As today is the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, it is interesting to compare the elaborate ceremonies of today, with the understated manner in which a handful of fans sent flowers on August 5, 1972 on the tenth anniversary of her death.
The press photo reads:
8/5/72 Beverly Hills, CA. Motorcycle escort officer Si Mason of Westwood, Calif. looks over the many flowers sent to actress Marilyn Monroe at the Westwood Memorial Cemetery. 8/5 ten years ago, marks the anniversary of her death. The 36-year old actress was found dead in her Brentwood home of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills. (UPI)
The Fascination With Marilyn Monroe: A Look At The First Six Books About Her
Sometime during the evening or early morning hours of August 4 or 5, 1962 Marilyn Monroe died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 36. Even after fifty years to the day that she died, Marilyn Monroe may be more popular now than when she was living. Her movies are what propelled her to fame and are the way people today primarily become familiar with Marilyn. Her image is part of our popular culture. But books about Marilyn have helped her achieve a level of immortality that is not shared by any other star.
By a wide margin no other entertainment personality has been covered in books more than Marilyn Monroe. Elvis would run a distant second. Since 1953 there have been slightly more than 200 books in English that are directly about Marilyn Monroe. There are dozens more that have been printed in other languages and hundreds of others that contain chapters about her.
Her movie career spanned from 1947-1962, yet only six books were written about Marilyn while she was living, with various levels of cooperation from the star herself.
The first book written about Marilyn was published with little fanfare on October 29, 1953. The Marilyn Monroe Story by Joe Franklin and Laurie Palmer, (1953 Rudolph Field Co.) distributed by Greenberg. The book retailed in paperback for $1.00 and hardcover for $2.00. It is considered the rarest and most collectible book about Marilyn and very good condition paperback copies sell for upwards of $150 and hardcovers without the dustjacket fetch over $250 and with a nice dustjacket can sell for $500 or more.
So besides being the first book about Marilyn what makes it rare? In the early 1990’s I mentioned I owned a copy of his Marilyn book to author Joe Franklin and the longtime radio and television host told me quite a story about the book.
“I now don’t even have a copy of my own book,” Franklin said. Continue reading →
Rarely will my mouth hang open in disbelief. I’m too jaded. This photograph of the visual kei band Ensoku with the nightmare Disneyesque theme did not make my jaw drop. But their music video did.
Peter Bogdanovich early in his career was a film writer for magazines. Over the years he interviewed many people in the film industry and continued to do so even after becoming a successful director himself. The interviews with directors are compiled in a great book: Who The Devil Made ItConversations With Legendary Film Directorsby Peter Bogdanovich (Knopf; 1997).
He interviewed director Joseph H. Lewis (1907-2000) an adept filmmaker best known for his 1950 movie Gun Crazy, a precursor to Arthur Penn’s landmark film, Bonnie and Clyde (1967).
Bogdanovich asked Lewis in 1994, to “define the change that had happened in Hollywood.”
Lewis was able to clearly answer him:
“Yes, I define it one way. When I was a little boy I worked at MGM: I loaded film; from there I became an assistant camera boy; from there, an assistant cutter; from there, the head of a cutting department; from there I became a director. These things don’t happen today. A guy comes up and, yes, he has a script- he wrote it; he’ll let them do it, providing he can direct it. And they go for it.” Continue reading →
I sometimes wonder if every photo of Nellie Fox shows him with a chaw of chewing tobacco bulging out of his cheek. Was he born with the chewing tobacco permanently attached inside one cheek? This photograph of Nellie Fox shows that ballplayers were much more accommodating for publicity photographers back in the 1950’s, as Nellie lies on his stomach on a tarpaulin in an empty ballpark. Continue reading →
Lord who had been battling pancreatic cancer, died unexpectedly at the London Clinic of a pulmonary embolism. He leaves behind his second wife Vickie, their daughter, Amy, and Sara, his daughter with his first wife Judith Feldman whom he married in 1969 and divorced in 1981.
I grew up admiring Deep Purple and they have always been one of my favorite bands. I had seen them perform live which was a very festive and loud experience. After seeing them live I came away with the first hand knowledge that Jon Lord was without a doubt one of the most exciting and greatest rock keyboard players ever.
Being an extremely amateur musician myself, there are two things I wish I had the ability to do. One is to play stride style piano like James Johnson or Fats Waller and the other is to flawlessly play the guitar solo or keyboard solo to Deep Purple’s driving locomotive of a song, Highway Star.
Jon Lord was a classically trained musician and that training always came through in Deep Purple’s music. The structure of many of the bands songs are clearly classically influenced and this is due to the fact that both Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore drew a lot of their inspiration from the classical realm.
