books to film: pal joey and BUtterfield 8

After recently reading Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, I decided that I not only wanted to continue with my book-to-film theme, but keep it centered in New York City, too. That led me to John O'Hara's  Pal Joey and BUtterfield 8.

John O'Hara - Four Novels of the 1930s

I had heard for years that the 1957 film version of Pal Joey was nothing like the 1940 Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical - Gene Kelly apparently portrayed him as a genuine no-good crumb (as Joey would say). In the film Frank Sinatra isn't exactly an angel, but he has enough of the proverbial heart of gold to win the love of sweet Kim Novak. Not only does the original O'Hara text outline Joey's not-so-nice persona, but it is an epistolary novel, including a series of Joey Evans' missives to his "dear pal Ted." Down on his luck nightclub MC and singer Joey Evans is always trying to get his more successful friend Ted to help him get a job in New York, where Ted seems to be doing very well in his own musical career, but clearly Ted isn't biting. The novel started as a story that O'Hara submitted to The New Yorker, first published in 1938. It was so popular he wrote more and more, until they were compiled published as a novel in 1940. To the delight of the reader, your pal Joey writes like he talks, which, a la Derek Zoolander, is not too good:

Dear Friend Ted
That is if I can call you friend after the last two weeks for it is a hard thing to do considering. I do not know if you realize what has happen to me oweing to your lack of consideration. Maybe it is not lack of consideration. Maybe it is on purpose. Well if it is on purpose all I have to say is maybe you are the one that will be the loser and not me as I was going to do certan things for you but now it does not look like I will be able to do them.

From the 1957 film, Frank Sinatra as your pal Joey with mice Kim Novak and Rita Hayworth

Pal Joey is a mostly funny read. Joey is grasping, but mostly clueless. He does seem to have a pretty good talent for the music and jazz of the time, but his human relations skills are less than zero, especially with the "mice" (Joey's slang for girls) that he encounters along the way. Joey doesn't seem to be doing much better with his career by the end of the novel than he did when it started, which adds to the realism, and even humor of the piece. Joey may have been a heel, but his persona has lived on entertainingly in print, stage, and screen.

1935's BUtterfield 8 was made into a successful film in 1960, starring Elizabeth Taylor (who won the Oscar for Best Actress) and then-husband Eddie Fisher, right before she went on to make the blockbuster Cleopatra. The story centers on Gloria Wandrous, a young woman who lives her life freely - sleeping with men that she likes, while searching for a meaningful life. Gloria is a complicated person. It is revealed, midway through the novel, that she was a victim of child sexual abuse. She is quite frank and flirtatious with her closest friend, commercial artist Eddie, who seems to be her only true friend. Gloria is getting tired of her itinerant life and believes that she has fallen in love with her latest lover, married man Weston Liggett. But will she be able to get past her malaise and open herself to love and a life with Liggett?

From the 1960 film, Elizabeth Taylor in her Oscar-winning turn as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8

“On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who later was to be the cause of a sensation in New York, awoke much too early for her night before. One minute she was asleep, the next she was completely awake and dumped into despair. It was the kind of despair that she had known perhaps two thousand times before, there being 365 mornings in a calendar year.”

The book, although interesting to read and progressive for its time, has problems. Gloria is racist and abusive to her mother's black maid as a matter of course. She is the recipient of sexist behavior, which is not surprising, considering the time the story takes place, but that same sexism is also ultimately worked into the plot. Why is Gloria made to "pay" for her choices and behavior while her partner, Liggett, seems to get off scot free? That can happen frequently in life, but did the reader in 1935 accept her fate as unjust or inevitable? Events in the 1960 film may have been depicted as tragic, but seemed equally cliché. BUtterfield 8 seems a precursor, almost a companion story to Breakfast at Tiffany's. The authors each presented interesting, free-spirited women as their protagonists, but in the end, don't seem to know what to do with them.


This post also appears on Cannonball Read 11

favorite movie #99 - holiday edition: robin and the 7 hoods

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #99 - Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) - Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack buddies Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. have fun with this Robin Hood-inspired musical. There are fun musical numbers, lots of mobster-inflected dialogue, and a general devil-may-care attitude that makes the good guy gangster romp fun. Sinatra introduces the hit song "My Kind of Town,' but my favorite numbers are Sammy Davis, Jr. shooting up a speakeasy with "Bang! Bang!" and Bing Crosby presiding over "Mr. Booze." Crosby, Sinatra, and Martin also do a great rendition of "Style". All of the songs are by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.

