A portrait of Marilyn Monroe

Sometimes I kind of follow news about art and auctions, not sure why. But anyway, you have probably heard about it before and I know I am late in the news, but one of Andy Warhol's portraits of Marilyn Monroe has been sold to a record sum of $195m. I used to be a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, I still quite like her a lot as an artist and an icon. But never cared all that much about Andy Warhol, I must confess. And as a great artist as he was, I prefer Marilyn Monroe witthout weird colours added, or on black and white. Be that as it may, if I had that much money, I'd keep it for something else and watch one of her movies instead.

The star of Marilyn Monroe

A few months ago, my brother PJ went to Hollywood on holidays. He took a few pictures, including this one, of the star of Marilyn Monroe. Maybe the greatest star there ever was he said, commenting on the picture on social media. I think he is right, and there is no need for any maybes. She used to be my favourite actress, not so much for her acting skills, which to be very honest I think were rather limited (but very enjoyable nevertheless, what she lacked in acting abilities, she made up for in charm), but for her iconic status. Now, I have another favourite actress (you know which one), but I still think Monroe's movies are great fun to watch. Not always because of their intrinsic qualities (although she did play in genuine great films), but because they are freaking Marilyn Monroe movies.

Say it with diamonds...

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I missed it on this blog (not in real life though, don't worry). I wanted to commemorate it with a song, I thought I might as well do it a bit late. As it is almost a tradition, it is performed by Marilyn Monroe. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but I find it funny all the same and I love the musical numbers, especially this one. When everything is said and done, this is very much a surprisingly cynical yet very real song about love. Shallow, materialistic, consumerist, hilarious.

Anthony Burgess and... Marilyn Monroe?

I found this picture on the Facebook page of the Anthony Burgess Foundation. It dates back from 1985 and was taken in  his study in Monaco. I never knew my favourite writer had much if any interest in Marilyn Monroe. I remember her being mentioned a few of his writings, but never thought the icon interested her to the point of having a picture of her in his study. And given his writing, I understood he liked more Mediterranean types of beauty (such as Sophia Loren). Now I find this picture fascinating for many reasons, what with the cigar smoking, the purely intellectual and unglamorous look of the writer contrasting with the sensuality of the Hollywood star facing him, but there is something else: I had the same poster of Marilyn Monroe when I was a teenager. For some reason, I was a big fan of her. Now she is no longer my favourite actress (somebody else is), in fact Monroe is first and foremost a star of legendary stature. All the same, I find it borderline spooky that Anthony Burgess and I shared the very same image of her.

Marilyn Monroe for Valentine's Day

To celebrate/commemorate Valentine's Day, I thought about uploading a song. Performed by Marilyn Monroe in Some like it hot, one of my favourite comedies and one of the movies I love to watch around Valentine's Day, partially because it was freely inspired by the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. So here is I'm through with love. Because there are a lot of single people in the world who find today depressing. I remember how I felt that day when I was single anyway (not that it is that great when you are not single, but I digress). And because Marilyn Monroe has a beautiful singing voice.

Posthumous pictures of Marilyn Monroe

They found some posthumous pictures of Marilyn Monroe recently in New York. This piece of news did not fascinated me nearly as much as when they found a video of her smoking marijuana, but it is still an interesting piece of news. The pics were taken before she was a star, when she was an aspiring pin up. Now she is a star, but she is dead. She would be 85 if she was alive. Because she died quite young and in such tragic circumstances, I think all pictures of her have some sinister undertones, especially those taken shortly before her dead or when she was still unknown.

The voice of Marilyn Monroe

I promised it on this post, so I am keeping my promise and putting I Wanna Be Loved By You on this blog. As Valentine's Day is coming, I might as well put a love song, this one I particularly love for many reasons, one of them being its simplicity. Of all the movies of Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot is probably my favourite. Not only is it funny, it is also intelligent and has really good musical numbers that fits in the plot smoothly, never getting in its way but completing it (see how Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dialogue blend in this extract), setting a perfect atmosphere. It's a comedy with music, but it is not a musical comedy. And of course there is the voice of Marilyn Monroe itself. We sometimes forget that Marilyn Monroe was not only a sex symbol of the 50s (I mused on this particular aspect here), she was also a brilliant, natural comedy actress with a beautiful voice. In her singing roles, I think her voice was half the charm, something we lose in her non singing roles. This is what I hope you can appreciate here.

A classic advert

I don't know why, but I always loved that advert of Chanel No. 5. Maybe it is the blend of the great Carole Bouquet into the American icon Marilyn Monroe, maybe it is the song, which I always loved (and from one of my favourite comedies), maybe it is the whole intertext, but anyway I find it classy, funny and genuinely witty. It is much simpler than the overtly pretentious commercial made by Lurhmann. I will probably put the song here soon, as Valentine's Say is coming and all. Until then, you can appreciate French sophistication and American charm simultaneously (for the record, I prefer British charm myself).

The mouth of Marilyn Monroe

The title is taken from the chapter of a Bond novel, but it fits the topic perfectly. I used to be a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, even before I saw one single movie of her. I don't know why. I guess it has something to do with her bubbly, girl next door kind of charm. Or maybe I am just an old man since teenage. (I noticed that old men usually like Marilyn Monroe, I knew of a distinguished professor specialised of medieval literature who was a big fan of Some Like It Hot.) I still kept a bit of fascination for the actress and the period of American history she lived in.

So yes, we very recently discovered a piece of film where she is (allegedly) smoking marijuana. I have no idea why exactly, but I find the news particularly interesting. I wonder if it humanises the icon she is, or makes her even more iconic. After all, we already knew she at least had a flirt with addictive substances, alcohol or prescription drugs. But that she also used illegal drugs, that is another thing entirely, never mind the toxicity of marijuana compared to what killed her. There is something vaguely rebellious about Marilyn Monroe smoking weed. I don't remember even seeing her with a "normal" cigarette!

There is also the fact that the video was taken in an intimate environment: she is there, surrounded by a few friends, relaxed, carefree, away from the glamorous environment we usually see her in. I wonder what she was saying and I hope someone able to read lips will tell us.

Well anyway, I call upon my (modest) readership: is this posthumous video fascinating for you too? What do you think of it?