Way features covers of...

Phil Ramone Remembers ‘Sweet, Sensational’ Marilyn

First posted here on April 5, 2013 Legendary music producer Phil Ramone, who arranged Marilyn’s iconic performance of ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’, died in New York on March 31st, 2013, aged 79. Here is an excerpt from an interview he gave to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2010: “Q. You were the mastermind behind Marilyn Monroe’s 'Happy Birthday Mr....