Long Live Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe died fifty years ago today. Long live Marilyn Monroe.

The idea of what makes a woman a woman keeps changing, but she's eternal. Beautiful, talented, sexy, fun, glamorous, mysterious, vulnerable, and even, yes, tough.

Fifty years, and we all still have a personal relationship with her. And we keep trying to learn more. The Official Marilyn Monroe website, managed by The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC, plays to this desire with a "news" page, which suggests that she's more than just a memory. (This just in: Baked by Melissa recently celebrated Marilyn’s birthday with a portrait made of 2,048 cupcakes.)

I don't often recognize Marilyn here at Bad Girl Blog, fabulous as she is. She really wasn't a bad girl, was she? (For a true bad girl of Marilyn's era, check out Mamie Van Doren). Marilyn Monroe may have been a promiscuous pill-popper, and a difficult diva on movie sets, but there was always something of the victim about her....

....The lost girl in need of rescue. Which is why we keep trying to revive her, feeling that if we pay enough attention this time, things will turn out different.

Mamie Van Doren - Happy 81st Birthday to the Bullet Bra's Inventor!

Ever wonder what Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield would be like if they were still alive today? Well, take a look at Mamie Van Doren, who celebrates her 81st birthday on Feb. 6.

Mamie Then

Mamie Now (Photo: Orange County Register)

Mamie was known as a Marilyn imitator in the 1950s, only her specialty was bad girl movies (see clip below) and early rock & roll rebelliousness. In fact, she was the first woman ever to sing a rock song in the movies, in the 1957 cult classic Untamed Youth.

She also was known as the inventor of the bullet bra (see above left to check out the bra's effect under a tight sweater).  The bra was Mamie's sweet revenge on film censors who tried to tone down her God-given sexuality.

"Everything was censorship. I mean, it was devastating," she recalls in a BBC documentary. "When I had a scene with a negligee or anything that showed any type of cleavage, they were always standing there watching. It was unbelievable. They'd have to go to wardrobe to get a little handkerchief to cover any kind of cleavage. So what I did was start wearing a bullet bra. I created the bullet bra, and the bullet bra was made so they were like pyramids. They were pointed. And to piss them off, I would make them even larger."

Today, Mamie Van Doren is a practicing Buddhist who still rides a motorcyle and speaks openly about her cosmetic surgeries, five marriages, abortion, sex life with Elvis Presley and Rock Hudson (yes, the gay actor), and the thrill of making love while tripping on LSD.

Happy Birthday, Miss Van Doren. Glad you're still with us.