The "Forever Marilyn" Statue Leaves Monday
By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on May 1, 2012 1:30PM
You have less than a week left to look at that giant replica of the nether regions of a dead sex symbol. The "Forever Marilyn" statue will be removed from Pioneer Court on Monday, May 7, so it can travel to its next, as yet unannounced, location.
The 26-foot-tall, 40,000-pound sculpture of Marilyn Monroe as she appeared in the famous scene from The Seven Year Itch was a magnet for tourists as soon as it was completed in July 2011. Vandals liked it, too. Someone tagged her leg with gang graffiti in August, and someone threw a bucket of red paint at her in September.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of reactions to the sculpture,” said Seward Johnson. “The City of Chicago is richly appreciative of public art in all its forms, and is a model for other cities to follow.”
Let's just hope she's going somewhere warmer this time because we wished she'd had a cozy pair of snowpants this winter. For old times' sake, here are some photos from Marilyn's visit to Chicago. Perhaps a proper goodbye would be to watch The Seven Year Itch because there's more to it than that one scene. Hell, there's more to that scene than her skirt blowing up — she's talking about The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Or perhaps you'll enjoy this more demure clip from the 1901 short What Happened On 23rd Street rumored to have inspired the scene.
And here's the clip from movie, plus a little something about Marilyn's white dress.