June 1st- Marylin Monore's Birthday

If it can't be Bettie Page's April 22nd birthday, then perhaps National Pinup Day could fall on June 1st instead.

Today marks what would've been the 86th birthday of Norma Jean Mortenson, better known to the world as Marylin Monroe. The voluptuous blonde bombshell and sex symbol was discovered by a photographer for Yank magazine working in a California armament factory during WWII.

Besides films like The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, Monroe also modeled for the debut edition of the then-nascent Playboy magazine in 1953. Monroe passed away from a drug overdose in 1962 at her Hollywood bungalow, a year and a half after she divorced playwright Arthur Miller.

Somebody who had worked extensively with Monroe during her film career was makeup artist Allan Snyder. A series of candid, never-before-seen pictures of Monroe at ease and on the set of movies like Niagara and River of No Return was discovered at Snyder's home after his death in the mid 1990s, but were never released to the public. Earlier this year, it was announced that the previously unreleased prints and slides would be going to auction at the end of April.

In addition to Snyder's collection being auctioned off, a series of previously unseen images from photographer Lawrence Schiller showing Monroe at her 36th birthday party and poolside for the unfinished film Something's Gotta Give will be on display in Miami Beach.

Marilyn Monroe Trivia Answer

Thanks to those of you who participated in the quiz- a number of you guessed Marilyn Monroe first appeared in the December 1953 edition of Playboy, which technically would've been correct.

However, Hugh Hefner had his doubts about the magazine catching on and left the first-ever issue undated. He only started dating them in January 1954, when it was becoming clear that there was demand for his publication after the first issue sold out in a few short weeks.

So those of you who guessed 'None of the above' would be correct.

On This Day in 1926, Norma Jean Mortensen- AKA Marilyn Monroe- Born

Today would mark the 85th birthday of screen legend and blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. I went into some of her background (as well as the late Josephine Baker's as a bonus) this time last year.


This year, aside from the fact that I thought it was pretty awesome she went on tour with the USO to visit American GI's in the Korean peninsula at the height of the Korean war, I figured I might as well keep relatively quiet and take in the scenery.
For those of you who are so inclined, I also put up a trivia question at the top of the page. Feel free to try and take a crack at it without using Google or Wikipedia.

If you stop and think about it, it's still rather amazing that she is still recognizable (and emulated to a degree) in the entertainment industry nearly 50 years after her passing.

Actress, Pin-Up Jane Russell Passes Away

Jane Russell, the statuesque brunette who starred in films along with Marylin Monroe, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, passed away in her Santa Maria, CA home from a respiratory illness at the age of 89 on Monday.

Russell was born in Bemidji, MN in 1921 before her family moved to Southern California in the 1930s. Her breakthrough role came in 1943 in the Howard Hughes-directed The Outlaw in which she's involved in a love triangle between Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday. The Motion Picture Production Code, however, took exception to the lengths in which the film highlighted Russell's cleavage and aside from a limited release in 1943, The Outlaw wouldn't see the light of day until 1946.

However, promotional photos for the yet-to-be-released film featuring a buxom Russell on a haystack garnered her popularity as a pin-up with servicemen during WWII. Bob Hope even introduced her as 'The two and only, Jane Russell" on one of his radio broadcasts.

With the release of The Outlaw being delayed by the MPPC, the movie-going public was actually introduced to Russell in March 1946 after the release of the drama Young Widow in which she played a young journalist who's husband was killed in WWII.

Russell's best-known role was co-starring with Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the latter portion of the movie features Russell impersonating her platinum blonde co-star [h/t Althouse].
The Howard Hawks directed film was a huge critical and box office success at the time. Russell famously appeared with Monroe at Hollywood's Mann Chinese Theater where both of their handprints are still encased in cement on the sidewalk in front of the theater's entrance.
After 1957, Russell only appeared in five more motion pictures before retiring to the central California coast. She was a practicing Christian who hosted bible studies and was active with the Republican party in the 1950s, attending Dwight D Eisenhower's inauguration. Adopting three children of her own, Russell founded the World Adoption International Fund in 1955.

Ebony & Ivory- The Birthday of Two Legenday Bombshells

June starts off with a couple of notable birthdays that provide me the perfect opportunity to adorn this humble blog with plenty of eye candy.

The beginning of June marks what would've been the 84th birthday of Norma Jean Mortenson- more famously known to the world as Marilyn Monroe.

While certainly not the first pin-up, Monroe remains perhaps the most iconic and recognizable to this day. While working for a munitions factory during WWII, she was discovered by an Army photographer writing an article for Yank magazine who recommended that she apply for work with the Blue Book modelling agency.

Best known for appearing films such as Some Like it Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the voluptuous blonde also had the distinction of appearing in the first issue of Playboy magazine as the first Playmate of the Month in 1953 [the first issue was undated, since Hefner was uncertain his endeavor would be successful- NANESB!]. In Februaury 1954, she went to Korea to entertain thousands of GIs with the USO at the height of the Korean war.

June 3rd marks the birthday of dancer and entertainer Josephine Baker. Born in St. Louis in 1904, Baker would go on to perform as a Chorus Line dancer in New York at the height of the 'Harlem Renaissance' in the 1920s. However it was in Europe, where Baker first began performing in 1925, where she found fame. In 1937, she married Frenchman Jean Lion and became a French citizen. When the Germans invaded France, Baker fled to her chateau in southern France, and would frequently travel between there and North Africa during the war. Her status as an entertainer allowed her to travel to neutral countries throughout the War, eavesdrop on Axis diplomats at parties and pass along encrypted messages to the French Resistance that were encoded in sheet music for her show. After the war, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre- France's highest military honor- for her work with the Resistance.

Baker was one of the few women speakers at the March on Washington in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement. According to one biographer, she was approached in Europe by Martin Luther King's widow after his assassination and asked to lead the Civil Rights movement.

Baker would return to the United States two years before her death, opening up to a standing ovation in Carnegie hall in 1973. She slipped into a coma in her French Chateau and passed away in April 1975, just days after a retrospective revue in her honor in Paris.