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A hundred years after her birth, Marilyn Monroe remains an obsession. To celebrate the centenary, this vibrant collection of essays, interviews, personal reflections, poems, photographs, and Monroe’s own words explores why her influence still endures.
With an illuminating introduction by Lucy Bolton and contributions from over twenty voices, the book captures the many aspects of Marilyn Monroe: star, symbol, icon, and radiant cultural force.
Lucy Bolton (author of introduction), George Melnyk (author of contributions), Scott Fortner (interviewee), Isabella Bliss (author of contributions), Cathy Lomax (author of contributions), Summer Anne Lee (author of contributions), Sarah Tucker (author of contributions), Genevieve Gaunt (interviewee), Guy Masterson (interviewee), Greg Schreiner (author of contributions)
INTRODUCTION
by Lucy Bolton
Many of us encounter Marilyn Monroe every day. For those of us who are fans and who work with film, perhaps that is not much of a surprise. But this week alone, in January 2026, I have encountered her in multiple A.I. videos on Instagram, on a popcorn container at an Everyman cinema, and poignantly recalled by rock icon Debbie Harry in a podcast conversation about her inspirations. Marilyn Monroe endures as an omnipresent influence and a beloved idol, and her life continues to inspire numerous films, plays, television series, novels, and biographies. The fascination with her death, and its associations with celebrity, politics, and the Mafia, as well as her troubled mental health and widely reported addictions, ensures that Marilyn remains fodder for gossip, suspicion, and conspiracy theories. But far beyond this is the joy and affection which she generates through her film roles and her nomadic, independent lifestyle, which we know more about now than ever.
Marilyn left the majority of her personal possessions to Lee Strasberg and his wife Paula, so that he might distribute them to her friends, colleagues, and ‘those to whom I am devoted’. Strasberg’s third wife, Anna, auctioned the bulk of the estate at Christie’s in 1999, selling over 570 items for over $13 million. Further items were auctioned by Julien’s Auctions, with the final auction taking place in 2016. These items have become objects of desire for collectors and fans all over the world, and some of the most high-profile items, such as the sheath-like dress worn to sing ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ to President John F. Kennedy in 1962, continue to attract controversy and notoriety (see page 91). It was the jottings, diaries, and poetry published in Fragments in 2012 that gave the greatest insight into Marilyn’s personality, and which perhaps contributed the most to a reassessment of her character and lifestyle that continues to this day. It marked the first time that Marilyn’s own voice, expressed through tortured thoughts, witty poems, and reflective mantras, could be seen and heard in the public sphere, and suddenly this other side of her began to receive attention. Intimate and personal, and undoubtedly not meant for public viewing, these notes reveal Marilyn to be pensive and thoughtful, creative and analytical. She was a serious and sad person, committed to the artistic life, and to the pursuit of personal truth. Riddled with insecurities, her self-knowledge seems bleak, but her determination is unshakeable.
I can’t really stand Human Beings sometimes – I know they all have their problems as I have mine – but I’m really too tired for it. Trying to understand, making allowances, seeing certain things that just weary me. I can and will help myself and work on things analytically no matter how painful – if I forget things (the unconscious wants to forget – I will only try to remember) Discipline-Concentration
It is these qualities that have made Marilyn Monroe even more popular than ever. Hers is an image that many have tried to co-opt for their own purposes – commercial, creative, cultural – but the strength of her character now dominates her story in most contexts. She has been mooted as a proto-feminist with varying degrees of success, but she has undoubtedly come to be known for her strong desire to do more dramatic work in quality plays and films, and to escape the dumb blonde role in recurrent musical comedies.
Her rebellion against studio bosses and Hollywood restrictions was most evident in her move to New York in 1954 and the establishment of her production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, in 1955, with her friend and favoured photographer, Milton Greene. This period tells of a young woman who lived as an artist, studying acting at the famed Actors Studio, run by Lee Strasberg, while dating Marlon Brando and Elia Kazan. The black-and-white photographs of Marilyn in New York during this time are a marked contrast to the colour-saturated cheesecake shots of her early career and the high-glamour glossiness of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. These New York photographs show Marilyn with bleached, scruffy hair, without a bra, conversing intensely in diners, and wrapped up against the cold in the subway. Wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and headscarves, she paints the picture of an actress striking out on her own, boosting her acting credentials and shifting her social and romantic register. There are photographs of Marilyn dancing with Truman Capote, and he dramatized their conversation in his mischievous essay ‘A Beautiful Child’. There are sensuous, breathtakingly beautiful photographs of Marilyn as she dresses in her room at the Ambassador Hotel, applying Chanel No. 5 to her décolletage, and smoothing out her stockings to fix to her suspenders. One of the most striking sets of photographs is as she enters the Elizabeth Arden beauty salon on Fifth Avenue, wearing sunglasses and a stylish black suit with a fur collar, looking like a native New Yorker – wealthy, powerful, and taking time to look after herself. This era of independence and self-development is a unique period in her life, exploratory and liberated, and enables us all to see her in a very different light.’
Publisher: Aurora Metro Publications
Format: Paperback 20 June 2026
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the invite and to the publisher for providing an Extract and Introduction. I’ve always had an interest in Marilyn Monroe and am delighted to take part in this virtual book tour.
