A friend of Willy Rizzo’s, who happened to be an acquaintance of Marilyn’s agent, (Arthur P. Jacobs) called to discuss organising a photo shoot with Marilyn.
Initially Jacobs informed the friend that the request was ‘impossible’, Marilyn was tied up in a number of personal affairs. These included moving house, daily sessions with Dr Ralph Greenson, and also a pending trip to Mexico to purchase furnishings for the new property she was relocating to on 5th Helena Drive, Brentwood.
Eventually, contact was made with Rizzo’s friend once more from Jacobs, informing them that Marilyn had agreed to the photo shoot and to relay this message to Rizzo, who was ecstatic at the prospect of working with Marilyn Monroe.
The meeting however was not without its conditions, firstly, Rizzo request to conduct the shoot in the morning when the light would be at its best was refused. Arthur P. Jacobs was adamant this request was too much, and informed Rizzo that it was not possible, it had to be an afternoon shoot or nothing at all. Rizzo agreed, and the meet was set for two days later at a friend’s house.
Rizzo waited and waited, but no Marilyn. He was called by Jacobs and told that Marilyn wasn’t feeling well and would not be able to attend the shoot. Rizzo was dejected, but understood and patiently waited for her at the same location the next day. Again, he had a long wait until Marilyn breezed in at 6pm. Unfortunately this was just for a face-to-face apology that Marilyn felt Rizzo deserved.
“I’m sorry, I’m so tired. I’ll be here tomorrow, I promise,” she told him kindly before honouring him a little kiss.
This kiss melted Rizzo who said “For you, I would wait a week.”
Marilyn arrived the next day and what would turn out to be one of the last ever professional photo shoots.
Rizzo commented that Marilyn had applied her own makeup and even though he honestly admitted that he thought she’d made ‘a bit of a hash of it’, she was still luminous to his eyes and his lens. He commented that looking at her was like looking at all of the world’s most beautiful women at once, all rolled into one person. Rizzo also commented that he thought Marilyn had an air of underlying sadness about her. “I could sense how distraught she was at this last meeting, but we still took the photos. She trusted me, we knew each other and that is so important, trust is the most important thing of all,” Rizzo said of the photo shoot in an interview years after Marilyn’s death.
The sadness Rizzo saw can be seen in these stunningly colourful and beautifully lit photographs from the shoot, but more than that they show Marilyn’s fresh innocence. Marilyn looks tired in these pictures, and when we take into account her busy schedule and other personal troubles at that very time it is no surprise that she would be lethargic and perhaps not quite look her best, but Rizzo’s photographs show Marilyn in the light of a real person rather than a huge starlet.
28 июл 2023
