Marilyn Monroe at 100: Alice Bowden on editing a stunning new book of the icon’s photo sessions

Alice, you’re the editor of Marilyn Monroe 100; a celebration of Marilyn Monroe on the 100th anniversary of her birth. It is, let me say, a beautiful tome from ACC Art Books…
Thank you! We’re really happy with the way it turned out; the designer did an amazing job. It’s stunning.

Everyone did an amazing job! To kick us off, Alice, why do you think Monroe remains SO popular to this day?
Well, that’s the million-dollar question. I think it’s because she’s so much more than a movie star… She became a lasting cultural symbol shaped not just by film but also by the media. She also had this myth surrounding her, didn’t she? On film, she had this brilliant combination of comedic timing, vulnerability and charisma that just worked really well. Then, in the media, she came to represent everything that many see as the ideal in women… She remains an enduring icon of beauty and glamour.

Vulnerability is an interesting word. That’s got me thinking…
Yes, and I guess that ties into the mystery surrounding her personal story… Her rise from a difficult childhood to global fame followed by her early death. Sad though it is, those stars that die early tend to capture people’s imagination… The idea of a bright, shining light that then fizzles out tragically early. I do wonder how we would look at Marilyn if she were alive today, or if she’d lived longer.

In what way?
In that maybe – if she’d loved longer – I wonder if she would’ve been as iconic. Take Elizabeth Taylor, for example. Elizabeth Taylor was an amazing actress and absolutely stunning. But she lived a long life… I do wonder – had she died at 35 – would she have been as iconic as Marilyn Monroe.

Great question! I also wonder if knowing more about someone over a longer career takes away some of their mystique…
But something else that’s important to remember is that Marilyn Monroe had this way of really connecting with her public… I feel that’s why people loved her so much. In fact, she even said that she belonged to the public – that was her strength: to connect to the ordinary person… She really felt more comfortable in the media than she did in film in front of the Hollywood cameras… In front of photographers and journalists, she just put on her persona – and she just loved it as the public loved her. So she played to her strengths.

Great insights! Thank you. And the ACC book is the only official one on Marilyn Monroe’s 100th anniversary… How did it come about?
Well, a lot of this type of publishing comes through existing relationships and trust. That was certainly the case here. We do quite a few books with Iconic Images in London. Through those connections, our publisher connected with the Marilyn Monroe estate. Essentially, we came up with the idea, created a proposal and presented it to them – and they loved it. Even before we began working on it, we were picturing a huge, special book.

And once you got a yes, you – presumably – started mulling it over in your mind. Does that happen pretty much straight away?
Yes, it’s more or less ‘always there’ after you know it’s green lit… You start looking out for things, making notes, considering the possibilities – letting it bubble in the background. An editor usually works on multiple books at any one time, though – with this particular title – I devoted a lot more of my time to it as it really was a big deal for ACC, and I was much more involved in the whole process than I normally would be…

For example, I wouldn’t usually be involved in commissioning the text or negotiating with the photographer’s representatives for the chosen images and so on. But for this book, I worked on it from initial idea through to completion – and I loved every minute of it.

Amazing. I want to come back to the text, but I was just going to say: the images in this book are stunning… Critically, though, they might not be as well known as some other others. Is that fair to say?
It is – and that was part of the point, really. I started off by researching every photographer that had ever significantly photographed Marilyn… Then whittled it down to those I felt best represent her at any given time of her life. So we really wanted to cover her from the very beginning to the very end, just picking out the most stunning images. We also wanted them to work together collectively… So while some photographers had more than one shoot, we chose those shots that married well together and were a great representation of her working relationship with that photographer…

That’s because one of the other things that I think what makes Marylin different from a lot of other actresses and models is that she had a really great relationship with each photographer in so much as it was mutually beneficial. She wasn’t just a mannequin standing there… Marilyn was giving them something and they were giving her something back. That’s something we wanted to show in the book: her agency!

And by what criteria, then – with SO many images from which to choose – did you decide which shots to include?
Our publisher’s got a huge amount of experience in knowing what works… What draws in the reader, what makes a book work. So the publisher and I were on the same page as regards the kind of photographs we felt would work. I think that’s partly instinct from having edited all the text and read so much about her. But for me, it was more of a visual thing… What really speaks to me about how gorgeous Marilyn is? And how vulnerable? And also her power because – let’s not forget – she was a powerful businesswoman.

