As Halloween approaches, AnOther shares some pumpkin-centric images of screen siren Marilyn Monroe
Tomorrow is Halloween, a celebration of all things ghostly and ghoulish, with a vegetable mascot in the form of a pumpkin. To celebrate, AnOther are revisiting this rare early photo shoot of screen siren Marilyn Monroe frolicking in a holiday appropriate pumpkin patch.
"The photographs were taken as part of Monroe’s first modelling portfolio by the renowned fashion photographer Andre de Dienes"
Taken in the October of 1945, the original blonde bombshell is barely recognisable at a first glance. Her chestnut curls are pinned back from her youthful features, and her famous physique is concealed beneath a denim suit, woolly Christmas jumper and work boots as she poses with the pumpkins. At just 19, going by the name Norma Jean Baker, the photographs were taken as part of Monroe’s first modelling portfolio by the renowned fashion photographer Andre de Dienes. Dienes was clearly smitten with Monroe – when describing his first meeting with the future star he reminisced that it was ‘as if a miracle had happened’ and that she ‘seemed to be like an angel’. He was later responsible for taking some of the most iconic images of the actress in her lifetime, including the 1949 Long Island beach shoot that cemented Monroe’s status as a pin-up queen.
Monroe was famously pictured with novelty items and props throughout her career; books, umbrellas, cakes and exercise equipment all featured heavily in past shoots of the late icon, often accompanied by her trademark peroxide locks and crimson lips. Theses photographs however, provide a different – although not exactly scary – portrayal of Marilyn for Halloween. Fresh faced and happy, they capture the star in her element, before the arrival of fame, fortune and her tragic demise.
Text by Rhiannon Wastell
