Remembering Marilyn

I can't actually tell you when I first discovered Marilyn Monroe - she was someone I was always aware of so in 1990, 3 years after first seeing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (that's a story for the Blondes review when I post it) I bought a couple of postcards and posters I decided that I wanted to buy some of her films on tape. So down to Woolworths in Newport with my Mum I went and stood at the video rack trying to decided what film to buy, I had seen Blondes as I mentioned and also Let's Make Love, so was leaning towards The Seven Year Itch when my Mum reasoned, 'Why don't you buy a documentary and see if you like her as a person before spending all your money on the films?'

A reasonable idea, but even then I knew, that know matter what I was going to love Marilyn no matter what I found out about her, there was just something that appealed to me..

But to humour my Mum I bought Remembering Marilyn hosted by Lee Remick.

The documentary opens with the lines (and I know them by heart) 'In a quiet corner of Westwood, Califormia, hemmed off from sounds of traffic, the scene is repeated countless times, warmed by some afterglow, some myth that speaks, nameless visitors still bring flowers to the crypt of a woman they knew only on film - Marilyn Monroe who died 25 years ago (the documentary was made in '87).

Remembering Marilyn features what was at the time rare photographs and footage, alongside clips from her films and audio of some of her interviews. Reminiscences from people who knew her, Susan Strasberg, Robert Wagner, Robert Mitchum, the Howell family who remember Norma Jeane's early years and reveal that they had been asked to adopt her but they decided they couldn't because they had a large family already, when she married James Dougherty, the wedding was held at their house and feminist writer Gloria Steinem, who gives the feminist perspective of Marilyn's life and appeal.

The clips from her films cover the majority of her career though the earliest film clip is from The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston 1950)

The original video cassette I purchased in 1990 - still working

The DVD version I bought last year - it is playing on my TV as I write this!.

All in all Remembering Marilyn is a lovely tribute to Marilyn, it doesn't focus too much on the scandals of Marilyn's life although it does cover her 3 marriages and her death in 1962, the film leans towards the suicide theory rather than any thing else. It does mention some of the mysteries surrounding her death and the rumour of an involvement with the Kennedy's but without placing too much emphasis on it.

A nice touch is that the set is decorated with photos and books on our favourite star.

The one thing that caused consternation among Marilyn fans for many years is that it was hosted by Lee Remick, the actress who was hired to replace Marilyn in her final uncompleted film Something's Got To Give.

Because this was the first documentary I saw it remains my favourite. You can find copies of this on Ebay either on the DVD or Video format (if you still have a player like me) and I would recommend that you add a copy to your collection

If only because of new footage, photos and information Remembering Marilyn scores 3.5 out of 5

Marilyn Monroe

Just received this lovely book, not a massive book Marilyn Monroe: A celebration of the most iconic woman from Hollywood's golden era contains around 80 photos and gives a very brief over view of her films.

There's no scandal in this - just gorgeous (though common) photos, a brief film synopsis and a little bit about her life. If you want a full biography then this is not for you but if you want to spend a nice leisurely hour pouring over the photos then this is worth the extremely small price.

You can order this book from Amazon (US) by clicking HERE

I ordered my copy from Amazon and it was still not much more than a tenner, however a little bird tells me that this book is available in the UK from The Works you can order by clicking HERE

The Marilyn Memorial Service 2014

As I am sure you are all aware, this week marks the 52nd anniversary of our beloved Marilyn's passing. Since 1982 Marilyn Remembered has held a memorial service at Westwood Village Memorial Park in the very Chapel where Marilyn's funeral service was held, and the cemetery where she sleeps to this very day.

And for the first time in it's history the memorial service will be streamed LIVE over internet, so all the fans who cannot be in Los Angeles tomorrow can still BE there.

To watch the memorial service live - for us UK peeps that will be at 7pm Tuesday August 5th please click HERE

A big thanks to Scott Fortner of the Marilyn Monroe Collection for making this possible.

Make sure you have your Kleenex handy I think things might get a little bit emotional.

