Marilyn's Birthday Surprise

When Marilyn Monroe delivered her breathy, flirtatious rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to JFK on 19th May 1962, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen remarked, 'it seemed like Marilyn was making love to the President in front of 40 million Americans.' 

In fact the two are said to have never seen each other again, and just three months later Monroe was dead from a drug overdose.

In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca reveal the forgotten, steel-based second verse of the song Monroe also sang that night, consider the role The Simpsons has played in ruining this moment forever, and explain why ‘Sing A Song of Sixpence’ has a lot to answer for…

Further Reading:

• Marilyn’s iconic performance - and the giant cake presented shortly afterwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvoqK6aLE2E

• Biography on the story behind the song:

https://www.biography.com/news/marilyn-monroe-happy-birthday-mr-president-jfk

• Reader’s Digest investigate what happened to Marilyn’s dress:

https://www.rd.com/article/marilyn-monroe-happy-birthday-dress/

For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/Retrospectors

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.

#60s #Person #Politics #Arts #White #US

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices