MM, Without Her Curves

I posted a Blog about MM for the "La Diva Marilyn Monroe" group as well as here on my Blog page, on the 22nd of March. Before that I hadn't thought about her for quite some time. But since then I have been thinking of her often. None of the thoughts are new. What more can one say about MM that hasn't been said, written about, shown on films and TV programmes and documentaries thousands of times already?

She and Elvis Presley gave the most illustrative definition of the word immortality. I love Elvis mainly for his music and songs; maybe not even so much the songs but the unique way he sang them. A revolutionary style at the time, all his own, creating the still live and well Rock & Roll. But MM, I just adore her, even with all her defects. There have been hundreds of other women more beautiful, more talented, with shapelier figures, amazing personality ... and many have contributed to even more memorable film works, but MM was more than unique, precisely for the many defects she had, the mistakes she made, the vulnerability, the innocence mixed with a certain wickedness, the child-woman, perfect because she was imperfect.

I picked up the book " The Last Sitting " by Bert Stern again last night, one of those nights when sleep seemed impossible, so I gave up trying and flipped through the pages, which now showing signs of the years it had been sitting amongst other books, also neglected for longer than I could remember. I read this page written by the author/photographer of the book, describing a sitting where he intended to take a very special head shot of MM, being extremely sexy without showing any curves. I like to share this with some of you who might not have come across it before .... And remember, it was in the 80's. Taking a picture then was not as simple and easy as it is today.

Extract from "The Last Sitting"

" ....A lot of pictures I take are not the real picture. They're the picture before the picture, the picture leading up to the picture .... and then I get the picture. I see it through the lens as I am shooting and I know it's the one. Exactly how I see it depends on the camera. On the Nikon and the HasselblaId you are looking right through the lens, so the shutter goes black when the actual picture is taken. On those cameras I don't see the picture itself. I keep shooting right up to that instant when I feel, I know, it's about to happen. Then I pushed the button and on that black space I project the picture. The Rolleiflex

doesn't do that, because it has a twin lens. But then you don't see the picture either, because you are seeing through the upper lens, and the angle is slightly different.

Either way you never see the picture you are taking. At that perfect moment you just have to close your eyes and jump. And when that moment comes, it's a zillionth of a second. It will never be repeated again. It could take all eternity to get it back. You have to grab it.

Looking down on Marilyn, I could see it happening. I was entering that space where everything is silent but the clicking of the strobes.  She was tossing her head, laughing, and her arm was up, like waving good-bye.

I saw what I wanted, I pressed the button, and she was mine. "

Tags: mm, bertstern, cameras, headshot