Category: Blog
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Norma Jeane to Marilyn : Modelling to Movie Stardom
It was in the autumn of 1944 David Conover photographed Norma Jeane Dougherty for the first time. Conover saw something in the eighteen year old and organised a two week modelling trip through California. By August 1945 Norma Jeane had signed with Emmeline Snively at the Blue Book Modelling Agency. A month later she…
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Gladys Baker – Marilyn’s Mother – Part Three
In 1949, Gladys Baker married John Stewart Eley, an electrician. However Eley neglected to inform Gladys that he was already married – his first wife living in Boise, Idaho. The couple lived in Los Angeles but Eley died just three years later of a heart infection. During Marilyn’s career Gladys spent the majority of her…
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Sir Laurence Olivier 1907 – 1989
Sir Laurence OIivier was born on 22nd May 1907 in Dorking, Surrey to Reverend Gerard Kerr Olivier and his wife, Agnes Louise. Olivier was the youngest of three children. In 1924, Olivier began his acting education at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. Olivier’s sister had been a student there and was…
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Charles Stanley Gifford
Who was Charles Stanley Gifford? Was it he who fathered the world’s most famous screen icon, Marilyn Monroe, as Gladys said it was, and Marilyn believed it to be? Or was it her mother Gladys’ estranged husband, Edward Mortensen, as per her birth certificate? Over the years much has been made of the fact that…
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Happy Birthday Mr. President Dress
What is now known as the “Happy Birthday Mr. President Dress” has become one of, if not THE, most famous dress of all time. In early 1962, having been asked to perform at a Democratic fundraiser & JFK’s 45th birthday celebration, Marilyn approached Hollywood designer Jean Louis to design a dress that “only Marilyn Monroe…
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Gladys Baker – Marilyn’s Mother – Part Two
On her return to Los Angeles and with the beginning of her friendship with Grace McKee, Gladys Baker started going out dancing and dating, leading to the two women having a reputation amongst their male co-workers. However, on 11th October 1924, Gladys shocked everyone when she suddenly married Edward Mortensen. Though her new husband was…
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Gladys Pearl Monroe – Marilyn’s Mother – Part One
Gladys Pearl Monroe was born on 27th May 1902, to Otis and Della Monroe. Gladys had one brother named Marion and as child the family moved constantly.
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Some Like It Hot – Black Dress
In 1958 Orry Kelly, an Australian fashion designer (1897 – 1964), was signed on as designer for the movie “Some Like It Hot”. Amongst his designs for the movie were a silver/white dress which, in his words, was “of nude souffle draped on the bias to lift her breasts and push her tummy in. It…
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Timeline of Marilyn’s Last Day
Timeline – Marilyn’s Last Day There has been much speculation, controversy, rumour and intrigue surrounding the circumstances of the night Marilyn died – Here are the facts as we know them: 08.00am Eunice Murray arrives at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive. 09.00am Marilyn gets up, has some grapefruit juice and tells Mrs. Murray that Pat Newcomb…
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Unreliable Witnesses / Discredited Sources
Frank Capell Frank Capell was a right wing, anti-communist writer, who was one of the first people to specualte about Marilyn and the Kennedys. Two things Capell hated were communists and the Kennedys, and he thought the two were interlinked. In 1964, Capell wrote a book called “The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe” – it…