Norma Jeane (13 ans) avec Bob Muir (14 ans), fils des voisins qui allait à la même école (Emerson Junior High School), devant la maison des Goddard au 11 336 Nebraska Avenue.
Photographie provenant des archives de la famille Muir.

Norma Jeane (13 years old) with Bob Muir (14 years old), son of the neighbors who went to the same school (Emerson Junior High School), in front of Goddard's house at 11 3336 Nebraska avenue. 
Photograph from the Muir family archives.

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copyright text by GinieLand.

Les reines du music-hall
Scène 15 - Photos Publicitaires

Portraits promotionnels de Adele Jergens et Eddie Garr pour "Les Reines du Music-Hall", datés du 13 juillet 1948 dans les studios de la Columbia.

Promotional portraits of Adele Jergens and Eddie Garr for "Ladies of the Chorus", dated July 13, 1948 at Columbia studios.

- dos photo tampon date -
- photo back with date stamp -
 

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copyright text by GinieLand.  

Les reines du music-hall
Scène 15 - Captures

Partie 1 - Randy Carroll (Rand Brooks) se rend chez Mae Martin (Adele Jergens) car il souhaite épouser sa fille Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). Mae lui dit qu'il est un garçon bien, qu'elle l'apprécie, qu'elle sait que sa fille l'aime, mais elle émet quelques réserves. Bien qu'elle n'ait aucune objection à s'y opposer, elle explique à Randy que Peggy est une chanteuse et danseuse de revue, la reine du burlesque, et que même si Randy n'y attache aucune importance, elle lui souligne le fait que son entourage ne l'acceptera pas (comme ses amis et sa mère) et que Peggy risque de se retrouver dans des situations honteuses pour elle. Randy rassure Mae: si ses amis n'accepteraient pas Peggy, il ne les fréquentera pas. Quand à sa mère, il est impossible pour lui, qu'elle n'aime pas Peggy. Mae n'est pas convaincue et commence alors à raconter à Randy sa propre expérience: elle aussi, quand elle avait l'âge de Peggy, était amoureuse d'un homme de Boston venant d'un milieu aisé, il s 'agissait du père de Peggy. Elle était alors "la fille la plus heureuse du monde".

Part 1 - Randy Carroll (Rand Brooks) goes to Mae Martin (Adele Jergens) apartment because he wants to marry her daughter Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). Mae tells him that he's a fine boy, that she likes him, that she knows her daughter loves him, but she has some reservations. Although she has no objection to it, she explains to Randy that Peggy is a show girl, the queen of burlesque, and that although Randy doesn't attach any importance to it, she points out the fact that people around him would'nt accept her (as his  friends and his mother) and that Peggy risks finding herself in situations that are shameful for her. Randy reassures Mae: if his friends wouldn't accept Peggy, he wouldn't see them. As for his mother, it is impossible for him that she will not love Peggy. Mae is not convinced and then begins to tell Randy her own experience: she too, when she was Peggy's age, was in love with a Boston's man from a wealthy background, it was Peggy's father. She was then "the happiest girl in the world."

Partie 2, le passé de Mae - Mae Martin (Adele Jergens), jeune femme, est une reine du burlesque. Seule sur scène, elle interprète la chanson "I'm so crazy for you" et exécute un numéro de claquettes, devant un public médusé, dont un jeune homme qui la salue. 
Après sa prestation, le jeune homme qui était dans le public, attend devant la loge de Mae. Deux jeunes danseuses sortent et l'interpellent par son nom, M Alan Wakely (Bill Edwards), lui demandant pour plaisanter s'il n'a pas de maison. Quand elles partent, Mae sort de sa loge et Alan la complimente pour sa beauté. Il lui déclare les mêmes propos qu'a tenu Randy: il souhaite se marier et n'attache aucune importance de ce qu'en penseront ses amis. Quand à sa mère, elle ne pourra qu'être séduite par Mae.

Part 2, Mae's Past - Mae Martin (Adele Jergens), a young woman, is a queen of burlesque. Alone on stage, she sings the song "I'm so crazy for you" and performs a tap dance number, in front of a dumbfounded audience, including a young man who greets her.
After her performance, the young man who was in the audience, waits in front of Mae's dressing room. Two young dancers come out and call out to him by name, Mr. Alan Wakely (Bill Edwards), asking him jokingly if he has no home. When they leave, Mae comes out of her dressing room and Alan compliments her on her beauty. He declares to her the same remarks that Randy held: he wishes to get married and attaches no importance to what his friends will think of it. As for his mother, she can only be seduced by Mae.

Partie 3 - Mae raconte à Randy qu'elle a refusé pendant plusieurs soirs de rencontrer l'entourage de Alan qui, de son côté, n'a jamais renoncé, l'invitant à des soirées et lui offrant régulièrement des fleurs. Jusqu'au jour où elle finit par accepter la proposition de mariage, elle commence à raconter qu'elle n'oubliera jamais un certain soir...

Part 3 - Mae tells Randy that she refused for several evenings to meet Alan's entourage who, for his part, never gave up, inviting her to parties and regularly offering her flowers. Until the day when she ends up accepting the marriage proposal, she begins to tell that she will never forget a certain evening...

Partie 4, le passé de Mae - Mae se tient debout sur scène, sans prononcer un mot, avec Billy MacKay (Eddie Garr) qui interprète un sketch comique et visuel.
Après la prestation, Billy se retrouve devant la loge de Mae. Nerveux, il cache une bague dans sa main. Quand il entre dans la loge de Mae qui est en train de se recoiffer, Mae lui annonce qu'elle va se marier et qu'elle va quitter la troupe samedi soir. Billy dissimule sa déception. Quand Mae lui demande pourquoi il est venu la voir, il lui répond qu'il a oublié et qu'ainsi, cela restait sans importance. Devant elle, il joue à l'homme enthousiasme, mais une fois ressorti de sa loge, il semble triste, rangeant la bague dans une pochette.

Part 4, Mae's Past - Mae stands silently on stage with Billy MacKay (Eddie Garr) performing a comedic visual skit.
After the performance, Billy finds himself in front of Mae's dressing room. Nervous, he hides a ring in his hand. When he enters Mae's dressing room, who is doing her hair, Mae announces to him that she is going to get married and that she is going to leave the job on Saturday evening. Billy conceals his disappointment. When Mae asks him why he came to see her, he replies that he forgot and thus it remained certainly not important. In front of her, he plays the enthusiastic man, but once out of her dressing room, he seems sad, putting the ring away in a pocket.

Partie 5 - Mae explique à Randy ce qui se passa alors. Les quelques semaines après le mariage étaient formidables, Mae étant traitée comme une reine par tout le monde. Mais quand ils ont appris qu'elle était une reine du burlesque, ils l'ont rejetée: la mère de son mari en était furieuse et ses amis horrifiés. Mae s'est disputée avec son mari et a préféré quitter Boston. Sa belle famille a fait annuler le mariage, le père de son mari a envoyé son fils en Europe où il s'est remarrié. Randy lui demande ce qu'elle fit alors de sa vie, et elle lui répond qu'elle a fait la seule chose qu'elle savait faire: du burlesque.

Part 5 - Mae explains to Randy what happened then. The few weeks after the wedding were great, Mae being treated like a queen by everyone. But when they learned what she was doing - a burlesque queen - they rejected her: her husband's mother was furious and his friends horrified. Mae argued with her husband and preferred to leave Boston. His family in laws had the marriage cancelled, her husband's father sent his son to Europe where he remarried. Randy asks her what she did with her life then, and she replies that she did the only thing she knew how to do: burlesque.

Partie 6, le passé de Mae - Billy se précipite vers la loge de Mae, où attendent toute la troupe de danseuses et autres employés. Il souhaite voir le docteur, qui sort de la loge de Mae. Tout le monde craint qu'elle soit malade. Le docteur (Emmett Vogan) explique qu'elle ne pourra pas travailler car elle est enceinte, ce qui réjouit toute l'assistance, Billy en tête.

Part 6, Mae's Past - Billy rushes to Mae's dressing room, where the entire troupe of dancers and other employees are waiting. He wishes to see the doctor, who comes out of Mae's dressing room. Everyone fears that she is sick. The doctor explains that she will not be able to work because she is pregnant, which delights all the assistance, Billy the first.

Partie 7 - Mae dit à Randy que Peggy est née quatre mois plus tard. Elle l'a envoyée étudier à l'école pendant qu'elle continuait à travailler dans le burlesque, mais non plus comme la reine, mais en simple danseuse parmi les autres.

Part 7 - Mae tells Randy that Peggy was born four months later. She sent her to study at school while she continued to work in burlesque, but no longer as the queen, but as a simple dancer among the others.

Partie 8, le passé de Mae - Mae est sur scène avec d'autres danseuses, exécutant une chorégraphie de groupe. En sortant de scène, dans les coulisses, Billy l'attend. Mae est heureuse de le retrouver, elle lui demande ce qu'il fait là. Il lui répond qu'il a quitté la troupe de Boston où il travaillait. Billy lui demande des nouvelles de Peggy. Mae lui répond qu'elle est au lycée et qu'elle sera bientôt diplômée. Satisfait, Billy lui dit qu'elle peut compter sur lui, rappelant qu'il est l' "Oncle Billy". Puis il sort une bague qu'il donne à Mae, lui demandant de la donner en cadeau à Peggy dès l'obtention de son diplôme. Voyant Mae surprise et embarassée, il lui dit que c'est un petit quelque chose qu'il avait acheté il y a longtemps.

Part 8, Mae's past - Mae is on stage with other dancers, performing a choral choreography. Leaving the stage, Billy is in backstage waiting for her. Mae is happy to see him, she asks him what he is doing there. He answered he left the group in Boston where he worked. Billy asks news about Peggy. Mae replies that she is in high school and will be soon graduated. Satisfied, Billy tells her that she can count on him, recalling that he is "Uncle Billy". Then he pulls out a ring which he gives to Mae, asking her to give it as a gift to Peggy upon graduation. Seeing Mae surprised and embarrassed, he tells her that it's a little thing he bought a long time ago.

Partie 9 - Mae raconte à Randy qu'après l'obtention de son diplôme, Peggy a voulu travailler et a intégré la troupe de Mae. C'est ainsi qu'elle conclut que le mariage de Peggy et Randy n'est pas fiable. Mais Randy répond à Mae que les mentalités ont changé et sa mère acceptera Peggy telle qu'elle est. Mais Mae lui dit que cela ne focntionnera pas. Néanmoins, devant l'insistance de Randy, Mae décide de consentir au mariage en posant une seule condition: qu'il dise à sa mère qu'il va épouser "Peggy Martin, une reine du burlesque." Randy répond sèchement à Mae qu'elle n'a pas à intervenir dans la vie de sa fille, et que cela a toujours été son intention de dire la vérité à sa mère. Il s'en va et Mae reste debout, l'air soucieuse.

Part 9 - Mae tells Randy that after her graduation, Peggy wanted to work and joined Mae's chorus girls. This is how she concludes that Peggy and Randy's marriage is unreliable. But Randy replies to Mae that mentalities have changed and her mother will accept Peggy as she is. But Mae tells him that it won't work. Nevertheless, at Randy's insistence, Mae decides to consent to the marriage on one condition: that he tells his mother that he is going to marry "Peggy Martin, a burlesque queen." Randy snaps at Mae that she doesn't have to interfere in her daughter's life, and that it was always his intention to tell her mother the truth. He leaves and Mae remains standing, looking worried.

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copyright text by GinieLand. 

La pêche au trésor
Sur le tournage

Marilyn Monroe et Groucho Marx sur le tournage du film Love Happy

Marilyn Monroe and Groucho Marx on the set of the movie Love Happy

- information presse dos photos -

- photographies officielles  -
- movie stills -

- Bonus sur le blog -

article Longue robe bustier de 'Love Happy' 

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copyright text by GinieLand.

Pendant le tournage de Some Like it Hot en septembre 1958, Marilyn Monroe dans les coulisses d'une séance photos en train de se faire coiffer par Agnès Flanagan (sa coiffeuse pendant une dizaine d'années) et de se faire maquiller par Whitey Snyder (son maquilleur attitré jusqu'à sa mort) avec le photographe Jon Whitcomb.

Le vendredi 13 juillet 1962, dernier jour de la séance photos de Marilyn Monroe avec le photographe George Barris pour le magazine Cosmopolitan, sur la plage Will Rogers State Beach à Santa Monica, non loin de la maison de Peter Lawford. Série "gilet mexicain".
On Friday, July 13 1962, last day of the Marilyn Monroe's photo shoot with photographer George Barris for the Cosmopolitan magazine, on the Will Rogers State Beach in Santa Monica, near the Peter Lawford's house. "Mexican Jacket" Sitting.

 ****  Mexican Jacket Sitting ****
Série Gilet Mexicain  

Dernière photo: un baiser au photographe
Last picture: a kiss to the photographer

Après le bain de mer, Marilyn a froid. Vers 19h30, le photographe lui dit: "Marilyn, c'est la dernière photo que je prends de toi." Se penchant vers lui, elle répond: "D'accord, George. Celle-là est juste pour toi." Elle fronce les lèvres et lui envoie un baiser, en ajoutant: "Pour toi et pour le reste du monde. C'est avec cette photo que je veux qu'on se souvienne de moi."
After to have swimmed in the sea, Marilyn has cold. At around 7:30, the photographe says to her: "Marilyn, this is the last picture I'm going to take of you." Leaning forward him, she answers: "Alright, George, this is just for you." She puckers her lips and throws a kiss to him, adding: "This is for you and the world and this is the picture I want to be remembered by."

Source:
L'assassinat de Marilyn Monroe, par Jay Margolis, Richard Buskin
The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed, by Jay Margolis, Richard Buskin

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copyright text by GinieLand. 

Marilyn Monroe sur les hauteurs des collines d'Hollywood vers 1950
Marilyn est ici photographiée par J.R Eyerman,
qui aurait été envoyé par Frank Powolny.

Marilyn Monroe on the heights of the Hollywood Hills circa 1950
Marilyn is photographed here by J.R Eyerman,
who would be sent by Frank Powolny.

 >> en Pull rouge bordeaux et short blanc (photos de JR Eyerman):





(article Photoplay Magazine juillet 1951)

> photo de presse (4/01/1951)
 

>> en Pull blanc et short (photos de JR Eyerman):

 

>> en anorak rouge (photos de JR Eyerman):
pour le prix "La seule fille capable de dégeler l'Alaska" du magazine 'Stars and Stripes'
for the award "The girl the most able to defrost Alaska" by the magazine 'Stars and Stripes'

   

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copyright text by GinieLand. 

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L'été 1946, Berniece Miracle -la demie-soeur de Norma Jean- vient à Los Angeles avec sa fille Mona Rae, née en 1939. Berniece, qui était mariée, vivait dans le Kentucky. Il s'agit de la deuxième rencontre entre les deux soeurs Berniece et Norma Jean. Leur mère Gladys était aussi présente. Norma Jeane, qui prend des cours de danse et de théâtre à la Fox, vit alors avec sa mère Gladys, sortie de l'hôpital, à l'étage du duplex qui appartient à Ana Lower, -la tante de Grace Mc Kee (la meilleure amie de Gladys, qui fut aussi tutrice de Norma Jean). Elles firent visiter Los Angeles à Berniece: les plages californiennes, les grands boulevards d'Hollywood et les quartiers de Chinatown, The Famers Market, le Hollywood Bowl ou encore le Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

 
Dans un restaurant chinois, été 1946.
de gauche à droite, en faisant le tour de table:
Berniece, Mona Rae, Grace Goddard, personne non identifiée,
Norma Jean, Ana Lower et Gladys Monroe.


de gauche à droite:
Berniece, Gladys et Norma Jean.


de gauche à droite:
Berniece et Norma Jean

 
de gauche à droite:
Berniece et Gladys

Norma Jeane a prêté son maillot de bain Catalina à Berniece

Sur une plage de Santa Monica, été 1946.
de gauche à droite, photo de groupe:
Berniece, Norma Jean, Gladys Monroe
et la petite Mona Rae.
 

