Author Archives: le duong

“Wait a minute, sorry, sorry, sorry.” Marilyn Monroe, swathed in a blue dressing gown, her platinum hair still damp, is filming a scene for Something’s Got to Give. She has just fluffed her lines again. “I’m sorry. Shall we … from the beginning? Sorry.” Within a month, the Hollywood star will be fired. Within three months, […]

Bus Stop is a 1956 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Joshua Logan for 20th Century Fox, starring Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray, and Hope Lange. Unlike most of Monroe’s films, Bus Stop is neither a full-fledged comedy nor a musical, but rather a dramatic piece; it was the first […]

In 1945, fashion photographer Andre de Dienes developed a relationship with an aspiring young model named Norma Jean Dougherty resulting in a brief engagement and a huge portfolio of stunning photographs which helped to launch her career as Marilyn Monroe. Taken in October 1945, the original blonde bombshell is barely recognizable at a first glance. […]

In 1952, LIFE magazine assigned photographer Philippe Halsman to shoot Marilyn Monroe in her tiny Hollywood studio apartment. The resulting cover photo pushed her over the top, giving her immediate superstar status, and 20th Century Fox jumped to sweeten her existing multi-year contract to keep their starlet happy. According to LIFE, Marilyn’s debut cover became one of the […]

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1953 American musical comedy film based on the 1949 stage musical of the same name. It was directed by Howard Hawks and stars Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, with Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, George Winslow, Taylor Holmes and Norma Varden in supporting roles. Marilyn Monroe The film is filled […]

When we think of Marilyn Monroe, we think of her with a copy of Ulysses — which is probably exactly how she wanted us to think of her, though not exactly the norm. Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe reading James Joyce’s Odyssey, Long Island, N.Y., 1955. (Eve Arnold—Magnum Photos) She took great pains to be photographed reading or holding […]

Richard Avedon, born in New York City in 1923, is one of the most respected and accomplished photographers of the 20th century. Upon his death in 2004 The New York Times said “his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America’s image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century.” It’s therefore not surprising that Avedon’s definition […]

Established in 1952 at the Waldorf Astoria New York in New York City, April in Paris Ball was an annual US gala event whose mission was to serve charity and Franco-American relations. It was the idea of Claude Philippe, the hotel’s banquet manager, who enlisted Elsa Maxwell to help organize it. Marilyn Monroe The first […]

Mischa Pelz was a commercial photographer, who usually shot products. He and Marilyn were friends but had never worked together until he was hired to shoot the lawn furniture with her as the model. This was taken right before the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. For years Pelz told his friends about the photos… but never brought […]

Joseph Jasgur (1919 – 2009) was a photographer who photographed celebrities during the golden age of Hollywood. He was noted for his photographs of Marilyn Monroe. Jasgur was just 26 when Monroe, then known as Norma Jean Dougherty, walked into his Los Angeles photo studio in 1946. She had no money but wanted to become […]