Had she lived long enough to see the day, June 1marks the birthday of cinema's ultimate fractured sex goddess.
On this day, Marilyn Monroe would have been 82-years-old.
And despite all those coffee mugs emblazoned with her image, countless MM impersonators in their fluttery white dresses and so many sexy starlets naming her as an influence (Madonna, Mariah, Christina and most recently and disastrously, Lindsay) she remains fascinating.
It's not just that she died tragically and in mysterious circumstances though, that has certainly added to her legend. It's not just for her famous husbands and her Happy-Birthday-Mr. President dalliances with the Kennedy's (something I've always found incredibly sad and kind of sick -- what else was going on there?). And it's not just for her iconic beauty and glamour.
No, there's something more to Marilyn that makes her continually interesting. It's all her now legendary tragic contradictions -- her messy, mixed-up life, her massive consumption of pills and champagne, her continual and final mental instability juxtaposed with her peaches and cream gorgeousness, her absolute command of the big screen (in spite of her problems with lines) and her ultimate, natural talent. It's her ability, after all these decades, to still pop off the screen with such undeniable "It" that we almost take her for granted. Of course Marilyn Monroe is one of the most famous women in the world, who doesn't know how wonderful she is?
But then, watch her again perform "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with effortless charisma and cleverness, observe her studied, but certainly real and potent sadness in The Misfits, enjoy the Freudian fantasy -- the erotic fun she's having in The Seven Year Itch, think about all that sexed up sadness from Some Like It Hot (and yes, she makes you actually think about it). Further, view her va-va-voom bad girl in Niagara, her tragic instability in Don't Bother to Knock, her authenticity in Clash By Night, and revel in her garish vulnerability and sweetness (and my God those beautiful close-ups) in Bus Stop -- she is just. So. Wonderful.
I had a thing for MM ever since I was a little girl (we were born on the same day). I even composed a slightly scandalous speech in the 7th Grade proclaiming the movie star was murdered. But beyond my young conspiracy theories, most little girls love MM in some way, especially those obsessed with movies. My love would would re-ignite later in life after I watched nearly all her films by high school and moved on to other celluloid icons. Rita Hayworth, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Lizbeth Scott, Veronica Lake, Tuesday Weld, Brigitte Bardot, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Louise Brooks, Gene Tierney -- the list could go on and on and on -- I'd work through all of their movies before watching Marilyn yet again. But I always came back to her. Like re-reading a great novel or play, you understand her better with age.
And though people love to discuss Marilyn Monroe the underrated actress (which is true -- she was a great comedienne), rarely do they argue about MM the underrated singer. As proven in Some Like it Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, River of No Return, Bus Stop (oh lord...her sexy, warbled, scared, ripped fishnet version of "That Old Black Magic"...so brilliant) and the less classic Let's Make Love (where her rendition of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" is one of the best versions of that song ever recorded), the woman had distinct pipes.
Marilyn could sing. And she could sing with great soul, humor and character, with an unmistakable voice no other singer possessed. Isn't that the sign of an original artist? I think so.
Again, I realized later in life that I favored Marilyn both early in her career, when she was so fresh and un-mannered in films like All About Eve, Don't Bother to Knock and one of my favorite MM performances, Clash By Night (Marilyn slopping around in jeans eating that candy bar! So natural, so her.)
I adore her work during her so-called decline, like her odd glamour-puss beatnik performance from Let's Make Love, her labored, yet superb method style in The Misfits and the absolutely mesmerizing bits and pieces I've seen of her in the ill-fated Something's Got To Give. She looked so stunning, so fit, who would think she was to die mere months later?
I also became even more fascinated by her later photo sessions; especially Bert Stern's final sitting. MM is less made up, wearing simple clothes (if you ever look at the Christie's book on her auction, you'll notice how basic her personal style was) and you notice her skin aging, her fascinating flaws -- you can even see her appendectomy scar. But there is something so fantastically real, morbid almost, about these pictures. She looks a little modern (I always think of Debbie Harry or what Edie Sedgwick might have aged into when I look at these), very drunk and wonderfully rough around the edges -- less the big eyed-blonde and more the world weary movie star.
As Norman Mailer wrote of her in his drooling but perceptive ode entitlted Marilyn she was, "a female spurt of wit and sensitive energy who could hang like a sloth for days in a muddy-mooded coma; a child girl, yet an actress to loose a riot by dropping her glove at a premiere; a fountain of charm and a dreary bore...she was certainly more than the silver witch of us all."
Yes. Lying on that mattress on the floor in that modest little house at the end of her life, so many women (and men too) can understand and/or relate to her sadness -- and so many can see what demons (or demon) led to her demise...and yet, she remains mysterious.
And though she may be ultra ubiquitous she also remains important. Sexy, breathy, objectified, so-called dumb blonde? Someone's got to show them how to do it. And perhaps even more important, someone's got to reveal so much joy and pain yet remain so very specifically enigmatic. The cracked fantasy.
Someone has to be a real movie star.
Happy Birthday Marilyn. You really were something else.
Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun.