Kenneth Battelle, who was dubbed ‘hairdresser to the stars’ during the 1950s, died at home in Wappinger Falls, New York, on May 12th, 2013.
He was born in Syracuse in 1927, the eldest son of a shoe salesman. When his parents divorced, Kenneth – then aged 12 – took a number of jobs, including cooking and washing dishes, selling beer and operating an elevator, to support his mother and four younger sisters. “And every chance I got, I attended the movies,” he told ‘Vanity Fair’.
“And to begin with, to me, a legend is something that is not on the earth, that is dead…legends are built and evolve in the past. They’re not the present. I don’t like categories either…You are what you are, everyone is an individual.”- Lauren Bacall, 2005
For my friends and family and any other sweet soul that wants to pass away 10 minutes reading an article about ‘My life with Marilyn’ After years of knowing me (or not), you may be wondering why Marilyn Monroe has started to (re)appear in my life.
Marilyn Monroe was a master of dressing for her body, doing her hair and—her greatest area of expertise—her makeup. By all accounts, Marilyn’s own makeup skills were nothing short of a professional level. For most movie shoots, photo sessions or important appearances, though, she had a helping hand—and that person would not only serve as makeup artist, but as friend and confidant too.
Marilyn came along exactly when the world needed her. During the war, women were working outside of the home, men were taking breaks from the fighting to carouse with European women, and it seemed the world was on the verge of loosening the corset stays on sexuality. Except that didn’t happen- the men returned home and expected their women to get out of the factories and into the kitchen. Dior’s unveiling of their “new look” sealed women’s fate- they were expected to be prim and proper and ladylike. Modesty and decorum were of the utmost importance, and all the women who had risen to the occasion of self-sufficiency during wartime were now relegated back to being kitchen drudgery broodmare’s. Everything carried on in such a fashion for a few years after the war. Then a certain nude calendar started making the rounds of locker rooms and gas stations…….
Every few years or so, the latest Hollywood ingenue will start making the rounds, and inevitably some entertainment reporter will start throwing around the phrase “the next Marilyn Monroe”. What remains unrealized is that there is no such thing. So many women have come and faded away, and yet Marilyn endures like no other will. She has a rare magic, a captive hold over the public, that will remain unparalleled.
I am getting quite sick and tired of books, movies and the general public either alluding to or outright claiming that Marilyn Monroe had split personalities, one being Norma Jeane, her “true” self, and the other being Marilyn. There is the implication that Norma Jeane was somehow innocent and untarnished, childlike and joyful, and that Marilyn held the more womanly facets of her personality- worldly, sultry, sexy. Armchair psychiatrists like to imagine that these two conflicting “personalities” were at war with each other, that she was constantly fighting from within to reconcile them with each other, and that this inner turmoil is what ultimately led to her destruction.
Take a photo of Marilyn Monroe nearly anywhere in the world and she is instantly recognizable. Ask any stranger on the street who she is and they’ll know.
Young and old, male and female, people spanning multiple generations know who Marilyn Monroe is and her fame spans decades, countries and cultures.
Marilyn Monroe was known for her ‘Marilynisms’- witty little bon mots, usually an expertly blended mix of innocent and coquette, and her quotes remain popular still. But how many ‘quotes’ attributed to Monroe were actually said by her? With Marilyn quotes appearing on everything from t-shirts to wall decals to tattoos, how many of these oft-repeated words were never said by her in the first place? And how can you tell the difference? Read More
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