On assignment for Look magazine in the summer of 1953, John Vachon was sent to photograph Marilyn Monroe in Banff, Alberta, Canada as she filmed ‘The River Of No Return’. For two weeks he worked tirelessly photographing Marilyn and other film stars on the sets and private moments around the three films that were being made there at that time, but the main feature for the Look article would be Monroe who was by now one of Hollywood’s hottest properties and America’s new sweetheart.
She’d already appeared on the cover of Life magazine twice and news of her nude calendar story had broke the previous year.Vachon carefully documented and encouraged the various moods of the young actress we see in these shots, capturing the many facets of her complex personality.
She is playful, sexy, moody, demure, intimate, reserved and fragile. At this time Marilyn was revelling in her new-found success as an actress and dating Joe DiMaggio. The photos record the moment in time perfectly & offers a more intimate side of Marilyn, enjoying the splendid scenery of the Canadian Rockies during quiet moments of filming.The majority of these photos have been lost until now as Look decided only to publish three of them at the time, much to Vachon’s disappointment as he had laboured and fretted and finally achieved what he felt was a real coup.
The article was hidden away on page 150 over 2 pages of their Oct 20, 1953 issue. It seems the editors of Look had bigger plans as a month later on Nov 17, 1953 they had a major Marilyn Monroe cover story with photographer Milton Greene at the helm.Marilyn: August 1953/The Lost Look Photos tells an interesting story behind the photos and also has more facts about John Vachon’s life and other work. His photos are stunning and have quickly become popular among the Monroe fans everywhere. It’s a marvellous anthology and wonderful to see them together like this for the first time. One of the best books of it’s kind.
By Fraser Penney
