Inside a 1959 fan magazine for Marilyn Monroe
In her centenary year, look inside a British fan magazine which reveals how Marilyn Monroe was packaged at the height of her fame – balancing the intimate promise of her ‘real’ life with the carefully curated allure of a global icon.
This 1959 issue of the British fan magazine Fan’s Star Library takes us back to the height of Marilyn Monroe’s stardom and mystique. Fan’s Star Library was produced by the Amalgamated Press (AP) from 1958 to 1960. In all, 54 magazines were published (several of which are preserved in the BFI National Archive), each devoted to a single star. For its first 14 issues these were all male personalities. When Monroe featured on No.18, she was only the second woman to be featured, after Doris Day (No.15) – surprising, since most regular fan magazines paid more attention to female stars. The magazine was ‘pocket sized’, at 18 x 13cm, and each issue provided a broadly chronological, amply illustrated narrative of the celeb’s life.
Fans’ Star Library’s cover features Monroe in the red swimsuit from How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The image is a typical ‘cheesecake’ shot conveying, if not encapsulating, her appeal. Inside, Monroe is shown in a doorway, perhaps in an oblique reference to her 1952 film Don’t Bother to Knock. This intriguing image also suggests Monroe inviting the reader to follow her into her biography. This idea is endorsed in the accompanying text, urging the reader to ‘turn the page’ – to find the well-rehearsed story: unhappy girlhood, various men, rise to success.
As the magazine was British, its emphasis is on the star’s UK appearances, with a double-page spread on ‘Marilyn in London’ (pages 46 to 47), and other items on her 1957 vehicle The Prince and the Showgirl (pages 52 to 53).
Another double-page layout, ‘Pages of Pin-Ups’ (pages 56 to 57), displays the star in various ‘glamour’ shots. The text slyly nods to Monroe’s nude Playboy shoot, saying it shows “Some of the poses that brought Marilyn fame.”
The issue’s two penultimate pages present an interesting contrast. On the left, Monroe, in a plain white shirt, leans happily against third husband Arthur Miller. Opposite, a more standard shot shows her in a body-pout, wearing the revealing outfit from Bus Stop (1956). The photograph of the couple shows the woman herself; ‘Facts and Figures’ displays the product next to a column of its particulars.
These two juxtaposed images highlight tensions between Monroe’s star persona and real person – which is important to remember in this centenary year, when we should memorialise the human as well as the icon.
Produced with the support of the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
A season of Marilyn Monroe’s films, Marilyn Monroe: Self-Made Star, is at BFI Southbank in June and July.