Barbie as Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Doll

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So, who was Marilyn Monroe? Once upon a time, she was a real person, a childhood dream come true—the dream of a little girl named Norma Jeane Mortenson. Who was Norma Jeane Mortenson? Monroe’s career soared as her romantic life foundered, with two successive husbands failing to understand the woman she wanted to be. Baseball hero Joe DiMaggio balked at the sexuality of his wife’s public image. Playwright Arthur Miller was disgusted by her cult of celebrity. “Marilyn Monroe desperately wanted to be loved,” said film historian Karina Longworth in a 2017 episode of the “ You Must Remember This” podcast. “But she never had the courage to figure out that she could choose who to love.” When Monroe is on screen, you watch her,” says film scholar Steven Cohan in an interview. “[T]here was something just physical about Monroe that exploded on film. … She just photographed luminously. So, there’s something very beautiful about [her] performance. And she had great timing—just watch her deliver lines.” That same question—who was the real Monroe?—has sparked debate among cinema scholars, cultural critics, historians, novelists, filmmakers and the general public for decades. Was “Marilyn,” the personality and persona brought to life by the star’s younger self, Norma Jeane Mortenson, a real person? Or was she simply a manufactured image? Marilyn’s death is] the gift that keeps on giving,” says Cohan, “because there’s no smoking gun. The autopsy continues to be raised, but it never answers any questions. … And the fact that she died in her [mid-30s] meant that she never grew old. … It’s another reason that she remains forever, forever young” in the public imagination.

Barbie and the Diamond Castle: Released in 2008 to highlight the Barbie movie of the same name. This doll showcases Barbie and her friend as they are set on a magical adventure. Happy Holidays Barbie: Released in 1988, this series of dolls features Barbie in a different holiday-themed outfit each year.When you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way,” she observed. “It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she—who is she, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe?” Born in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, the future Monroe grew up far from the trappings of luxury and fame she’d one day enjoy. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, was a film cutter who struggled to make ends meet. Her father was nowhere to be found. In 1953, when Playboy magazine published nude photos of Monroe without her consent, she kept her career intact by turning the images into free advertising. (Monroe hadn’t posed for Playboy; the photos dated to 1949, when the aspiring actress took part in a nude shoot with a pin-up photographer.) A May 1952 interview with the Chicago Tribune reveals how Monroe cannily responded to the situation: “When an interviewer recently asked her why she posed in the nude for calendars, she replied, ‘I was hungry.’ That’s a stopper if I ever heard one.” Barbie was first introduced to the public on March 9th, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York. It was named after creator Ruth Handler’s daughter, who inspired her to make a doll that was based on a full-grown character rather than a baby. Ruth saw her daughter role-playing with her toys and thought of toys that could fill in the niche as nothing similar was available on the American market. She forwarded the idea of the toy to her husband, who was at the time the cofounder of Mattel, an American toy company founded in 1945.

For Blonde’s lead actress, de Armas of Knives Out fame, the role was an emotional and spiritual revelation. “I truly believe that [Marilyn] was very close to us, she was with us,” de Armas tells Deadline . “… She was all I thought about, she was all I dreamed about, she was all I could talk about.” The actress adds, “I knew I had to let myself open and go to places that I knew were going to be uncomfortable, dark and vulnerable. That’s where I found the connection with this person.” Monroe’s hardships persisted as she came of age. In one foster home, she was sexually abused, fondled by a lodger at just 8 years old. At school, she was the target of other children’s hurtful jests. “I was tall for my age and scrawny and my hair was short and rather thin and scraggly,” she said in a May 1952 interview. “The boys used to yell ‘Norma Jeane—string bean!’ and they thought it was so funny that I wanted to be an actress. … Somehow they thought I looked like a boy, I was so straight up and down.” An old journal reveals the depth of Monroe’s grief: “I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.” The fact that the actress was seemingly unable to carry a child to term (two pregnancies ended in miscarriages, while a third was ectopic) compounded these fears; in her view, her inability to bear children “damaged her femininity, her status as the representative of all women,” writes historian Lois Banner in Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox. In the case of Marilyn, people believe what they want to believe. She lives in the fantasies of the national imagination, enshrined in a story with endless possibilities, plots, characters and events. Marilyn’s life and death have become flexible, plastic representations of a real person and a real event. … No one can deny the power of her representation: She is the [blonde] who has haunted the American imagination. This portrait marked Monroe’s discovery. Her marriage fell apart as she pursued a career in modeling, but she was determined to make a name for herself. Monroe’s wholesome look, completed by her winning smile and large bust, made her a natural for pin-ups. She continuously strove to improve her craft, honing her ability to work the camera through modeling classes and study. She also bleached her curly, reddish-brown hair, becoming a platinum blonde.For more than 60 years, Barbie has captivated generations by always being relevant in pop culture. There are few brands that are more well-known than Barbie. The vintage Barbie dolls are a symbol of the ongoing trends and fashion rules of its time. Looking at vintage Barbie dolls is like looking at a summary of fashion trends from 1959 until today, in 2023. Barbies fame began with the launch of the first doll, named Barbie Millicent Roberts, which was introduced in 1959. Since then, with every new edition of the doll, new accessories and outfits were added, reflecting the times the Barbies were produced.