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Remembering Marilyn: The Smart Dumb Blonde
The 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death falls this weekend. In tribute, I have reviewed a recent radio documentary, celebrating her beauty, talent and intelligence. Archive on 4: The Smart Dumb...
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Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox
Marilyn Monroe is one of the most chronicled women of the modern age. In the fifty years since her death, she has been a muse to the literary set, and the subject of gossipy exposés. Perhaps what...
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1612 Underture
The Eccentronic Research Council (ERC) is a collective founded by Sheffield musicians Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer. 1612 Underture, their new concept album, also features the Bolton-born actress...
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Bookish Birthdays: Gypsy Rose Lee
My tribute to Gypsy Rose Lee, queen of burlesque, best-selling author and ‘striptease intellectual’, is published today at For Books’ Sake. Related Posts Bookish Birthdays: Carson McCullersFiled...
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Lana Turner Tribute Goes to Print
‘American Blondes’, my essay comparing Marilyn Monroe with Lana Turner (originally posted here), is reprinted in the latest issue of the excellent Mad About Marilyn fanzine, which also features...
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Marilyn Monroe: NYC, 1955
In honour of what would be Marilyn Monroe’s 87th birthday, I explore the story behind a remarkable home movie – filmed by a teenage fan, and retrieved by chance almost fifty years later. (This article...
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Lana Del Rey: Paradise
Lana Del Rey’s Paradise EP was released in November 2012, on CD in Australia and Germany; as CD or digital download in the US; and on vinyl worldwide. For most music buyers, though, it’s simply the...
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Tropico
“I prefer to bask in the legend of people I’ve only heard about,” Lana Del Rey writes in a memo given out at the premiere of her short film, Tropico, in December 2013. “To me – they are as real as the...
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The Last Misfit: Eli Wallach 1915-2014
‘The Misfits’ (1961) This article can also be read at Immortal Marilyn. The Last Misfit: Eli Wallach 1915-2014 Eli Herschel Wallach was born at Union Street, in Brooklyn’s Red Hook district, in...
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Lauren Bacall 1924-2014
This article is also published at Immortal Marilyn Hawksian Women: Marilyn and Lauren Bacall “And to begin with, to me, a legend is something that is not on the earth, that is dead…legends are built...
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2014: A Year On Film
My favourite film of 2014 was James Gray’s The Immigrant. Despite its stellar cast, it was woefully under-promoted and wasn’t even released in Britain. Marion Cotillard is luminous – almost Garboesque...
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‘The Mmm Girl’ Back in Print
I’m delighted to announce that The Mmm Girl, my novel about the life of Marilyn Monroe, is finally back in print. This edition includes a new prologue and ten additional passages: including Marilyn’s...
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Love Goddesses: Rita Hayworth and Marilyn
Rita Hayworth, photographed by Bob Landry (1941) In August 1941 – less than four months before the bombing of Pearl Harbour plunged America into World War II – Rita Hayworth graced the cover of Life...
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Fan Phenomena: Marilyn Monroe
‘Fan Phenomena’ is an ongoing series from Intellect Books, a Bristol-based publisher with an international outlook. Since 2013, they have covered a variety of subjects with huge fan followings –...
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Art Decades: Ultraviolence, Marilyn and More
Out now, the third issue of Art Decades magazine is the best yet. Highlights include interviews with two of music’s outliers. Viv Albertine, former guitarist of all-girl punk band The Slits, is now a...
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‘Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed’– Out Now!
Very exciting news: as of today, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed is finally available to order! I am proud to be co-author (with Eric Woodard) of the first full-length biography of this legendary...
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Jeanne Eagels: A Life On Film
Jeanne Eagels photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull during filming of ‘Man, Woman and Sin’ at MGM (1927) The subject of my new book, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, was not just a Broadway legend, but...
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Birthday Girl: Jeanne Eagels at 125
Eugenia Eagles was born in Kansas City, USA, on June 26, 1890. To celebrate her 125th birthday, here’s a sneak preview from Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed. Beauty (left) and talent: ‘The World and the...
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Shooting Stars: Jeanne Eagels and Marilyn
Jeanne Eagels during filming of ‘Jealousy’ (1929) In a new article for Immortal Marilyn, I explore the common ground between Marilyn Monroe and Jeanne Eagels. It is illustrated with rare photos from...
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More Birthday Tributes: ‘Jeanne Eagels Was Robbed!’
Why did Jeanne Eagels – the original Sadie Thompson, and a Broadway legend – never bring Rain to the big screen? Author Laini Giles considers this lost opportunity, in a Classic Movie Blogathon post...
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