Sammy shoots and taps his way through the speakeasy

Sinatra belts "My Kind of Town"

How to hide a speakeasy

Link to Christmas:

favorite movie #32: guys and dolls

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #32 - Guys and Dolls (1955) - There is so much to love about this musical. Its New York City setting, the wise-racking Damon Runyon characters, the bright colors and costumes, the wonderful cast, and of course the great songs and dance numbers. But for me, what takes Guys and Dolls over the top is Marlon Brando, at his sexiest and most charming. He was at the peak of his popularity when this film was made, and Frank Sinatra couldn't talk the producers into giving him the role of Sky Masterson when Gene Kelly, their first choice, was unavailable. They wanted Brando. And thank goodness for that, as he was perfect for the role and even did his own singing. Sinatra was great as Nathan Detroit, but apparently was no fan of Brando during filming. Oh well. Any petty personality issues were definitely left in the dressing room, as this filmed version of the great musical is a joy to watch. Members of the Broadway cast were also on board, including Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide, Stubby Kaye as Nicely Nicely, B.S. Pully as Big Jule ("from Chicago!"), and Johnny Silver as Benny Southstreet. British actress Jean Simmons does a nice job as Sister Sarah Brown, Skye's love interest, and does her own singing as well.

When a guy wears tails with the front gleaming white Who the hell do you think he's tickling pink on Saturday night?

Pet Me Poppa

In other words, Just from waiting around, For that little band of gold, A person can develop a cold

Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) tries to convince Skye Masterson (Marlon Brando) to bet on Lindy's cheesecake

That bacardi flavor, it certainly makes a difference, doesn't it?

Your eyes are the eyes of a woman in love...

Luck if you've ever been a lady to begin with ...

I dreamed last night I was on the boat to heaven ...

jay bernstein, starmaker

Anyone who has ever considered a job in show business — whether in front of or behind the camera - should read Starmaker: Life as a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, the Rat Pack and 600 More Stars Who Fired Me. Most people may not be familiar with its subject, Hollywood publicist, agent, producer Jay Bernstein, but they will undoubtedly be more than familiar with his stellar client list, which includes the biggest stars of the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s.

Stars such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Landon, Stacy Keach, Linda Evans, William Shatner and others counted him as their manager and factotum. Countess others were in his orbit. He seems to have known everyone in Hollywood at some time or another, but not all of his encounters were friendly. The book has been published posthumously (Bernstein died in 2006), culled from interviews he gave, and at times it is clear that he was still smarting from some of his career slights. And Bernstein was all about career. He admits himself, many times, that his work was his life, and he was available 24/7 for his client roster. It actually came as a shock to discover on Wikipedia that he had married and had a child (apparently late in life) as they don't figure in his narrative at all.

Jay Bernstein, with Farrah Fawcett, in her heyday, from his website

Bernstein may not be the most likable character — he carried a loaded .38 at all times and a walking stick, clearly designed to intimidate — but he does tell some interesting stories. We may think we are savvy to the Hollywood publicity machine, but Bernstein isn't afraid to let the reader know that a lot of what we think we know about the stars is frankly, BS. Sinatra was far from his favorite person. One might go so far, and Bernstein does, as to call him a jerk. Bernstein recounts Sinatra's crazy, entitled behavior while the Rat Pick was filming Sergeants 3, and how that led to a close working relationship with Sammy Davis, Jr. Tom Jones, an acknowledged sexy superstar singer, got a lot of help from Berstein. Who do you think orchestrated all of those panties thrown on stage at the start of his career? There are many other stories in Starmaker like these, and fans of Hollywood myth and lore will have a field day.

Bernstein also recounts how he helped '70s iconic beauties like Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers get their start, and how he revitalized Linda Evans' career as "a mature beauty" later on. It is clear that Farrah was his ultimate star, his shining career moment, and he gives her appropriate due. Bernstein is also a proud chauvinist, which just gives another clear view of what actresses have always, and still are, up against.

He takes credit for so many things that are done on a regular basis these days but were rare when he was in power — like stars moving from one television network to another, or from film to television and vice-versa. There is much hyperbole, and even more wound-licking to be found in Starmaker, but it is also, undeniably a fast-paced, extremely entertaining read.

the ghosts of ava gardner

“I either write the book or sell the jewels, and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” 

Ava Gardner, in 1988, after suffering two strokes a few years previously, felt pressured to come up with some money, somehow, to cover her expenses. She could no longer act, as the strokes had left her fabulous face paralyzed on one side, and her right arm useless. She toyed with the idea of an autobiography, and friend Dirk Bogarde suggested journalist Peter Evans.

Ava Gardner, in her heyday

Evans enthusiastically took on the task of ghostwriting Gardner's memoirs, and things moved along, if not swimmingly, at least steadily, for several months — until Gardner learned, most likely from ex-husband number three Frank Sinatra, that he had sued Evans and the BBC many years before for writing about his association with the Mafia. The collaboration came to an abrupt halt. After Evans's death in 2012, his publisher, with the permission of Gardner’s estate, decided to publish the notes for the book as Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations.

If one is looking for an in-depth look at Gardner's life and her tumultuous relationships with many famous men, this book will not exactly fit the bill. But it does contain some interesting glimpses of her life, and of Hollywood in the 1940s. What it really does is give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to write a celebrity biography — with a reluctant, mercurial star and a diffident author. But fans of Gardner will be more than a little disappointed about the lack of coverage of her Hollywood career, and her most celebrated relationship, her marriage to Sinatra, as the book and notes are cut short very soon after he enters her life.

Gardner was a legendary beauty, but never received much acclaim for her acting skills, which she herself said were close to none. But she was good, even great, at times in many of Hollywood's best films, working with its top directors and co-stars:

• The Killers (1946) - With Burt Lancaster, directed by Robert Siodmak
• Show Boat (1951) - Her voice was dubbed in the movie, but she did sing two songs on the soundtrack album
• Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) - With James Mason, directed by Albert Lewin (with amazing cinematography by Jack Cardiff)
• Mogambo (1953) - with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly - Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954) - with Humphrey Bogart, written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• On the Beach (1959) - With Gregory Peck, directed by Stanley Kramer
• The Night of the Iguana (1964) - With Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr, written by Tennessee Williams, directed by John Huston

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations does cover, glancingly, her early life in rural North Carolina, and her unusual path to Hollywood. Her brother-in-law, who owned a photo studio, displayed a portrait of teenage Gardner in his shop window. A man who claimed to be a talent scout for MGM (as a way to get to pretty girls), tried to get her number by saying she should get in pictures. Gardner and her family didn't share her number, but took him at his word and brought her to MGM's New York offices.

Her beauty impressed, but her thick accent did not, so a silent screen test was sent to Hollywood and Gardner and her older sister were soon packed off to the West Coast for her new life as a starlet. She claims to have met Mickey Rooney, who was one of MGM's biggest box-office stars of the day with his Andy Hardy films, her first day on the lot. He certainly didn't waste any time trying to get to know the 19 year-old hopeful, and the two were soon an item, and sooner married. Gardner was quite naive when she arrived in California, and although the two were mad for one another, she was blind to his non-stop womanizing, even, ostensibly, after being warned by his own mother.

Mickey Rooney and Ava

"I still didn’t know that he was the biggest wolf on the lot. He was catnip to the ladies. He knew it, too. The little sod was not above admiring himself in the mirror. All five foot two of him! He probably banged most of the starlets who appeared in his Andy Hardy films — Lana Turner among them. She called him 'Andy Hard-on.' Can we say that — 'Andy Hard-on?'"

“I don’t see why not,” I said. “It’s a funny line.”

Practically as soon as she had signed her divorce papers, tycoon Howard Hughes was auditioning her for the role of his next lover. Their affair lasted many years, but she didn't love him enough to marry him, and soon fell for band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, which would result in another very short-term marriage. Rooney ignored her and constantly ran around with other girls, while Shaw put her down and tried to make her feel inferior. Gardner definitely had a taste for macho men, as she also had romances with famous bullfighters and Hollywood co-stars Robert Mitchum, and later George C. Scott, who purportedly knocked her around. But she found her match in Frank Sinatra, who may have been waiting in the wings all along:

"I was with Mickey in the studio commissary. We had just gotten married. Frank came over to our table — Jesus, he was like a god in those days, if gods can be sexy. A cocky god, he reeked of sex — he said something banal, like: 'If I had seen you first, honey, I’d have married you myself.' I paid no attention to that. I knew he was married. He had a kid, fahcrissake!"

