Remembering Marilyn

"When I think of the future, I think, I'm thirty-six years old.

I'm just getting started...But as long as one is alive, one

can be vital. But you don't give up until you stop breathing."

I've been a big fan of Marilyn Monroe since I was in high school and wrote a research paper on her. At the time, I knew little about her, but by the time I finished my paper, I was enamored. The first Marilyn movie I saw was Some Like It Hot and to this day, it remains one of my favorite Old Hollywood movies. My other Marilyn favorites are The Seven Year Itch where she plays The Girl, the upstairs neighbor who Tom Ewell's character falls for while his wife and son are away for the summer, How To Marry A Millionaire, a comedy based around three women (Marilyn, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable) trying to land rich husbands, Niagara, a drama about jealous lovers, and Don't Bother To Knock, the first film where I believe Marilyn really got to showcase her acting abilities, playing a deranged babysitter trying to seduce a man.

The Seven Year Itch with Tom Ewell (1955)

As Sugar Cane Kowalcyzk in Some Like It Hot (1959)

The damsel in distress in Niagara (1953)

The ditzy but lovable blonde in How To Marry A

Millionaire (1953)

Alongside Richard Widmark in Don't Bother To Knock (1952) 

I love to watch old movies, of course, but I enjoy learning about the actors even more. I love a good autobiography or biography written by someone who knew the star well. Marilyn lived such a sad life, full of tragedies and downfalls, though she was also blessed in many ways. She carried the sadness with her all her life. 

I think Marilyn is terribly misunderstood by the general public. Behind the glamour and beauty was a real woman, down to earth, extremely kind and nurturing, someone who just wanted to be loved. Marilyn was intelligent and well-read with an affinity for literature. However, she was plagued by her inability to become a mother and by the lack of love in her personal life, and unfortunately, her grief far outweighed all the positives in her life in her eyes. 

"When I was a little girl I would pretend I was Alice in Wonderland

looking into a mirror, wondering what I would see. Was that really me? 

Who was that staring back at me? Could it be someone pretending to be me? 

I would dance around, make faces, just to see if that little

girl in the mirror would do the same."

"You know, children when they become adults are still at heart children.

Sometimes I watch adult men. They act like little boys who have never

grown up. I suppose it depends on the mood you are in. Our emotions play 

an important part in our lives. We cannot hide from them. My mother,

bless her, used to say, "Norma Jeane, make the most of it,

because that's all you've got."

I wish you peace, Norma Jeane. You are a truly beautiful soul.

June 1, 1926 - August 4, 1962

Until next time,

We still love Lucy!

25 years ago today, we lost the greatest comedienne who has ever lived. We miss you, Lucy.

"One of the worst things the studio people did was shave off

my eyebrows. We were all trying to look like Jean Harlow."

Lucille spent two years re-learning how to walk after

being stricken with rheumatoid arthritis at 19.

Using the name "Diane Belmont," Lucille started work as

a chorus girl on Broadway in 1932.

She was known as Queen of the B movies

She was friends with some of Hollywood's biggest actresses,

including Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard.

When Lucille was a teenager, her mother sent her to drama school 

in New York City, where she was in classes with Bette Davis.

Lucille said, "All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened."

Desi and Lucille met in 1940 and married soon after. 

They had a rocky relationship, though they were deeply in love.

Technicolor Tessie of the 1940s

The studio dyed her hair her trademark red for the film

DuBarry Was A Lady in 1943.

MGM publicity shot

 Lucille started on the CBS radio show My Favorite Husband

 in 1948.

Her favorite movie she appeared in was The Big Street in 1942 

with Henry Fonda.

Lucille had the longest association with Max Factor

out of anyone in Hollywood.

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged.

Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your

faith in yourself."

She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

One for motion pictures, and one for television.

Lucille suffered three miscarriages before having her two

children, Lucie and Desi Jr. She was 39 & 41, respectively, when 

she gave birth to her children.

Lucy claimed that her friend, Carole Lombard, who had passed away

in a plane accident in 1942, came to her in a dream and told her to

"give it a whirl!" in regards to I Love Lucy.

Lucille and Desi performed a Vaudeville act in the early 1950s.

Some of their acts were performed in I Love Lucy episodes.

I Love Lucy began its 6 season run in 1951.

After I Love Lucy, the Ricardos and Mertzes continued their

hijinx on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour until 1960.

In 1953, Lucille went on trial and was accused of being a Communist.

She was later acquitted after disproving the claims.

When Desi and Lucille created DesiLu,

she became the first female to head a production company.

Lucille and Desi divorced in 1960, shortly after The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

ended.

In 1960, Lucille appeared on Broadway once again, 

this time in Wildcat.

Lucille also starred in two other sitcoms, The Lucy Show and later Life With Lucy.

She also made a few films in the 1960s.

Lucille attempted a comeback in the 1980s, hosting a retrospect of Three's Company.

She also made Stone Pillow, a movie which was not widely accepted.

