Hi Mary,
I do remember the Titanic exhibit. It was so much fun. I would like to say thank you to everyone for the wonderful job you all have done with IM. I will miss IM so much. IM closing feels like losing an old friend. I know I didn't post much but I always thought of IM like the warm and cozy feeling you get when you curl up on cold day with a warm blanket and a good book on MM or a MM movie and a cup of hot chocolate. I hope you get what I am trying to put into words. All the staff and members of IM have been so wonderful. You are all special and truly one of a kind.
Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this group that felt so much like home, like family.
Stacey

Grazia,
I got your watercolor and all I can say is it is just beautiful. You are so very talented. Thank you!


Re: IM Updates

Hey Lisa,
Its wonderful to see you here, i feel like i know you so well through Mary, believe me she did go on & on ! LOL LOL ( Just Joking ).
She so values your friendship and was so hoping you could have made it to the memorial this year, i wish i had gotten the chance to meet you while in LA, well maybe next time eh hun. From all i have heard about you, Leja, Leslie and ( please forgive me your name is right on the end of my tongue but i cant get it ) the girl who has just had a baby, with the long blonde hair and the MM name tattoo on her lower back, i just know we would have gotten on great & had a blast.

It is great to have this chance to email you before the club closes tho. You are so right in your email about Mary & the club, and i don't think anything can be added to that to be honest, you said it so well.

I do hope our paths will cross one day in the future, If your ever over this side of the pond please look me out and give me a shout...that goes for everyone else too. Take care,
all my love
Shaney
xxxx


Immortal Marilyn & Me

One evening in October 2002 I was surfing the net for Marilyn photos when I stumbled on to a website called Immortal Marilyn, which had a rare photo gallery of Marilyn photos. Only thing was tho that you had to become a member of the Immortal Marilyn Fan Club to get access to this gallery. And because I was so anxious to see these rare photos I decided to sign up. After my membership was approved I was very pleasantly surprised because the rare photos sure were stunning!

At that time I didn't check my mailbox often as I did not email a lot in those days. And two, three days after signing up to IM I went to check my mailbox and it was overflowing with emails from IM!!! My God there were hundreds of emails and I must confess that at first I was like "Hey, I only wanted to see the rare pics, I don't want all those emails!!!" And I went deleting them without reading them - yeah I know...I feel ashamed now *LOL*!!!!I just thought it was a bunch of people talking about all kind of stuff. Little did I know what the emails were really about - because I just didn't took the time to read them! Was just too overwhelmed by the amount of
emails I guess.

There was one email tho did I didn't delete and that was the welcome letter from IM send to me by Leja, who was a IM staffer at that time. It explained a lot about how things worked at IM and I thought it was - and still is - a great way to welcome new members. So I saved the welcome letter and again didn't check my mail again for a few days. When I went to check my email again, there were again hundreds of emails. I was about to delete them all again and also to unsub from IM, when I saw an email from IM Staffer Linda Tilmant. She had made a beautiful welcome card to welcome me to IM. I thought that was so nice and lovely and than my curiosity took over and I started to read the emails.

I must admit I was pleasantly surprised, these emails were full of Marilyn information and photos!!! Not at all what I expected, I'm not sure what I had expected, but certainly not this!!! All those people were true Marilyn fans like me and I felt a whole new world opened for me. I had often thought I was one of few Marilyn fans in the world and boy was I wrong!!! And it felt real good of being wrong when discovering IM!!!! As soon as I had read all the emails I knew I was going to stay a member and wrote a introduction email to the list. I was welcomed in such a heart warming way by everyone that I knew I was going to have a great time here.

A few months went by with me having a wonderful time at IM and than - and I'll never forget that day as it was also Pascal's and my first Wedding Anniversary - on May 24th 2003 I got an invitation from IM to join the IM Staff!!!! I was so over the moon and felt so honored!!! Of course I wanted to join this Staff!!! So without any hesitation I accepted their offer and I never regretted that!!!

Through the years staffers and members came and some also went. A lot has happened and changed trough the years. But no matter what IM has always kept her friendly and loving personality. Yeah I realize that I talk about IM if she were a person. And in a way she is too me and I know that might sound silly, but I don't care...hehehe ;-)

The joy IM has brought into my life and the friends I have made here. Things and people I will never forget!!! IM is so much more than just a club to me and I know this goes for a lot of you. I'm not good in saying goodbye, so I won't!! Because I know we will stay in touch, one way or the other!!!

However, there will be never a place like IM...I know. I'm so happy that my curiosity got the best of me that day in 2002 and that I got to know you all!!!!

Immortal Marilyn, thank you for everything, I will always treasure you!!!!

I will now put an end at this letter as I'm getting real emotional.
But as our dear Marilyn herself said "Remember now, cheers, no tears...."

With all my love and gratitude,
Linda xoxox

"I'm not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful." ~ Marilyn Monroe


So sad to see IM GO!!!!

To all staff at Immortal Marilyn, you have done an outstanding job throughout all these years hosting the BEST Marilyn fan club out there. So sad to see you go!!!!!I am sure many members share my pain!!
safarigurl


Immortal Marilyn

Mary,

I just wanted to let you know how much you and Immortal Marilyn have meant to be for the last two years. I am very sad to see the group go as I feel I have made many friends from this wonderful group. Not only have I met many fantastic people, but I've learned so much about Marilyn. Immortal Marilyn was one of the best groups on Marilyn out there, and I feel very priveledged that I was able to be apart of it for as long as I was. I will miss it dearly, and I hope that I will be able to keep in contact with you and the rest of the members. You did a superb job as president, Mary, and you should be proud of all that you have done for the last several years!

Much love,

Anna


IM and Me

I can remember clearly when I found IM.

I didn't even have a computer and Robert suggested to me that I really should get one, he said that there would be Marilyn groups and websites on there.

So I got one, I think it was either early or late 97' I can't really remember now. I went to Yahoo and found a Marilyn group called "Hollywoodland". It was all very new to me and I was still wet behind the ears where computers and the internet was concerned!

Getting my computer and finding other people who loved Marilyn was a revelation to me, I had loved her since I was about 8 years old, but I never thought there were other people out there as crazy as I was!

I loved being in the club, even before I realised that it was not well run, and that it would ultimately get an amazing makeover and become the Immortal Marilyn that we all know and love.

I was still living at home at the time (so that tells you how long ago it was!) and getting chastised for pushing up the internet bill minute by minute. Whatever happened to dial up? Now those were the days.....lol!

The first time that I really met any of my internet friends was when I went to Los Angeles in 2002, it was the most wonderful experience, and people I had known for so long, I finally got to meet!

Most people think there is something creepy or weird about people you meet over the internet, that you can't really know them, or count them as friends. I have made the most close, true friends through Immortal Marilyn, and met the most amazing people, done the most amazing things. Things that any Marilyn fan would kill for. I can't even begin to describe how it has thrilled me, people who I can not only talk to about Marilyn, but are just also such damn good friends!

We have since met up many times, especially us UKers....we love a good get-together! Shaney and I plan to continue our Marilyn Birthday parties and meeting up for Marilyn events, or, just because we want to get together. Who needs an excuse!

When I was asked by Mary to join the staff I was absolutely thrilled! I had long admired the IM staff and to be asked to be a part of that was wonderful. I started out on the Friendship Committee, welcoming our new members, progressed to Junior Staff and then to Senior Staff. I am so proud to tell everyone that I am a staffer on the biggest and the best Marilyn club on the internet.

I will miss IM, that's for sure, she has been a part of my life for so long now, it's difficult to imagine life without her. At first, I was mortified at the very thought that she may close. However, I will always know that the staff and the members did all they could to save her, helped at the last moment, by three kind souls who joined us on staff in an effort to keep her running.

IM will no longer exist in the way we have come to know, we will no longer have this forum to meet and share our thoughts. But, she will continue, wherever we are, a little of IM will be carried, her memory will never fade to those who knew her, tales of our wonderful group will spread for years to come.

We will stay together, we will meet again, there are other groups, other ways to meet each other, in person, speaking on the phone and of course our Immortalmarilyn. com website will carry on and flourish I am sure, as a little tribute to what IM stood for, and all the wonderful staff and members that she had.

And the memories.... the memories will live on, from LA, from the UK Meets, the trips to the cinema, the exhibitions, and just meeting each other because we have come to be such close friends.

This is not goodbye, I'll see you around I'm sure on one of the other groups or boards, or the next time we meet for something or other!

I want to say huge thanks to all of the members for their contributions to making IM the biggest and the best, to my fellow staffers, Shaney, Heather, Linda, Alberto, Fraser, Claire, Paul, Tara, Betsy, Mark and Carla I thank you so much for your friendship and your professionalism and dedication to the group, it has been such a pleasure and a thrill, alas that it can't continue.

