Marilyn Memorials & Gatherings

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

This was our very special evening, we all gathered at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel. Most everyone arrived dressed to the nines to celebrate & honor the life of Marilyn Monroe. In attendance were guests who worked with and knew Marilyn. It was a very special evening with stories shared and reminiscing about their times with Marilyn. The love and admiration for Marilyn could be felt in the air, a rare and magical night for us all. An outstanding collection of authentic Marilyn owned items were on display, including documents, photos, a sweater and furs. And a pair of Joe DiMaggio’s shoes to boot! Rare footage of Marilyn flickered in the background the entire evening while the heart and spirit of this woman was front and center. A special thanks to the “Some Like It Hot” ‘Sweet Sue Girls’, Marion Collier, Laurie Mitchell, Sandra Warner, Penny McGuigan, and Joan Nicholas. Also to Joshua Greene, Bill and Mac Pursel, Sylvia Bernhart, Diana Herbert, Stanley Rubin and Kathleen Hughes, Tom Kelly Jr., AC Lyles, and John Gilmore. Thank you all for sharing this time with us.

DAY 4 – August 4th

Today was our tour of Marilyn’s Homes and Haunts. Eric Woodard, author of “Hometown Girl” created a beautiful and informative guide for each person on the tour, and did a fantastic job as ‘Tour guide’ for all of Marilyn’s fans.

A few of our highlight stops included the Wrong Door Raid address, and Barney’s Beanery for a lunch. Then it was on to Rodeo Drive for some shopping, window and otherwise! Next we stopped at Marilyn last home on 5th Helena in Brentwood where she passed away, ending with a sunset toast to Marilyn at Santa Monica Beach.

DAY 5 – August 5th

DAY 6

FREE TIME

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