Lucille passed away after complications from surgery on April 26, 1989.

I love you, Lucy!! 

Rest peacefully, Little Princess.

"Any star can be devoured by human adoration, sparkle by sparkle."

I am completely sad over the loss of Shirley Temple Black last night at the age of 85.  Losing a treasure of yesteryear is never easy. There aren't too many of the Old Hollywood stars left, and I always get sad thinking of the day when they've all passed away. It's like these people are all we have left to connect us to that wonderful time in history when everything was done with class & elegance. I'm ecstatic to be someone who can help preserve these memories of the Golden Age & help pass on their legacies to generations to come.

America's Darling.

I adore these colorized photos. 

Simply precious!

Shirley was the first true child star. She was born in 1928 in Santa Monica, and by age 3 Shirley's mother Gertrude enrolled her daughter in Meglin's Dance School. At age 4, Shirley was signed to a contract with Educational Films to do a series of shorts called Little Berlesks. Not long after, Educational Films declared bankruptcy and in 1934, Fox Films took on Miss Temple. Her breakout film was Stand Up and Cheer! In December 1934, Bright Eyes was released and was the first film written for Shirley's talents. Soon after, Fox Films merged with Twentieth Century to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck focused his energy on making Shirley a bigger star. Her films while with Twentieth Century-Fox were meant to give hope to Americans who were in the middle of the Great Depression. With so many hardships and struggles for most Americans, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles." Shirley made three to four movies a year for Zanuck and Twentieth Century-Fox until 1940. In 1939, she starred in her last two money makers, The Little Princess, which had a budget of $1.5 million and was Shirley's first Technicolor film, and Susannah of the Mounties. However, in 1940 at age 12, Shirley performed in two box office flops. Her parents bought up the remainder of her contract, and Shirley spent her time going to school. 

On the Good Ship Lollipop, I assume!

Dancing with her idol & costar, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

I don't even have words for this photo. I just adore

her so much!!

Celebrating her 8th birthday 

(actually her 9th, the studio made her a year younger!)

A year later, MGM signed Shirley for a comeback though neither of the movies she did were successful. She took a 2 year break from films to focus on school, and in 1944 David O. Selznick signed her to a personal 4 year contract. Selznick soon lost interest in Temple when he got involved with Jennifer Jones and loaned Shirley out to other studios. In 1950, after years of little success, Shirley retired from films. 

A promotional photo for Miss Annie Rooney (1942)

In Since You Went Away (1944) with Jennifer Jones & Claudette Colbert (who Shirley 

presented an Oscar to in 1935)

After her film career, Shirley became active in the Republican Party & served as the US Ambassador to Ghana, the Chief Protocol of the United States (she was in charge of arranging the inauguration and inaugural ball of President Ford), and the US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. In 1972, Shirley was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy. She was extremely vocal in raising breast cancer awareness, urging women to get a mammogram. Shirley also served on many board of directors including The Walt Disney Company, Bank of America, and the National Wildlife Foundation. 

Giving a political speech.

Politics turned out to be Shirley's second passion.

Shirley married twice in her life. At 17, she married John Agar. They made two movies together for RKO, and a year after their marriage, Shirley gave birth to their daughter, Linda. The marriage only lasted until 1950, and later the same year Shirley married Charles Black. Their marriage lasted until his death in 2005 & produced two more children, Charles Jr, and Lori. 

With husband Charles Alden Black and their children.

Of course, being the Disneyphile I am, I find most fascinating about Shirley Temple her history with Walt Disney. In 1939, she presented Walt Disney with his Academy Award for Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. 18 years later, he asked her to oversee the opening of the Sleeping Beauty diorama in the castle at Disneyland.

"I'm sure all the boys and girls in the whole world are going to be very

happy when they find out the daddy of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'

Mickey Mouse, Ferdinand and all the others is going to get this beautiful statue.

Isn't it bright and shiny! Aren't you proud of it, Mr. Disney?"

"I'm so proud I think I'll bust. You know I think that Mickey Mouse,

Ferdinand, Snow White and all the dwarfs are going

to be very proud that you presented it."

Shirley and Walt leading the way down Main Street to Sleeping

Beauty's Castle.

Dedicating the Sleeping Beauty Castle diorama.

I think she would've definitely made a great

Disney princess.

Cutting the ribbon makes it official!!

Walt Disney even featured Shirley in a 1939 short called 

"The Autograph Hound" in which Donald Duck goes around

Hollywood seeking celebrities' autographs.

Shirley & her children taking a spin on Dumbo at Disneyland.

Having a ride on the Disneyland Hotel Tram with her 3 children!

Thank you, Shirley Temple, for your charm & your cheer, your songs & your dances, your smile & your laughter. 

Good night, Little Princess.

♥Rachel

**All photos found with Google Image search. If they belong to you and you wish for me to not use them, please email me. Special thanks to disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog for the Walt Disney and Shirley Temple 1939 Oscar quotes.**