Bill Douglas Cinema Museum celebrates 100 years of Marilyn Monroe

The 100th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth is being commemorated in a new exhibition at the University of Exeter.

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, the leading moving image museum in the UK, will celebrate the life and legacy of the iconic film star with a five-month showcase of some of the artefacts from its collection of more than 800 items of ‘Marilynalia’.

Scripts, press books, sheet music, photographs, and promotional posters will all be on display documenting Monroe’s career, including her leading roles in classic 1950s comedies such as Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

100 Years of Marilyn will open on Friday, 29th May, in time for 1 June, a century to the day of Monroe’s birth. It will also explore her legacy, including the myriad ways her image has been used to advertise goods as diverse as make-up bags, soap dishes and boxer shorts. This includes her influence upon some of her contemporaries, from Jayne Mansfield, Sophia Loren and Diana Dors, to the stars that followed and were inspired by her such as Madonna, Lady Gaga and Scarlett Johansson.

“Though Marilyn Monroe had a relatively short career in film, her status as a figure of significant cultural importance has never diminished,” says Dr Phil Wickham, Curator of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. “She still resonates by turns as a sex symbol, feminist icon, and survivor of abuse. But it is often overlooked just what a brilliant comic actor she was, and someone who worked at her craft to the point where she overshadowed the great Sir Laurence Olivier in their 1957 film, The Prince and the Showgirl.”

The Museum’s extension collection reflects both the amount of material produced that capitalised on her popularity, and founder Bill Douglas’s fascination with her life. Dr Wickham said that Douglas recognised in her someone who shared his own “terrible childhood and struggle” and who had “reinvented herself” through the film industry.

The exhibition is being curated by two student volunteers at the museum, Issie Tween, a third-year Film and Art History undergraduate, and Jean MacCourt, who is in the second year of her Art History degree. Over the past month, they have combed through the archives and selected around 100 artefacts to tell the story of Monroe.

“We start with Norma Jeane Mortenson and the girl who worked hard to become the icon,” says Tween. “The exhibition will take you on a journey through her life, beginning with Norma, and then progressing through her career, her death, and her legacy. The more we discovered during this process of researching the material, the more protective we felt towards her.”

“There is a tendency to remember Marilyn in relation to the men in her life and her sex symbol persona,” adds MacCourt. “But we wanted to tell a more empathetic story, one that reflects her shifting meaning and symbolism through the decades. Even today, the strength of her branding is remarkable, and that’s reflected in the public’s enduring fascination with her.”

100 Years of Marilyn will run until November. Members of the media are welcome to attend an opening event on the anniversary, 1 June, at 5.30pm in the museum. You can book attendance at Eventbrite.

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is the leading moving image museum in the UK and is home to one of the most significant such collections in the world. It was formed from the collection of the renowned director Bill Douglas and his friend Peter Jewell, with many artefacts having been added since its donation to the University.

Experts from around the world come to examine the 95,000-strong collection at the Streatham campus. It is also a public museum, free and open to all.