Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was a fantastic, deeply troubled, but wonderful woman. The world lost a great beauty in 1962, at the age of only 36.  Norma Jeane Mortenson’s 16 years of acting, modeling and singing made her pop culture icon and someone I have admired for years.  She was able to be classy and sexy at the same time – something I believe most women strive to.  Her iconic pose in the “Seven Year Itch”, shown right, is one of my favorite photographs ever taken.

As a teenager from what I heard about Marilyn from friends and in the news I always admired her tenacity and drive, but it was not until I first heard her version “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”  for JFK’s 45th birthday that she became one of my favorite performers.  I love her quote in an interview where she said, “   If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.” I have watched many of her movies and it is amazing how many great actors and actresses she was on the screen with.

Additionally, I have read about and extensively researched into her attire and fashion after being intrigued by of her unusual body shape and size.  After working in fashion I know her measurements 35-22-35 meant that she was ridiculously curvy and at 5’5” apparently weighed on average 140 pounds which is somewhere between a size six and a size 14 today – amazing as Hollywood today averages a size two. It is amazing that something not size zero was the most popular and most beautiful image on the silver screen. She even said,  “To all the girls that think you’re ugly because you’re not a size 0, you’re the beautiful one. It’s society who’s ugly”.

Earlier this year I was very excited to hear that NBC was creating a show about Marilyn.  Smash, which premiered in Feburary, is a drama about a group of show business professionals in the beginning stages of creating a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. In this show both actresses Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty are attempting to get the role to play the late icon. Even though the show began filming the second season in July the second season is not scheduled to premiere until 2013. Bummer! Until then I will have to find other outlets to admire the icon – definitely one of my favorites!