- Bonus sur le blog -

Plus d'informations sur le maillot de bain Catalina:
More information about the Catalina swimsuit:
- Dressing - Maillot de bain deux pièces motif de L'Oiseau de Catalina

Le journal américain de New-York Daily News du lundi 6 août 1962, titre en Une "Marilyn Dead" dont une photo pleine page de Marilyn Monroe, au lendemain de son décès. Avec un reportage constitué d'un article de sept pages revenant sur la carrière et la vie de l'actrice et de sa mort prématurée, avec des témoignages de ceux et celles qui lui ont parlé les jours précédents sa mort, avec publication de photographies prises sur les lieux où Marilyn trouva la mort, dans sa maison de Brentwood à Los Angeles: sa chambre dans laquelle elle a été retrouvée inerte, de la police emmenant son corps et de son chien Maf; puis les réactions hommages d'artistes qui l'ont connu.

>> Source scans sur emulsioncompulsion.com  

Les hommes préfèrent les blondes
Sur le tournage

>> Marilyn Monroe interviewée par Vernon Scott, journaliste de la côte ouest des USA, pendant le tournage de Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.

>> Marilyn Monroe et sa professeure d'art dramatique Natasha Lytess, qui lui prodigue ici des conseils, à la lecture du scénario de Gentlemen Prefer Blonds. 

> le collier

>> Séance de lecture avant d'entamer le tournage avec Jane Russell et Marilyn Monroe.

 >> Marilyn Monroe et une personne non identifiée. 

Marilyn Monroe dans la peau de Lillian Russell,
photographiée par Richard Avedon le 27 mai 1958;
série pour le magazine LIFE
Marilyn Monroe posing as Lillian Russell,
photographed by Richard Avedon in May, 27, 1958;
photoshoot for LIFE magazine.

> couverture de magazine

> photographie signée par Avedon
 

Lillian Russell  ...  Marilyn Monroe

Pour se mettre dans la peau de Lillian Russell (1861 – 1922), Marilyn Monroe reprend ici les codes de l'élégance féminine bourgeoise de la fin du XIXème siècle: un immense chapeau de plumes et de fleurs, dont est assorti son corsage, des bottines à lacets, Marilyn prend appuie sur un vélo doré, posant dans un décor d'une nature fraîche et automnale. Lillian Russell était une actrice et chanteuse américaine, très célèbre au début du XXème siècle pour son charme, son style et sa beauté, mais aussi pour ses talents de présence scénique et sa voix. Faisant une belle carrière à l'opéra - ce qui lui permit de voyager jusqu'en Europe - elle mena une vie extravagante: mariée quatre fois, elle fut même arrêtée pour bigamie à Londres en 1886 !

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copyright text by GinieLand. 

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Marilyn Monroe à la fête organisée par les "Look Awards" au Beverly Hills Hotel le 3 juin 1952.
Marilyn porte une des robes du film Let's make it legal. 

Marilyn Monroe at the Look awards party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, on June 3, 1952.
Marilyn wears one of the dress from the movie 'Let's make it legal'.

> Marilyn et Sidney Skolsky
   

 > Marilyn et Ginger Rogers

> Marilyn et James Brown
son partenaire dans "Fireball"
 

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copyright text by GinieLand.

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 Sept ans de réflexion
Sur le tournage - scène 6

Marilyn Monroe , Tom Ewell et Billy Wilder sur le plateau de tournage.
Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell and Billy Wilder on the set.

> Photographies de Sam Shaw
 
  

All photos are copyright and protected by their respective owners. 
copyright text by GinieLand.    

Arrêt d'Autobus
Sur le tournage

Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray et Arthur O'Connell, en répétition.
Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray and Arthur O'Connell in rehearsals.

> Photographies de Milton H Greene
Photographs of Milton H Greene 

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copyright text by GinieLand.  

Arrêt d'Autobus
   Photos scène 10

Au Blue Dragon Cafe, Bo (Don Murray) veut emmener de force Cherie (Marilyn Monroe) qui ne se laisse pas faire. En voulant rattraper Cherie, Bo l'agrippe par la tulle de son body, qui se déchire. Cherie se sent alors humiliée et devient hystérique face à Bo.

> Photographies de Milton Greene
Photographs of Milton Greene 
     
     
   

Cherie s'enferme dans sa loge avec sa copine Vera (Eileen Heckart). Cherie décide de partir sur le champ; elles préparent ensemble rapidement la valise de Cherie. Puis, Cherie embrasse Vera avant de s'enfuir par la fenêtre.

> Photographies de Milton Greene
Photographs of Milton Greene 
  
     
     
   
   
     
     

 > planche contact
   

Pendant ce temps, Bo (Don Murray) et Virgil (Arthur O'Connell), sont derrière la porte de la loge. 

> Photographies de Milton Greene
Photographs of Milton Greene  
     
     

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copyright text by GinieLand.  

Arrêt d'Autobus
Sur le tournage - scène 4

 > Photographies de Milton Greene
Photographs of Milton Greene

> Marilyn Monroe avec le réalisateur Joshua Logan
 
   

 > Marilyn Monroe
     

 > Marilyn Monroe avec Don Murray et Joshua Logan
   
   

 > Marilyn Monroe avec Don Murray
     
   

> planches contact  
 
 
 

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copyright text by GinieLand.   

  
The photographer who knew her best tell the stories behind the iconic images
Milton H. Greene, Joshua Green

  Marilyn Monroe's looks and allure made her a desirable subject for photographers around the world, and several photographers built their careers by documenting hers. The only thing more fascinating than the unforgettable images of Marilyn they captured are the memories many of them took home when the sessions were over. For the first time in one place, the photographers responsible for some of Marilyn's most beloved pictures pick their personal favorites.

The Black Sitting - Milton Greene

When Milton first met Marilyn, she said, "You're just a boy." He famously replied, "Well, you're just a girl." Thus began a friendship that grew into a business partnership through Marilyn Monroe Productions. Milton's son and the steward of his archives, Joshua Greene, describes the photos he believes best exhibit his father's work:

To me, the most powerful, important pictures of their collaboration are the Black Sitting. It was never done for publication; it was done completely for their own self-serving needs. Milton was one of those guys who would shoot a roll or two. He didn't overshoot. The thing about the Black Sitting that was so amazing is, it lasted four hours and he shot 28 rolls... 12 frames per roll.

Milton, Joe Eula - my father's friend who was there as a stylist - and Marilyn drank a bunch of red wine, listened to some great music and did this fantastic, amazing series of pictures using essentially a black velvet background over a daybed. The photos are very personal, and they show the sense of humor and sensibility that they shared and enjoyed together. It was just a bunch of kids playing in a playpen.