Marilyn Monroe - Her Films Her Life - by Michelle Vogel

I apologise that it has taken so long for me to review this book, this is due to my holiday to Madeira, my attempting a 365 photo challenge via Blipfoto and various other excuses - because that's all they are excuses. Right down to business.

When I first received this book to be honest I wasn't over impressed and this is down to the publisher, for the price (around £33) I admit I was expecting a large, glossy coffee table book, this isn't. it is a little smaller than A4. Upon opening the cover to read I found that the type of card stock used for the cover curls very easily as does the rest of the pages and I had to flatten in between 2 heavy books in order to take the photo of the cover. Inside there are no colour or glossy photos which isn't a problem at all, although the photos used a pretty much stock images that have been used dozens of times before.

This of course has nothing to do with the quality of the writing inside the book:

When I first started reading I thought 'yes ok I know all this' and I really thought that I would not learn anything at all from this book. I was wrong, peppered throughout are facts about the films I had never learnt before. For instance, I never knew that Marilyn's character in Dangerous Years was originally slated to be a secretary - did you?

cont....

 The cover of Michelle Vogel's book uses an image form my favourite of Marilyn's films and my favourite musical number

2 images from Bus Stop

And that is what this book is like, you'll be reading and along pops a little bit of personal information, an anecdote you have never heard from those who knew her, or a fact about one of the films.

And that is what makes this book worth buying. I'm not going to go into the theories of her death that are held by the author because although her death is mentioned in the book this books if about her work and her life - not her death. And there have been so many different theories pertaining to her death and we all have our own theories that Michelle's theories are not going to change mine - at least not without hard evidence.

All in all - definitely a book worth adding to the collection, but the price may put you off 

3.5/5 

Click HERE to purchase from Amazon UK

Click HERE to purchase from Amazon US

Marilyn The Dream

I recently acquired this lovely book which contains photos of the collection of Maite Minguez Ricart. Maite is a collector of movie memorabilia and she has a huge Marilyn collection whic consists of photos, documents, personal items and clothes and some of Marilyn's movie wardrobe.

I had been after this book for a while and when Maite posted on her Facebook page that she had copies for sale I was quick to order a copy. It's a lovely book although some of the items have come from Elaine Barrymore who was a bit of a fraudster when it came to selling Marilyn items,but the majority of the items are genuine and this book is worth grabbing if you find a copy.

Of course you can visit and like her Facebook page and see if she has any copies left by clicking HERE

From the sublime to the ridiculous

From Sardi's to Sicily: by Nancy Maniscalco Miracle

The sublime obviously being Icon. The book below was written (an I use the term loosely) by Nancy Miracle, who for years has been claiming that Marilyn was her mother. In this book she claims that Marilyn was not born Norma Jeane Baker (or Mortenson) to Gladys Baker in Los Angeles but instead she was Nancy Cusumano.

Nancy Miracle claims that her parentage has been verified in 2 states but I can find no mention of which to states in the book, she also changed her name to Miracle in an attempt to convince the gullible public that she was indeed related to Marilyn as Marilyn's sister's surname is Miracle - but only by marriage.

The author (again a term used loosely and I will explain why in a short while) keeps mentioning that Marilyn's thumbprints are on her birth certificate - I have never heard of thumbprints being part of the certification process for births as well as saying that Marilyn was actually 42 when she died and mentions that she went to various places with Marilyn and Arthur Miller and before that Joe DiMaggio.

Amazingly though Nancy was going out in public with Marilyn, there are no photos of the two of them together - which to me says it all.

The writing of this book is disjointed and fragmentary and very difficult to read and again stretches the credibility of the author who states she is a published author, teacher and has a Masters degree in creative writing - if the style of writing is anything to go by I would say that she bought the masters on Ebay!!

The book would be funny if it wasn't so sad, this poor woman obviously believes what she has written, yet Marilyn's life has been so when chronicled and documented from birth to death that it is clear the author is delusional.

