On My Mind

     Marilyn Monroe's 1954 visit to Korea brightened a lot of servicemen's lives.  She and Joe DiMaggio were on their honeymoon when she got the call.  But did Marilyn say no?  Absolutely not!  She flew right over there and got to work, cheering up over 100,000.  Get a behind the scenes look at her visit.

 

Marilyn and Miller - Part 3

More Marilyn and Miller photographs from 1957

Marilyn and Miller - Part 2

 

Marilyn and her third husband 

playwright Arthur Miller.

Marilyn Monday

Marilyn in a Potato Sack

Marilyn and Miller

     Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller by taken by Sam Shaw in 1957.  Monroe and Miller were married from 1956 to 1961.  Here are some gorgeous pictures of "The Egghead and the Hourglass". 

Marilyn and Jane Immortalized

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell immortalizing their hand and foot prints in front of Graumann's Chinese Theater, June 26, 1953.

Marilyn Monday - Beautiful Birthday Belle

Marilyn Monroe in Amagansett, Long Island by Sam Shaw; May 1957

Today is Marilyn Monroe's birthday (June 1, 1926), so it seemed logical to do another Marilyn Monday.  These fun, sunny pictures also happen to feature fashion that is on trend again, specifically the crop top. 

Saturday Soccer

Marilyn Monroe at Ebbets Field for a soccer match between the U.S. National team and Israeli club Hapoel Tel-Aviv on Israel’s ninth Independence Day, by Sam Shaw (1912-99), dated 5-12-57

Fashion Friday - 'A Chapman Original'

Model Dorian Leigh wearing white organdy shirt with full print skirt by Ceil Chapman 1950

Homes of the Stars - Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe's last home from the 1971 Guide to Stars Homes, page 25

Week in Review

Films I've Watched

• Penguin Pool Murder (1932) - I love these Hildegarde Withers films featuring the amazing Edna Mae Oliver.  She was such an amazing actress - spunky, with an acid tongue.  Thanks to TCM for playing these gems every Saturday morning.

Week in Review - :Links

Sophia Loren from Film Noir Photos

• I love classic stars reading.  Pictures of modern stars reading don't really interest me because often they are reading nothing worth wasting two seconds on.  Even though many of the classic stars reading are staged, the books are often more interesting.  I've even tried to read a few myself, with some surprising finds.  Film Noir Photos features a delightful Sophia Loren reading at home.  Gorgeous!  And congrats on its Blogiversary!

Millionaire Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe from How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

Links of the Week

A wonderful post from Go Retro! why Rankin/Bass Specials are amazing.  I adore them, and clearly others do too.  I just wish they wouldn't have had Rudolph on TV before Thanksgiving.  There is a rule in my house to have nothing to do with Christmas music, specials, etc. before Thanksgiving is over.  The pessimist part of me thinks they hoped people wouldn't watch so they have an excuse to take it off the air.  It's one of the few times I find myself watching network TV is during December when the specials are on.

Go Retro!  also has some amazing advice from lifestyle superstar Jack LaLanne.  I adore him, and his advice on happiness still has a place in these modern times.  Part of me thinks it much more relevant today then it was when first given.

Nuggets of Note - December 31, 2012

Mary Pickford and Her Flower

The Daily Mirror features Flowers Names After Stars

Cecil B DeMille's Christmas Card

Some great Christmas related posts:
The 1914 Christmas Truce on Today I Found Out
Origin of NORAD Tracking Santa on Mental Floss
Very cool story about the First Christmas Recording.  It's so cool to hear a family celebrating Christmas over 100 years ago
Cecile B. DeMille's Christmas Card on Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie

Dorothy Gish of MY HERO and AN UNSEEN ENEMY

Immortal Ephemera features Movie Ads from Christmas 1912


Los Angeles Morgue Files features: Norma Talmadge, Florence Lawrence

Fleischmann's Mixer's Manual

Leave it to Letterology to come up with some great Mixology for New Year's  


Part 2 on Aldo Ray is delightful on Movie Morlocks

A gorgeous 1840s Astronomy book on BiblioOdyssey


Some cool homes on Daytonian in Manhattan include: the 1926 Scientific American Building, Wm. Barnard House, 


I wish I had received even one of these Best Movie Books of 2012 on San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Marilyn Monroe FBI Document

And of course there is the recently released FBI Files about Marilyn Monroe


Deja View has some cool initial sketches of Amelia and Abigail Gabble from the Aristocats

Missing Marilyn - 50th Anniversary of Our Loss

Marilyn Walking Off Into the Distance; 1958

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the loss of Marilyn Monroe.  She is a true icon in popular culture and film.  

