Happy #SmileDay with one of the most beautiful smiles of all, Marilyn Monroeโs. Here she was filming the last of her films, the uncompleted SOMETHINGโS GOT TO GIVE in 1962, during its famous skinny dipping scene.
As for me, Iโm smiling bc itโs less than 24 hrs until Marilynโs 100th ๐ Whatโs got you smiling today? Make sure to share your beautiful smile with someone else on this fine Sunday. Your light could help to brighten someoneโs day today who really needs it ๐ค
Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis by David Wills
Available Here: https://t.co/tfJYeKbsC7
The most lavish and comprehensive collection of photographs ever assembled โ more than half of which have never been published before.
#marliynmonroe#oldhollywood
In February 1954 - Tokyo should have been paradise.... Marilyn Monroe was on her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous athletes in America. But when the call came from the USO asking if she'd travel to Korea to perform for the troops, she didn't hesitate.
She left her new husband behind and flew into a frozen wasteland where 100,000 soldiers were stationed in the aftermath of a brutal war. The temperature was well below freezing. The stages were makeshift. The conditions were nothing like the carefully lit soundstages of Hollywood.
But Marilyn showed up in a shimmering purple sequined cocktail dress that offered zero protection from the bitter cold. Over four days, she performed ten shows as part of a revue called "Anything Goes." The men went absolutely wild. They screamed, they cheered, they whistled. For many of them, it was the first glimpse of home they'd had in months.
Years later, Marilyn would say something remarkable about that trip. She said it was the first time in her entire career that she ever felt like a real star. Not on a movie set. Not at a premiere. But standing on a frozen stage in front of exhausted soldiers who worshipped her.
For the troops, her visit was a jolt of morale in the bleakest of circumstances. For Marilyn, it was something else entirely. It was liberation. A chance to step out from under the weight of her marriage, her studio contracts, and the manufactured image Hollywood had built around her. In Korea, she wasn't a product. She was a person connecting with an audience that loved her unconditionally.
This photo captures that raw, unfiltered moment. It's not a glossy studio portrait. It's a soldier's snapshot, intimate and unpolished, showing the woman behind the icon in one of the most meaningful moments of her life.
The contrast between her honeymoon and the Korean tour created tension in her marriage. DiMaggio reportedly resented the attention she received and the way the soldiers reacted to her. Some historians believe this trip was an early sign of the incompatibility that would end their marriage just nine months later.
Marilyn performed despite having a fever of 104 degrees during part of the tour. She sang songs like "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" and "Do It Again," and at one show, she had to be physically supported offstage because she was so weak. The soldiers had no idea she was sick. Additionally, one soldier who was there later recalled that when Marilyn walked onstage, the roar from the crowd was so loud it could be heard miles away.
The famous photograph of Marilyn standing over a subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch" was filmed just months after this Korea trip, and some biographers argue that her newfound confidence from the USO tour gave her the assertiveness to push back against studio control in ways she never had before.
๐ทยฉ Teichnor Bros., Boston (Restored & Colorized)
ยฉ Daughters of Time
#archaeohistories
โI just missed it. I missed the closeness of an audience, of a live audience. So just as soon as I got out of the movie contracts, I started to do live performances again.โ
#ElvisPresley#Icon#Legend#Quote#Singer