#115 : XOJANE THROWBACK / DOOMED GLAMOUR: MARILYN & EDIE LOVED THE SAME BEAUTY PRODUCTS
Plus: where I bought my Marilyn photo.
We *all* love Marilyn Monroe. Like, really love her. We all love her so much that I don't really even feel comfortable saying, "I probably love Marilyn Monroe a teensy bit more than your average person." You know? Because the universal love, THE FASCINATION, it's HUGE.
I will go ahead and say that I used to fixate on images of Marilyn a bit more than other people. For a long time, when I was younger, I desired nothing more than to buy a photograph from her drunk-ass (at least, it sure looks it) Black Sitting with Milton Greene:
Instead, I wound up with a different photo. I have no real memory of what led me to spend on a piece of art a few years ago—like, a year or two before Covid. I sometimes scrolled the Julien's Auctions website, that classy place that sold Brittany Murphy's bras after she died. In one of the "Hollywood Legends"-type auctions, there were a bunch of Douglas Kirkland Marilyn photographs—shot months before her death in 1962—starting at $500 each.
I bid the one I wanted, then panicked and bid on an alternate, too. I don't remember what exactly happened, but I somehow wound up paying $640 (plus $150 in hidden fees) for the fucking back-up pick, while the one I actually wanted—a weird and artsy outtake which didn't even have her face in it, of Marilyn's brittle back—sold for $650 to someone else.
(She kinda looks like she's taking a bedside pill or drink, right? Yeah, that's definitely why I liked it.)
Curses, I thought.
At the time, I was annoyed with myself for winding up with the "wrong" Marilyn. Since I was still traveling the world with no apartment, I had the purchase shipped to my friend to put on her wall for safekeeping, where it still hangs today. It's super pretty, less beauty-shambolic. You can see her eyelashes, and she's tensing her legs like a dancer, so you can see muscle tone.
Years later, the photo has totally grown on me, and I'm glad it's not one where she looks druggy. Someday, when I can tolerate the distraction of art hanging on my walls again, I will love having it back.
Anyway, why the heck am I telling you all of this? Because I needed a lead image for my repurposed xoJane column, which is all about Marilyn and another troubled icon I loved when I was 14. I remember really liking this column, as did other people on the internet. Someone even stole it and wrote the same story without crediting me. Charge it to the game, baby.
Bonus: all of the skincare products are still sold today. Enjoy!
*****