The Myth of Marilyn Monroe

An icon of mid-century Hollywood glamor, Marilyn Monroe continues to inspire young starlets and the fashionably inclined everywhere almost 60 years after her death. However, her platinum blonde hair, winning smile, and curvaceous body were only pieces of the puzzle that made her her. In truth, the image of Monroe that many remember today is the manufactured product of good marketing and careful narrative shaping.

Turn the clock back to 1953. Hugh Hefner launched his debut issue of Playboy with “the Marilyn Monroe nude” front and center, but what many people don’t know is that the actress never posed for Hefner—the two never actually met—or the shoot. Instead, the photographs came from a pin-up photoshoot she did with photographer Tom Kelley four years earlier before her acting career had taken off. She made $50 from the photos which Kelley later sold to Western Lithograph Co. for $900, from which Hefner purchased the rights to them for $500.

Monroe was never compensated and did not consent to the use of the images, nor was she legally required to. Not only were these intimate photographs o her body bought and sold without her permission, but under one of the photos, the magazine read, “There were actually two poses shot au naturel back in ’49, just before the gorgeous blonde got her first movie break. When they appeared as calendar art, they helped catapult her to stardom. We’ve selected the better of the two as our first Playboy Sweetheart.”

However, by the time of the magazine’s publication, the young bombshell had already starred in major films like All About Eve and Monkey Business. Her on-screen persona as a ditsy blonde was a successful trope that male audiences found appealing. Her nude images, which she signed "Mona Monroe" were not, as Playboy purported, what commenced her rise to fame. In fact, executives at 20th Century Fox told her to deny that the photos were real. Instead, it was Monroe’s confirmation of her identity that furthered her public image as a sex symbol and, thus, her career.

While many saw the photos as evidence to support the veracity of her “dumb blonde” act, the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star was more cunning than people gave her credit. Whether the primary credit can go solely to her or to her agency and PR team, Monroe utilized the media attention by orchestrating publicity stunts and wardrobe malfunctions to emphasize her sexualized persona. While making The Seven Year Itch, the filming location was leaked to photographers on the day of her iconic subway grate scene. The film went on to be one of the biggest box office hits of 1955.