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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Marilyn Monroe Will Soon Grace Palm Springs

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Palm Springs is set to be the recipient of a gigantic statue of Marilyn Monroe that, while at its former home in Chicago, was repeatedly vandalized and roundly panned by locals and critics alike.

Um...congrats, Palm Springs?

According to the Huffington Post, the statue depicts Ms. Monroe in the epic "The Seven Year Itch" scene during which she stood over an air grate and her white dress blew up around her hips. Built by artist J. Seward Johnson, the statue is in full color, and stands 26 feet tall.

It doesn't take too much creativity to imagine in what manner such a statue might have been vandalized, but in a column for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper lays it out. The artwork, such as it is, inspired "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh."

Obviously, Palm Springs is classier than that, and also, Palm Springs is probably a more appropriate location (in a good way) for a hugely kitschy sculpture like this one.

Marilyn will be delivered to the corner of Tahquitz Canyon Drive and Palm Canyon Drive by the end of May.

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