The myth of the heavy-ish Marilyn Monroe
The time has come to debunk once and for all the myth that Marilyn Monroe was fat, or even somewhat heavy. I’m not the first one to have tried (see this, for example). And yet the notion persists that she was fairly hefty for most of her film career. She was not.
I think there’s a rather simple reason why this idea has spread. But first, here’s exhibit A, a clip of Monroe in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953). Let me know if you think the woman pictured here is anything but fairly slender. Curvy, yes indeed. Well-endowed, most assuredly. But heavy? Not a bit:
Now, flash forward to “Some Like It Hot,” probably Monroe’s most well- known film, seen by the greatest number of people. It was made in 1958, five years after “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and released in 1959. Here we strike pay dirt; Monroe really was a bit heavy in that film. Here’s the scoop on why Monroe carried some extra poundage in that movie when she played the role of Sugar:
Marilyn Monroe was pregnant during the filming, as a result she looked considerably heavier. She had no known children and several miscarriages in her life. Due to her pregnancy, most of the publicity still photos were posed for by both Sandra Warner (who had an uncredited role as one of the band members) and Monroe’s frequent stand-in Evelyn Moriarty with Monroe’s head superimposed later.
I’ve read elsewhere (can’t find the link right now) that Monroe was at least four months pregnant when filming “Some Like it Hot.” From personal experience I can tell you that for most women there’s significant weight gain by that time. But although Monroe’s weight fluctuated somewhat at other times (perhaps also due to pregnancies followed by miscarriages?), if you look at almost all of her other films or stills, you will see a slim-but-curvy woman who would not be the least bit out of place among the stars of today, although she never veers into the too-skinny near-anorexia of some of them.
Although Monroe was voluptuous, anyone who says Monroe wore a size 16 is just plain wrong, or using a completely different sort of sizing than exists in the US today. Monroe had a 22-inch waist. ‘Nuff said.
[NOTE: If you’re interested (and I bet more than one or two of you are) you can click on this photo gallery of Marilyn, published to celebrate what would have been Monroe’s 85th birthday last June. Yes, you read that right: if Monroe were alive today she’d be 85 years old.]
[ADDENDUM: I see that the first video here has been removed from YouTube. There’s another there, but it can’t be embedded, so here is the link to it.]
I’ve come across and read of the myth of Marilyn’s supposed plumpness or overly full figure on the internet a few times — each a defense of her and an attack on the myth. Up until these encounters it had never occurred to me she was thought of in this way nor had I personally heard anyone, man or woman, offer that observation. I take this myth, if it is one, as being nothing more than an unsophisticated, generationally induced, bias. Compared to the bulemic stick insects that pass for actresses and females today it is Marilyn that passes the female test and the present crowd who generally fail it.
I’d like to take this occasion to bust another myth — that Marilyn was a dumb blond.
“I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes I was wearing inside. But, my God, how I wanted to learn, to change, to improve!” – Marilyn Monroe
Knowing yourself is the first sign of a significant intelligence. Working to improve herself, she studied at the Actor’s Studio, is the first sign of wisdom.
A great adjunct to this essay was also published today and would probably classify Monroe “as an opposite number to the matrimonial Juno and the virginal goddesses, we have the Venereal archetype, the love goddess”
The Linnaean Taxomony of Femininity
http://www.scifiwright.com/2012/03/the-linnaean-taxomony-of-femininity/
On the other hand, take in the Junoesque body and talents of Adele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ckIulg1DfQ&feature=related
Marilyn is “fat” only compared to today’s “bulemic stick insects” (good one, George Pal!). Do those actresses today think they are attractive? I think they are secretly trying to repel men. Marilyn’s weight was eminently sensible and positively alluring.
Compared to the bulemic stick insects that pass for actresses and females today it is Marilyn that passes the female test and the present crowd who generally fail it.
I think the Marilyn was a size 16 is largely intended as a sop to “big-boned” women waddling around today.
I have a vague early childhood memory of going with my parents to a drive-in to see a Marilyn Monroe movie. I fell asleep in the back of the car. Did it actually occur? Go figure.
I saw “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” about 20 years ago. She had some talent as a comedienne- not just a pretty face.
Fat or skinny- I don’t care. A tragic figure. Go figure.
This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of her death.
With self centered narcissism comes the urge to point out flaws in others to make oneself look better. I think thats probably the genesis of this myth.
Its hip to waist ratio… while women think its being rail thin. Ms monroe had the same ratio as
A WHR of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men has been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and ovarian cancers. Men with WHRs around 0.9, similarly, have been shown to be more healthy and fertile with less prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
Even in ancient civilizations globally, female representations are most often in the 0.6-0.7 range for WHR, suggesting a preference towards lower WHR.
Women with a moderate amount of flesh are far more appealing than those skinny little things with pouty lips. Marilynn was gorgeous.
http://tinyurl.com/8673r4r
This gal has some flesh on the bone and she has a .45 ACP tucked under the pillow, my kind of woman.
It was all in the packaging. Proper under garments and the tailoring of clothing to enhance the female figure is the trick. Plenty of women we all see everyday, celebrity and otherwise, dressed in the same manner would have a very similar effect.
Yet another crime of the class of ’68
Will: sorry, but you are wrong—or perhaps I don’t get what you mean by the word “plenty.” If you look around the world, no doubt there are quite a few women with figures like Marilyn, so in the absolute sense there probably are “plenty” of them. But in terms of a percentage of the female population, it’s very very very low. And it has little to do with clothing, because a great deal of Marilyn’s fame rested on her being photographed in skimpy or no clothing at all. And therefore it was not just artful clothing that did the trick.
There’s an easy way to resolve the size 16 rumor. Studios archived their stars’ costumes and I’m sure many of Marilyn’s still exist. I seem to remember reading that the sheer gown she wore when she famously sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” sold for over a million dollars at auction. That dress was so form-fitting that it should be easy to determine Marilyn’s size (or at least her size at that particular time, which was just a few months before she died).
Who could forget the porthole scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?
Size 16 my eye.
sotto voce: that’s exactly what one journalist did. The link in my first paragraph on “see this, for example” leads to an article that has a link in it that used to lead to another article which, unfortunately, has disappeared from the web. But it was by a woman who tried on some of Monroe’s clothes and was astounded at how very tiny they were.
Round face, thick neck, beginnings of an extra chin.
Her body doesn’t look lithe or graceful, so I see how her plumpness above the shoulders might lead to claims of heaviness.
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Long after:
I would take issue with Some Like It Hot as being her “most famous role”, first, given that it’s actually a Jack Lemmon/Tony Curtis vehicle, with Marilyn in a significant but secondary role.
No, I assert to you, Neo, that her most famous roles is virtually certainly The Seven Year Itch. The scene in it over the subway grate is so iconic it’s been redone, spoofed, and homaged more times than you can count.
As to her weight — I think she was quite normal for the time, when 36-24-36 was considered the ideal figure. Today, a bit more towards “Barbie” is classed as ideal (yes, “towards” Barbie… Barbie is absurd) — rib cage anywhere from 34-38, with a larger cup making the size, a smaller waist, with 22 closer to ideal, and I think, unless you’re the “big booty” fan, 34 is the ideal hip measurement.
Monroe was a bit steatopygious by today’s standards, but perfectly fine for those times. Women weren’t generally expected to be as lean, then, as today, either.
Forward posted to the current topic, as well.