(l-r) Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord
In rock n’ roll there are many talented composers that are not great performers. There are great live bands, without good original songs. Then, there are phenomenal studio bands who can’t cut it live. During the height of their fame in the 1970’s, I don’t think there was a more talented group of individuals playing together as a band than Deep Purple. What I mean is each individual was a virtuoso in his own right, a master at their instrument. Together they were able to write great songs, record them in the studio and play them effortlessly with an edge in front of a live audience as few rock bands could. To do any one of these three things well is an accomplishment. Deep Purple was in a rare class as they did all three. Continue reading →
Looking at Rush’s upcoming concert tour of North America I noticed something interesting. Take a look at this schedule:
Sep -7
Sep -9
Sep-11
Sep-13
Sep-15
Sep-18
Sep-20
Sep-22
Sep-24
Sep-26
Sep-28
Sep-30
Oct-10
Oct-12
Oct-14
Oct-16
Oct-18
Oct-20
Oct-22
Oct-24
Oct-26
Oct-28
Oct-30
*Nov-1
Nov-3
Nov-13
Nov-15
Nov-17
Nov-19
Nov-23
Nov-25
Nov-28
Nov-30
Dec-2
Manchester,NH
Washington, DC
Pittsburgh, PA
Indianapolis, IN
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Columbus, OH
St. Louis, MO
Minneapolis,MN
Winnipeg, MB
Saskatoon, SK
Edmonton, AB
Bridgeport, CT
Philadelphia, PA
Toronto, ON
Toronto, ON
Montreal, QC
Newark, NJ
Brooklyn, NY
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Cleveland, OH
Charlotte, NC
Atlanta, GA
Tampa, FL
Seattle, WA
San Jose, CA
Anaheim, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Phoenix, AZ
Dallas, TX
San Antonio, TX
Houston, TX
Verizon Wireless Arena
Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater
CONSOL Energy Center
Bankers Life Fieldhouse
United Center
Palace of Auburn Hills
Nationwide Arena
Scottrade Center
Target Center
MTS Centre
Credit Union Centre
Rexall Place
Webster Bank Arena
Wells Fargo Center
Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
Bell Centre
Prudential Center
Barclays Center
TD Garden
First Niagara Center
Quicken Loans Arena
Time Warner Cable Arena
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre
KeyArena
HP Pavilion
Honda Center
Gibson Amphitheatre
MGM Grand Garden Arena
US Airways Center
American Airlines Center
AT&T Center
Toyota Center
Out of 34 venuesonly one arenais not named after some corporation (The Palace in Michigan).
No arena except The Palace has the name of the city it is located in or attaches the local sports team to its name. Virtually every arena has sold its “naming rights.” Yes, arenas today still have unique names if you consider auto companies, airlines, tech companies, mega-banks and their ilk to be representative of the city.
If someone asked me where The Quicken Loans Arena, The Jiffy-Lube Live Amphitheater or The Honda Center was I’d be hard pressed to tell you. What do these corporate names say about the cities and the arenas they stuck their names on?
Up until the 1970’s most arenas and stadiums were clearly defined: The Boston Garden; Detroit Olympia;The Montreal Forum; Memorial Stadium in Baltimore; The Spectrum in Philadelphia; Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto; Buffalo Memorial Auditorium; Pittsburgh Civic Arena – and on and on it went for traditional names. The Buffalo Bills were one of the first to do a naming rights deal with Rich Stadium in 1972 and the practice picked up steam in the 1990’s to the point of obliterating almost all historic stadium and arena names. Corporate naming rights are now expected if a new facility opens up. Continue reading →
If it seems preposterous that Edward G. Robinson (left) would be cast as a Chinese hitman, then consider that all the leads of this 1932 film The Hatchet Man, directed by William Wellman, are Caucasian.
Robinson, seen here standing next to character actor Dudley Digges, plays Wong Low Get, an anti-hero assassin, in this story about Tong Wars in Chinatown.
The movie is occasionally shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and is worth watching because Robinson turns in a fine performance, even if he doesn’t even slightly resemble someone of Asian descent.
Unfairly labeled second rate Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young imitators by many music critics, America was able to crack the music charts in the early to mid 1970’s with a string of pop rock hits. Their influences ran from The Beatles to The Beach Boys to Jackson Browne.
Guitarists, singers and songwriters all, the trio of Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek crafted songs that have stood the test of time. Originally staples of AM radio and now relegated to light FM and background supermarket music play-lists, the band deserves a better fate. Their tight harmonies and musical abilities are quite honestly underrated. Especially live. Continue reading →
As today is the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, it is interesting to compare the elaborate ceremonies of today, with the understated manner in which a handful of fans sent flowers on August 5, 1972 on the tenth anniversary of her death.
