Volume 46 - No. 47
December 01, 2016
By Friedrich Gomez
Thirty-seven years after her muchtouted visit to San Diego, the United States Postal Service decided to honor Hollywood actress, Marilyn Monroe, with a 32-cent stamp on June 1, 1995, but some comedians cautioned against it. “Men might, inadvertently, lick the wrong side of the stamp,” was the celebrated punch line. Marilyn Monroe may have physically died in Brentwood, Los Angeles, but her image, memory, and popularity refuses to dim with the decades. It has now been over forty-four years since she left us, yet the hand of death has failed, miserably, to halt her occasional strolls to occupy the world spotlight. Just a few days ago, in November 2016, one of her famous gowns occupied centre stage when it sold for a record-breaking $4.8-million! More than any other dress in world history.
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The dress which was sold at Julien’s Auction was the sexy crystal-encrusted gown she wore when she sang her legendary and sultry version of “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy, in front of 15,000 guests at New York’s Madison Square Garden in May of 1962. The sensual-looking outfit was so tight that Monroe had to be sewn into her gown. Her buxom body and ample cleavage appeared almost nude. The fleshcolored image of her physique under the spotlight sent erotic shockwaves to the brain cells.
Everything Marilyn did, she did with outlandish style; courting controversy at every turn as if she – somehow – knew that she was on borrowed time and, therefore, had to make the best of life while she could. Her life personified the celebrated remark, “Life is too short to eat vanilla ice cream and dance with boring men.” When Marilyn Monroe came to town for the filming of Billy Wilder’s internationally-acclaimed “Some Like It Hot” motion picture at the Hotel Del Coronado, much of what occurred never made it to print. With all the hoopla, myth-making, and scribbling in the ink media, there were huge slices of hidden drama which parlayed into Monroe’s often odd and curious behavior during the shoot. Her delayed appearances and complete absences from the set, for example, were not all due to substance abuse and sickness, as seems to be the go-to-answer with most who chronicle her celebrated visit here.
A relatively-recent discovery of extraordinary Marilyn Monroe letters, personal notes, and diary The Paper - 760.747.7119
website:www.thecommunitypaper.com
email: thepaper@cox.net
recordings – for the very first time -offer the world a new, never-beforeseen look at her inner-most thoughts, motivations, ambitions, and fears of a certain someone plotting her murder.
Even now, as these personal documents and glimpses of her hidden life are slowly being released and auctioned off, a startling new insight is emerging about her San Diego visit on the set of Some Like It Hot.
Marilyn’s personal will bequeathed her archive of personal effects to her celebrated acting coach, Lee Strasberg. With Strasberg’s passing in 1982 -- outliving his most illustrious student by over 20 years -- this goldmine of personal writings is slowly making its way into the light of day. In 1999, Lee Strasberg’s third wife, Anna Mizrahi Strasberg, began selling off many of Marilyn’s possessions at Christie’s Auction House, Obituaries Memorials Area Services Page 12
netting over $13.4-million, thus far.
Marilyn, at first, rejected the idea of playing her character, “Sugar Kane” in San Diego, but, was strongly-encouraged to accept the film project by then-husband, Arthur Miller. The monetary enticement of receiving 10% of the film’s total profits in addition to her normal pay was too good to turn down. Her standard pay of $300,000, by itself, was three times the amount co-star, Tony Curtis, would receive in the amount of $100,000. San Diego plays a most significant portion of her colorful life with the filming of Some Like It Hot in 1958, the very film which earned her immortality; the very film rated the No. 1 comedy of all-time by the world’s most distinguished movie critics. Marilyn’s constant problems on the
set delayed shooting schedules and reduced film director, Billy Wilder into a nervous wreck. When Wilder was asked if he would agree to do another film project with Marilyn Monroe, he did not pull his punches: “My doctor and my psychiatrist tell me I am too old and too rich to go through this again.” Director Wilder, walked-the-talk when he threw a post-production celebration party at his home for cast and crew members. Marilyn Monroe – was not invited.
Billy Wilder didn’t plan on pyrotechnics at the celebration party but, in a manner of speaking, he got fireworks whether he wanted them or not. Wounded by Wilder’s post-filming remarks and not being invited to his cast and crew soiree was just too overwhelming for Marilyn Monroe to remain civil. She called Billy
Marilyn Monroe Came to Town Continued on Page 2