70 Years Ago, Marilyn Monroe Entertained Troops in Korea: See More…
One of the things Marilyn was always grateful for was the fact that America’s enlisted men constantly sent fan letters to the Hollywood studios encouraging them to put her in more featured roles — which they did!
The funny thing is that few of the soldiers had ever seen any of Marilyn’s movies, having grown familiar to her through many photographs of her, including her cover shot on Playboy magazine.
With Marilyn in the center of this crowd of soldiers, get a load of just how many people were being entertained at just this one base. Pretty impressive!
As Marilyn made clear, while the soldiers were obviously excited that she was there, as it turned out, the experience meant the world to her as well. She found no judgements in Korea!
Historynet.com reports one of the soldiers in attendance of a Marilyn Monroe performance in Korea commenting, “The sight and sounds of Marilyn singing ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ is a memory I still cherish!”
Meet the man who got Marilyn into (singing) shape
While still in Japan before the trip to Korea, Marilyn Monroe visited Osaka Military Hopsital, where Corporal Al Guastafeste, a pianist with the band Anything Goes, helped her rehearse a number of songs. Later he would muse, “She was Marilyn Monroe, but she didn’t seem to realize it. If I made a mistake, she said she was sorry. When she made a mistake, she apologized.” There was, he emphasized, no ego there.
In this image, Marilyn Monroe tries some cake in the Enlisted Men’s Mess Hall at Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Division, near Seoul, South Korea, during her wartime entertainment tour of Korea, February 18, 1954. With her (right) is Sgt. Harold Crawford of Columbus, Ohio.
Marilyn Monroe serves up lunch in a mess line. Pfc. James R. Goggin, Lesterville, Missouri, a photographer, stands in line. Another wife of a baseball player, Jean O’Doul, helps out as well.