EXTRACT
In Marilyn Monroe’s first major starring role in 1953’s Niagara, the film that established her as a star, we first see her as Rose Loomis lying in bed in a darkened room, her eyes half-closed as she smokes a cigarette. When her husband’s key turns in the lock, Rose turns on her side and closes her eyes to feign sleep. In the languorous eight-second close-up that follows we are afforded the opportunity to examine and evaluate Rose/Marilyn’s meticulously made-up face. The preternatural perfection of this makeup gives the duplicitous sleeper an uncanny appearance, so far removed from that of a woman we might see every day, that she could be a mannequin or a painting.
Aside from her striking appearance, this depiction of Marilyn is also of interest because she is ‘sleeping’. This is not because it is an isolated image of the sleeping star; in fact the very opposite is true as she is ‘asleep’ in many of her films and with surprising regularity in still images (both staged and candid). In some of these images, such as the sequence in Niagara, there is a strong suggestion that she is naked beneath the sheets, an element of titillation which, in conjunction with the childlike innocence of a sleeping beauty, is indicative of the innocent/sexy dichotomy that characterises Marilyn’s star image. These sleeping images seem to show the star at her most vulnerable, and even when we know, or suspect, that the sleeping is staged, they have the intimacy of a private moment, and so our looking becomes voyeuristic. This monitored and disempowered sleeping. woman might be considered emblematic of the patronisation and objectification of women in the 1950s and 1960s, but it also foreshadows the increasing sexualisation of women on screen in the post-studio Hollywood of the later 60s and 70s, where, as Molly Haskell notes, the only roles available were:
‘Whores, quasi-whores, jilted mistresses, emotional cripples, drunks. Daffy ingénues, Lolitas, kooks, sex-starved spinsters, psychotics. Icebergs, zombies, and ballbreakers There were no working women on the screen, no sassy or smart talking women, no mature women.’
The sleeping images also reveal the division between Marilyn’s star image and her life/career. Because alongside the celebration of her as the embodiment of frothy sexual pleasure (‘the sweet angel of sex’ as Norman Mailer has it), she struggled to build on the hard-won control she negotiated in her career, had a succession of disappointing relationships, and was troubled by health problems. Maybe the most glaring schism between the woman and the images of the carefree star frolicking under the sheets or sleeping peacefully, is that she was a chronic insomniac, and the sleeping pills she used in increasing quantities to manage this condition led directly to her untimely death.
Purchase/Pre-order Links:
Encounters with Marilyn Monroe – Aurora Metro Books
Encounters with Marilyn Monroe – Bookshop.org UK
Amazon UK link
About the author and contributors:
Lucy Bolton is a prominent academic and author in the field of film philosophy. She is the Professor of Film Philosophy at Queen Mary University of London, UK. Her academic contributions include: Contemporary Cinema and the Philosophy of Iris Murdoch (2019); Film and Female Consciousness: Irigaray, Cinema and Thinking Women (2011); Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure (co-editor); Feminist Film Philosophy (editor of an anthology); Sex Story: Fifty Shades of Grey (self-authored); Feminist Film Philosophy Reader (editor of an anthology). Lucy Bolton’s work has been recognized for its scholarly judgment and contribution to the field of film studies. Her research and publications have been influential in exploring the intersection of film, philosophy, and gender.
Scott is a life-long Marilyn Monroe fan, enthusiast, and collector. Considered an authority on the star, he is often called upon by major news outlets, including People.com, USA Today, Rolling Stone, Yahoo News and CNN, to comment on Marilyn topics. He made global headlines for exposing the damage to Marilyn’s famous “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress due to owners Ripley’s Believe It Or Not loaning the garment to Kim Kardashian for the 2022 Met Gala.
Greg Schreiner owns a comprehensive collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, encompassing furniture items from Marilyn’s final home, autographs, cancelled bank checks, including a check to Eunice Murray dated August 4, 1962, film scripts, documents and original costume sketches. Mr. Schreiner also possesses one of the largest private collections of Marilyn Monroe screen worn and publicity gowns.
In 2006, items from his personal collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, including nine gowns, original costume sketches and custom dolls toured the world, with stops in the US and Japan. In 2007, the Texas State Fair was proud to exhibit nine Marilyn Monroe gowns from the collection. The display was the most diverse exhibit of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia ever to be showcased in one place. To view Greg being interviewed at the exhibit, please click here. The Hollywood Museum showcased Greg’s collection in 2008 and 2009.
Mr. Schreiner is the President and a founding member of the longest running fan club in existence today, Marilyn Remembered. Each year since 1982, Greg has arranged and facilitated the Marilyn Monroe Memorial Service, held on August 5 at Westwood Memorial Park, Marilyn’s resting place.
He is also the pianist, narrator and producer of “Hollywood Revisited,” a cabaret style extravaganza allowing audience members to experience what it’s like to watch celebrities walk the red carpet as their favorite Tinseltown classics come to life. This stunning musical revue showcases a truly dazzling lineup of costumes actually worn by the stars in the original Hollywood films. Set to the music that defined the times, this show leaves viewers in awe as they learn about and come close enough to touch these historic original masterpieces of old-time Hollywood.
Mr. Schreiner has performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Concert Orchestra, Santa Monica College Symphony, UCLA Symphony, Cypress Pops Orchestra and performed on the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics. In addition to having several recordings in release, he performed the Shostakovitch and Piano Concerto for the PBS series In Search Of Wisdom and was the composer/performer for the educational series Masters Of The Silent Screen. He is on the piano faculty of Cerritos College and is the accompanist for the Mansfield Chamber Singers.
