‘Forever Marilyn’ extending stay in Palm Springs
The 26-foot-tall sculpture of film legend MarilynMonroe will stay in downtown Palm Springs through the summer, three monthslonger than planned, it was announced today.
Sculptor Seward Johnson’s “Forever Marilyn” was installed by crane atPalm Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way last May after a weeklong trip fromits previous home in Chicago. The 34,300-pound statue was shipped in pieces andreassembled.
The sculpture was scheduled to remain in Palm Springs through June, butan arrangement made with the sculpture’s owner will allow it to stay in PalmSprings until early September, according to P.S. Resorts, which organized andhelped fund the installation of “Forever Marilyn.”
“We are thrilled to have Forever Marilyn with us all summer long,”said Aftab Dada, chairman of P.S. Resorts. “The sculpture has attractedthousands of visitors from around the world to Palm Springs and has generatedglobal publicity. We will be creating additional events in the Forever Marilynpark this summer to bring even more people and attention to downtown.”
Last year, some of Monroe’s films were shown outdoors at the sculpture,and a concert by Elton John impersonator Jeffery Allen commemorated the 50thanniversary her death in August, according to P.S. Resorts.
Monroe reportedly was discovered in Palm Springs at Charlie Farrell’sRacquet Club by talent agent Johnny Hyde in 1949.
She spent time in Palm Springs in the 1950s with her then-husband,Baseball Hall of Fame member Joe DiMaggio, and eventually owned a home in theVista Las Palmas neighborhood in the early 1960s, according to P.S. Resorts.
“Forever Marilyn” is part of Johnson’s “Icons Revisited” series andis made of bronze and stainless steel. The sculpture is based on a photographby Bruno Bernard taken during the 1955 filming of “The Seven Year Itch.” Thesculpture was unveiled in July 2011 on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
P.S. Resorts and local donors, restaurant owners, hoteliers andmerchants helped pay the $78,000 installation cost.
“Forever Marilyn” is owned by the Santa Monica-based SculptureFoundation, which works to provide exhibitions and public art in a variety ofsettings.
“Forever Marilyn” has a Facebook page and Twitter handle, PS4everMarilyn.