To our President Mary, thank you for all you have done for IM over the years. For always going above and beyond and for giving me the opportunity to be on staff.

Three cheers for Immortal Marilyn may her memory never fade in our hearts.

Cheers, no tears

Becka

xxxx

IM Senior Staff

"I used to say to myself, 'What the devil have you got to be proud about, Marilyn Monroe?' And I'd answer, 'Everything, everything,' and I'd walk slowly and turn my head slowly as if I were a queen."


Farewell Calendar Oct 2007 & what IM has meant to me.

Hi Shaney, Mary and everyone! I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful day! Shaney, I absolutely love the October farewell calendar!! It's gorgeous!! I saved it to my desktop right away.

Thanks Shaney, Mary and everyone for everything!! I absolutely mean it from the bottom of my heart!! It's truly sad about IM closing, but I'm so happy to have gotten to know everyone at IM, new friends and long lost family is what it really feels like to me!! :) We will definitely keep in touch and keep Marilyn in our Hearts forever !!

Take care everyone, I love you all !!
Cora xoxo


Emotional

Thank for the wonderful photos.
like always these three years have been beautiful and stimulating of my life.....thank enough all you in order to have taught a lot to me on our beautiful Marilyn. I have known writers of my books that I will always conserve in order. I have known many friends of other countries all magnificent ones.
I have uncovered truly rare photos of marilyn.
You all have made me to still get passionate of more on the life of marilyn and all you.
I hope to continue this way still and of meeting to you in some way I cannot living without your email your life and your ideas on our beloved Marilyn, as soon as wide awake my thought is to control the mail by now it was a daily habit make part of my life.
the truth is this
love Grazia


IM and me

Hi everyone,

Every day I feel a little sadder because it is really going to happen: the closure of IM. A group which I joined some months ago and who became a steady factor in my life as Marilynfan and collector.

I was surfing on the Internet (as I already did for many years) because I was looking for a group who were nuts about Marilyn like myself. Quickly I "discovered" IM and decided to join. I never regretted it. Though I was not a long time member, I loved being a member. After all IM is really one happy and friendly Marilyn Monroe family and I am sure Marilyn love this group as well. I can remember that I did not notice that you could also become a "member" of the birthdayclub (which I discovered some time after my birthday)and I understood that the birthday cards were really stunning and beautiful. I also post to the forum that I really had some "regrets" that I did not know that I could join the birthdayclub. Shaney sent a very nice reply and around the same time I received an email of Mary who asked me to sent my private address so that she could send the birthday card, even after my birthday. This was so sweet and nice! And some days later I received the wonderful card and as a birthday present two Marilyn postcards as well! This really was so wonderful, I will never forget it!

Also when I post to the forum, I always got feedback...
When I told that I was pregnant (still am...luckily) , I received so many warm emails and posts....Besides that, IM gave me the possibility to come in contact with other fans and due to that I have some warm friendships with other fans at the moment and I know for sure in the future.
From the moment I joined IM until now, I always felt welcome and a part of the IM family. Luckily, we are able to stay in contact with eachother on other forums/groups/ email.... but somehow it won't be the same. I am sure gonna miss IM and I am still hoping that maybe in the future IM will be back as a group on Yahoo. I know....this will not happen...but were there is hope there is a way..LOL

Thank you staff for all the work you have done. Thank you everyone for being there. Thank you, thank you. Once again, I will sure miss you! But I will never forget you or IM!

Hugs and lot's of love from Holland

Adriana


Waving goodbye to IM

Well, I have been busy this week & have had bad neck pain too, so I haven't been here as much as I would have liked to. But I wanted to write in to thank everyone for their hard work on making IM such a great group. I'm sad it is going to close, but hope to keep in touch with everyone through the other MM groups.

Karen (UK).

Mom to Leigh-Ann(16),Dominyk (15), Emilia (14) & Viktoria (11).

Check out my books here - http://www.lulu.com/nhbr2476


So Long... Farewell... auf Wiedersehen... Adieu...

Mary... how I hate this!!! "There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall And the bells in the steeple too And up in the nursery an absurd little bird Is popping out to say "cuckoo Cuckoo, cuckoo..."(Sound of Music)

Mary, thank you for the reality check on making deals with the devil... but a guy who's in love with Marilyn and this wonderful haven that represents her so lovingly has to try, no?