If I could give a rating of - I would as it goes I will give it 0.5.

No links as to where to buy  this travesty - do not waste your money - save it for the second volume of Icon which is due out shortly

Review - Icon, The Life,Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe by Gary Vittaco-Robles

Well what can I say about this book except - AMAZING. I have been collecting books on Marilyn Monroe for 24 years now, and I thought that there was nothing left to learn about her, or nothing important anyway. How wrong could I be!!
Almost every chapter brought some new revelation, some new insight into Marilyn and who she was.
Some of the pages on her early life were especially painful to read and I have to admit on more than one occasion I found myself in tears, it is very hard to read about how much some one you love has suffered.
This volume chronicles her life up to and through part of 1956, it is a massive 780 pages long, and yet volume 2 is even longer.
The author covers Marilyn's life in a sympathetic but objective way, and the depth of the author's knowledge and research is clear on every page and the narrative will grip you from page 1 to the end leave you wanting more - so it's a good job that volume 2 will be out soon (news on that as it breaks)
The author gives a brief over view of all of her films for the new fans without it being overdone and dull for those of us who have seen all the films and know a bit about the production.

One thing, there are no photos of Marilyn inside the book!! - But to be honest, with this book they are not needed, we know how beautiful she was- but this is her story and we don't need the pictures to understand her - in this book the words are enough.

Icon is widely available, To order your copy please follow one of the links below:

AMAZON UK
AMAZON.COM
BEARMANOR MEDIA
BOOK DEPOSITORY

4.5 out of 5 - If you don't buy this book, you cannot be a serious student of Monroe - MUST HAVE.

New items added!!

While you are so patiently waiting for the review of Icon - which I swear I am working on and hope to have uploaded in the next few days, I thought I would share some new items I have recently added to my collection

Below is a german scrapbook (the HSM cover), a fold out poster, the Juliens catalogue of Travilla items and The Story of the Misfits by James Goode - this is only the 2nd time I have seen this book in 24 years of collecting last time it was over £70 this time £15.99 - well I couldn't say no could I?

A DVD of trailers and news reels with a CD of songs as well was only £1 and finally the Life magazine The Loves of Marilyn has finally made it to UK shores at £8.99 - we never did get the Newsweek.

Well that's all the new additions at the moment - stay tuned for the Icon review - going to work on it right now!!!

Mad About Marilyn

I am so sorry it has been a while since the last post this is partly due to the fact I have been in a musical at my local theatre, and therefore out every night, but also Icon is taking me longer to get through than I anticipated, however I hope to complete that shortly in the meantime here is a review of the Mad About Marilyn Fan Club.

The club was formed in 2008, after the closure of the Marilyn Lives Society. I joined immediately and am happy to say that I have every issue so far.

The Newsletter does not have a specific publication date, however a £20 fee (for UK members £25 rest of the world) will get you 6 copes of the newsletter and a Marilyn card and gift on your birthday.

It is well worth joining Issue 29 which was recently sent out contained:

Recent News Items

A vintage news Article from 1954

Auction news

Information on a new Marilyn play that will open on April 10th in Boulder, Colorado

Book News

An article on Earl Wilson and his relationship to Marilyn and the photos he took of her

Part 3 of an article on Natasha Lytess

And lots of photos too 

And the best part as the photo below shows - in colour!!!! 

But that's not all...

There is also the Mad About Marilyn Mail Order Catalogue, usually sent out 4 times a year it contains many collectibles, books, posters and other items, so if you don't fancy getting into a bidding war the item you really want maybe in here.

Again the catalogue is in colour and all prices and postage is listed. I have bought items from it in the past and it is definitely worth while.

So you ask yourself, how do I get all this fabulous information??

Well all you need to do is Email Emma, who runs Mad About Marilyn club and mail order and she will give you the details

emmadowning@blueyonder.co.uk

I wholeheartedly recommend it

Currently Reading....

Icon - The life, times and films of Marilyn Monroe by Gary Viticco-Robles. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying this book immensely, however due to it's size it will be a little while before I am ready to post the review - watch this space!!!

