Immortal Marilyn

2005 was a great gathering! Included here is a letter written to the club by long time member Rebecca Staley with the highlights of the gathering. She did such a lovely job, it was perfect to include.

Hi everyone! I am back from the UK Meet! We had so much fun, I can’t even begin to tell you how good it was. It was absolutely wonderful to see all my friends again, and meet some for the first time. We met on Saturday morning and proceeded to visit the Savoy, the Comedy Theatre, The Lyric, The Empire and many other places, including Trafalgar Square where Eric and I decided to ride a Lion!

Dear Eric, we had so much fun with you, in fact, you were the life and soul of the party all weekend! I have never seen so many strange looks from people as we photographed you in various poses, but that all added to the fun!! We stopped off for some lunch and then proceeded onto the Eve Arnold Exhibition at Harrods, which was wonderful.

We then went on to Planet Hollywood for some tea and drinks. We did the gift exchange and I received a wonderful smaller copy of the Unseen Archives, which is so cute. We also had some trivia quizzes both on Marilyn films and IM. I’m sorry to say that Eric was particularly naughty on Saturday night, sneaking in a few drinks! We had so much fun on Saturday night, in fact, when we got back, I was hoarse from laughing so much!! On Sunday we went to Pinewood and then the Sun Inn for Sunday lunch and lots more fun with Eric. I am sure that everyone in the pub thought that we were crazy, especially when we asked if Eric could go behind that bar! After then came the best bit, we had been told that there would be no chance that we could go into Parkside again. But….we managed! We knocked on the door as some waited at the bottom of the drive and asked if we could walk around, and she was told that yes, we could! How wonderful to be there again. Both Rob and I enjoyed ourselves so much, we really didn’t want to leave you all. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful company!! Here’s to next time!! Love you all! Beck (and long suffering Rob!) xxxxxx

The 2004 Memorial week for Marilyn was wonderful time for all who attended. This year we saw old friends return to LA and new ones to meet. Most of the IM members arrived on the 2nd. Once settled into the Orchid Suites we headed for Barney’s Beanery for dinner.

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Another year in LA for Immortal Marilyn. This year again was a wonderful time. There were new MM friends to meet, as well as “old” MM friends happy to be together again. And all together we had a grand time celebrating our love for Marilyn. We hope you will enjoy the photo album here of our days celebrating the life of Marilyn.

We continued onto the Comedy theatre and the Lyric, both of which Marilyn was famously photographed at during her stay. After several stops we arrive for afternoon tea at Marks and Spencer, where Marilyn reportedly shopped. Unfortunately as we left the heavens opened. Half of our party were fortunate to get a taxi very quickly but the rest of us got completely soaked and so we decided to skip the last two stops of the tour, the Olivier’s house and the Royal Court Theatre, and go straight to Planet Hollywood for dinner. We were very lucky enough to be seated right between the two major exhibits that they have, the famous Cherie costume from Bus Stop and a nightgown from A Ticket to Tomahawk. They also have a selection of her jewelry and one of the yearbooks from her High School.

From Planet Hollywood we all went to Suzie Kennedy’s home where we watched the video from this years LA memorial. As most of us have yet to go to LA it was a wonderful chance to experience a little of it.

On Monday we all met up at the Sun Inn in Englefield Green and from there we travelled together to Pinewood Studios, where the Prince and the Showgirl was filmed, for lunch. After a lovely lunch we strolled around the grounds, some of which are featured in the movie. Some members were able to get some photographs before we were told to stop by some very burly security men!

From Pinewood we drove to what would prove to be the highlight of our tour, Parkside House. We were able to stroll around the grounds of the house and take many photos. We were able to place ourselves in the Rose garden where Marilyn had her picture taken. We were also able to take pictures of the entrance lobby where Marilyn, Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh posed for photographers after the press conference at the Savoy hotel. We were very lucky to have as our guide Lynda McCarthy who not only works at Parkside House but is also a big Marilyn Monroe fan so she had a wonderful knowledge which she gladly shared with us, including taking us through the ‘hidden’ gate from the house into Windsor Great Park where Marilyn and Arthur rode their bikes.

Unfortunately after our time at Parkside it was time to say goodbye to several of our group, while the rest of us returned to London to continue our journey home. Everyone had a wonderful time together. It was great to finally our names to faces and spend some time together! Here’s to 2005!!!!

2001

The Memorial in August 2001 was a special time with a heart in the sky over Westwood Cemetery on August 5th, dinner at Musso & Frank’s with special guests Joshua Greene, Greg Schreiner, Shirley De Dienes, George Barris & more. We toured many Marilyn spots and also Ripley’s where the Marilyn exhibit of items they purchased at the 1999 Christie’s auction were on display.

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