Almanac: Marilyn Monroe's billowing dress
September 15, 1954, saw a very celebrated – albeit very calculated – wardrobe malfunction, for that was the day Marilyn Monroe posed over a New York City subway grate for a memorable scene in the movie "The Seven Year Itch."
With fans looking on, gusts of made-for-the-movies "wind" from the trains below repeatedly blew Marilyn's white dress up to un-ladylike heights.
Publicity photos from that pre-dawn shoot are famous worldwide, but crowd noise forced the scene with Tom Ewell to be re-shot weeks later on a Hollywood soundstage:
Marilyn: "Feel the breeze from the subway! Isn't it delicious?"
Tom: "Sort of cools the ankles, doesn't it?"
Although the scene was intended as a visual gag, Monroe's husband at the time, the pin-striped and straight-laced Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio, failed to see the humor, and the scene reputedly played a role in their divorce.
Still, that Marilyn Monroe moment lives on to this day, both in the photographs and in the form of a 26-foot-tall traveling statue titled "Forever Marilyn."
For more info:
- "The Seven Year Itch" (20th Century Fox), available on Blu-ray/DVD, and via Streaming on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube
- marilynmonroe.com
See also:
- Marilyn Monroe's "Seven Year Itch" dress auctions for $4.,6 million (CBS News, 6/19/11)
- Gallery: Marilyn Monroe
- Gallery: A rare look at Marilyn Monroe
- The last professional photos of Marilyn Monroe, unstyled and informal, go up for auction ("CBS This Morning," 8/05/17)
- The 60-year itch: Re-Watching "The Seven Year Itch" on its 60th anniversary (Vanity Fair, 6/03/15)
Story produced by Charis Satchell.
