Happy Birthday, Jackie!

Hard to believe, but if she were still alive, our favorite First Lady, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, would've been 86 today. It's not a stretch to imagine what her life might've been like: reading, spending time at Martha's Vineyard, traveling to Paris to visit with her sister, Lee; enjoying dinners and walks in Central Park with Maurice Templesman. Maybe she'd be retired from editing, or only taking on that rare, occasional project that she was passionate about.

What's most difficult is picturing her without John Jr. Would his fate had been any different, if Jackie had lived longer? Impossible to say.

But in Jackie's memory, enjoy a few of my favorite pictures.

Marilyn Monroe and James Dean

I recently posted a few pictures / paintings that featured Marilyn with James Dean. While it was obvious that most were photoshopped (the pics, that is), it did get me wondering, What was the relationship between Marilyn and James, and did they ever date???

Here's what I found:

(via Answers.com)

Marilyn Monroe and James Dean never dated. They never even met each other when they were alive. Monroe was several years older than him. While Dean was starting to establish his career and status in Hollywood, his life ended abruptly. Monroe died several years later as well. They each lead their own lives.

 However, both Monroe and Dean are considered icons in Pop Culture.
Both died very young. They are often depicted in art indicating that their beauty and tragic lives.

Monroe and Dean allegedly met once during the premiere of his debut film East of Eden(1955) and apparently disliked each other over 'Hollywood differences' (she enjoyed the spotlight and he hated it). They would've made an attractive couple though.

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Interesting, isn't it? And for some reason, it almost makes sense that they knew each other and dated briefly. But, didn't happen.

Just something else to dream about.....

Marilyn and Joe...Crazy Love?

Have you ever heard of The Wrong Door Raid? Possibly, if you're a Marilyn fan or Rat Pack fan, but surprisingly, many haven't heard of this outrageous tale.

Although Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio had quite the love affair, their union ended in divorce after less than a year of marriage. However, it's fair to say that Joe had a hard time getting over Marilyn.

(The following info / retelling is from June 5, 2011 L.A. Time article by Steve Harvey)

One version of the story holds that Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra were having dinner at the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood on a November evening in 1954 when they got the tip: A private investigator phoned to say the ballplayer's estranged wife, Marilyn Monroe, was inside a nearby apartment building, possibly with a lover.

Without bothering to pay the bill, DiMaggio stormed out of the eatery, followed by Sinatra and various associates, as well as Billy Karen, the restaurant maitre d'.Someone volunteered to pay the bill later, but the maitre d' responded that the bill was no problem, he just wanted "in on this thing."

A few minutes later, the group kicked in an apartment door on Waring Avenue. They found not Monroe but a lone resident, Florence Kotz, who was in her bed, screaming in terror, witnesses later related.
 

 

One of the fascinating aspects of the Wrong-Door Raid, as it came to be known, was how easily it was covered up. Half a century ago, paparazzi didn't stake out celebrity haunts, so there was no initial alert that anything was up.

 

Later, police were called to the apartment building but, as was their job back then when big celebrities were involved in some sort of mischief, they just took a report and calmed everybody down.

No charges were filed.

Kotz didn't rush out and file a lawsuit.

And the scandal-wary Times published no story on the affair for more than two years.

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 Pictures of Marilyn from the press conference, where she announced her separation / divorce from Joe.

 

I've read a few accounts of The Wrong Door Raid. Some contend that Sinatra stayed in the car, others say he was part of breaking down the door--and that the door was broken down with an axe!

 

I've also read that Florence filed charges a year later and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. 

 

Marilyn WAS in the apartment building, which was not a typical apartment complex that we tend to think of nowadays. She was in the apartment next door, visiting her friend Sheila.

 

Ah, the scandals of Old Hollywood.

 

 

 

 

 

A Jackie-Marilyn 'encounter'

Interesting article from Everlasting Star.... #marilynmonroe #oldhollywood #jacquelinekennedyonassis

http://blog.everlasting-star.net/2011/07/art-and-photography/jackie-kennedy-and-marilyns-allure/

Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn’s ‘Allure’

Posted on July 5, 2011 by marina72

Diana Vreeland, the formidable editor of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, included this photo of Marilyn (taken by Cecil Beaton in 1956) in her 1980 book, Allure.
Vreeland worked with Jackie Kennedy on the project, as William Kuhn recounts in Reading Jackie, a new study of the one-time First Lady’s career in publishing.

“Marilyn Monroe had a brief affair with JFK, and by 1980, when Vreeland’s Allure was published at Jackie’s behest by Doubleday, this was well-known…Monroe had committed suicide during the very week that Vreeland was taking over the editorial position at Vogue. She began work just as the outgoing editor was putting together the finishing touches on an issue which, by chance, included an article with a tribute to Monroe and several photographs. Vreeland’s colleague wanted one of the photos taken out. It was too ‘triste’ in light of what Monroe had just done. Vreeland replied, ‘You can’t leave that out! You cannot! It’s got all the poignancy and the poetry and the pathos of the woman in it!’ That was in 1962. In the late 1970s, Vreeland explained what she loved about this photo…‘Marilyn Monroe! She was a geisha. She was born to give pleasure, spent her life giving it – and knew no other way’…What did Jackie say to Vreeland about the Monroe photograph? Probably nothing, but the fact that she silently allowed Vreeland to include it shows Jackie content to acknowledge Monroe’s ur- sexiness, a quality that Jackie did not think she shared with the screen icon.
It seems as if Jackie was able to separate her editorial self from the woman whose husband had a public fling with Monroe. She was thrilled, about the same time she was working with Vreeland on Allure, when a proposal came from Doubleday that promised pictures from Bert Stern‘s last photographic session with the actress. ‘Marilyn Monroe!!!’ Jackie wrote in a memo to her colleague Ray Roberts. ‘Are you excited?’…Vreeland’s treatment of Monroe was probably like this for Jackie too: a publishing opportunity rather than a moment to reflect on a personal injury. In any case, if injury there had been, she was able to rise above it.”

Later in the book, Kuhn reports an interview with biographer David Stenn, who wrote about two Hollywood sex symbols pre-dating MM – Clara Bow and Jean Harlow – with Jackie’s support:

“Stenn also recalled a conversation he had with Jackie about Marilyn Monroe, a topic that he had avoided touching upon. That’s why he was surprised when she brought it up. Jackie didn’t mention Monroe in the context of JFK but rather as part of a continuum with Jean Harlow: both of them were blondes who made their sexual appeal the center of their screen personalities. As with Vreeland, Jackie was willing to discuss Monroe with Stenn in a completely dispassionate, even admiring way.”