Most of the fun in Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations comes from the sense that the reader is hearing Gardner talk to Evans in her actual voice. But sometimes the Southern drawl and epithets seem to be poured on a little too thick. Ava admonishes her would-be ghostwriter after reading a sample chapter, "Does she have to curse so much?" If Gardner did indeed speak this way, every other sentence punctuated with "fahcrissakes," she held onto her Rat Pack parlance until the end.

Frank Sinatra and Ava

What also comes through in this short and fast read is an inescapable sadness. Beauty and fame don't last, which Gardner was intelligent enough to be aware of, but her strokes also robbed her of her physicality, as she describes how she used to enjoy sports like tennis and swimming. She seems to always be alone, calling Evans in the middle of the night, with a tumbler full of wine or liquor in hand, reliving some of her past exploits. There is not just a ghostwriter, but ghosts everywhere, as she laments the passing of friends and mentors like John Huston and "Papa" Hemingway, and morbidly begins to dwell on death, which she fears and believes is soon coming for her. Gardner died of pneumonia in 1990.

Perhaps most poignantly, Gardner resents that the book must focus on her "mistakes," her broken relationships, which Evans is constantly prodding her to talk about. Ava wants a book, but her way. “Why can’t we settle for what I pretend to remember? You can make it up, can’t you? The publicity guys at Metro did it all the time.” Maybe that isn't just a question from a Hollywood actress past her prime. Don't we all tend to remember things the way we want to and not the way they were? Evans never got his memoir, but Gardner did get to tell it like it may or may not have been, soon after ditching this project, in Ava: My Story. Apparently Sinatra had no objection to that.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Book Review: ‘Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations,’ by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner

dean martin in something big

Article first published as DVD Review: Something Big on Blogcritics.

The newly released on DVD Something Big
is a comic western from 1971 featuring Dean Martin.

Practically every character in the film gets a chance to utter the two words "something big," as they describe bandit Joe Baker's (Dean Martin) scheme to pull off one more big heist. His brilliant plan is to trade a woman for a Gatling gun. But the woman he ends up choosing when he ambushes a stagecoach is Mary Anna (Honor Blackman), the wife of the territory's retiring U.S. Army colonel. Colonel Morgan (Brian Keith) hadn't exactly been eager to retire or see his wife again, who he had described to all of his men as a "cold fish." Baker forms a very different impression of Mary Anna after traveling with her on the way to the exchange. And he starts to wonder if his goal of a Gatling gun is so big after all.

But Baker's kidnapping isn't the only "something big" on the horizon. Making her way westward is Dover McBride (Carol White), a woman that Baker pledged to marry many years before who is determined to hold him to that promise.

Director Andrew McLaglen is no stranger to the Western genre. A veteran of such television series as Gunsmoke and Rawhide and films featuring John Wayne, like McLintock! and Chisum. The filming locations of Something Big outside of Durango, Mexico, add another layer of authenticity to the film.

The film is widescreen with a sharp transfer that looks crisp and clean on a large-scale high-definition television screen. The title song, "Something Big," was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and performed by Mark Lindsay. The film runs approximately 108 minutes, with Dolby digital (mono) sound and subtitles. The film is rated PG-13 for some violence and adult themes. The DVD includes a theatrical trailer, but no other extras.

Movie buffs will love seeing the many assorted character actors who round out the cast: Ben Johnson, Joyce Van Patten, Harry Carey Jr., Albert Salmi, Merlin Olsen, David Huddleston, and Paul Fix as an American Indian chief.

The film is definitely dated. Its portrayal of Native Americans is far from what modern audiences would consider politically correct. Most of the characters are broad caricatures, and Something Big has to be viewed in its context of the late '60s, early '70s. But the intention of the film is to amuse, and it manages to do that with good humor. Dean Martin is at ease as a headliner with no need of his usual Rat Pack buddies. He helps make Something Big an entertaining experience.

what happened behind the scenes on some like it hot

Here's another essay from the longer-format piece I'm working on about Marilyn Monroe.

Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot has always been a favorite film of mine. I love the combination of crime, comedy, and musical. Marilyn Monroe is breathtaking and fresh and Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, by donning women's clothes not only make the audience laugh, but are given a bird's-eye view of how the other half lives. I have reviewed the film before, but only alluded to its behind-the-scenes drama:

There are plenty of stories surrounding the making of Some Like it Hot. Marilyn's notorious difficulties in nailing a simple line. The possible casting of Frank Sinatra instead of Lemmon. But no matter how difficult filming conditions may have been, it is undeniably a classic, and Wilder had good things to say about his lovely star, "She had a kind of elegant vulgarity about her. That, I think, was very important. And she automatically knew where the joke was. She did not discuss it. She came for the first rehearsal, and she was absolutely perfect, when she remembered the line."

Wilder, Monroe, and Lemmon

Although it was one of her greatest films, Marilyn never seemed to have much fondness for Some Like It Hot. She wanted Frank Sinatra for one of the male leads (who thankfully blew off a meeting with Wilder, so they went with Curtis and Lemmon). Wilder’s collaborator, screenwriter I. A. L Diamond tells of a different sequence of events regarding the casting. “The first person we wanted was Jack Lemmon, but he was then under contract to Columbia, and the first actor we actually signed was Tony Curtis because we felt he could play both parts in an emergency. United Artists felt that we needed a big box-office name and that Lemmon wasn't big enough. They suggested that Mr. Wilder see Frank Sinatra. He made a lunch date with him and Sinatra never showed up, which may be one of the luckiest things that could have happened to us. At this point we got Marilyn Monroe, and the studio no longer felt the need for another big name. Then we signed Jack." Wilder apparently intended to cast Mitzi Gaynor to play Sugar, but after he heard from Marilyn Monroe, the part was hers.

Marilyn married Arthur Miller in 1956 and had only made one movie since they became husband and wife, The Prince and the Showgirl, which had been fraught with its own set of problems. She had been out of Hollywood, concentrating on her marriage, but she was still the clear breadwinner in the family. With Miller's continuing troubles with the government and costly legal fees, she jumped at the chance to work on another film with Wilder (they had made The Seven Year Itch together). She signed on, even though she wasn't too excited to be playing a character so dumb that she wouldn't be able to tell that her two new best girlfriends were actually guys.

The habitually late to the set Marilyn drove Curtis and Lemmon crazy, who had to wait around in their high heels, thick make-up, and wigs for Marilyn to arrive — and then to get a scene right. The most infamous story from the production involves a brief scene near the end of the film, where a bereft Sugar, dumped by Shell Oil Junior (Curtis's other disguise), bursts into the girls' room for some alcoholic comfort. Her one line was, "Where's the bourbon?" But she reportedly kept getting the line wrong, saying "Where's the whiskey?" or "Where's the bottle?" Wilder came up with a brilliant idea — to have the line written on a piece of paper and put in the drawer that contained the bottle, but Marilyn kept forgetting which drawer it was in. The total number of takes were 59. She drove Wilder crazy, but he was always glad that he cast her, and both complained about her and praised her "She has her own natural instinct for reading a line, and an uncanny ability to bring something to it. ... To tell the truth, she was impossible – not just difficult. Yes, the final product was worth it – but at the time we were never convinced there would be a final product."

Filming the Pullman scene

The story may be gospel or apocryphal, but it is true that Marilyn always suffered a sort of stage fright on set, and would delay and delay before she would come out to perform. Once she became involved in The Method, the number of her takes increased, as she would frequently ask a director if she could try a line another way, and then another. Adding to the mayhem was her omnipresent acting coach, Paula Strasberg, wife of The Actors Studio's Lee, who she was constantly consulting with, much to the chagrin of Wilder.

There were many other factors going on in Marilyn's life that made her work on Some Like It Hot difficult. She was caught in a cycle of drug-taking that had become commonplace in Hollywood, using downers and uppers to keep her going. The sleeping pills and painkillers that her doctors supplied in abundance to help curb her insomnia and extreme menstrual pain made her groggy, and it would take several hours in the morning to get her up and running and ready to go. She was trying to make her marriage to Miller work, but there had been problems between the couple from the beginning. Miller spent a lot of time hanging around the set and running interference for Marilyn, but he didn't seem to be able to curtail her pill dependencies or get her to the set on time. She was still reeling from an earlier ectopic pregnancy when she discovered she was pregnant during the making of Some Like It Hot — that brought its own cycle of joy and worry. She would ultimately miscarry the baby in December 1958, after the film had wrapped.

