Marilyn Monroe’s 100th Birthday – What She Would Look Like In 2026

June 1 Is The 100th Anniversary Of Marilyn Monroe’s Birth

What Would Marilyn Look Like Today?

Marilyn Monroe in New York City sitting by a fountain. c 1955 photo Sam Shaw

The odds that any female movie legend reaches the age of 100 are extremely slim.

Currently Eva Marie Saint (On The Waterfront; North By Northwest) is 101. Lee Grant (In The Heat of the Night; Shampoo) is 100. Olivia de Havilland lived to 104. Gloria Stuart (Titanic, The Invisible Man) was 100 when she died. If movie stars do reach the magic age of 100 they generally stay out of the spotlight and will not allow photographs to be taken of them.

Had Marilyn Monroe not died at age 36 on August 4, 1962, it is unlikely she would have lived to be 100-years-old. Life expectancy actuarial tables bear this out. Marilyn’s documented medical issues, both physical and mental, would be another longevity barrier, Speculating what Marilyn would look like at 100 is preposterous.

But why should that stop Artificial Intelligence programs from creating an image of what Marilyn would look like at age 100?

Marilyn Monroe 2026 AI photo edited

If Marilyn Had Aged

Marilyn Monroe’s mother- Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Mortensen Eley c 1970s.

Gladys Baker Eley July 6 , 1963 photo: AP

Marilyn’s mother Gladys Monroe Baker lived until 1984, dying at  the age of 81.

These two photographs of Gladys, Continue reading

A Play At The Plate You’ll No Longer See

Rusty Staub Takes Out Catcher Jerry May At Home Plate – 1970

MONTREAL: Montreal Expos’ Rusty Staub (10) collides with Pittsburgh Pirates’ catcher Jerry May (12) after scoring Montreal’s second R.B.I. on a single by Coco Laboy, which also scored Don Hahn in the first inning here. August 4, 1970 photo: UPI Telephoto

Even though Rusty Staub scored, the Expos lost the game 4-2.

Baseball players have always played hard. It’s just that Continue reading

The Cost Of Living In New York City In 1921

In 1921 The Annual Cost Of Living In New York For Working Men & Women Was Just Over $1,000

A Family Of Five –  $2,263

Moving and searching for a new apartment illustration Eldon Kelley, New York Herald

For several weeks The New York Times has been running a column on the weekend “Affording New York.’

The headlines show there is a wide range of what is considered affordable in order to live in New York City.

Some of the recent articles hidden behind the Times paywall are :”How a Geologist Lives on $200,000 in Bushwick, Brooklyn.”  “How a Florist Lives on $23,000 a Year in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.” And “How an Artist Lives on $36,000 a Year on the Upper West Side” These articles elaborate on how people cope with the cost of living.

105 years ago in 1921 Dr. William Mosher of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, conducted an exhaustive study of the cost of living in New York.

What Dr. Mosher found was that a male clerk could subsist well on $1,093 Year, while a single woman would need $1,118.

The study of minimum quantity and cost budgets made by Dr. Mosher was primarily dealing Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #193 – Bette Davis Off Camera With 4-Year-Old Co-Star

Bette Davis Between Takes Of All This, And Heaven Too – 1940

ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME
The best of friends are Bette Davis and Richard Nichols. Bette doesn’t make a practice of serving as a cushion for young men on her movie sets but Richard is an exception.

He’s 4-years-old and his friendship with the distinguished actress dates from the first days shooting on All This, And Heaven Too, the Warner filmization of the Rachel Field novel, starring Miss Davis and Charles Boyer. Master Nichols plays the important role of the Duc de Praslin’s youngest child. The youngster completely captivated everyone concerned with the production; no one “fell” harder for him than Bette. photo Warner Bros. Studio, Burbank, CA 1940

Bette Davis has her ever-present cigarette while relaxing between takes with her young co-star Richard Nichols.

Smoking was very acceptable for most of the twentieth century.  So there is nothing amiss in having a child sit on your lap while having a smoke.

Richard Nichols, born in Los Angeles, CA on December 14, 1935 appeared in a dozen films. His brothers also were motion picture actors. But Richard Nichols Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #195 – 125th St. West From 7th Ave. c. 1910

Harlem 125th Street Looking West From Seventh Avenue

This undated, circa 1910 Detroit Publishing Co. photograph of Harlem’s main stem of 125th Street shows a flurry of activity. We are looking west from Seventh Avenue, today renamed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. This area of Harlem looks like a small village with most buildings being four stories or less.

It’s obviously a chilly day, and every pedestrian is well dressed and wearing a hat.

Most don a modern hat.  Except for this retro, bearded man in a nineteenth century top hat. Both top hats and beards had fallen completely out of fashion in the early 20th century. He stands under the old lamppost street sign locator near an unusual type of fire hydrant.

On the northwest corner (right) is a Continue reading

Bullet Train Arrives & New York City Cares About Pollution – 1934

New York City Says No To Coal Or Oil Burning Trains – 1934

In the 1970s practically every apartment building had an incinerator to burn its trash. New York City’s sky had a constant haze of air pollution from a variety of smog producing outlets.

So it may be surprising to realize that New York did have concerns about air pollution in the 1930s. This photograph with the news slug explains:

An Electric Locomotive Draws The Record-Breaking Coast To Coast Train
New York – A scene on the Park Avenue elevated tracks in New York, showing the Union Pacific “Bullet Train” being drawn by an electric locomotive into Grand Central Terminal at the end of the 56-hour, 57-minute record breaking journey from Los Angeles. The locomotive was attached at Harmon, New York to conform with the law which prohibits a coal or oil burning engine o go through New York. The stream line train is an oil burner. photo: International News 10-25-1934

Union Pacific’s Continue reading

A Valuable Motorcycle At The 1926 Bicycle Show

Show Girl Agnes O’ Loughlin On A 1926 Excelsior Super X Motorcycle

The 12th National Bicycle Show
New York: Photo shows Agnes O’Loughlin riding the ivory and gold motorcycle which was one of the principle exhibits at the 12th National Bicycle Show at the new Madison Square Garden. photo; King Features Syndicate 1-12-1926

Some things have not changed much in one hundred years. Companies still hire pretty women to demonstrate their products at conventions.

Admission to The National Bicycle Show in 1926 was fifty cents. The show was held at the third and newest building named “Madison Square Garden” which opened on November 29, 1925 at  Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Street. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #194 – Seventh Avenue & 23rd St. – 1916

Seventh Ave Looking North From 23rd Street

This photograph was taken by the City of New York to document construction along Seventh Avenue. The date is Tuesday, August 29 ,1916. The high temperature for the day was a comfortable 71 degrees.

The extension of the subway from Times Square south of Seventh Avenue to the Battery would necessitate ripping up the street along the route. Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #192 – William Powell

William Powell Paramount Publicity Photograph 1929

And A Rare Interview About Playing A Part

37-year-old William Powell looks very tan in this 1929 Paramount Pictures publicity photograph. Powell also looks like he has a case of the mumps.

Powell is best known to classic movie fans for author Dashiell Hammett’s creation; Nick Charles, a former private detective, in a series of hugely popular Thin Man films with Myrna Loy Continue reading