Marilyn Monroe By Milton H. Greene
Last Saturday I visited the exhibition Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene. The 50 Sessions at the Filmoteca in my hometown Barcelona with my sister. It has 84 photos of the iconic film star on display, taken by the legendary photographer Milton Greene over the course of a four-year period (1953-1957) in 50 photo shoots. Thanks to Covid-19 there was only a limited amount of visitors allowed (when we left, there were people waiting outside), so there was enough room to stand in front of each photo and admire them without interference.
Milton Greene (14 March 1922 – 8 August 1985) was a New York-based celebrity and fashion photographer, one of the first of his generation to work in colour. Together with renowned photographers like Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn and Norman Parkinson he brought fashion photography into the world of fine art. He made portraits of numerous celebrities, among them also Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, but he is best known for his photo shoots with Marilyn Monroe.
The collaboration between Marilyn and Milton was a very successful one. Marilyn was one of the most photographed celebrities of the 20th century — there are literally tens of thousands of photographs in existence (Hollywood film stills as well as glamour photos and candid shots) — and apart from Greene many photographers worked with her: Eve Arnold, George Barris, Cecil Beaton, André de Dienes, Elliott Erwitt, Ed Feingersh, Philippe Halsman, Bob Henriques, Tom Kelley, Douglas Kirkland, Phil Stern, Sam Shaw, Alfred Eisenstaedt and Richard Avedon. Still, her work with Milton Greene proved to be the most memorable, at least in scope.
Marilyn and Milton first met in 1953 on a photo shoot for Look magazine. Milton was commissioned by the magazine to take photos of Marilyn who was working on River of No Return at the time. She'd seen Milton's portfolio prior to their meeting and liked what she saw. (She had sprained her ankle during filming and therefore was available to do the photo shoot.) As Milton was already an accomplished photographer, Marilyn had expected to see an older person. When she laid eyes on him for the first time, she said: "You're just a boy." He retorted, "You're just a girl." On the program Person to Person, presented by Edward R. Murrow (the show was broadcasted on 8 April 1955 from the house of Milton and Amy Greene in Weston, Connecticut), Marilyn and Milton also refer to their first meeting.
From the time they first met in 1953 until their break-up in 1957 Marilyn developed a strong professional and personal relationship with Greene (Greene made close to 4,000 photographs of Marilyn). At the time Monroe had expressed to Milton how unhappy she was with her career and her contract with 20th Century-Fox. She was typecast by the studio and only appeared in musicals and comedies, yet she longed to play in dramas and to have more control over her career. (With the different photography sessions she would do with Milton she got the opportunity to play a range of characters, from hooker to peasant girl.) Milton himself harboured the ambition to produce and direct films and thought they could help each other. In order to sever her ties with Fox, Milton facilitated Marilyn's move to New York and paid for her acting classes with the Actors Studio, with none other than Lee Strasberg. Milton also introduced her to the jazz scene and she met Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin through him. Apart from being close friends, Milton and Marilyn started a company together, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). In the end their company would only produce two films: Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl.
During her time in New York Marilyn stayed with the Greene family (Milton and wife Amy and little son Joshua) at their rural retreat in Weston, Connecticut. Distressed by her divorce from Joe DiMaggio and disillusioned by her acting career and contract with Fox, she had fled Los Angeles. She lived with the Greenes from 1954 until the summer of 1956 in their guest suite. You can read interviews with Amy and Joshua Greene online where they reminisce about the time Marilyn lived with them and Joshua recalls this as happy childhood memories. Amy says in this interview with Hollywood Reporter that when Marilyn came to stay with them she was practically living as a reclusive in Hollywood. She never went out, only ate, worked and slept. She was excited to live with the Greenes, for she loved their lifestyle and to be near the woods. She used to go out on walks every day and was happy no one bothered her.
