“So we think of Marilyn who was every man’s love affair with America, Marilyn Monroe who was blonde and beautiful and had a sweet little rinky-dink of a voice and all the cleanliness of the clean American backyards. She was our angel, the sweet angel of sex, the sugar of sex came up from her like a resonance of sound in the clearest grain of a violin…
She was not the dark contract of those passionate brunette depths that speak of blood, vows taken for life, and the furies of vengeance if you are untrue to the depth of passion, no, Marilyn suggested sex might be difficult and dangerous with others but ice cream with her.
If your taste combined with her taste, how nice, how sweet would be that tender dream of flesh to share.” so writes Norman Mailer as he introduces us to his his famous biography, ‘Marilyn.’ One of the most controversial books ever published…I love reading ‘Marilyn’ primarily because what is most evident is that the Mailer is absolutely crazy in love with her.
It’s as if he’s written her a valentine, written almost like a love sonnet from Shakespeare and it seems like a pretentious jumble as you read the words but then the minute you put the book down, all that tangled up nonsense begins to come clear. Like poetry, Mailer weaves words that at first seem highly complex and intricate and occasionally devious, but they stick in your head like a song that you can’t stop singing.In 1973 when this biography was first published, Marilyn was not the face that smiled back at you from fifty canvas prints and posters in art shops, the face that appears on everything from key chains, shower curtains, mugs, plates, hot water bottles, dolls, stationary, worktop savers, not to mention the countless books like she does today.
‘Marilyn’ hit the bookstores and suddenly everywhere you looked that stunning face was smiling right back at you. By mid-July Marilyn would “meet” Mailer on the cover of ‘Time’ magazine (Marilyn was once given the opportunity to meet Mailer and declined). Her career and life had been re-evaluated and given the respect she had so yearned for while alive. In the ten years since her death, ‘Life’ magazine would comment “time has only burnished her legend.”Mailer got himself into hot water when it first hit the book stores. He was the first author with a national reputation to say “Kennedy.” Extravagant publicity ensued. Suddenly Eunice Murray was back in the news with an exclusive interview in the Ladies Home Journal. Earl Wilson popped up and said yes, with his L.A. Times front page exclusive. From that moment on the names of Kennedy and Monroe would forever be linked and it didn’t matter a bit when Mailer later admitted on national TV that the only reason he’d included Kennedy was to “spice up” the book because he needed the money.
Marilyn was once again a star of the Sunday tabloids across the world as the media picked up the story. She was on the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine twice as they ran the story in four parts from September. From Norma Jeane to Marilyn and finally, America’s first lady!Mailer’s prose wasn’t the only thing that did the trick though. The mass of photographs of Marilyn that had been assembled together for the first time by Lawrence Schiller for ‘The Legend and The Truth’ exhibition were used to illustrate the book. Page after page of incredible photos presented in full page format with full colour and quality paper.
This is what places ‘Marilyn’ so far above the other biographies that have followed. It has little to do with truth or the facts that Mailer presents. It has to do with his book suddenly reminding the public that this woman was absolutely stunning, a part of America’s more innocent years, a reminder of the laughter and the love that she effortlessly evoked. Within it’s pages are some of the finest works of such photographers as Milton Greene, Eve Arnold, George Barris, Cecil Beaton, Andre De Dienes, Philippe Halsman, Tom Kelley, Douglas Kirkland, Bruce Davidson, Sam Shaw, and Bert Stern.Success of the book lead to a series of merchandise products that included calendars, datebooks, posters, jigsaws, mirrors and even an LP, cassette and 8 track cartridge (anyone remember them?) of songs from the Fox films called ‘Remember Marilyn,’ which was repackaged from the 1963 ‘Marilyn’ soundtrack in a new cover to match the book.’Marilyn’ was issued in a beautiful limited first edition, signed by Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller which came in a dark blue clam-shell box with pictorial cover label.
This is quite collectible and sought after by collectors. It was published all over the world and some international editions have different cover shots than the Bert Stern shot that is most common. In Spain they have the ‘New Wrinkle’ shot by Kelley, in France they have the nude Marilyn in bed by Stern. Japan it has a ‘Scarf’ shot by Stern but is smaller in size and in a slipcase. Germany had several versions including a book club edition, different cover to the regular edition and a small paperback version. The book has been re-issued many times over the years but at the moment is out of print but can easily be located through Internet book sites.
By Fraser Penney
