Marilyn Monroe: Avid Reader, Writer & Book Collector

Meanderer

Meanderer

Supreme Member
She had a personal library of over 400 books. She loved James Joyce, Walt Whitman, and poet Heinrich Heine. Saul Bellow and Carl Sandburg were literary heroes. Truman Capote and Isak Dinesen were friends. And she was married to playwright Arthur Miller.


http://www.booktryst.com/2010/10/marilyn-monroe-avid-reader-writer-book.html

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Marilyn Monroe's Books: 13 Titles That Were On Her Shelf

"What couldn't Marilyn Monroe do? The stunning actress is remembered for her beauty and captivating on-screen presence, but, as most book nerds know, she was also a voracious reader and writer. Nerds everywhere have drooled over photos of her thumbing through books on Goya or sunbathing with James Joyce's Ulysses in-hand".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/marilyn-monroe-books_n_1975304.html

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Shirley said:
Of course they were. That doesn't mean she didn't read them.
Click to expand...

I should have been more specific - my apologies.

First they brought her into a studio and explained what "books" were. Then they slowly placed the books in her hands while telling her to think of Arthur Miller ...

I'm sorry, but I can't find where she was ever considered to be a mental giant. In fact, she was quite messed up in the head.
 
Norma Jeane Mortenson
The book she carried with her was "The Thinking Body" by Mabel E.Todd, 1937. It is about the movement of the human body, and used by dancers and students of yoga. Her unique wiggle-walk, was a calculated motion, that she could turn on and off. She was creating an image, and was an intelligent woman, who was always under rated.

Book review:
In a very simple and interesting way,It allows to see the human body like an integral part of us. How postures, physical development, connects with our personalities, needs, strengths and challenges. Just brilliant.

Mabel Todd's The Thinking Body is a must read for every serious Yoga student. It's the source book for what's called ideokinesis, a wonderful system of body-mind education based on the use of creative imagery.

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The photo above was taken by Ernest Bachrach while Marilyn was filming Clash By Night in 1952. (Note the book on the pavement: her exercise bible, The Thinking Body by Mabel Elsworth Todd.)

Here are some of Marilyn's quotes:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe
 
Re: The Thinking Body and Ideokinesis

As a Taijiquan teacher I'm familiar with the concept of visualization as it applies to kinesthesis. Yes, The Thinking Body was one of the first Western books on the subject, but that was only after the concept had been fully explored in other parts of the world for thousands of years. Not to take anything away from Ms. Todd, but as always it's a case of building upon the shoulders of giants.

Perhaps I'll have to revisit my opinion of Ms. Monroe's literacy ... thanks for the thought!
 
I did buy the book "The Thinking Body" for my Wife a few years ago for her birthday. Here are a few quotes she liked:

Pg 173- Posture: think "down the back", "up the front". Pg 294 Rest must be followed by work, and work by rest. Recuperation in bodily tissue depends upon these alternations. If sitting, stand often etc. The frequency is more important than the length of time allowed for the rest.

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A few of Marilyn's quotes:

"Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity... If fame goes by, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experienced, but that's not where I live".

"The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them and fooling them".
 

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