Product Description

A poignant, informal portrait remembers the film legend through anecdotes about her personal life, her secret fantasies, and her ever-fluctuating moods, speculations on her romances and untimely demise, and candid photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2149991 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Photographer Shaw, a friend of Marilyn Monroe, took many photos of her, including the famous billowing-skirt shots for the film The Seven-Year Itch . Two hundred of his pictures, most of them never before published, are shown here: Marilyn at the makeup table, on the phone, on the beach, on the set, on the streetMarilyn with Bogart, with Gable, with DiMaggio, with Miller, with her basset hound Hugo. The text is affectionate but pretentious , with descriptions of the times Rosten (poet/playwright/novelist) spent with her, stories of her friends, husbands and admirers, and imagined conversations with the star. It is pleasant to note that there are no tales of CIA murder plots, Kennedy trysts and the likebut describing Marilyn as "the ethereal, virginal nymph dancing innocently among trees" is rather like calling William Howard Taft "puckish." Avid fans will love this book.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Photographer Shaw and writer Rosten were both longtime friends of Monroe. As the title indicates, and the book's introduction makes clear, little if anything derogatory is said about Monroe. Instead, in typical glossy book style, short chapters of prose (usually only a page or two in length) are spaced around many nice photographs. In this case, the photos number about 200, and most of them are previously unpublished. On its own terms, as a pleasant, attractive and brief memoir on Monroe, the book succeeds. Whether that is enough, given Monroe's notoriety and the many books about her, is something each library will have to decide. John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan,
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Marilyn Book!
I am a huge Marilyn Monroe fan.I own tons of her books and I think this one has the most beautiful photos in it.Sam Shaw has taken many lovely pictures of Marilyn, and this book shows a lot of them.This book also has a wonderful text.I would defenitly recomend this book to every Marilyn fan.

GREAT BOOK!
Unusual book, lot's of photographs, some candieds, some from Marilyn's movie sets. Pictures are all black and white. It has many images you will not see anywhere else. Also a beautiful text by Norman Rosten, Marilyn's poet friend. Get this book! Lot's of pictures during her Arthur Miller phase. '

Absolutely one of the best MM books
THIS IS THE BOOK WHERE I DISCOVERED THE MAGIC THAT IS MARILYN MONROE. It was my mother's book. I will never forget the first time I saw her and what I thought; I was immediately attracted and fascinated by this blonde, pretty, healthy figured woman that was laughing and smiling so much. Her happiness drew you in. It was infectious; why was this woman so happy? Out of all the old Hollywood actresses, none of them smiled and laughed like her. They were all serious. And that made Marilyn stand out; she was different. Sadly, the real Marilyn was the polar opposite. A very unhappy, surly woman.

This book has tons of gorgeous, full, black & white, and color pictures, probably a lot you've never seen before. The insight into MM's general personality, told by her good friends, Sam Shaw, and Norman Rosten, is also priceless. This book is worth every penny and more. If you don't have this book in your collection, you don't really have a good MM collection.