Some other little-known factoids: 

Tony Curtis had some trouble maintaining a higher-pitched voice for his characterization of Josephine, so Wilder had actor Paul Frees dub his lines. 

Marilyn's vocal coach was Judy Garland. 

Marilyn's film contract stipulated that all her films were to be in color, but Wilder showed her the color costume tests with the two actors, and when she saw how the garish make-up photographed she agreed with the director that it would look better in black and white.

Some Like it Hot is as funny today as it was when it first came out. To paraphrase Sugar, it's a real diamond, worth its weight in gold.



Sources:

Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto

Conversations with Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond, Go Into The Story, The Black List, by Scott Myers

Behind the scenes Some Like It Hot

imdb

Photos from Some Like It Hot

Related articles

• xoxoxoe's #CBR4 Review #26: Marilyn, by Gloria Steinem

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• xoxoxoe's #CBR4 Review #25: MM-Personal: From the Private Archive of Marilyn Monroe, by Lois Banner

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• xoxoxoe's #CBR4 Review #29: Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, by Anthony Summers

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shuffling through marilyn's receipts

I have been researching Marilyn Monroe for a project I am working on, so have been immersing myself in the iconic Hollywood star's life via a lot of different books. MM-Personal: From the Private Archive of Marilyn Monroe presents the contents of two file cabinets that were left after Marilyn died in June 1962 as a peek into the star's private and professional life. Author Lois Banner and photographer Mark Anderson have reverently presented everything from letters, memos, and telegrams to jewelry that may have belonged to Marilyn, and even items of clothing. Some of the items are photographed placed on rose petals, which is admittedly kind of corny; but page after page of piles of saved receipts, although mundane items, still serve as a touching reminder of Marilyn's brief but compelling life.

There is a bit of a mystery behind how these files and the book came to be. When Marilyn was married to Joe DiMaggio he helped her find a new business manager, Inez Melson, to help take care of her mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and was in and out of mental institutions most of her adult life. Inez not only managed Gladys but also Marilyn's burgeoning career, helping her with her financial affairs. When the marriage with DiMaggio went bust and Marilyn left California for New York, she soon also severed ties with Inez, apart from her continuing custodianship of Marilyn's mother. But Inez didn't want to lose Marilyn and managed to stay connected through the years.

When Marilyn died Inez was called, and there is some dispute over whether she may have tampered with evidence in the apartment, as far as removing prescription medicine bottles in an effort to protect Marilyn. She did help plan the funeral with Joe DiMaggio. She managed to immediately secure one of Marilyn's two file cabinets, and then bought the other at auction, using her nephew's name for the purchase, even though they both rightfully belonged to Lee Strasberg, the major beneficiary in Marilyn's will.

What Inez did was clearly fraud, but if she hadn't maneuvered getting hold of Marilyn's belongings the contents of the file cabinets would have certainly been tossed or scattered by now. Instead, readers get to flip through these intact, daily records of Marilyn's life. At times it's admittedly a little creepy, like going through her drawers, shuffling through her papers. Drugstore receipts for enemas and colonics tell the tale of quick weight loss methods, common to Hollywood actresses, but did we really need to know that? Marilyn surely wouldn't have wanted to tarnish any mystique she may have had with her public. Some of the items are frankly boring or indecipherable. But some, mostly letters, are interesting, and shed a light on Marilyn's personality, as well as her more familiar Hollywood persona.

- Marilyn wanted Frank Sinatra, not Tony Curtis as her co-star in Some Like it Hot (a terrible idea, as Sinatra just wouldn't have worked and we would have lost the Curtos/Lemmon dream team). She had an affair with Sinatra much later, shortly before her death, after she broke up with husband Arthur Miller.

- In a typewritten (probably by a secretary) note to magazine illustrator Jon Whitcomb, who did an illustration of the actress that appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan in March 1959, Marilyn's distinctive voice and humor comes through, as she apologizes for the hold-up in their getting together:

"Please forgive the long delay in answering, but I have been up to my derrière in preparation for two movies for the near future… I would love to have the picture from you and I repeat 'at last to be a Whitcomb girl!' .… I am looking forward to meeting with you and I want you to meet Arthur [husband Arthur Miller]."

