"When something itches my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch."

A hoi hoi mystery blog reader(s)! I really hope you enjoy this one. Today's Blog is about the movie; "The Seven Year Itch"! ;)

The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role. It contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century -- Monroe standing on a subway grate as her dress is blown above her knees by a passing train.
The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists. (Trailer below)(YouTube Credit:ThatGirlMarilyn)
This film is one of the most memorable and iconic films of Marilyn's career. Although she may have been typecast yet again as a simple, lusty blonde I hold on to a quote she once said that puts it all in perspective; "It takes a smart brunette to act like a dumb blonde." This film was also an accomplishment for famed director Billy Wilder (Who would later direct Marilyn in 'some like it hot')
Wilder had the incredible task of making a film ABOUT sex, but showing NO sex. This was in large part to the Motion Picture Production Code, a morality code enforced by the Hays office. (Which forbid certain words and situations like interracial relations, adultery, crime, homosexuality, and 'excessive or lustful kissing'. The code was abandoned in 1968) The original play had the characters talking openly and honestly about have sex together, however Wilder had to find a way to portray an affair without appearing to do so. In other words, the use of innuendos at it's best.

Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) sends his wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and son Ricky (Butch Bernard) to Maine to escape the summer heat. When he returns home, he meets The Girl (Marilyn Monroe), a model who is renting the apartment upstairs while she is in town to make television spots for toothpaste.
He, of course, is immediately attracted to her.


That evening, while proofing a book by psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker (Oskar Homolka), claiming that a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage,

he has an imaginary conversation with Helen, trying to "convince" her, in three fantasy sequences, that he is irresistible to women, but she laughs off his assertion. A tomato plant then crashes into his lounge chair; The Girl accidentally knocked it over, and apologizes. Richard invites her to come down for a drink.

As he waits for her to put on her underwear that she keeps cool in the refrigerator and gets dressed, Richard has a fantasy that The Girl is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. While playing Chopsticks, Richard, back in his fantasy, grabs The Girl in a bear hug, causing them to fall off the piano bench. She shrugs it off, but he is immediately contrite, and asks her to leave.
Over the next few days, they grow closer. His resolve to resist temptation in all of its many forms fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the 'Seven Year Itch'. He seeks out Dr. Brubaker for help, but to no avail. His imagination then kicks into overdrive: Helen and Ricky watch The Girl on TV as she warns the women of New York City about "this monster named Richard Sherman";

The Girl tells a plumber (Victor Moore) how Richard is "just like The Creature from the Black Lagoon"; the plumber repeats her story to the horrified patrons of the vegetarian restaurant Richard ate at; the Sherman’s' hunky neighbor, Tom McKenzie (Sonny Tufts), arranges for he and Helen to be alone on a hayride. Feeling his wife has wronged him, he asks out the girl upstairs on a date.

Richard imagines a wronged Helen returns home to exact her revenge for what he's done. The fantasies turn Richard into a paranoid wreck. After a crazed confrontation with McKenzie, whom Helen has asked to drop by to pick up Ricky's canoe paddle, Richard comes to his senses. He tells The Girl she can stay at his apartment, then runs off to catch the next train to Maine.

The characters of Elaine (Dolores Rosedale), Marie, and the inner-voices of Sherman and The Girl were dropped; the characters of the Plumber, Miss Finch (Carolyn Jones), the Waitress (Doro Merande), and Kruhulik the janitor (Robert Strauss) were added. Many lines and scenes from the play were cut or re-written because they were deemed indecent by the Hays office. Axelrod and Wilder complained that the film was being made under straitjacketed conditions.

This led to a major plot change: in the play, Sherman and The Girl become intimate; in the movie, the romance is all in his head.

The footage of Monroe's dress billowing over a subway grate was shot twice: The first take was shot at Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street and the second on a sound stage. The sound stage footage is what made its way into the final film, as the original on-location footage's sound had been rendered useless by the over excited crowd present during filming whistling over Monroe's see-through panties. The white dress was designed by designer William Travilla specifically for Marilyn in this film. It was said to be inspired by Greek goddesses; several versions and reproductions exist.

Footage of Walter Matthau and Ewell's screen tests for Sherman is featured in the DVD of the film. Nicolas Roeg's film Insignificance features a character based on Monroe and a re-enactment of the subway/dress scene. The exterior shooting location of Richard's apartment was 164 East 61st Street in Manhattan

Hope you enjoyed this! Please leave comments or questions in the 'Comments' Section and I'll post answeres in a seperate blog. Thank you! ;)

'All right so we set a bear trap. Now all we gotta do, is one of us has got to catch a bear...'

Hello Gorgeous! Today's topic is the movie 'How to marry a millionaire' where Ms.Monroe got to show some comedic talent. Hope you enjoy today's bloggishness. ;)

How to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. Starring Lauren Becall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe The screenplay was based on the plays ;The Greeks Had a Word for It' by Zoe Akins and 'Loco' by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Joseph MacDonald. The costume design was by William Travilla. (Please see one of my previous posts to learn more about Mr.Travilla's work.) ;)
.

