Spent today in town, ending up at The Amercian Museum and ‘The Marilyn Monroe Exhibition’. The beautiful surroundings of Claverton Manor are currently playing host to the largest private collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia owned by David Gainsborough Roberts.
Upon arrival I was greeted with the sultry vocal tones of M singing ‘Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend’, while those arched brows and that iconic smile gazed down from giant posters adorning the walls. Inside, a large TV sceen ran footage from all the famous movies, while bright spotlights dramatically brought to life each of M’s iconic gowns.
It was incredible to see all those stunning dresses…The fabulous red sequined one from ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, the black lace cocktail dress from ‘Some LIke It Hot’ and a very pretty demure full-length ivory dress from ‘The Prince And the Showgirl’ amongst others…Amazingly also was the size of these dresses, as unless in some way altered – which I very much doubted – they were petite to the point of being ‘dainty’. I had always assumed Marilyn had a much fuller figure than this. Apparently she was 5ft 5″” (the same height as me)… but as a UK size 8/10 in most dresses, I would have only just about fitted into any of these clothes…the waistlines were tiny and the hips very much in proportion. Apparently it wasn’t until the late fifties that Marilyn’s figure filled out a little to that which we associate with her today. But it was probably all the intimate belongings that really touched me the most… the postcards, the letters, the mementoes from her honeymoon in Japan with Joe DiMaggio and the little ballerina figurine she’d kept with her from her childhood days in foster care… all the real things that made up part of her life – a life that always seemed complicated somehow, defined by childhood experiences and compounded by the attention her fame commanded. Strangely she seemed both strong and in control whilst almost simultaneously intensely vulnerable and fragile. Perhaps, like the rest of us, Marilyn just wanted to feel loved and ‘aprroved of’ in her life…perhaps she needed this more than most given her upbringing. Maybe she found it in some way in her career and marriages…we’ll never truly know.
Marilyn Monroe may well have passed away in physical form on the 5th August 1962 (aged 36) but she also passed into legend – never to die…her Iconic status secured forever and her dreams of ‘being wonderful’ complete.
Upon her death Marilyn was $400,000 in debt and only saved from a pauper’s grave by ex-husband Joe DiMaggio, who had hoped for a reconciliation before her death and who subsequently banned her ‘Hollywood friends’ from attending her funeral service. Joe would also continue to send six red roses, three times a week for the following twenty years to Marilyn’s crypt.
As I headed off I took a final look back at the vast M. M. posters billowing in the breeze on the building outside…Marilyn seemed happy enough – still wowing the crowds and ‘being wonderful’.
Julienne x