Her sense of humor also shines through in letters to Miller's son and daughter, which she wrote as if from their dog or cat.

- In a telegram to director George Cukor after she was fired from Something's Got to Give, she blames herself and offers to make it up to him, by cleaning his house, "I can dust."

- The are some intriguing fan letters that she chose to keep, including the offering up of a newborn baby girl for adoption. It makes one wonder if she was seriously tempted to accept the baby.

- One of the more interesting letters is an apology from public relations man Joe Wolhandler in reaction to her anger at a magazine article quoting Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Billy Wilder about how difficult she was to work with during Some Like It Hot.

"As you know, TIME Magazine is, of all the ghoulish press, in a class by itself for unmitigated nastiness and inaccuracy. It has been a "middle-class confidential" for a long period. I don't believe they are quoting Wilder and Curtis accurately. We have asked for a retraction…"

- More poignant is a letter from April 1952 that she taped to her stomach before an appendectomy, begging, "Dear Doctor no ovaries removed - please again do whatever you can to prevent large scars. Thanking you with all my heart, Marilyn Monroe"

- Some of the receipts do tell heartbreaking stories — gifts of roses and a bed jacket from a maternity store from Arthur Miller, given right before two separate miscarriages.

So much has been written about how difficult Marilyn was to work with, with the focus in most biographies on her addictions, men in her life, and instability, but the more and more I learn and read about her this behavior seems to also speak of her quest for power. If she wasn't considered such a valuable commodity to the studio, she would have been fired and replaced, and that would have been that. She used her frequent illnesses and perpetual lateness to protest scripts she didn't like, or too-controlling studio executives. Marilyn used many different methods to have more control of her career and her life, not an easy thing for a woman of her time.

History professor Banner frames the bits and pieces of Marilyn's life in biographical sections. Her text jumps around chronologically and at times is a bit repetitive, as the reader is told in at least three separate sections about her infamous stroll from one end of the studio to the other in a see-through negligee. Apparently that exhibition of her sexual power made quite an impression on the author. She even repeats the anecdote in another book she wrote on the star, Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox. There are no major revelations here in the oft-told story of Marilyn's tragically short but eventful life, but some of the items photographed by Anderson and selected by Banner do help frame her life in a more easily relatable and approachable context.

MM-Personal: From the Private Archive of Marilyn Monroe is by no means a definitive text on the star, but it is an interesting glimpse into the actress's life, and it makes one wonder how our own lives might be pieced together by the detritus of our daily lives.

new year's movie meme

The Girl with the White Parasol has posted a New Year's Movie Meme, which I thought would be fun to do. I write about books and television and lots of other things that come into my head, but my love of pop culture originated with watching old movies with my parents. These days I watch them with my daughter.

Feel free to pass on the meme or post your answers to the ten questions in the comments section.

Happy New Year!

1. What is your all-time favorite Grace Kelly costume?

The woman could wear clothes like few others, but my favorite is the first fabulous gown she wears in Rear Window, when she sweeps into Jimmy Stewart's apartment, and Hitchcock just lets her get closer and closer as she goes in for a kiss and fills the camera screen. The audience can't help but immediately fal in love with her. The dress is as wonderful as its wearer. It's the ultimate '50s glamour look, with cinched waist, full skirt, and accented with red, red lipstick and pearls.

2. What classic film would you nominate for a remake?

This is a tough one. I generally don't like remakes. It's not exactly a classic, but Dune might benefit from a remake. The David Lynch version is just gross and cheesy. With today's special effects it might be a pretty cool sci-fi film.

3. Name your favorite femme fatale.

Its hard to top Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessey in The Maltese Falcon. She isn't the typical voluptuous figure that we might first think of with the term femme fatale, but she uses her mind and her feminine wiles and leaves a trail of sorry males in her wake.

4. Name the best movie with the word "heaven" in its title.

Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait, with Steve Martin's Pennies from Heaven a close second.

5. Describe the worst performance by a child actor that you’ve ever seen.

I know people love this movie, but I'm not that fond of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (he's great in A.I.) I also can't stand the forced cuteness of Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire. It's less the kids' fault than the roles they play.

