Released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Marilyn’s tour of Korea. For one week Al Guastafeste’ s musical abilities (uninterupted by military service) and her meteoric rising star power combined to perform in front of more than one hundred thousand service persons.
The stuff they shared, and how they got there, and moved onward, are the subjects of this memoir. Al has written a lot about his own life and brief paragraphs about Mariyn’s life during the same period up until they meet in Korea, on February 14th, 1954 – Valentine’s Day!!! Then the story really kicks off as we get a first hand account of what it was like to meet, work and speak with Marilyn in the flesh, and how he says just a simple smile from her could brighten up the place and put everyone at ease.
She knew exactly how she wanted her performance to come over and cared about the slightest little detail of the performance, rehearsing over and over until she felt it was right.Much of the information in this book was written from conversations the author had with Marilyn before, during and after rehearsals and performances of the army variety show Marilyn became a part of called, “Anyhting Goes.” Al hadn’t actually seen any of Marilyn’s motion pictures until a few days before they were due to meet, when he requested a special screening of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” to help him prepare and work on a musical arrangement for her key. Marilyn was to perform ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’ and two other numbers for the show…
The story tells us all about Marilyn’s time with the show and how she gave her all, performing in the snow with only a cocktail dress to keep her warm.Al writes lovingly and respectfully of Marilyn’s character and ends the book with what he feels Marilyn’s impact has made on the world and the lessons she taught us. He has nothing but the highest of praise for her as a person and he is is no doubt that, “there is no finer lass than Marilyn.”The book is illustrated with photogrphs by the author and some other members of the show and have never been published elsewhere.It’s a great book on one of the great events of Marilyn’s life which she herself described as being a “highlight.”
By Fraser Penney
