In 1955 Marilyn Monroe starred in The Seven Year Itch. It is this film where the famous white dress scene took place and when the image of Norma Jean Baker went down in history. This is how the world remembers her: she looks smiling, standing over a vent wearing a flowy dress, and her hands are trying, without much success, to prevent it from rising completely.
Designer William Travilla of 20th Century Fox was commissioned to make the dress, which he called “that silly little dress.” To him, the halter neckline, figure-hugging waistline, and fabric light enough to show a lot of movement was no masterpiece, but she adored his designs. “Billy, darling, please dress me forever, I love you,” Monroe wrote to him. For Travilla, the idea of the dress was of “fresh and clean in a very, very dirty city.”
The dress was one of William Travilla’s most prized possessions until he passed in 1990. After that, actress Debbie Reynolds bought it for $200. Reynolds later sold her collection of Hollywood memorabilia and, in 2011, the dress fetched $4.6 million at auction.
The sad scene in the white dress
The Seven Year Itch scene was filmed in Manhattan, between Lexington and 52nd Street, in the early hours of September 15, 1954. Of course, despite the late hours of the night, the street was not empty in the presence of Marilyn Monroe, who was already one of the most famous stars in history. Days before, the filming of the scene had been promoted, and the local media had hyped the presence of thousands of people, mostly men, who constantly witnessed the actress repeating her lines over and over again and, above all, the famous scene in which her dress is lifted.
Her then-husband, Joe DiMaggio, was present during the filming of the scene. He was jealous and controlling and didn’t like the attention Marilyn was attracting. They were already on the verge of divorce, but that night, after the event, he reportedly started a big fight. Three weeks later, they divorced.
The Seven Year Itch was finally released on June 1, 1955. The day Marilyn Monroe turned 29 and seven years before her passing. That scene only added to the craze over her image and cost her terrible and painful episodes in her life.
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva
