blog.MuchMusic.com www.MuchMusic.com

One of my favourite books is called Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates. It’s a fictional imagining of Marilyn Monroe’s life based on factual elements, and some could begin to believe that it doesn’t stray far from the truth. The book is nearly 800 pages and I read it in two days – to me, it was that good.

When I saw a link to a lengthy piece in Vanity Fair titled The Lost Marilyn Files, I tried to steer away. I knew that if I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop reading. Well, dang my curiosity because here I am, hours later, tab still open and eyes still glued. Basically, the piece focuses on the contents of two filing cabinets that were locked away for 45 years, and the contents have been photographed and documented. You can read the feature piece about it, or even more interesting, rifle through photographs of the 500+ artifacts. Most interesting to me are the letters she wrote, which offer an even deeper look at who MM really was. Or at least, I like to think they do. They’re well-written, playful, proper and concise. I wonder if she typed them herself? I like to imagine her sitting at a typewriter, making a mistake and then crumpling up a ball of paper, only to start over again.

Here’s the required “stars of today” comment: overexposed stars of today have nothing on the old Hollywood legends, you know? While these lost files are fascinating, there’s something kind of sad about bringing Marilyn Monroe back down to earth with her scrawling rum pie recipes and keepsake ceramics. Will it be half as interesting to look through photographs of Paris Hilton artifacts in 50 years? We’ve already seen the contents of her sidekick – will the future care?

Posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm by Wendy and is filed under Celebrities & Pop Culture.

Related Articles:

• Penelope Cruz channels legends in new film
• Green Day First Spin
• How to Get “Lost”
• Reality Junkie? We’ve Got Your Perfect Hit Right Here!
• For Sale: One House Of Doom