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Love in Japan, Korea and Beyond by Jennifer Jean Miller

Some Marilyn books are published with great fanfare and publicity

Some Marilyn books are announced and then the publication date pushed back several times.

And then there are some Marilyn books that just appear without warning, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio – Love in Japan, Korea and Beyond by Jennifer Jean Miller is one of them.

This book first appeared on Amazon a little over a month ago and after some consideration I decided to buy it before pay day as I have always been fascinated by Marilyn's and Joe’s story (He has always been my favourite of her husbands). A very fast delivery ensured I received this book on Tuesday 25^{th February}  and here is my review.

The book is actually larger than I expected about A4 in size for UK readers which was nice, it is a soft cover but that does not present a problem at all

The first thing I do with any new Marilyn book is look at the all the photographs in the book, the majority of the pictures in this book are from the authors own collection as she has been collecting original photos for a while now. As a fan of over 20 years it never ceases to amaze me and many of the photos in this book I have never seen before, of course there are many that are fairly common, but some of them have never been published before and Jennifer obtained many of the Korea photos from the soldiers who took them.

The story is really that of Joe and Marilyn, Jennifer gives us a brief overview of their lives before meeting and then goes in to details once the couple meet. The book is very pro Joe and you almost feel as if he could do no wrong where Marilyn was concerned and that he really was the only person who cared for her. The author writes off all subsequent relationships that Marilyn had with people as destructive and there really is a good argument for that as, the doctors and acting teachers she had never really did her any good mentally.

The book pretty much condemns the Strasbergs, Arthur Miller and Milton and Amy Greene and I know a lot of fans will not be happy with the portrayal of Milton and Amy, and yet will completely agree with the descriptions of her relationships with Strasberg and Miller.

The book goes into detail regarding Marilyn’s will and the auction of her personal effects, Anna Strasberg and the licensing legalities that have dominated the Marilyn world in recent years. This mishandling of her estate and the way that her personal effects have been treated by the Strasbergs and collectors alike is truly horrifying for anyone who loves Marilyn and believed her items should have been kept as one large collection

The book is well written but I know that some fans are dubious about the fact the Marilyn Monroe Family are involved. It must be said that the family concerned are not her half sister Bernice and niece Mona Rae but that of one of her cousins, fans doubt the surgeon story that the family have perpetuated and I am afraid I don’t actually understand that, it seems to add yet more conspiracies to a life and death that has been riddled with them. However, I am hoping that Jennifer will write a book around the Surgeon Story which will explain it fully in the future.

However, this book is well worth the price, the photos are amazing and when it comes down to it this is a love story albeit with a tragic ending. As the photos are rare and out of respect to Jennifer, I have not reproduced any of the photos from inside the book – to see them you will need to buy the book. Jennifer is hoping to sell high quality prints in the future – more news when I get it.

3.5/5 – recommended

To purchase from Amazon, please follow the links below

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Misfit by Adam Braver

This fictional book presents an account of Marilyn’s life in short vignettes, sometimes from her point of view some times from other peoples for instance her working at Radio Plane is told from the perspective of one of her work colleagues.

It starts in 1962 and Marilyn is on her way to the Cal-Neva Lodge the weekend before her death, and the book keeps returning to this point.

The book is well written and very enjoyable with the vignettes in the most part true to the Marilyn Monroe life story, but here too is the problem, any one who is familiar with the story of MM will pick up on the discrepancies.

Most noticeable for me was having James Dougherty join the Merchant Marine when the US joined World War 2 instead of towards the end of it and the Misfits section, when Adam Braver’s narration insinuates that Marilyn had never met Clark Gable before the first day of filming, when in fact she had met him and danced with him at the wrap party for The Seven Year Itch and he in fact said to her at that time that he had recently watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and would like to make a film with her because she had the ‘magic’. And, while I appreciate that she most likely was nervous at performing with him it’s annoying that the narration makes it appear as if it was their first meeting.