Also, you don't see any nudity. Nowhere in the photos were there ever straight naked photos. He just didn't do that. Milton did that on purpose so Marilyn wouldn't feel betrayed or inappropriate, and this is a woman who liked being naked and didn't mind shooting naked. But Milton was a classy guy, and it wasn't necessary. To him, it was more the suggestion of nudity than the nudity. And that's what makes them so sexy. This is a timeless picture of a woman looking beautiful, and that's why it holds up. -Joshua Greene

The Actor Photo - Zinn Arthur

A former big-band leader and celebrity in his own right, Arthur found a second career as a photographer to the stars and captured some of the most memorable images of Marilyn at work in Hollywood. He first photographed her on the set of 1956's Bus Stop. Arthur's friend Frank Whitney and Katherine Van Acker, curator of Arthur's archive at the Image Works, Inc., share their thoughts on his favorite photo:

As a collection, Zinn liked the Bus Stop shots because he (and Marilyn) considered it to be her best film, thanks to Joshua Logan's direction. Josh was Zinn's best friend, and Zinn was a great admirer of Josh and his talents as a director. Marilyn loved Josh and how he brought out the best in her, and because Zinn was Josh's friend, she loved Zinn by association. - Frank Whitney

When Zinn was going to show someone, he wanted to be sure it was flattering. He wasn't out to overly sensationalize them or to take an unflattering picture. Zinn genuinely liked Marilyn. He was an entertainer. He understood what it was to be an entertainer and liked shooting them at work. This is a real moment. Marilyn was talking to the director of photography, and Zinn snapped off a few pictures and captured her in a flattering, nice way. - Katherine Van Acker

The Bedsheet Photo - Douglas Kirkland

One of only a handful of living photographers to have shot Marilyn, Kirkland has worked on the sets of more than 100 motion pictures and has shot as many celebrities, from Elizabeth Taylor to Michael Jackson. He photographed Marilyn in 1961 for Look magazine.

This is my favorite photo of Marilyn because it was her favorite. When she saw this photo she said, "That girl is the kind of girl that any man would want to be in that bed with. Even a truck driver."

On the first night of the shoot, she said, "I want a bed and white silk sheet. I won't wear anything but that white silk sheet. And I want Dom Perignon champagne and Frank Sinatra records." You felt like it was the real Marilyn there. The person who was behind "Marilyn." And that was the person I found myself taking pictures with. It was very sensual.

We were flirting like crazy, that's what it really came down to. She asked that everybody leave the room because she "wanted to be alone" with me. The energy was extraordinary, and it went into those pictures. That's why the pictures have been as successful as they have been. She didn't hold back. She gave the camera everything. - Douglas Kirkland

The Misfits Photo - Elliott Erwitt

After serving as a photo assistant in the U.S. Army during the 1950s, Elliott Erwitt went on to become one of the premier photojournalists of his generation, capturing iconic images of

John F. Kennedy, Che Guevara and Marilyn Monroe, among others. He was on the set of The Misfits to take photos of Marilyn hard at work on what ended up being the actress's last film.

My favorite thing about shooting Marilyn was how friendly and cooperative she was. She didn't mind me hanging around and shooting her candidly, even in the more personal pictures I took.

This photograph is my favorite, because it was a monumental task assembling all of these incredibly busy people together for the picture. I was taking publicity stills on the set of The Misfits and wanted to gather all the principal players in one photo. Photographing Marilyn was always easy once she arrived for the shot. The trick was getting her to show up on time. She was always difficult to pin down, which only adds to my pride at gathering her with all these stars for this photo. Now it's a record of the combination of talents present at the time. There was never any secret to get a good picture of Marilyn: Just aim the camera, shoot and let Providence do the rest. - Elliott Erwitt

The Pool Photo - Lawrence Schiller

In 1962, Marilyn was in freefall. She wanted to prove her value to 20th Century Fox and keep her name in the magazines. Lawrence Schiller, a 25-year-old photojournalist whose star was on the rise, was hired by Paris Match magazine to shoot her latest film, which would turn into a stunt of Marilyn's design: In one scene from the film, while swimming, she decided to be photographed nude, and off came her bathing suit. It would be their last collaboration.

A photographer is either a witness to something or he is a collaborator at an event. In this instance, I was both. The exploitation of the pictures was the reason she decided to do the scene nude. She could have done the scene with a flesh-colored bathing suit on and it would have worked perfectly, but she went further because she needed to achieve something else.

This photo became one of my favorites of Marilyn because years later it became my 8-year-old daughter's favorite. I showed her my photos and asked, "What do you think? Which is your favorite?" She chose this one. I said, "Why?" She said, "Because that's a picture that says everything but shows nothing." - Lawrence Schiller

 
"Marilyn Monroe's Lost Scrapbook,"
a Newsweek special issue, is on sale at Walmart, Barnes & Noble
and on newsstands nationwide.

A la mi-septembre 1947, la chroniqueuse Louella Parsons rapporte dans ses rubriques des potins d'Hollywood que Marilyn Monroe a été aperçue en compagnie de Charles Faye Leppert, le frère de l'actrice Alice Faye, au restaurant "Seacomber" sur la baie de Malibu.
Charles Faye Leppert a alors 38 ans, divorcé (il a été marrié à l'actrice Bonnie Bannon de 1934 à 1936) et il est officier de police.

 
Charles Faye Leppert avec Bonnie Bannon, sa première femme / avec Alice Faye, sa soeur
Charles Faye Leppert with Bonnie Bannon, his first wife / with Alice Faye, his sister

 
Vue de Malibu, 1948

In mid-September 1947, columnist Louella Parsons reports in her Hollywood gossip columns that Marilyn Monroe was seen dated with Charles Faye Leppert, brother of actress Alice Faye, at the Seacombers venue in Malibu.
Charles Faye Leppert was then 38 years old, divorced (he was married to actress Bonnie Bannon from 1934 to 1936) and he was a police officer.

 - Dans la presse -

  
The San Francisco Examiner , 24/09/1947 - USA
source: newspapers.com

Sur le web:
Pages sur Charles Faye Leppert sur Geneanet et sur Find A Grave
Livre Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modeling Years

© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand.

En août et septembre 1958, Marilyn Monroe loge à l'hôtel Bel Air (avec son mari Arthur Miller) pendant le tournage de Certains l'aiment chaud. Un chauffeur amène Marilyn, alors enceinte, en limousine aux studios de la Warner.
In August and September 1958, Marilyn Monroe stays at the Bel Air Hotel (with husband Arthur Miller) during the filming of Some Like it Hot. A chauffeur takes Marilyn, then pregnant, in a limousine to the Warner's Brothers studios.

© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand. 

'There was no sultry sexiness about her. That came much later': The astonishing treasure trove of rare images show Marilyn Monroe as you've never seen her before
By Astrid And Ben Franse
Published: 21:01 GMT, 20 June 2015
online on  dailymail.co.uk

They languished for decades in an old box, yet these extremely rare photographs, many never seen before, reveal the stunning transformation of a naive young model into the world’s biggest movie star... but only after she reluctantly agreed to break open the peroxide.

 
A brunette Norma Jeane in 1946, the year she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe

Twenty years ago, Astrid and Ben Franse, owners of a Fifties memorabilia store, were in a vintage shop in Los Angeles when the shopkeeper came over with a box, telling them: ‘It’s press clippings and pictures of Marilyn Monroe. I only got a quick look. It was take it or leave it.’
The couple bought the box and took it home to the Netherlands, where it was stored under a desk and promptly forgotten – until 2012 when a dealer telephoned from the U.S. about a client who was a big Marilyn fan.
Ben remembered the box and went to check what it contained. He was stunned. It was the archive of Blue Book, the modelling agency that launched Marilyn’s career.
There were negatives, letters, telegrams, photos and worksheets.
Using this treasure trove of unseen images, Astrid and Marilyn expert Michelle Morgan, author of ‘Marilyn Monroe: Private And Undisclosed’, have been able to tell the little-known story of Marilyn before she was famous...

 
In 1946, the year Marilyn signed her first film contract, with 20th Century Fox 

Emmeline Snively appraised the girl in front of her in the office of her model agency.
She was ‘in a simple white dress and armed with her portfolio, which offered no more than a few snaps. You wouldn’t necessarily wear a white dress on a modelling job, and it was as clean and white and ironed and shining as she was.’
Snively noted the 19-year-old’s measurements on an agency card: ‘Size 12, height 5.6, 36 bust, 24 waist, 34 hips. Blue eyes, perfect teeth and blonde, curly hair.’
But she would later recall: ‘Actually her hair was dirty blonde. California blonde, which means that it is dark in the winter and light in the summer.
'It curled very close to her head, and was unmanageable. I knew it would have to be bleached and worked on.’
It was August 2, 1945 and this was the first meeting between Norma Jeane Dougherty – later known as Marilyn Monroe – and the mentor who launched her career.

