Posts Tagged with The Seven Year Itch

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REMEMBERING WALTER MATTHAU

Remembering Walter Matthau who passed away July 1st 2000.

Although his name isn’t instantly thought of when it comes to Marilyn, they do have a connection. Matthau was one of the original choices for the role of “Richard Sherman” in “The Seven Year Itch” and even went as far as to record a screen test (linked below.)
The role eventually went to Tom Ewell and the rest is history.

Although it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Richard Sherman, as Tom Ewell did such a fantastic job, I’m sure Walter Matthau would have put his own unique stamp on it!

WATCH WALTER MATTHAU’S SCREEN TEST FOR “THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH” HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwyod0Fg-Dw

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REMEMBERING BILLY WILDER AND MILTON BERLE

Today in history, March 27th 2002, two giants of the entertainment industry, Oscar winning writer and Director Billy Wilder and beloved American comedian Milton Berle with a career spanning over 8 decades, passed away.

Billy Wilder directed Marilyn in her two most successful comedies: “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) and “Some Like It Hot” (1959).  In his many statements to biographers and journalists, his full appreciation for her talents, and dispair at the strains of working with her, are eloquently and directly expressed.  Wilder defined Marilyn’s special magnetism on camera as “flesh impact- she looks on the screen as if you could reach out and touch her… she had a quality no-one else ever had on the screen expect Garbo.”   And years after her death, he summed up his feelings: “I miss her.  It was like going to the dentist, making a picture with her.  It was hell at the time, but after it was over, it was wonderful.  “

Dubbed “Hollywood’s most mischievous immigrant,” Wilder was behind some of the most iconic and highly respected movies ever to come out of Tinsletown.  His impressive list of credits also include “Double Indemnity” (1944), “A Foreign Affair” (1948), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “Stalag 17” (1953), “Sabrina” (1954), all of which were Oscar nominated, as well as “The Lost Weekend” (1945), and “The Apartment” (1960), both of which won Oscars.  In 1986, Wilder recieved a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

After Wilder passed away in 2002, he was buried at Westwood Villiage Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, the same final resting place as Marilyn (and only two plots away from his long time friend and colleague Jack Lemmon.)  His headstone reads:


A tribute to arguably one of his greatest gifts to the world: “Some Like It Hot.“

Milton Berle was one of America’s best known TV entertainers, he first met starlet Marilyn on the Columbia lot in her first co-starring roles: “Ladies Of The Chorus” (1949) as he was romantically linked with Adele Jergens, the star of the movie at the time.  Marilyn and Milton met again in 1955 at Madison Square Gardens, she was riding a pink elephant at the circus benefit, and he was the ringmaster for the day.  He announced “Here comes the only girl in the world who can make Jane Russell look like a boy!”  The crowd of 18,000 roared in delight.  Berle also made a cameo as himself in one of Marilyn’s later pictures: “Let’s Make Love.”  (1960)

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STILL DELICIOUS 64 YEARS ON

In the early morning hours of September 15th 1954, pop culture history was made.  Marilyn Monroe on the streets of New York, standing over a subway grate whilst filming “The Seven Year Itch” has to be one of the most instantly recognisable movie scenes of all time.

64 years later, the appeal of this iconic image has never diminished.  Paul Wurtzel, who was then FOX’s head of special effects once remembered:

“I think they really used the wind from the subway train.  At least, we never sent anyone to New York from our department for that segment, so I don’t think anybody rigged it.  The location shoot was partly unsuccessful because there was just too much noise and commotion.  We did not have the techniques then that we have now to dub voices.  I was standing inside a wind tunnel under the stage where the subway grating was and on cue we’d remove this sliding top to create the effect of the train going by and blowing up Marilyn’s skirt.  Well that scene took all day, what with Billy Wilder filming it over and over and over again, and there I was underneath her.  Marilyn had a habit of squatting down and talking to me.”

Source “Blonde Heat: The Sizzling Screen Career For Marilyn Monroe.”

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE BARRIS

Today we are remembering George Barris, born on this day (June 14th) in 1922.  Barris was an American photographer and photojournalist was best known for his work photographing Marilyn Monroe at various points during her career.  George was also a beloved member of the “Marilyn Remembered” Fan Club, attending many meetings, memorials and parties throughout the years. George speaking at the 2012 memorial service for the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s passing held by “Marilyn Rememebred.”


George cutting the cake at a birthday party held in Marilyn’s name at the home of our club President, Greg Schreiner.

Marilyn Monroe and George Barris first met on the set of “The Seven Year Itch” in New York in 1954.  Barris recalls:

“When I first caught sight of Marilyn, she was leaning out the window of a brownstone on fashionable 61st Street on the East Side of Manhattan, posing for a film scene.  Actually my first glimpse was of her behind.  When I took some photos of that now famous backside, the sound of the camera’s shutters surprised her.  She quickly turned around, spotted me and smiled.  I took a dozen more pictures, we both laughed and the ice was completely broken.  She certainly had a sense of humour.  I subsequently followed Marilyn around for days, interviewing her and taking photos.  She was great to work with.


What I particularly liked about Marilyn was that she didn’t act like a movie star.  She was down to earth.  Although she was then twenty-eight, she looked and acted like a teenager.  Sure, she was beautiful and sexy, but there was almost a childlike innocence about her.  I was most impressed that Marilyn was always polite and friendly to everyone on the set.  She was no phony or snob.”

Arguably, some of the most famous photographs that Barris ever took of Marilyn, turned out to be her last professional photoshoot taken July 1962, just a few weeks before her untimely passing.  The photos show Marilyn looking beautiful, carefree and so full of life.

“Marilyn was a real trooper.  Even when the sun went down and the wind blew and it became cold, and she shivered and her skin turned red and her lips blue, she hardly whimpered or complained.  Only when the day was almost over and I had just one last bit of film in the camera, she said “This is for you George.”  The she puckered up her lips and blew a kiss my way as I took the last picture of her ever on that beach.  It was around 7.0pm, Friday, July 1th, 1962.
At the end of that same day I lost one of my shoes when a huge wave came and took it away.  I asked her, “What do I do with one shoe?”
“The ocen apparently needs it more than you do,” she said, and with that, both of us barefoot, we left Santa Monica beach forever.


Happy birthday George, the Marilyn community misses you greatly.