The 50 sessions in which Greene and Monroe collaborated show Marilyn at the height of her beauty. I have seen many of these photos on the internet but never realised there were so many photo shoots. To see a selection of these photos at the exhibition was truly great. The large-scale clear prints with their exuberant colours are a feast for the eyes and exhibit Marilyn in overwhelming detail. Milton Greene wanted to capture Marilyn's vibrant personality and soul. She felt comfortable around Milton and trusted him. You see her lack of inhibition in the photos and they offer a glimpse of her real self.
Let me list some of the numerous sittings/sessions Milton and Marilyn had:
- * Mandolin sitting
- * Rock sitting
- * Camel Coat session
- * Grey Fur sitting
- * Gypsy sitting
- * Hooker sitting
- * Red Dress sitting
- * Oriental Dog sitting
- * Tree sitting
- * Peasant sitting
- * Laurel Canyon session
- * Swimming Pool session
- * Bed sitting
- * Wicker sitting
- * Ballerina sitting
- * Schenck House series
- * Black Cape sitting
- * Black Coat sitting
- * Black sitting
- * Negligee sitting
- * White Fur sitting
- * White Robe sitting
- * V-neck Sweater sitting
- * Red Sweater sitting
- * Makeup session
The friendship and professional relationship of Marilyn and Milton came to an end in 1957. According to Amy Greene in an interview with Hollywood Reporter Marilyn's then-husband Arthur Miller was jealous of the time Marilyn and Milton spent together and he also thought he could manage Marilyn's career better than Milton did. Ultimately he was one of the reasons why Milton and Marilyn's relationship didn't survive. I read conflicting reports about whether Marilyn and Milton had stayed in touch or not, but they did speak to each other right before Marilyn's death (see this interview with Amy Greene).
Milton Greene passed away in 1985. By that time he believed the majority of his photos were unusable and had faded beyond rescue which had made him sad. His eldest son Joshua Greene started to preserve his father's legacy and restored thousands of his photographs. He spent almost two decades on this laborous task and in the process manifested himself as a leader in digital imaging and photographic restoration. These restored photographs are the subject of his 2017 book The Essential Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene: 50 Sessions and a selection is being displayed at the Filmoteca exhibit.
Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene. The 50 Sessions
17 December 2020 - 24 February 2021
Plaça Salvador Seguí, 1 – 9
08001 Barcelona
FREE ADMISSION
PHOTOS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene. The 50 Sessions, an exhibition at the Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona;
*Milton Greene's eldest son Joshua Greene with Marilyn Monroe from the Bus Stop session, 1956; *)
*Marilyn Monroe on her wedding day with Arthur Miller, 1 July 1956; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, American Airlines session, Los Angeles, 1956; *)
*Marilyn Monroe at studio executive Joseph Schenck's House, Los Angeles, 1953; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Mandolin session, 1953; it was the first photographic collaboration between Marilyn and Milton; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Ballerina sitting, October 1954; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Camel Coat sitting, 1953; *)
*Marilyn Monroe in makeup, 1954; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Swimming Pool shoot at the house of Richard and Dorothy Rodgers, 1955; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Black Cape sitting, October 1955; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Bus Stop session, 1956; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Rock sitting, 1954; *)
*Marilyn Monroe, Peasant sitting, 1954; *)
*Marilyn Monroe in Cadillac holding a portrait of her hero, Abraham Lincoln, 1954; *)
*Marilyn Monroe and Milton Greene at a Hollywood Press Conference, 25 February 1956;
*Marilyn Monroe and Milton Greene, in front of the 9-rooms house Marilyn rented for $995 a month during the shooting of Bus Stop in Los Angeles in 1956 (Marilyn shared the house with Milton, Amy and Joshua Greene);
*Marilyn Monroe and Milton Greene, 1956, photo by Gene Lester;
*Marilyn Monroe with Amy and Joshua Greene and Paula Strasberg during filming of Bus Stop, 1956;
*Marilyn, Grey Fur session, April 1956. (photo taken by me at the exhibition — secretly (shhh!) since taking photos was prohibited)
*) photo taken from the internet, displayed at the exhibition
