Marilyn the Exhibition is now open at the Arches London Bridge. Book Tickets.
“Unique is an overworked word, but in her case, it applies. There will never be another one like her, and lord knows there have been plenty of imitations.” – Billy Wilder.
Norma Jeane Baker was born in Los Angeles on June 1st, 1926, to her mum, Gladys Baker, who worked as a film editor. Gladys’ life was far from easy or comfortable, and Norma was the child of an affair she had with Stanley Gifford, a local foreman. Just two weeks into her life, Norma found herself in foster care, with her mother admitted to a psychiatric institution. Norma bounced between foster families, orphanages and state care throughout her early life until Gladys’ best friend, Grace Goddard, became her legal guardian in 1937.
Yet, despite this rocky start, this beautiful but insecure young girl who adored Jean Harlow would become a legend. Norma’s transformation into Marilyn Monroe is the kind of rags-to-riches Hollywood story that would never happen today. It is the story of a young girl with big dreams who worked in a munitions factory before being discovered by a young army photographer, and of Hollywood’s golden age of opportunity at a price.
Much has been written about Marilyn’s life and career; some focused on the Hollywood dream, and some on the dark clouds surrounding the highly polished public image. There have been conversations about her rocky relationship with Joe DiMaggio, her friendship with Frank Sinatra and her alleged affair with Kennedy. However, as these discussions have grown over the years and speculation has raged over her death at 36, we have further lost sight of Norma Jeane Baker, the girl and woman behind the Hollywood image.
Marilyn the Exhibition aims to put that right by exploring Norma Jeane Baker’s journey from a girl who dreamed of becoming the next Jean Harlow to one of the most recognisable figures in cinema and pop culture. Bringing together Ted Stampfer’s meticulously curated collection of over 250 extraordinary historical items for the first time in London, Marilyn the Exhibition asks us to walk alongside Norma Jeane from her childhood to her Hollywood transformation, glittering career and early death.
Speaking at the exhibition launch event on Wednesday evening at The Arches, London Bridge, Ted Stampfer said, “You will meet a woman of timeless beauty who was ambitious, strong-willed and emancipated. Norma Jean Baker was an unwanted child who had an unhappy childhood. But she also dreamed of becoming an actress one day. She once said of herself in the third person, ‘Men are often disappointed when they meet Marilyn Monroe and realise that behind her facade is a normal woman of flesh and blood who just wants to be loved.’ What is truth, and what is fiction? What remains beyond doubt are the objects from her life and career. These pieces offer us an unprecedented look at her life and allow us to get closer to Marilyn’s true identity, a truth that has survived.”
Bringing together Handwritten notes, childhood drawings, letters, family photographs, books, scripts, and props with film footage, photos and outfits, Marilyn the Exhibition encourages us to explore the woman behind the Hollywood image in a beautifully curated exhibition that takes us from Norma Jeane’s humble and challenging childhood to the creation of Marilyn Monroe, while never losing sight of the confident yet insecure, rebellious yet restricted and loving yet often lonely woman behind the polished Hollywood image.
Exhibition Entry Times:
Monday – 12:00 – 16:00
Tuesday – 10:00 – 16:00
Wednesday – 10:00 – 16:00
Thursday – 10:00 – 16:00
Friday – 10:00 – 16:00
Saturday – 10:00 – 18:00
Sunday – 10:00 – 16:00
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