So now I'm down to the one thing I have dreaded or weeks now... the final goodbye to the place and the people who have made it such an important part of my life.

Thank you all for helping me through some of the most difficult days in my life. It was less than a year ago when I stumbled onto IM by doing a Google search (I think to find some SYI info) and so I impulsively joined the group... and it truly changed my life.

Yesterday when I read Linda's description of her early days as a member of this group caused me to laugh out loud, for I too had discovered my usually quiet Yahoo mailbox stuffed to overflowing with messages from this strange new group. And exactly like Linda, I deleted before I actually began reading what people had to say. I'd of course harvested all the sensational photos I discovered people were sharing, but before long I began to feel Norma Jeane's gentle touch reaching out through all those loving messages.

My god, what a paradise I'd stumbled into... and at a particularly dark time in my life too. As I've said so many (too many?) times, it ultimately was the people at IM that set it apart from all the rest (yes, having found one, I 'cheated' and went out looking for more), but in those others there was not the same spark of Marilyn's own life visible as I could feel it here. But cheating had a price and instead of wading through a hundred or so emails from IM, I suddenly had Hundreds and hundreds each day.

Something had to change... so I sorted and winnowed and ultimately put the rest on "summary" or "no" and kept just the very best one... IM, where Norma Jeane seemed present every day, and Marilyn beamed down on everyone.

My mention of "Camelot" yesterday should probably have been all I needed to say... but by now many of you know me well enough and understand that words are another of my loves, so I've ranted on and on again today ... trying desperately to prolong my last touch with you!

A pale "Thank You" is all I can offer for the bounty of knowledge and insights I've gained. "Grazie" "Dank u", "Dane", "Merci" or "Kiitos" an embarrassing pittance for the mountain of photos, videos and books I've discovered here.

A weak "God Bless" a bargain basement payment for your all your care and friendship and love.

And what can I say about the Memorial this year? It stands as one of a handful of exceptional moments in my life - Eric's tour, meeting Bill Purcel, Joshua Greene, and all the rest of the MM luminaries, the fun at that Pool Party... Westwood... the beach... oh my, I can't go on or I'll weep

Phew! Who to thank then? Impossible.. . for every Mary or Shaney or Becka or David or Grazia I mention, I'll miss ten others... so I shall speak to all of you as the community you still are. I have had a haven here at IM for these few fleeting months that means more to me than all the easy words I write trying to capture it. Thank you all for your friendship and love.

I believe this IM community is so potent because it has so many "lovers"... lovers of Norma Jean and lovers of Marilyn Monroe... but they are powerful not because they live in awe of her celebrity or fame, but because they have been touched by the real woman who had both names - and she has entered their lives and changed them.

We all love Marilyn and refuse to accept the pop culture versions of her life, nor will we stand for the media's often garish fascination with her death. Marilyn Monroe is respected and represented perhaps better here than any other place I have known. Why? Because this collection of lovers from across the world understands and loves the woman whose life ended far too soon.

And I believe that if there is one good from this sad parting, it's that this principled crew is being sent out into the world to carry that love... to be NJ/MM's spokespersons and protectors. To speak out against stupidity and cruelty and to help train and educate against ignorance. I hope to see you all some other place, some other time. Hopefully another time will be in LA when I promise I will help to organize an IM Refugee gathering! Or perhaps in London... or NYC... or Florida... Who Cares Where!!! Let's just do it!

Goodbye my friends... I shall miss you all...even the other lurkers like me whose presence I have felt from time to time too. I invite anyone who would like to stay in personal touch with me to write me at Yahoo (indewoods1@yahoo.com). Oh how I wish we could all just migrate over to one site and start this all back up on Monday as if nothing happened but a slight power outage...

I will of course visit all the other suspect sites again... looking for the most likely orphanage for this lonely IM refugee. I promise to post from time to time at all the sites I am at so you can see where I am. I beg you each to post messages where you end up too ... so we might find each other. Who knows, if the pain gets too bad, I may have to start up a Yahoo IM Refugee Group where we can commiserate together about how lonely it is out there....

Here we go.... this is it...

"So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye -- Goodbye!
I hate to go, I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly
The sun has gone to bed and so must I
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye"

OK...for Marilyn, "Cheers"

All my love,
Woody/aka Bruce










*Photographs taken by British born Cecil Beaton (1904 - 1980) for Harper's Bazaar, February 1956, in NYC.


All photos are COPYRIGHTED & should not be used for commercial purposes.