 
This was taken approximately 1948. ‘She did have a pleasant personality; an all-American girl personality – cute, wholesome and respectable,' said Blue Book Model Agency's Emmeline Snively

Norma Jeane (she was christened Jeane with an ‘e’, but this was often misspelt) had been raised in foster homes – her father was unknown, her mother mentally ill. At 15, she met James Dougherty. He was good-looking and sporty.
She was looking for a way to avoid another stint in an orphanage so, after prompting by her foster mother and future mother-in-law, she agreed to marry Dougherty in 1942, weeks after her 16th birthday.
Two years later, her husband joined the navy and Norma Jeane moved in with her in-laws and took a job in the Radio Plane munitions factory.
She hated the job and living with her husband’s parents. So when a photographer organised a few modelling assignments for her, it seemed to offer a way out.
James initially approved of the work but made it clear that he would only tolerate it until he returned.
While she was at the factory the family trusted Norma Jeane completely, possibly because mother-in-law Ethel worked there too and could keep an eye on her.
But when she was crowned ‘Queen of the Radio Plane Picnic’ during a company outing, they saw that a normal life with a house and children was not on her mind.

Marilyn posing with ski sticks in a 1944 photo shoot (FROM THE COLLECTION OF KIM GOODWIN USED WITH PERMISSION FROM DAVID CONOVER JNR); On a swimwear shoot in 1946

Things came to a head one evening when Norma Jeane, driving home from a modelling job and, by her admission, ‘dreaming again’, crashed into another vehicle and wrote off her husband’s car.
That was the beginning of the end for Norma Jeane and the Doughertys. Soon after she moved in with former foster parent ‘Aunt’ Ana Lower.
The long-distance marriage limped on for another year – even surviving a fling Norma Jeane had with a photographer. But while modelling might have caused problems with her husband’s family, she was determined it would be her key to a better future.
So, to put her nascent career on a serious footing she had come to Snively’s Blue Book Model Agency, based in Los Angeles’s opulent Ambassador Hotel.
Many in modelling believed Blue Book was essentially an escort agency, providing girls for lonely businessmen staying at the hotel to take to dinner.
‘The LAPD kept a close watch,’ said a source who knew the agency at the time.
Snively admitted: ‘Many of my girls whose husbands were overseas dated on several nights of the week. But not Norma Jeane. She was interested only in legitimate assignments.’
The reception walls were covered in glossy photos of clients past and present, as was Snively’s office. There was a statue of the ancient Eygptian princess Nefertiti on her desk – ‘the most beautiful woman of her era,’ Snively believed.
The boss spoke in an English accent, though she was American. And she was picky about who she took on.

1/ Marilyn with her magazine covers in 1946
2/ As a Blue Book model in 1946
3/ Marilyn posing with a fellow Blue Book Model in 1946

‘Do you sing ?’ Snively asked.
‘Just a little,’ replied Norma Jeane.
‘Dance ?’
‘A little.’
‘Ambitions of becoming an actress ?’
‘No, none at all.’
‘Do you have your own wardrobe ?’
‘Not really,’ said Norma Jeane. ‘A few items but not many.’

Snively later recalled, ‘She had a white dress which looked terrific on her, although models usually shy away from white. It accentuated her bust and called attention to her figure. It was extremely tight across the front.’
The only other things she seemed to own were a bathing suit and a blue suit ‘that didn’t do a thing for her’, according to Snively.
‘She had a girl next door look. All right, you never saw a girl next door who looked like Marilyn but that’s how she looked the day she came in. For me that’s how she always looked.’
Norma Jeane’s looks, enthusiasm and naivity won over the agency owner. She signed her up and set about training her in grooming, presentation and coordination. There was ‘good solid work on my part to analyse and develop her best points (no pun intended)’.

 
A 1946 press release from Blue Book, revealing Marilyn’s vital statistics 

She determined that Norma Jeane could do two types of modelling. She couldn’t enter beauty contests – a useful way of raising a model’s profile – because she was married, which disqualified her.
Nor could she do catwalk modelling. As Snively observed: ‘She did have a pleasant personality; an all-American girl personality – cute, wholesome and respectable.
'There was no sultry sexiness about her. That came much later, although I did realise immediately that Marilyn would never do as a fashion model. Most fashion models are tall, sophisticated-looking and slim-chested. Marilyn was none of these.’
And there was another problem – her walk. Her famous ‘wiggle walk’ went against everything a catwalk model was ever trained to do.
It has been claimed that she used to cut part of the heel from one shoe, causing her bottom to rock from side to side. Another suggestion was she had suffered from an illness as a child, resulting in a slight limp. Snively had a different theory.

1/ In 1945, the year she signed with the Blue Book modelling agency
2/ Marilyn posing outdoors in 1945

‘She’s double-jointed in the knees, so she can’t relax and that is why her hips seem to sway.
'She couldn’t stand with a relaxed knee like most models, because her knees would lock in a stiff-legged position. Her walk is a result of that locking action... This she turned into an asset.’

Another ‘problem’ was her smile, which the agency felt made her nose look too long.
‘She smiled too high, that’s what was wrong, and it made deep lines around her nose,’ Snively later recalled. ‘We taught her how to bring her smile down, and show her lowers.’
This resulted in the famous lip quiver which lookalikes emulate to this day.

Finally, there was the hair. ‘It was so curly, so frizzy.’
While Norma Jeane was eager to soak up any advice about her smile, she was less happy with what Snively suggested for her hair: bleach and straightening. There was no way the young model could afford the upkeep of such a style, and she had no wish to be made into a glamour girl.
‘She was a believer in naturalness,’ wrote Snively. ‘Any suggestions about lightening her hair or even styling it met with defeat.’

1/ During 1948-49, as she waited for her film career to take off, Marilyn continued to take modelling jobs, occasionally doing nude work
2/ Magazine covers led to items in gossip columns which in turn led to a screen test at Twentieth Century Fox.A studio executive chose the name Marilyn, and she picked her grandmother’s surname, Monroe
3/ She won a contract and tiny roles in two minor films before being cast in the lead as a burlesque dancer in a film called Ladies Of The Chorus. It wasn’t a hit but Marilyn’s profile was raised

The agency boss tried desperately to change Norma Jeane’s mind. She made a compromise by blow-drying it straighter occasionally, but bleaching and permanently straightening? No.
Her first assignment was a ten-day industry show at LA’s Pan Pacific Auditorium. It wasn’t glamorous but it paid $90. She found herself on the Holga Steel stand, talking to visitors, giving out leaflets and demonstrating one of the company’s products – a filing cabinet. Holga sent Snively a glowing report.

Next she was in a series of photos for American Airlines – her first proper photo-modelling job.
The photographer was impressed by ‘her healthy good looks’ – there were photos of Norma Jeane applying make-up in the bathroom, in slippers and a robe.

Eventually, a job came up that required a model with blonde hair.
‘Look darling,’ Snively told her. ‘If you intend to go places in this business, you’ve got to bleach and straighten your hair; your face is a little too round and a hair job will lengthen it. Don’t worry about money, I’ll keep you working.’
She was hired for a shampoo ad on the understanding that she would sort out her hair. When the photographer offered to pay for the process, Norma Jeane finally agreed to go to the Frank and Joseph salon in Hollywood.
Snively loved it. ‘It was bleached to take it out of the obscurity of dishwater blonde,’ she wrote.  

