Marilyn among friends

A tribute to Marilyn Monroe, this work is written by two of her closest friends. Norman Rosten, poet, playwright and novelist, was introduced to Marilyn Monroe in 1955 by his friend, photographer Sam Shaw. Their relationship was to become so close that Rosten was described as Marilyn's closest friend. For the rest of her life Marilyn saw a great deal of the Brooklyn writer and his wife Hedda. Something in the gentle, humorous family man appealed to Marilyn and inspired her trust. For Rosten, Marilyn was different things at different times; an attractive and sophisticated woman, an innocent child and sometimes just a dear friend, badly in need of help. Sam Shaw met Marilyn Monroe on the set of "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" in 1953. He was to take many famous photographs of her, including the skirt-blowing shots for "The Seven-Year Itch". He too became her friend and took many photographs of her revealing the other sides of her personality that only her true friends knew.