The last vignette, I feel will be the most upsetting to fans, as it deals with the preparation of her body by the embalmer before he funeral, we have all heard the story of how the autopsy had left her flat chested and how they made her look like Marilyn again, but to end the book on this note was quite distressing and personally I would like to have had one final story set in the present day about how a fan views her more than 50 years after her death, or Marilyn’s spirit in heaven looking down on the world amazed by how much she is still loved.

The book is definitely worth a read, but if you don’t read it you are not missing out on anything.

2.5/5

Icon - update

Exciting news from Gary Vitacco-Robles, the price of the book has now been announced - the soft cover will be $39.95 and the Hardcover $49.95 (apparently the hardback edition will have a different cover to the paperback)
The ISBN for the soft cover is ISBN-10: 1-59393-554-4 and ISBN-13: 978-1-59393-554-2
And the book is starting to appear on the Bear Manor media blog. Click HERE to visit the blog and read about this much anticipated book.

More news as and when I get it.

Marilyn at Castle Galleries

On Saturday we went to Cardiff and visited Castle Galleries in the St David's Centre, the reason for this is currently there is an exhibition of  8 Marilyn prints from the Edward Weston collection on display. 

The 8 prints are gorgeous, but far to expensive for my budget, but if you have a Castle Galleries near you why not pop a long and pick up the free brochure?

Visit the Castle Galleries website by clicking HERE to locate your nearest one.

1. 
   

Icon: The life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe by Gary Vitacoo-Robles

Coming Soon….

Icon: The Life and Times of Marilyn Monroe vol 1 by Gary Vitacco-Robles

I have to say that this is the most eagerly await book on Marilyn in a long time and, as you can tell from the title this book comes in more than one volume, Gary advises that he is expecting a release date anytime soon for vol 1 and the book is currently being typeset, and vol 2 has been written but there is no estimate for a release date as yet for that.

Icon will be published by Bear Manor Media a company that specializes in books on the performing arts.

As soon as I receive notice of the publishing date I will update you.

If you are on Facebook you can join the group Gary has set up for his book by clicking HERE

To visit the Bear Manor Media site please click HERE

This is definitely going to be one of the must have books of recent times and is likely to leave the majority of other Monroe biographers green with envy.

MM Personal by Lois Banner and Mark Anderson

Published in 2011 this large coffee table books contains photographs of documents that have been hidden for years.

After Monroe’s death in August 1962, her business manager Inez Melson organised the auction of her house and contents, in that auction was a filing cabinet, Melson, using her nephews name purchased this cabinet for $25 and shipped it to her Hollywood Hills home.

 One of the many pages of receipts

One of the many pages of cancelled cheques

The telegrams that I personally would like to be able to see in their entirety.

There were in fact 2 filing cabinets in Melson’s care containing receipts, cheques, letters, telegrams and photographs, and many of them have been included here, photographed by Mark Anderson.

The documents give a real insight into Monroe the human being, with letters to Arthur Miller’s son Robert written as if from the Miller pet dog Hugo, receipts from book stores, maternity shops and pharmacies. Marilyn kept every receipt, making this book essential for fans

I personally like the letter from the mother of a solider who served in Korea, praising Marilyn for performing so close to the Front Line calling her ‘A real soldier’

Now in the sentence above I have advised this is a must for fans, and it is, however many of the documents have been photographed in groups and many of the items are obscuring other items and while I appreciate that it would be impossible to publish every single one in the book individually the depth of my interest in Monroe means I am frustrated at having to crane my neck to make out information on the receipts and in case of  the telegrams there is a 2 page spread (above) in which the only part of the telegram viewable is the top, not the message contained within – and this is the things I find most interesting, I want to know what the telegrams say!

Due to the way Inez obtained this archive it has now been returned to Anna Strasberg and the Marilyn estate to misgivings by fans as many believe that Mrs Strasberg in only interested in the money that can be made from Marilyn and not in Marilyn herself and while the archive was in the care of Melson and her descendants the archive was protected and safe, but yet a key clue to Marilyn and who she was as a person was clearly missing.