Marilyn Monroe Press Conference; 1962

In my humble opinion, I find her a wonderful actress, far deeper than the image associated with her.  

Marilyn Monroe Press Conference; 1962

My favorite Marilyn Monroe performances are in Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, and How to Marry a Millionaire.

Marilyn Monroe Press Conference; 1962

Such a troubled life for a wonderful personality.  I read a fabulous essay today published a few weeks after her death by Ayn Rand.

Marilyn Monroe Press Conference; 1962

While I did not have the troubled childhood she had, I can empathize with many of Monroe's hurts which Rand clearly articulated.

Air Force Officer's Club; 1953

So on this sad anniversary, let's drink a toast to the goodness of Marilyn - her joy, her acting talent, her intellect, her beauty, and her undying spirit.  We miss you!

Ursula and Bob have a Cozy Christmas

Ursula Thiess

Ursula Reading a Script

Is hoping to get her eight-year-old son here from Germany by Christmas so he can join her. Bob Taylor, and his sister for the holidays.  The boy’s travel was held up by an appendectomy.  It’ll be curious to see Bob with two children on his hands and living in a new house of his own.  He was never very much of a family man even when married to Barbara Stanwyck.

[Source: Movieland; February 1955]

Will Joe and Marilyn Ever Reunite?

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn 1954

And Joe DiMaggio who supplied the biggest screen divorce story of the year, may also come up with the largest reconciliation.  At this writing, Marilyn still has her divorce on file, but Joe, with time for reflection, seems to think he acted too hastily in walking out on his blonde bride.  And he was the one who did the walking, of that you can be sure even though Marilyn hastily applied for the divorce.  Joe was blazingly angry at something about which he wouldn’t talk.  The rumor mill has been working overtime to try to come up with an answer.  But Joe took the first active step toward a reconciliation when he visited Marilyn while she was hospitalized for minor surgery.  It was the concern that a man shows for his wife and not a divorced mate.  If they reconcile, and we believe they will, both Marilyn and Joe will have to learn a little more of the old game of give and take which has saved many marriages.  Certainly Marilyn has no intention of chucking over her career and Joe will have to accept that fact – just as Marilyn will have to accept the fact that a marriage brings responsibility to the home.  The highly publicized separation could be the best thing that ever happened to that marriage.  We believe the reconciliation will be as sudden as the divorce.  Marilyn needs a long rest, which a second honeymoon could provide – rather than the publicity field day occasioned by their first.

[Source: Movieland; February 1955]

Marilyn and Her Attorney Announcing the Divorce

We all know the story of Marilyn and Joe.  If not, there are plenty of sources which speak of the topic.  I wish they could have made things work.  They seemed to have a lifelong love, or at least lifelong respect for one another.  Joe certainly never married again and Marilyn is known to turn to Joe when life was roughest.

Marilyn 1954

There were rumors of the two reuniting in February 1961, but though Joe nursed Marilyn through this tough moment in her life, the two never remarried.  Maybe they found each other again in that great baseball diamond in the sky.

Joe and Marilyn - in Happier Times

Jimmy Durante's Dream Presidential Cabinet

Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante, on his dream Presidential Cabinet:

Rita Hayworth

State Secretary Rita Hayworth - "She'd clean up our foreign affairs - to say nuttin' of a few domestic ones, too!"

Ava Gardner

Labor Secretary Ava Gardner - "Any man would wantta form a union wit her.  I'd insist on a closed shop."

Corinne Calvet

Agriculture Secretary Corinne Calvet - "Why, da farmers wouldn't ask for subsidies.  They'd pay them!"

Marilyn Monroe

Interior Secretary Marilyn Monroe - "Her exterior ain't bad neither."

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Army Secretary Zsa Zsa Gabor - "Any man would fight for dis girl!"

[Source:  Quick Magazine; November 17, 1952]

Ursula Thiess's First Film

Ursula Thiess

Actress Ursula Thiess, telling columnist Earl Wilson about her forthcoming film in which she swims nube:  "It was my first picture and I did what they told me."




[Source:  Quick Magazine; January 5, 1953]

Ursula Thiess

Ursula Thiess (May 15, 1924 - June 19, 2010)  born in Hamburg, Germany.  RKO brought her to America for a test in 1952 and she was voted most promising newcomer by Modern Screen (along with Marilyn Monroe).  While starring in a mere 5 films, she is probably best known for her marriage to Robert Taylor.  They met on a studio-arranged blind date.  They fell in love and were married May 24, 1954 until Taylor's death on June 8, 1969.  She had 2 children with Taylor.  Ursula basically retired from the screen after she married Taylor and concentrated on her family.  Her last screen appearance was in 1972.

Robert Taylor and Ursula Thiess