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...

‘Little Sun’: Hannah Höch’s Dadaist Marilyn

First posted here on January 10th, 2014 The German Dada artist, Hannah Höch, is the subject of a retrospective exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery (on display from January 15th – March 23rd.) One of her late photo-montages, ‘Kleine Sonne’ (‘Little Sun’, 1969) depicts the grinning mouth of Marilyn Monroe hovering beside a fish’s eye. Her source may...

Russell Young’s ‘Marilyn Crying’ in London

First posted here on March 31, 2014 Russell Young is another British artist inspired by MM. His ‘Marilyn Crying’, coated in diamond dust, has become quite popular in recent years. It has inevitably been compared to Warhol, though personally I like the tenderness of Young’s image. “One thing that is clear from the Wild at Heart series...

Remembering Marilyn and Colin Wilson

First posted here on December 13, 2013 Colin Wilson, the British author whose first novel, The Outsider, was published to acclaim in 1956, has died aged 82, reports The Guardian. Initially feted as a major literary discovery, Wilson failed to repeat his early success, but published over a hundred books. He also met Marilyn Monroe in London...

Marilyn’s £5 Million Gift to London’s Children

First posted here on December 3, 2012 London’s Anna Freud Centre for children suffering from mental health problems, an indirect beneficiary of Marilyn’s final 1961 will (via her New York psychiatrist, Dr Marianne Kris), has been given a £5 million windfall following the purchase of her estate by Authentic Brands Group (ABG), reports the Daily Express....

When Marilyn Met Norman Wisdom

First posted here on October 5, 2010 Sir Norman Wisdom, who Charlie Chaplin once described as "my favourite comedian," has died aged 95. Marilyn met Norman in 1956 while filming The Prince and the Showgirl at Pinewood Studios in England, as he told her biographer, Michelle Morgan: “I was making my film A Stitch in Time*, and on...