In the mid-1950s Marilyn Monroe moved New York City in a disguise. She was the most famous woman in the world but she needed a break. The year 1955 was her year of "finding herself," her year of education, rediscovery and reinvention. She intended to spend most of her life here.
Monroe -- the biggest movie star in the world when she arrived -- spent nearly all of 1955 in New York City, exploring the city, working on her craft, falling in love and being the toast of the town.
But this show is a very different portrayal of Monroe's life.. Recent portrayals of her life have focused on the most salacious, most intimate details of her biography. Many tend to rob her of her personal agency.
She came to New York to become a better actress via the Actors Studio and the influence of Lee Strasberg. But she also managed to see the most glamorous corners of New York and eventually -- she fell in love.
FEATURING: New York in the 1950s with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Marlene Dietrich and many others.
PLUS: As an extra treat we’ll be joined by Alicia Malone of TCM (and Tom's co-host on “The Official Gilded Age Podcast”) and author of the 2021 book Girls on Film: Lessons from a Life of Watching Women in Movies
VISIT THE WEBSITE for images and more information
#337 Robert Moses and the Art of the New Deal
Rewind: TESLA -- The Inventor in Old New York
#336 The War on Newspaper Row
#335 Pulitzer vs Hearst: The Rise of Yellow Journalism
Rewind: The Land of the Lenape
#334 Midnight Cowboy (Bowery Boys Movie Club)
Rewind: The Secret Origin of Comic Books
#333 Tearing Down King George: The Monumental Summer of 1776
#332 Welcome to Yorkville: German Life on the Upper East Side
Rewind: Seneca Village and New York's Forgotten Black Communities
#331 The East Side Elevateds: Life Under the Tracks
#330 The Silent Parade of 1917: Black Unity in a Time of Crisis
#329 The First Ambulance: The Humans (and Horses) That Saved New York
#328 Chop Suey City: A History of Chinese Food in New York
#327 Listener Stories: At Home In New York Part Two
#326 Listener Stories: At Home in New York Part One
#325 The Staten Island Quarantine War
#324 Moving Day! Madness and Mayhem in Old New York
#323 The Bowery Wizards: A History of Tattooed New York
#322 Nickelodeons and Movie Palaces: New York and the Film Industry 1893-1920
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra