Delicious unseen Marilyn Monroe photos: Yes, I'm obsessed!

Now Ladies and Gentlemen I'm sure after reading this you will think that I'm Marilyn Monroe obsessed and I should be admitted to The Priory for watching Some Like It Hot with a bar of Galaxy far too many times. In March I wrote about the Marilyn Monroe Exhibition, that is open in London until the 23rd May and the Hollywood Legends Auction in Beverly Hills, that contained over hundreds of Marilyn photos, which you can read about by clicking the links. Well now I'm writing yet another post about the curvalicious babe, I doubt anyone in the bloggersphere is complaining about this right now though, particularly the male species.

As well as the Exhibtition, there is also a book full of pictures of the blonde haired beauty that has been released in commemoration of 50 year's since the world lost one of it's sparkliest stars. The book Marilyn by Magnum features 80 photos taken by photographers ranging from Eve Arnold and Bruce Davidson.

It features unseen photos by Philippe Halsman shot in her apartment in 1952. Marilyn strikes a range of her best poses in a chiffon pink suit, with her hair emaculately curled and legendary bone structure. The photos were taken when she was 26 in 1952, a full ten years before her death. This was the same year that she filmed Niagara and got the role Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's easy to see why after seeing these gorgeous photos that make me want to put down the Custard Creams, at least for 5 minutes anyway.
If you would like to oogle over Marilyn some more, you can find the book Marilyn by Magnum here for £12.99 and at Amazon.com $19.77.

Now for full Marilyn overload I have some more photos for you all. These photos were taken six weeks before her tragic death taken on her last ever photo shoot in 1962. They are a complete set of rare chromogenic prints taken by photographer Bert Stern. They are topless photos of the star. Well, when I say topless I don't mean FHM topless, I mean you see the top of her chest a teensy bit, sorry lads.

Original shots taken from the session called 'The Last Sitting' are in huge demand across the world and were originally taken for Vogue. The pictures have been displayed for many years, so the colour has 'shifted' somewhat, ie. they look a bit like your Grandma's faded photos from the 60's of her and your Granddad living it up.

The three day session was a return for her after a few difficult years, being sacked from Something's Gotta Give because she kept failing to turn up to the set and she had to embark on a few publicity stunts to get her name back in the papers. In 1960 Marilyn was deeply jealous of Elizabeth Taylor's fame and posed nude in a bid to become more popular then her with her relationship with Richard Burton being a huge source of publicity. Conversations between the photographer Larry Schiller from 1960 to 1962 show how upset Marilyn was that Elizabeth was earning $1million a film for big hits like Cleopatra and Marilyn was really disappointed and disheartened that she hadn't won any Academy Awards.

The photos are up for auction tomorrow and the set is expected to reach at least $25,000 at an auction house in New York. I'm sure there will be many people bidding for these with their panels, watch out David Dickinson.

Marilyn has touched the hearts of so many people and the books, auctions and exhibitions fifty years after her death, only go to show that she is still as popular as she was and is adored by millions across the world.

So all you Marilyn fans out there enjoy these photos of the beauty and watching her fabulous films with some chocolate biscuits and hopefully a hunky man to cuddle up to, I'll see you in The Priory.

Second Hand Rose
XxxX