1/ In 1949, the year before her breakthrough role in The Asphalt Jungle
2/ A studio publicity shot from 1949
3/ In 1949, the year she appeared in the Marx Brothers film Love Happy. That paved the way for ever bigger parts and her iconic starring roles in the likes of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like It Hot

‘Marilyn emerged a truly golden girl... She went into her bathing-suit stage, and the demand for her was terrific.
'She averaged $150 a week, and men began talking to her about going into motion pictures.’
It was the beginning of Norma Jeane’s transformation into Marilyn Monroe and from modelling to movies. Around this time Marilyn was walking down the street one day when a man pulled his Cadillac up next to her. He rolled down the window and told the young woman that she was so beautiful she should be in movies.
The man said he worked for the Goldwyn Studio and she should come for an audition.
Unfortunately, his studio turned out to be a rented suite, where the ‘executive’ persuaded her to pose in a variety of inappropriate positions, while reading a script.
‘All the poses were reclining, although the words I was reading didn’t seem to call for that position,’ Marilyn recalled.
‘Naive as I was, I soon figured this wasn’t the way to get a job in the movies. I manoeuvred toward the door and made a hasty exit.’

But magazine covers led to items in gossip columns which in turn led to a screen test at Twentieth Century Fox.
A studio executive chose the name Marilyn, and she picked her grandmother’s surname, Monroe. She won a contract and tiny roles in two minor films before being cast in the lead as a burlesque dancer in a film called Ladies Of The Chorus. It wasn’t a hit but Marilyn’s profile was raised.

Blue Book’s Emmeline Snively with Marilyn’s magazine covers in the late Fifties

Being measured by Snively in 1954

 Her film career turned a corner when she was offered a part in the Marx Brothers movie Love Happy. That paved the way for ever bigger parts and her iconic starring roles in the likes of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot.
Snively later recalled a chat with Marilyn, now married to baseball star Joe DiMaggio, the actress confessed that she felt inadequate in her career.

‘Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modelling Years’ by Astrid Franse and Michelle Morgan is published by The History Press on July 14, priced £25.
Offer price £18.75 (25 per cent off), until July 12. Pre-order at mailbookshop.co.uk, with free p&p

 Le 13 juillet 1962, dernier jour de la séance photos de Marilyn Monroe avec le photographe George Barris, sur la plage Will Rogers State Beach à Santa Monica, non loin de la maison de Peter Lawford. Série "maillot de bain".
On July 13 1962, last day of the Marilyn Monroe's photo shoot with photographer George Barris, on the Will Rogers State Beach in Santa Monica, near the Peter Lawford's house. "Swimsuit" sitting.

****  Bath Robe Sitting ****
Série Peignoir
   
  

****  Scarf Sitting ****
Série Echarpe
  
    
   
     

****  Seaweed Sitting ****
Série Algues
    
   
     
     
 
     
   
     
   

****  Orange Swimsuit ****
Maillot Orange
   
     
   
 
     
 
   
     
     

© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand. 

Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modeling Years
Auteur: Astrid Franse, Michelle Morgan

Date de sortie: 10 novembre 2015
Relié 240 pages
Langue: anglais
Éditeur: Thomas Dunne Books
Prix éditeur: 32,86 Euros
ISBN 10: 125008590X
ISBN 13: 978-1250085900
Ou le commander ? sur amazon.fr

Vous avez le livre ? Do you have the book ?
Apportez votre critique, votre avis ou votre note (/10)
Gives your opinion, review or note (/10)

Faux-semblants
Les révélations morbides du croque-mort de Marilyn Monroe
publié le 10/06/2015
en ligne sur vanityfair.fr

Un mythe s'effrondre. Après avoir conduit des stars à la morgue toute sa vie, Allan Abbott, le croque-mort de Hollywood, a publié ses mémoires dans un livre intitulé Pardon My Hearse. Et stupeur entre deux anecdotes à propos de John F. Kennedy ou Nathalie Wood, il dresse un portrait morbide du sex-symbol américain : fausses dents, lèvres gercées, jambes mal épilées, faux seins, peau abîmée, pédicure douteuse...

« Elle ne ressemblait pas à Marilyn Monroe mais à une femme banale, qui prend de l’âge et qui ne prend pas beaucoup soin d’elle », raconte Allan Abbot, qui s'est dit choqué par l’état dans lequel il a retrouvé la jeune femme, décédée à 36 ans d'une overdose de barbituriques.

Le croque-mort explique que, compte tenu de la position de Marilyn Monroe à sa mort, son visage n’était plus reconnaissable : « Marilyn est morte face contre terre. Elle avait des taches violettes sur ses joues et son cou était particulièrement enflé. » Ses cheveux, eux, étaient courts et crépus. « Ses jambes n’étaient pas épilées, ses lèvres en mauvais état. Elle avait besoin d’une manucure et d’une pédicure », continue-t-il.

L’état de sa poitrine a laissé les employés des pompes funèbres perplexes : « Elle ne ressemblait pas à Marilyn Monroe », révèle la femme du thanatopracteur, qui a rembouré le soutien-gorge de coton pour lui donner plus de formes.

Des révélations surprenantes pour cette incarnation du glamour, qui aurait néanmoins confié plusieurs fois à son psychiatre s'examiner régulièrement devant son miroir pour constater les effets de l'âge sur son corps.

> A lire sur le Daily Mail

EXCLUSIVE: Marilyn Monroe had purple blotches on her face, falsie breasts and 'didn't take care of herself' reveals mortician who prepared her and other stars for burial
Article published in 9 June 2015
by Caroline Howe - online on dailymail

• Allan Abbott and Ron Hast first job delivering flowers from the mortuary to the cemetery led to top funeral company - and limo service
• They picked up Marilyn Monroe's remains and Abbott describes the  shocking state of her body in new book
• 'She looked like a very average, aging woman who had not been taking very good care of herself,' he writes
• They drove Natalie Wood's mother and her sister, Lana Wood to Natalie's funeral in 1981
• Their limos drove John F. Kennedy and his entourage all over Los Angeles during the 1960 Democratic Convention
• They picked up Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 1963 at the San Bernardino train station for an incognito arrival into Los Angeles 

From Marilyn Monroe's hairy legs, to Natalie Wood's bruises, two morticians to the stars share their last unique and final glimpse of some of the cream of Hollywood.
Abbott & Hast became the funeral service of choice for Los Angeles' rich and famous during the 1960s.
When celebrities died, the firm would be relied on to pick up the bodies and chauffer them away.

So it was perhaps unsurprising when, on August 5, 1962, the company received a call to pick up the body of Marilyn Monroe after she was found dead in her home from a suspected overdose.
Abott revealed they had been shocked by the state of the starlet who bared almost no resemble so her stunning onscreen persona.

 
Fallen star: Allan Abbott and Ron Hast were shocked when they saw the condition of Marilyn Monroe's body. Abbott and his brother write about it in gruesome detail in new book Pardon My Hearse

 
Marilyn's bedroom: The room where film actress Marilyn Monroe's body was found on August 9, 1962

He added that her face had been marred by purple blotches, her roots were showing and she was in need of a manicure and pedicure.

The company also transported screen stars Clark Gable and Ernie Kovacs to their respective funerals, with Frank Sinatra and Jack Lemmon serving as pallbearers at the latter.
But it wasn't just the dead famous they transported.
Their limo service chauffeured married actors Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and even presidential nominee John F. Kennedy.

High school friends Allan Abbott and Ron Hast had bought their first old hearse to use on camping trips while prospecting rocks and fossils in the 1950s.
It also brought their first summer job during college, delivering flowers from the mortuary to the cemetery.
From standard hearses, to flower trucks, to rental limos, to an 'air hearse', a boat for scattering ashes at sea, funeral prop rentals - the company that Abbott and Hast created evolved into the leading hearse, mortuary and funeral service company in Hollywood.
Allan Abbot candidly writes about transporting famous corpses as well as driving celebrities and renting his cars and props to movie studies in Pardon My Hearse, a Craven Street Books publication to be published on June 15.

