#TBT: Marilyn Monroe

 

Marilyn Monroe was unarguably THE  biggest movie star of the 50’s and 60’s.  A movie star during a time when being a size 10 was a figure for young women to aspire to, as opposed to the anorexic stick figures women and young girls literally die to achieve in this day and age.

Numerous films have been produced about this legendary icon, with most of them focusing on the troubled star’s childhood and ascension into stardom.  There was even a failed television musical by NBC called SMASH whose lead was based on …you guessed it – Marilyn Monroe.  BTW, I was a HUGE fan of Smash, but the masses couldn’t get with it for some reason.  Maybe my enjoyment simply had to do with my nostalgia for my musical theater days.  Who knows…

August 5th was the anniversary of the screen siren’s death.  If she had lived, Norma Jean Mortenson would have been 89 years old this past June.

Her breakthrough happened in 1953 (while on contract wit 20th Century Fox) when she starred in “Niagara”, “How To Marry A Millionaire” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”.

Her final completed film “The Misfits was in 1961, but it would be “Something’s Got To Give” that she would be fired for consistently being late or not showing up at all for shooting at Fox.

My favorite film of hers was a a film that critics or fans rarely discuss these days, “Bus Stop”.  It was one of the first films produced by Marilyn Monroe Productions and in my opinion was her best film.  Oh, and let’s not forget her brief, but memorable appearance in the legendary theater cult classic, “All About Eve”.

So, in honor of what Marilyn Monroe was and could have been had she lived on…take a look at my two favorites…”Bus Stop” and ” All About Eve”