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The world premiere of "How To Marry
A Millionaire," November 14, 1953
From "Marilyn Monroe" by Maurice Zolotow:
"I want to be all platinum and white
tonight," Marilyn explained, as anxious as a girl getting ready for
her first prom... Gladys (Rasmussen) gave Marilyn a straight
permanent. Then she bleached and tinted her hair and set it.
Marilyn was wearing it long that night, shoulder length.
Gladys painted her fingernails and toenails with platinum polish.
Her slippers, her evening dress, her
long white gloves arrived from wardrobe, together with two wardrobe
women. A messenger boy delivered a box with diamond earrings.
Her furs had come that morning. The furs were her own.
The first furs she had ever owned. Except for the white fox
fur stole and muff, and her panties, everything she wore belonged to
the studio. The hair, the nails, a good deal of the face were
also the studio's. They were hers and they were not hers, just
as the woman on the screen was she and not she.
Unchastened by Joan Crawford's
pronouncements, Marilyn had chosen a dress made of white lace lined
with flesh-colored crepe de Chine and embroidered with thousands of
sequins. It had a high waist, and it curved under her breasts
revealingly. A long white velvet train trailed from a gold
belt. The long gloves were drawn up the length of her arms.
The stole was placed around her shoulders. She put her right
hand into the muff and with her left she carried the train as she
walked outside to a waiting studio limousine.
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