MARILYN MONROE

Roger Baker (photographer), Coombe Books 1991.

Marilyn Monroe was the greatest star in Hollywood when Hollywood was at it’s greatest. Her directors and co-stars agreed that only Garbo could match this actress’s ability to light up the screen with such incandescence. Her premature death in 1962 shocked the world and marked the end of an era. This biography tells Marilyn’s story without sensationalism and without exploiting gossip or rumour. It is a detailed, factual account of her life, from her unsettled childhood, when she was moved from foster home to orphanage and back, through her early days trying to find a foothold on the ladder of success to the great years of stardom and, finally, her sad decline.

Thirty-six years old when she died, Marilyn had been about to embark upon her thirtieth film – a fact that reflects a lifetime of hard work.

Photographers were drawn to Marilyn like bees to a flower, and she responded their attention with obvious pleasure. The collection of photographs assembled here reveals her in all her glamour and all her moods. Together they add up to a superb, full-length portrait of the cinema’s most alluring star.

There are a couple of splits and creases to the outer edge of the dust jacket, a large ink inscription on the fep, and some light tinting to the page edges. Other than this the book is clean and tightly bound, the photography is excellent.

As the book is heavy, parcel post or surface mail may be the order of the day. The scanned image is slightly clipped, due to the size of the book.