Close-Up Tours: Marilyn Monroe

Join educators as they highlight the Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho exhibition.

The Prince and the Showgirl in 35mm

In this sole collaboration between Warner Bros. and Marilyn Monroe Productions, Monroe plays Elsie Marina, a witty American showgirl who gets noticed by the eccentric Prince Regent Charles (Laurence Olivier). Set in Edwardian London and directed by Olivier, the film was a famously troubled production, with tension between co-stars and cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios outside London; Monroe’s difficulties on and off set were adapted into Simon Curtis’s fictional My Week with Marilyn (2011), with Michelle Williams starring as Monroe.

One of Monroe’s most successful roles was as The Girl in director Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch, a comedy about a restless husband left to his own devices for the summer. To market the film, photographer Sam Shaw proposed the indelible subway grate moment, which dozens of publicity photographers attended on location in New York City. Due to sound issues, the real scene was shot on the 20th Century-Fox lot in Los Angeles. Outside of this iconic scene, the exhibition Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon also features silk pajamas worn during a pivotal moment in developing Monroe’s girl-next-door character.