And actually, that’s something we really wanted to show near the end of the journey. That she knew what she was doing… So we start when she was young and vulnerable, bubbly and naive – then go through her life until the end where, while she still had her humour, you could tell she’d lived… I don’t think Marilyn ever became cynical but perhaps she was tired at the end. Because she did have a difficult life, and I feel like she was quite amazing for always bouncing back

These are terrific insights. And in terms of the text that goes with the photographer’s chapters… What was the creative drive there?
We wanted to give a short story on each photographer: who they were, how they came to photograph Marilyn, and the relationship between the two of them. The images appear chronologically in the book to give the reader a sense of the progression of Marilyn’s career. We had several contributing writers on the book, but one particular writer did all the photographer introductions…

As you can imagine, he did a lot of research on their backgrounds and their moments meeting Marilyn. Now, only one of these photographers is still alive: Bruce Davidson. Sadly, we couldn’t get an interview with him because he’s 93 this year… But we’ve been in touch with the children of the photographers – we ran the text by people like that so they could verify facts and give the writer a bit of insight.

Perfect. And away from Marilyn, some of ACC’s other titles deal with similarly revered icons… Prince: Black, White and Color; David Bowie: Rock ’n’ Roll; Crazy about Rolex… So what makes a licensed title right for ACC?
We’re essentially interested in subjects that make strong, illustrated art books for adults. In today’s book world, that’s actually quite a focused niche. So we concentrate on art, fashion, photography, lifestyle. I’m not involved in the commissioning, but we like to target truly legendary names that readers would find visually stunning. That’s what we’re known for… Of course, there has to be a commercial aspect to that as well; the subject has to have a solid fan base. By way of example, I’m currently working on a book of Porsche Restomods.

Porsche Restomods! Wow!
Right?! So there are these stunning pictures of Porsches that’ve been personalised for each client. So we’re looking to create stunning titles that make people go, “Wow!” – just as you did there!

Indeed! And stunning is the word. Now, about you, Alice… I get the sense that you’re a creative person away from books. What is it that you create?
Ha! Well, I paint, I sew, I knit, I cook, I garden…

This is a lot! It’s all going on in the Bowden household… So how did you come to be doing this?
I started a fine art degree, actually, then decided it wasn’t really for me. I was too young, really; I should’ve done a foundation course. Anyway, I went straight to a fine art degree at Bretton Hall. Everyone was much older than me and really quite woo woo. I wanted to experience uni and not just be an artist – so I swapped universities and did Design Research. I ended up in publishing by way of production. But I’ve always been a real bookworm, too, and also a bit of a perfectionist in all my creative projects.

You know, whenever someone says they’re creative and a perfectionist, I always picture thousands of unfinished projects…
Oh, no! Ha! Yes! You’re absolutely right!

How did I know? Ha! I’m like Derren Brown!
You’re so right! Ha!

Well, let’s draw a discreet veil over that! Listen, I’ve enjoyed this hugely… To wrap everything up, Alice, what’s the one question I could’ve asked you today – but didn’t?
I guess you could’ve asked what I learned about Marilyn that I didn’t know before I embarked on this…

Oh, FABULOUS question. Tell me!
I think it’s probably that I didn’t realise what a strong woman she was. There’s an idea that she was just used and manipulated, you know? And while she certainly did fall prey to men who took advantage of her naivety at the beginning, she went on to purposefully create the persona of Marilyn Monroe. That was something she could put on and take off like a coat when she was meeting the public and the press. And what I didn’t know about her was that she really knew how to work the camera…

How so? What do you mean by that?
In the book’s introduction, for example, there’s a picture of Marilyn wearing a red top – and the contributing writer describes it perfectly… How you look at it and think it’s so spontaneous… You think that, by luck, the photographer has captured her off guard in a very natural moment; unaware. But when you look closer, you see that she really knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s placed her body and feet in a way that lets the photographer really get her at her best. That’s fascinating to me – and she could do it tirelessly.

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much, Alice, for joining me and making time to talk about this.