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Marilyn Monroe: Impact on Popular Culture

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Marilyn Monroe: Impact on Popular Culture
“Marilyn Monroe” (1926 - 1962) Popular Culture Legend

Before Hollywood loved her…
Probably the most celebrated of all actresses, Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Baker on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles General Hospital, to Gladys Baker. Gladys had been a film cutter at RKO studios, but psychological problems prevented her from keeping the job and she was eventually committed to a mental institution, because of that Norma Jean spent time in foster homes until she was 16 years of age. As an unlucky soul, Marilyn focused on her dreams of becoming a movie star. Being born and raised to a custom of fame and fortune in her home town of Los Angeles nourished her addiction to satisfy her dream to become a star in her own way. Destiny took its place.

Studying at the prominent UCLA she took evening classes in Arts and Literature. While studying there she built a network of friends in the music, arts, journalism and publishing industry which made an influence of improving her connections in the entertainment business. Her attributes set herself apart from the millions while leading her to a transformation into the astonishing Marilyn Monroe. Her personify was to her advantage, her fortune.

Marilyn’s early films lacked a prominence until she got a contract with Fox Studios and then Colombia Pictures, taking all sorts of interests such as singing lessons and stage directions. In 1948 she had starred in Groucho Marx in Love Happy and at this time Marilyn had to make a visible impression in life representing a genuine yet pure and polished Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe’s nude calendar photo made a public impression in 1949, 20th Century Fox Studios went into shock, Marilyn cooled the situation with her


Bibliography: Marilyn Monroe, Still Life, July 19th, 2006 [online]. Available from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/marilyn-monroe/still-life/61/. Accessed 12th of June 2010. Sam Shaw and Norman Rosten, 1989, Marilyn: Amongst Friends. Bloomsbury Publishing LTD, London. John .A. McGrossan, 2000, Books and Reading in the loves of notable Americans: A Biographical sourcebook, Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. pp. 167-170. S. Paige Baty, 1995, American Monroe: The Making of a Body Political, The Regents of the University of California, University of California Press, California U.S.A. pp. 5-8. Marcel Danesi, 2008, Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives, Published in the U.S.A by Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. pp. 111-112. Liz Stanley, 1990, Feminist Praxis: Research, Theory and Epistemology in Feminist Sociology, Published by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman & Hall Inc. pp. 262-264. Anne Verlhac, [ed.] and Forward by David Thomson, 2007, Marilyn Monroe: A life in Pictures, First Published in the U.S.A, by Chronicle Books, LLC. pp. 7-9.
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