i love marilyn

1949 — Marilyn Monroe and Groucho Marx in a publicity photo for Love Happy.

He was searching for women to photograph doing war work and stumbled onto an icon. In his journals he expresses that she captivated him, and that there was “a luminous quality in her face, a fragility combined with astonishing vibrancy.”

October 12, 1956 — Marilyn and Arthur Miller, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Jack Cardiff and his wife attend the premiere of Miller’s play, ‘A View From The Bridge’ in London.

October 1952 — Marilyn Monroe models in an ad for lawn furniture. Though with her in the photo, you hardly notice the furniture. Photos by commercial photographer, Mischa Pelz.

October 10, 1951 — Marilyn Monroe models for Sak’s Fifth Avenue. Photos by Phil Burchman.

The session was called “Eight Girls Try Out Mixed Emotions” and each starlet acted out the following: drinking a delicious beverage, kissing a lover, facing a scary monster, and listening to a good joke. Photos by Philippe Halsman.

When creating the character of Cherie, Marilyn came up with all the details as to how the character would walk, talk, sing and look. Cherie was a sexual character who worked at nighttime in a cheap saloon who hardly got any sun. Marilyn thought she should be pasty, pale and faintly unhealthy. She achieved this look with make-up artist Whitey Snyder and hairstylist Helen Turpin, who changed Marilyn’s hair to a honey blonde to help contrast the paleness.

—Excerpt from the book, The Essential Marilyn Monroe by Milton Greene: 50 Sessions by Joshua Greene

Spring 1951: Marilyn Monroe in a photo session by Anthony Beauchamp, looking lovely as ever.