Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962
By Scott Harrah
Senior Editor
On August 5th, we will celebrate
the 25th anniversary of Marilyn Mon
roe’s mysterious and still unex
plained death. If she had been any
other star, we probably wouldn’t
care. But one quarter of a century
later, Marilyn is perhaps more fam
ous than she was in life.
“A sex symbol becomes a thing...
and I just hate to be a thing," she
once said. Not only was she a sex
symbol, she was an American myth,
the epitome of the whimsicality and
self indulgence that is Hollywood.
Only Elvis comes close to the magni
tude of her legend, but unlike The
King, nobody has ever questioned
her veracity. She was the woman
everybody wanted and/or wanted to
be, and her half-shut eyes, and
almost necrophiliac sense of sex
appeal and glamour were the cause
of that.
She also showed that beneath the
little girl giggle, breathy voice and
exaggerated feminity was a serious
actress who deserved all the pub
licity and adulation.
Born Norma Jean Mortensen in
1926 in Hollywood, she survived the
typical unhappy star’s childhood,
the typical bad marriage, then dyed
her hair blonde, posed for several
cheesecake photos and impressed
the hell out of Hollywood moguls
when she was cast in a bit part for
John Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle."
When 20th Century Fox cast her in
the Bette Davis camp classic "All
About Eve," audiences everywhere
wanted to know who that blonde
was. She was cast in lead roles from
then on and managed to eclipse
rivals like Liz Taylor and Kim Novak,
making her The Glamourous Female
Star of the '50s.
Her private life became a walking
soap opera when she sustained two
ill-fated marriages to athlete Joe
DiMaggio and playwright Arthur
Miller.
But it was her hush hush affair
with President John F. Kennedy
that still baffles us today. Two
months after she was fired from the
production of "Something’s Got to
Give” for taking off too many sick
days and leaving for the East to sing
"Happy Birthday" to .JFK, she was
found dead in her home.
The coroner claimed that Marilyn
died from an overdose of sleeping
pills, but years later there was
speculation that John and Robert
Kennedy secretly murdered her.
flues have been found, including
evidence that Marilyn kept a diary
with some entries that Kennedy
wanted kept under wraps. In 1982,
Marilyn’s former housekeeper Mrs.
Eunice Murray admitted to the press
that Bobby Kennedy had been at
Marilyn’s house the afternoon of her
death before she was found. Since
most of the principals involved are
either dead or not talking, we may
never know what really happened.
Nevertheless, Marilyn has become
an icon and a symbol of all that
encompasses the notion of fame.
i
Elvis Presley 1935-1977
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
Elvis Presley, “The Com
plete Sun Sessions” (RCA)
Elvis Presley, “The Top Ten
Hits” (RCA)
Elvis Presley, “The Mem
phis Record” (RCA)
This August marks the 10th anni
versary of the black day when King
Elvis expired peacefully on his pot
tie, the book “The Scientific Search
for The Face of Jesus” laying open at
his feet, as the ghosts of thousands
of happy little percodans escorted
the corpulant Hillbilly Cat peace
fully into that good night.
This 10th anniversary (tin, alum
inum, or diamond jewelry according
to the almanac) is becoming the
occasion for yet another (with luck,
the last) m<yor national spurt of
Presley necrophilia.
Already this summer has given us
a resurgence of the lovely and heart
rendering ballad “Elvis Has Left
The Building, by His Friend, J.D.
Sumner,” a touching elegy in the
mode of Milt on that defines not only
The King, but also his father, Vernon,
as God the Son and God the Father.
(So who’s the holy ghost? Colonel
Tom? Priscilla?)
Also this summer keep your eyes
peeled for ‘ Elvis After Life,” the
absolutely true accounts of the faith
ful few to whom the late King has
granted a posthumous personal
audience.
It is ironic that amidst all the
tasteless schlock of this most taste
less and schlocky of observances,
something as tasteful and valuable
as RCA’s digitally remastered Elvis
compilations should appear. Every
Presley fan, serious or casual, crack
pot or no, should own these records.
Literally volumes has been written
about Elvis’ first recording sessions
from Sun, the legendary Memphis
blues label. Suffice it to say that on
these cuts, recorded in '54 and ’55,
with their stripped down, no non
sense instrumentals and Elvis’ young
and far better than perfect voice,
sum up everything that is rock ’n'
roll on tracks like “Blue Moon of
Kentucky,” "Baby Let’s Play House,”
“.Just Because,” and “Mystery Train.”
These albums sound simply gorge
ous, and were also given extensive
and fascinating liner notes. How
ever, the second record is mostly
fluff, consisting of outtakes and
alternate takes. We get no fewer
than seven alternate renditions of
“I'm Left, You’re Right, She's Gone.”
Interesting, but not worth the
double-album price.
“The Top Ten Hits” is a collection
of all 38 of Elvis’ top ten radio hits,
from “Heartbreak Hotel” to “Burning
Love.” The only word for this collec
tion is “essential.” \ one record
version containing his 18 numb«.
one liits is also available.
“The Memphis Record” is 23
tracks of Elvis made at American
Studio in Memphis after his epochal
comeback TV special. These were
his first hometown recordings since
his Sun days.
America was the home of an
amazing string of radio hits in the
mid-late 'HOs. This is the studio that
pioneered many of the wretchedly
excessive production techniques
that fatally marred both the rock
and the country music scenes of the
70s.
The 70 backup musicians featured
on this album do nothing for Elvis,
nonetheless, this album contains
the last flickers of Elvis’ genius.
Here we find one undisputable
classic — "Suspicious Minds" —
and in songs like "Don’t Cry Daddy,"
"Inherit The Wind" and "Kentucky
Rain " — songs that would have
been simply mush in the hands of
anyone else — we see. for the last
time. Elvis' uncanny ability to make
the mundane transcendent.
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