All in all 9/10

Highly recommended.

You can purchase this book on Amazon UK by clicking HERE

or from Amazon.com by clicking HERE

Marilyn Book News

Marilyn Monroe Her Films Her life by Michelle Vogel was released on 30/01, and it appears that the book is already out of stock on Amazon. I have ordered a copy and as soon as I receive it I will post a review

American Icon The legacy and death of Marilyn Monroe by Elle Andra-Warner is due to be published on 01/02 again I have this on order.

Fan Phenomena: Marilyn Monroe by Marcelline Block has a publication date of 15/04

Marilyn Monroe A life of the Actress revised by Carl Rollyson has a estimated publication date of June

The murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed by Jay Margolis and Richard Buskin should be released on 3^rd June

Joe and Marilyn by Heymann C David currently has a publication date of 1^st July, however this books publication date has been pushed back several times so far

Please be aware that these release dates are for the UK editions and the release schedules may well be different in other parts of the workd

Also coming soon will be Icon: TheLife, Tilmes and Films of Marilyn Moneroe by Gary  Vitacco-Robles, I will post a bit more about this upcoming release shortly

Carl Rollyson author of A life of the actress is currently working on another book on Monroe currently called Marilyn Monroe Day by Day and will chronicle her life on a daily basis as soon as I receive an update from Carl I will let you know. 

Update - the publication date for Michelle Vogels book has been pushed back to April 30th.

So far there is no sign of American Icon being released.

Further updates when I get them

2 Books added

I have just added the 2 books below to the Monroe Report Archive. The large one is the Paperback version  of Marilyn Monroe An Appreciation by Eve Arnold. I already own the original hardback edition and the new version released with some rare photos a few years ago, but as I like to collect the different editions I couldn't help by add this as it was only £2.99

The smaller book is a fictional book called Misfit and is by Adam Braver. I'm going to start reading this tonight and will post a review shortly.

To buy or not to buy?

So I was going to write a post with the top ten books  you must own and the top ten books you must avoid, that was until I realised that the must have list would be far more than ten and the avoid list well, I dread to think how many would be on there and with new books being released all the time the lists change far too quickly.
So instead of the list I will rate the books between 1 and 5, 1 being don't bother and 5 being, if you don't buy this how can you call yourselves a fan (my little joke)
I will also rate the documentaries and films about her in the same way.

So far the first post has garnered lots of likes on the Immortal Marilyn Facebook page and I really hope I can do Marilyn justice.

I will be back soon with another post and my first review so please stay tuned

Hello, welcome to the first post of the Monroe Report, this blog is for all things related to Marilyn Monroe. I have been collecting Marilyn Monroe items for over 20 years and have over 200 books in my collection as well as more than 40 documentaries and all of her films.

The purpose of this blog is to review all the books I can on Marilyn, new and old, her films, documentaries, plays (if I can attend) and other collectible items. As well as bring to you all other kinds of Marilyn News.

As I am based in the UK the majority of the items reviewed will be UK editions although I do collect things from other countries as well.

I want all her fans to have a resource that advises them on the books about her – good and bad, that way they can make an informed decision as to whether or not to spend their hard earned cash on them.

When I first became a fan I was unaware of any other fans, I knew of no fan clubs and the list of books I had came from other books and documentaries.

I have some of the worst books on her in my collection (some only recently published) but I also have some of the best. My intention is to buy all the books I can, so a fan just starting out doesn't have to take a risk and end up with a book filled with incorrect information.

I will provide a list of the must have books and the ones that should be avoided and then I will review them all and explain why some books are best left in the bargain bin.

I will also use real quotes. In the last few year an abundance of fake quotes have swamped the internet, and are now attributed to Marilyn even by the most conscientious of researchers – and don’t get me started on the fake photos!!!!

So feel free to check back to see what items I am listing or reviewing and please leave your thoughts and comments.