6. Who gets your vote for most tragic movie monster?

I think Irena (Simone Simone), from Cat People is the most tragic. She so wants to live a normal life and fall in love, but she can't deny her feline impulses and heritage. Violence stalks her.

7. What is the one Western that you would recommend to anybody?

I don't consider myself a Western fan, but thinking about this question made me realize that there are a lot of great Westerns for non-Western fans to enjoy. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is probably the one I would recommend to anyone, as the charming combination of Paul Newman and Robert Redford is hard to beat. But other non-traditional Westerns that are great movies are Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer Tracy, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, comic western 4 for Texas with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and the recent animated Rango, featuring Johnny Depp.

8. Who is your ideal movie-viewing partner?

I've had many. My movie buff dad was my first. He let me watch everything — horror films, epics, gangster movies, epics. In my 20s my best bud Mary and I were great movie watching companions. These days I like watching my daughter discover Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and lots of other favorites.

9. Has a film ever made you want to change your life? If so, what was the film?

I don't think a specific film has made me want to change my life, but there are some that have had an almost visceral effect on me (A Clockwork Orange, Vertigo). Movies have always been a huge part of my life — watching, talking, and now writing about them.

10. Think of one performer that you truly love. Now think of one scene/movie/performance of theirs that is too uncomfortable for you to watch.

I love Gene Kelly, and although he had nothing to be ashamed of, Xanadu didn't need to be made.

11. On the flip side, think of one really good scene/performance/movie from a performer that you truly loathe.

It's hard to think of an actor or actress that I loathe — that's such a strong word. I'm not a huge fan of Christian Bale, but there's no denying he's good in the Batman films.

12. And finally, since it will be New Year's soon, do you have any movie or blogging-related resolutions for 2012?

I would like to write more in-depth, detailed pieces on some of my favorite films. I've actually just started to do that. My first one, On Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart, will run on January 2.

you've either got or you haven't got style

We watched the movie Robin and the Seven Hoods last night and it was, as always, a lot of fun. What really struck me as I watched Frankie, Dino, and Der Bingle was the absolute joy and ease they had in performing, which was translated directly to the audience. It's impossible to watch them do this number and not smile.

I don't think that their style should or could really be copied (no matter how many try), or that it would even sound right in today's world as anything contemporary. But it seems that so many entertainers today are so labored, so overdone. So many cheerleader-style synchronized dancing and microphone headsets. It's all such a production. There's lots of pyrotechnics, but little joy.

I really enjoy Lady Gaga, but was exhausted after watching her recent special on HBO with all of the elaborate stage sets and back-up dancers. I realize that's what a concert is these days, but the most powerful moments of the program were the a capella version Gaga and her company did of "Born This Way" over the closing credits. She has been doing some more soulful renditions of her songs lately, without all of the sturm und drang, so she must realize too, that sometimes simple and easy is best.

And if any of today's performers would like to see how a relaxed performance can yield high results, all they have to do us take a look at these three guys:

(b)ratpack

The kid loves Der Bingle. She's almost seven, but I think she's seen White Christmas that many times already. Over the holidays we watched that movie a few times as well as a special on PBS on Bing, featuring his many television specials and guests.

[on Frank Sinatra] Frank is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?

I actually remember seeing Bing's duet with David Bowie on television with my parents in Crosby's Christmas special first run, although I didn't realize at the time that Bing was recently no more. I guess my parents didn't tell me.

[about Elvis Presley] He helped to kill off the influence of me and my contemporaries, but I respect him for that. Because music always has to progress, and no-one could have opened the door to the future like he did.

I just downloaded some pix from the iPhone and lo and behold my budding iPhonographer had documented one of the best numbers on the special, Bing with Frankie and Dino. My little (b)ratpacker. Maybe I can rent Robin and the Seven Hoods next ...

[on Judy Garland] The most talented woman I ever knew was Judy Garland. She was a great, great comedienne and she could do more things than any girl I ever knew. Act, sing, dance, make you laugh. She was everything. I had a great affection for her. Such a tragedy. Too much work, too much pressure, the wrong kind of people as husbands.

Der Bingle quotes from imdb

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• Hear Bing Crosby at his best (sfgate.com)