The producer and scriptwriter, Nunnally Johnson, said that it was the first film in which audiences "liked Marilyn for herself [and that] she diagnosed the reason very shrewdly. She said that it was the only picture she'd been in, in which she had a measure of modesty... about her own attractiveness."How to Marry a Millionaire was the first film ever to be photographed in the new CinemaScope wide-screen process.This was the first film Marilyn Monroe co-starred in after 'Gentlemen perfer Blondes'.

(YouTube User Credit:AdoreMsrilyn)

Monroe's films of this period established her "dumb blonde" persona and contributed to her popularity. In 1953 and 1954, she was listed in the annual "Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars", which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the United States for the stars that had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year.

Resourceful Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall), spunky Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) and ditsy Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) rent a luxurious Sutton Place penthouse from Freddie Denmark (David Wayne), who is avoiding the IRS by living in Europe. The women plan to use it to attract and marry millionaires. When money is tight, Schatze pawns some of Freddie's furniture, without his knowledge of course; as winter approaches, the furnishings gradually vanish.
One day, Loco carries in some groceries, assisted by Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell). Tom is very interested in Schatze, but she knows from prior marital experience what he is — a "gas pump jockey" — and tries repeatedly to brush him off, without success. She has her sights on bigger game: the charming, classy widower J.D. Hanley (William Powell) whose worth is irreproachably large. All the while she's stalking the older J.D., Tom keeps after her. After every one of their dates, she tells him she never wants to see him again. She refuses to marry a poor man again.

Meanwhile, Loco (Grable) becomes acquainted with a grumpy businessman (Fred Clark). He's married, but she agrees to go with him to his "lodge" in Maine, mistakenly thinking she's going to meet a bunch of Elks Club members. When she learns the truth, she wants nothing to do with his plans.
Unfortunately, she comes down with the measles and has to stay in the lodge until cured. She is nursed back to health with the help of a strapping young man named Eben (Rory Calhoun), who she thinks owns most of the surrounding land. She has no trouble transferring her affections to the handsome outdoorsman and they become engaged. When she finds out that he's just a forest ranger, guarding against fires on "his" land, she is very disappointed, but she loves him and is willing to overlook his financial shortcomings

The third member of the group, Pola (Monroe), is hilariously nearsighted, but hates to wear her glasses where any man might see her. As she puts it, "Men aren't attentive to girls who wear glasses." (a takeoff of Dorothy Parker's "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.") She falls for a phony Arab oil tycoon, not knowing he's really a crooked speculator. Luckily, when she takes a plane to meet him, she misreads an airport sign and ends up on the wrong plane. She sits next to a man, also wearing glasses, who thinks she's "quite a strudel" and encourages her to put hers on. It turns out that he is the mysterious Freddie Denmark; he is on his way to Kansas City to find the crooked accountant who got him into trouble with the IRS. He doesn't have much luck when he tracks the man down (he gets beaten up), but has much more success with Pola.
(YouTube User Credit:Mademoisellee1991)

Loco and Pola are reunited with Schatze just before her wedding. She finally managed to overcome J.D.'s qualms about their age difference. Tom shows up and is recognized by the groom. It turns out that Tom is by far the richer of the two men. J.D. has an inkling how things are going to turn out, so he is not too surprised when Schatze finds herself unable to go through with the wedding because she doesn't love him. J.D. leaves graciously and Schatze, against her better judgement, ends up marrying Tom.

Afterwards, the three happy couples end up at a greasy spoon, dining on hamburgers. Tom breaks the news to Schatze that he is extremely wealthy, naming all the things he owns, but she thinks he's kidding. He then pays the bill, pulling out an enormous wad of cash. The three women faint dead away. The men then drink a toast to their unconscious wives.

Hope you guys enjoyed this! Positive Feedback is like fuel to me ;) A similar replica of the red swimsuit Travilla designed for marilyn in this movie can be found at Pinupgirlclothing.com under 'Swimsuits'. The Clear Lucite heels with interchangable ribbons marilyn wors with this and many other outfits is very hard to find. If anyone knows where to find them, please let me know and I'll post up the address. ;)
-L

I'm ready for my close up Mr.Travilla'

Today we will be discussing the fabulous costume designer, Mr. William Travilla.



Some quick info: Willam Travilla (March 22, 1920 - November 2, 1990), who went by the professional name of Travilla, was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television. He is perhaps best-known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in several of her films. Including 'Gentlemen prefer blondes'. His designs were totally
the style I aspire to be/have. Showstopping,statuesque and Breathtaking. In today's video, Mr.Travilla talks about how he had to change Marilyn's original 'Diamonds are girls best friend" costume the the well known pink bow dress.



I personally perfer the original costume and if you're familiar with the number, you will be able to see how the original costume would have matched MUCH better. The studio however was concerned that they would LOSE money were marilyn too risque. Which is sort of undertandable for the time period but the original, to me, is a gem we never got to really see. Enjoy!
-L


(Video Credit-Youtube Member:77marked)