A 1941 morbid-looking black Packard hearse the pair purchased for a mere $40 started it all. They fitted what they called the 'black elephant' with a mattress and used it for long camping trips.
It felt creepy knowing that it had a history of transporting corpses and 'it took awhile to get used to seeing people make the sign of the cross or remove their hats as we drove by', Abbott writes.
Even Ron's parents made him park it a block away from their house.
When they were offered $400 for it, they sold it, bought two more hearses so that each of them owned their own hearse as their personal vehicle.
Their lucrative move to a venture in undertaking was serendipitous and began when they accepted a summer job to deliver flowers from a mortuary to a cemetery.
That segued into a request to pick up bodies for $95 - a big sum of cash for the two, new to the shroud business. They practiced on Abbott's mother – picking her up off the floor and placing her on an old ambulance cot.

'Now the time had come for us to decide if we were really prepared to be in such a predictably disquieting line of work, and we needed to know if we were mentally resolved to deal with what was sure to come', Abbott writes.
They rented an old building on the west side of Los Angeles in an area dubbed 'Death Row', zoned for mortuary operations and set up shop. In the basement they found old mortuary paraphernalia that included artificial arms, legs, dentures, wicker caskets, early embalming equipment.
And they were in business with calls from San Quentin State Prison to remove bodies after executions. They were called to remove a body at a candy factory after the worker had fallen into a vat of chocolate and drowned.

Movie studios starting calling requesting funeral cars to use in films.
The pair added a large flower truck in their fleet of vehicles using it for funerals of Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, actor Jimmy Durante, singer Mario Lanza, to name a few.
They were called on in the early 1960s to pick up Swedish film actress, Inger Stevens who was in a popular television show at the time, The Farmer's daughter, and drive her to Los Angeles International Airport.
When Abbott knocked on the door of her Hollywood apartment, he was informed by a man on the other side of the door that she had left for the airport in her own car.

 
Rigor: Marilyn Monroe's body was first taken to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office. Early stages of rigor mortis had begun indicating she had been dead longer than the presumed three hours.. Monroe was found dead of a suspected  barbiturate overdose

 
Shock: The body of actress Marilyn Monroe arrives at the mortuary. 'When we removed the sheet covering her, it was almost impossible to believe this was the body of Marilyn Monroe,' writes Abbott. 'She looked like a very average, aging woman who had not been taking very good care of herself'

All-purpose: Allan Abbott and Ron Hast first job delivering flowers from the mortuary to the cemetery led to top funeral company - and limo service

Abbott and his girlfriend took it upon themselves to investigate the unidentified voice. It turned out to be Isaac Jones, President of Nat King Cole's Kell-Cole Productions and the first black person to produce an A-list picture when he was a producer of 'A Man Called Adam', starring Sammy Davis Jr.
Jones and Stevens had secretly married in Mexico in 1961 and kept it a secret believing an interracial relationship would ruin her career. Nine years later, after dating Burt Reynolds for a year in a reportedly volatile relationship, she was discovered unconscious on her kitchen floor and died of acute barbiturate intoxication en route to the hospital.
Friends never believed that she took her own life. She was still married to Jones at the time of her death.
Abbott & Hast were called for cars and drivers for Inger's funeral.

The following year, a call came into the West Los Angeles Police Station in the early hours of August 5, 1962. Dr. Hyman Engelberg identified himself to Sergeant Jack Clemmons on the desk and stated that Marilyn Monroe was dead in her house at 1230 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood.
Engelberg said Dr. Ralph Greenson had informed him that her death was from an overdose of Nembutal and stated it was suicide. Clemmons jumped into a squad car and headed out to her house.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office called Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery and instructed them to remove her body. Manager Guy Hockett took the assignment and discovered her body was in the early stages of rigor mortis, a condition that typically begins six to eight hours after death but he had been informed that death had occurred three hours prior to his arrival.
Hockett delivered her body to the mortuary.

 
Ron Hast and Allan Abbott stand next to Monroe's casket prior to the service at the cemetery crypt. Their hearse drove Marilyn Monroe's casket in her funeral procession on August 8, 1962 to Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles

 
Incognito: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor arrive in San Bernadino in 1963 by train in an effort to avoid large unruly crowds in LA. But Liz was put off that there weren't more fans waiting to see her

 
The mortuary men picked up bodies for $95 - a big sum of cash for the two new to the shroud business. They practiced on Abbott's mother – picking her up off the floor and placing her on an old ambulance cot

Abbott's company was called and they sent Leonard 'Chris' Kreminski to assist in removing the body. It was later transported downtown for the postmortem.
'Because of the tremendous implications of this case, it took much longer for Coroner Theodore Curphey to finally make some statements. His best and most dedicated pathologist, Thomas Noguchi, known to some as 'The Knife,' spent about three times as much time as it usually took him to do a full postmortem.
'The deputies at the coroner's office informed me that Dr. Noguchi had been extremely thorough with his examination of her body. He spent a great deal of time looking for hypodermic needle marks, which he did discover in her arm pit, but this area is often used by doctors when treating female movie stars.
'He continued to search in unusual places like inside her nose, between her toes and fingers, under her tongue, and in her genitals, but was unable to discover any additional injection points', Abbott writes.

Abbott was present and entered the embalming room with the embalmer, identified only as 'Frenchie'.
'When we removed the sheet covering her, it was almost impossible to believe this was the body of Marilyn Monroe. She looked like a very average, aging woman who had not been taking very good care of herself. Obviously, the circumstances surrounding her death had greatly exacerbated her poor appearance and she was unrecognizable.

 
Abbott drove the hearse for the 1962 funeral of actor Ernie Kovacs with Frank Sinatra and Jack Lemmon serving as pallbearers. Kovacs had been killed in a Chevrolet Corvair, one of the early rear-engine American cars that were discontinued because the car was known to go out of control after hard braking

 
Their limos drove John F. Kennedy and his entourage all over Los Angeles during the 1960 Democratic Convention. Abbott says they had a hard time collecting payment from the candidate

'When someone dies, gravity causes the blood to settle to the lowest point of the body. This condition is called lividity, and considering that many people die lying on their backs, the discoloration that occurs is seldom visible.
'In Marilyn's case, she died face down, so there were purple blotches on her face, and her neck was very swollen. They had bathed her at the coroner's office, and her hair was frizzy and fairly short.
'You could tell she had not bleached it for some time, because the roots were darker and had grown out about half an inch.
'Her natural hair color was a light brown, not blonde. Her legs hadn't been shaved for at least a week, and her lips were badly chapped. She was also in need of a manicure and pedicure.'

'We began discussing the terrible swelling in her neck, and Frenchie decided that a surgical procedure was needed. This was out of my area of expertise, so I deferred to his decision. Frenchie knew how to correct the problem, but it wasn't going to be pretty.
'He instructed me to hold her on her side so he could make an incision in the back of her neck in the shape of a marquis diamond and remove about two square inches of skin. He then pulled the sides together and stitched it up. It wasn't pleasant to watch, but it was quite effective in reducing the swelling.
'Marilyn's executrix had just brought in her clothing, so Mrs. Hockett, wife of the cemetery's manager, rang me to come up to the office and pick up the package. She also informed me that the lady said Marilyn didn't wear panties, and she couldn't find any among her clothing.

 
In 1981, Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned in the waters off of Catalina Island, California where she and her husband Robert Wagner and guest and actor Christopher Walken had been partying . Natalie's body was bruised from hitting the rocks and the coroner's pathologist chose to surgically remove some of that tissue to examine closely. Natalie was dressed in a full-length fur coat so that the bruising was not visible when the casket was open

 
Robert Wagner comforts his daughter Courtney Brooke Wagner at Natalie's funeral.  The casket was carried from the hearse to the device used to lower it into the grave. Moving over to stand next to Abbot who was at the head of the casket was Christopher Walken – separated from the other attendees

'I also noticed that among the items was a small pair of false breasts. I had seen falsies before, but these were much smaller than any I'd seen'.

'That doesn't look like Marilyn Monroe,' Mrs. Hamrock stated. 'What happened to her boobs ?' In his own defense, Frenchie told her that the cutting of the ribs during the autopsy had caused this condition. He further stated that he had even used the falsies that were brought in with her clothing, but they had been much too small to enhance her physique'.
Mrs. Hamrock reached down and pulled at the neck of the dress, which was a very springy material. She reached in with her other hand to remove the falsies and threw them into the trash can. She then pulled some clumps of cotton off a roll and formed much larger breasts by stuffing her bra. At this point she stepped back and proudly exclaimed, 'Now that looks like Marilyn Monroe !'
Abbott later retrieved the falsies from the trash and took them home.

