Hello Marilyn fans! It’s Friday and time for a weekly roundup of all the news and things that got the Marilyn world talking this week!
Whoopi Goldberg looks as excited as any fan to see The Dress. (Photo credit Reena Rose Sibayan, The Jersey Journal)
First, the biggest news around is the opening of the Marilyn exhibit at MANA New Jersey. The Marilyn: Character Not Image exhibit, curated by Whoopi Goldberg (who knew she was a fan?), focuses on more than just the public persona. It includes several drawings, and private writings as well as the work of street photographer WeeGee (something of a you-love-it-or-you-hate-it-or-maybe-you’re-just-confused type of art) and Milton Greene. Oh, and they have a certain dress on display as well. Yeah, that dress! Whoopi was on hand as the exhibit prepares to open to the public this Sunday, September 25th. The dress is on tour before it goes on the auction block at Julien’s in November. You can see the MANA exhibit until October 22, 2016 before it sets off for Ireland.
Also getting ready to kick off in another week is the exhibit in Amsterdam, celebrating Marilyn’s 90th birthday, which took place back in June. That exhibit runs October 1, 2016 – February 5, 2017. On hand for several events including as a guest speaker will be Marilyn tribute artist Memory Monroe (otherwise known as IM member Claudia!). Can’t make it to Amsterdam? A book on the exhibit from Ted Stampfer will also be released on October 1, 2016. It’s listed on Amazon UK, but doesn’t show as currently available. We’ll update you on that front.
The cover of Marilyn and Audrey: The Battle.
In related news, another Dutch book: Marilyn and Audrey: The Battle will be released on October 1st as well. The book is describe as fiction for children describing what two young girls learn as they study the lives of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. We’re hoping the battle in question is either rhetorical or bad translation, as we would certainly never pit the two icons against each other. Hopefully it does a good job of teaching children about the real Marilyn!
A Marilyn Monroe Symposium at the Australian Centre For the Moving Image has been announced and is set to take place on November 12th. The guest speaker will be Lois Banner, author of MM Personal and The Passion and the Paradox. Hopefully they’ll correct all of the photoshopped images they’re using for promotion since a few Marilyn fans have let them know.
We’re just going to leave you with this gorgeous shot of the Happy Birthday Mr. President dress on display in New Jersey. Have a great weekend Marilyn fans!
Photo credit Reena Rose Sibayan
