When I first saw Marilyn Monroe on screen, I was watching Some Like it Hot in my Shakespeare in Film class during my senior year of college. We all have our preconceptions of Marilyn. She’s a tramp. She’s a hussie. She died far too soon. Nothing you think about her, though, holds a candle to who she actually is — or was. But what do I know. I never knew her.
All I have are movies, and when I first saw Sugar Kane jump aboard the all-girl-band’s train to Florida, it was almost like seeing a goddess. Marilyn Monroe, on screen, is so poised, beautiful and innocent. She’s not a hussie or a tramp, she’s just an actress, and a very good one. Watching her belt out “I’m Through with Love” in one of the last scenes of Some Like it Hot was truly memorable.
I’ve only since seen her bit part in All About Eve (another excellent film with the immaculate Bette Davis). The quench my thirst for Marilyn, I had Netflix send me The Seven Year Itch, a memorable comedy staring Marilyn and Tom Ewell. Ewell plays Richard Sherman, a middle-aged New York businessman who has just sent his wife and son to Maine to weather the brutal summer months away from the big city. Ewell’s crazy imagination gets the better of him when his neighbors above him sublet their apartment to a strikingly beautiful young woman with a very striking resemblance to actress Marilyn Monroe (Monroe is actually referenced in the film, but we never learn the girl’s actual name — she could very well be playing herself).
Richard wrestles with his desire to scratch his seven year itch and sweep the girl into his arms in spite of his dutiful wife (who he imagines is probably off on a flirtatious hay ride with Tom MacKenzie, a strapping young writer). Monroe plays innocent, professing her love for champagne and potato chips and eventually falling a little for Richard.
The movie is very cute, all because of Marilyn. She captures every scene she’s in. Ewell is very charming as Richard, so much so, he came back to play the part the most of any part he played all his life (on Broadway after the film was released). The movie contains Monroe’s most memorable scene — standing above a subway vent with her skirt being blown up.
Why don’t they make women like Marilyn Monroe anymore? Furthermore, why don’t they make actresses like her either? When’s the last time you saw a movie and just fell in love with an actress, not just for her portrayal, but because you could sense a bit of the existential struggle she silently endured. I guess Hollywood just doesn’t do that to them anymore. Something that got lost in the wash of million-dollar salaries.
Well, at least we can look back. I feel like seeing Some Like it Hot again, but perhaps Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. We’ll see.
If you haven’t seen Marilyn, if you are just unaware, you need to see her. You’ll be glad you did.
Marilyn Monroe: “I think it’s wonderful that you’re married! I think it’s just delicate.”
Richard: “You do?”
Marilyn Monroe: “Of course. I mean I wouldn’t be lying on the floor in the middle of the night in some man’s apartment drinking Champagne if he wasn’t married.”
Richard: “That’s a very interesting line of reasoning…”
Marilyn Monroe: “Sure, with a married man, it’s all so simple. I mean, it can’t possibly ever get drastic…”
Afterward, we parked down by the Kodak Theatre and took a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard. We sorted around through American Apparel and took a stroll down the Walk of Fame. I am sad to say I did not find Humphrey Bogart on the walk, but I did see Marilyn Monroe! She’s in front of McDonald’s, but as Padmini said, it’s was probably not always there.