Sydney Guilaroff, Monroe's makeup man, and Allan 'Whitey' Snyder, arrived at the mortuary. Sydney brought the wig that was made for her for the film, Something's Got to Give, and Whitey applied her makeup.
Whitey told Abbott that Marilyn's breasts at age thirty-six were beginning to sag. She wore a bra but placed the little falsies between her bra and the sweater to make it look like she was unsupported and braless.

Joe DiMaggio kept a vigil at the mortuary. He stood by the casket for a while and then he walked in the cemetery outside and cried. They had married in January 1954 and Marilyn had filed for divorce 274 days later. They remained close and Joe never stopped loving her. Monroe was buried in Westwood Cemetery.

    
Eventually the mortuary partners bought a plane and a boat so they could offer burial at sea or to have ashes scattered from the air or over the water

That same year, 1962, Abbott was called to drive the hearse for actor Ernie Kovacs funeral. He directed pallbearers Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon and four others during the funeral ceremony with actress Kim Novak in attendance.

Kovacs had been killed in a Chevrolet Corvair, one of the early rear-engine American cars that were discontinued because the car was known to go out of control after hard braking. Ralph Nadar's book Unsafe at Any Speed sped up the demise of the Corvair.

In 1981, Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned in the waters off of Catalina Island, California where she and her husband Robert Wagner and guest and actor Christopher Walken had been partying. The call came in to Abbott to drive the family car and pick up Natalie's mother as well as her sister, Lana Wood.

The casket was carried from the hearse to the device used to lower it into the grave. Moving over to stand next to Abbot who was at the head of the casket was Christopher Walken – separated from the other attendees.

Natalie's body was bruised from hitting the rocks and the coroner's pathologist chose to surgically remove some of that tissue to examine closely. Natalie was dressed in a full-length fur coat so that the bruising was not visible when the casket was open.

'People have often asked me if my line of work was depressing. Sometimes that was the case but all things considered, it was certainly never dull'. Abbott admits to developing a gallows sense of humor. If asked how's business, he answered, 'Dead'. A slogan for the company was 'We'll be the last ones to let you down'.

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A MORTICIAN TO THE STARS
- They picked up Marilyn Monroe's remains and helped prepare it for burial, witnessing the shocking state her body was in at the time of death.
- Two years earlier, Abbott drove a family car for screen star Clark Gable's funeral at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California in 1960.
- Abbott drove the hearse for the 1962 funeral of actor Ernie Kovacs with Frank Sinatra and Jack Lemmon serving as pallbearers and attended by Kim Novak.
- They drove Natalie Wood's mother and her sister, Lana Wood to Natalie's funeral in 1981.
- Their limos drove presidential nominee John F. Kennedy and his entourage all over Los Angeles during the 1960 Democratic Convention – and had a hard time collecting from the candidate.
- They picked up Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 1963 at the San Bernardino train station for an incognito arrival into Los Angeles sixty miles away, to have Elizabeth complain of no stargazers and Richard needing a drink
- They drove Carly Simon and a girlfriend to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in the Sixties listening to her complain that her new boyfriend resented her latest song. Carly then pulled two joints out of her handbag and the girls lit up. Allan didn't want to be high while driving but neither did he want to close the divider and not hear their gossip.

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Pardon My Hearse by Allan Abbott and Gregory Abbott published by Craven Street Books is available on Amazon June 15, 2015

Marilyn Monroe, certains l'aiment fausse
le 22 mai 2015 - par Nicolas Filio - sur franceinter.fr

Plus de cinquante ans après sa mort, la plus célèbre des blondes d'Hollywood compte toujours de nombreux admirateurs qui partagent ses photos sur les réseaux sociaux. Mais est-ce bien Marilyn sur ces images ?

Pendant la quinzaine d'années qu'a duré sa carrière, Marilyn Monroe a été photographiée sur la plage, dans le métro, lisant des livres, prenant des photos, souriante, triste, avec une robe blanche, un manteau de fourrure ou, plus rarement, sans vêtements… Mais ce n'est pas assez, vraisemblablement. Pour certains de ses admirateurs, il faut ajouter des images, continuer à fabriquer le mythe.
Ainsi, parmi les photos de Marilyn qui circulent sur le net, il en existe beaucoup qui ne sont en fait pas d'elle. Ou pas complètement.

Par exemple, cette femme au chat a bien les yeux, la bouche et le grain de beauté emblématique de la vedette des Hommes préfèrent les blondes. Les cheveux et le félin appartiennent quant à eux à une photographe, Anna Vihastaya, dont l'autoportrait a servi à réaliser ce montage, désormais diffusé comme un classique.

Dans le même genre, une autre photo rencontre beaucoup de succès auprès des fans de Marilyn Monroe sur le réseau social Pinterest. Mais le visage de l'actrice a en fait été collé sur le corps de Madonna.

Experte en iconographie marilynienne, Marijane Gray traque ces images manipulées et leur a consacré un réjouissant album sur Pinterest (qui ne sert donc pas qu'à désinformer). Elle a également signé pour BuzzFeed un article très utile sur ces femmes plus ou moins célèbres qu'on prend par erreur pour Monroe.
La confusion est souvent commise avec cette photo de Sandy Fulton par Bunny Yeager:

Une autre initiative existe pour lutter contre les fausses photos de l'héroïne de Certains l'aiment chaud: le Tumblr Not Marilyn Monroe. Il s'attaque en particulier aux prétendus clichés dénudés de l'actrice. En les publiant. Vous êtes prévenus si vous souhaitez aller y faire un tour.

Marilyn nue, c'est un fantasme qui ne se dément pas, mais Monroe s'est en fait très peu dévêtue pour les photographes. Une fois pour Tom Kelley, en 1949, avant que sa carrière ne décolle et une autre pour Bert Stern, en 1962, l'année de sa mort. Quant à la photo d'Andre de Dienes montrant une femme ne portant pas plus que du parfum allongée sur un trampoline, Marijane Gray est formelle : « Le photographe Andre de Dienes est célèbre à la fois pour ses photos de Marilyn Monroe et ses nus impressionnants. Cependant, il n'a jamais pu combiner ses deux passions car Marilyn n'a jamais accepté de poser nue pour lui. »

Marilyn, JFK et les autres

La relation de l'actrice avec John Fitzgerald Kennedy est un autre sujet de spéculations. Plusieurs clichés montrant les amants enlacés ont connu un grand succès ces dernières années.
Les photos sont vraies, mais elles mettent en scène des sosies. Ces fausses paparazzades sont la spécialité de l'artiste britannique Alison Jackson. Elle a également rassemblé pour une photo une fausse Marilyn et une fausse Lady Di. Une association pas aussi crédible compte tenu de la différence de générations.

En revanche, il paraît tout à fait plausible aux internautes que Marilyn ait posé avec les autres gloires des années 1950-1960 qu'étaient James Dean, Elvis Presley et Elizabeth Taylor. Pourtant, ces photos sont des montages. Deux d'entre eux utilisent d'ailleurs la même série de portraits réalisée par Ed Feingersh sur la terrasse de l'Ambassador Hotel, à New York.

Une autre photo de la célèbre blonde avec Elvis suggère que les deux stars auraient eu une aventure. Cela pourrait confirmer l'anecdote - très contestée - qu'a rapportée en 2006 un ancien membre de l'entourage du King. Mais cette image est en réalité issue d'un film, Girl Happy, et le visage de Marilyn Monroe a été collé sur celui de Mary Ann Mobley, la partenaire d'Elvis à l'écran.

Do not disturb, dit l'affiche. Et si en effet on laissait un peu Marilyn tranquille ?