Marilyn Remembered Fan Club Updates

Published

‘MARILYN! THE MUSICAL’ TURNS 35

Marilyn! The Musical was a musical written by Mort Garson about Marilyn Monroe that was originally produced in London in 1983 as a vehicle for Stephanie Lawerence. The show’s book and lyrics were by Jacques Wilson and it opened at the Adelphi on 17 March 1983 where it ran for 156 performances.  Directed by Larry Fuller, with whom Lawrence had worked on ‘Evita’ the principal cast also included John Christie, John Bennet, David Firth. Bruce Barry and Judith Bruce.

Despite poor reviews for the show, Lawrence’s performance was praised:
“The show was intended as a tribute to another popular icon who died young, but it failed to capture the public imagination,” Michael Billington wrote in the Guardian. “The one person who emerged with credit was Stephanie Lawrence. She not only captured the externals of Marilyn Monroe – the wiggle, the walk, the passionate pout, the vocal breathiness – but conveyed the carmined innocence and soft vulnerability within. It should have been her passport to fame but the show failed to live up to its star.”

“DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK” ON BLU RAY
Published

“DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK” ON BLU RAY

Great news for Marilyn movie fans.  One of her earliest starring roles: “Don’t Bother To Knock” is finally coming to Blu Ray for the first time ever.  It’s being released on March 20th through a company called “Screen Archives Entertainment” but you’ll have to be quick if you want to secure yourself a copy, as it’s being limited to only 3,000 copies.

What’s even more exciting, is that it comes with some great special features, including the wonderful documentary “Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess,” as well as Isolated Music Track, another documentary on Marilyn’s co-star “Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters” and the original theatrical trailer.

You can order your copy here:
http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/35183/DONT-BOTHER-TO-KNOCK-1952/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEAN HARLOW
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEAN HARLOW

Wishing Jean Harlow a happy birthday! She was born on March 3, 1911, in Kansas City to a mild-mannered dentist and his headstrong wife. Her parents’ marriage didn’t last long but they still produced a daughter, Harlean Carpenter, who would grow up to be Hollywood’s first “platinum blonde” and “blonde bombshell.” Both terms were created especially for her white-blonde hair color, which became all the rage after Harlow’s success in movies. Once she moved to MGM, her fame skyrocketed and she was a bonafide sensation.

One of her many fans in the 1930s was a little girl in Hollywood named Norma Jeane, who read about the blonde movie queen in fan magazines. Norma Jeanne’s guardian, Grace McKee Goddard, was also a Harlow fan and liked to tell the little girl that one day she would grow up to be like Jean Harlow.

As Marilyn Monroe began her own acting career, she patterned her look after her childhood idol. She gave the blonde image her own twist, but Marilyn herself always acknowledged Jean Harlow’s influence. Even when she was older, Marilyn felt a closeness to the original blonde bombshell and believed the two had much in common.

“I keep thinking of her, rolling over the facts of her life,” Marilyn said of Jean. “It was kind of spooky and sometimes I thought, Am I making this happen? But I don’t think so. We just seemed to have the same spirit or something, I don’t know. I kept wondering if I’d die young like her too.”


*Marilyn posing as her idol Jean Harlow for a series of photographs taken for LIFE Magazine by Richard Avendon in 1958*