1975 Show Review

Looking Like Marilyn
By Michael Grieg

A 19-year old platinum blonde ticket off a quick succession of classic Marilyn Monroe poses yesterday.

Arms flung upward, model Janet Sean wore a clinging black gown and an expression of open-mouthed wonder. Then she wet her lips, held a sinuous stance, and smiled a smile that was saucy and yet innocent. Finally, her eyes downcast, there was that familiar pout, a trace of mock sadness in the expression.

�I�ve been taken for Marilyn ever since I changed my hair to platinum,� she breathed to the reporter once the camera stopped clicking. �Oh, I hope I win. Her death was so tragic. She was sad, I know. Me? I�d be happy to achieve what she did � that kind of stardom.�

She was among a score of local would-be glamour queens auditioning for a Marilyn Monroe look-alike contest to be held in Veterans Auditorium at 8 o�clock tonight in a St. Valentine�s Day tribute to the legendary star.

�We�ll be going partly on looks and talent,� said Robin Smith, a professional clown, who organized the two-day event to benefit the Magical Miracle Theater, a non-profit troupe of itinerant players.

�Heart and soul, however, will count most of all. Those qualities were perhaps Marilyn�s most irresistible ones.�

Against a backdrop of neo-pop paintings of the actress by artist, Demetrie Kabbaz, Smith spoke of the posters and other Marilyn memorabilia he has collected for the tribute. A double bill of her most famous films, �Some Like It Hot� and �There�s No Business Like Show Business,� will also be shown.

�I feel haunted by her spirit,� said the clown -impresario who is putting to-gether a musical, �Marilyn," scheduled for a fall opening here with the look-a-like winner in the starring role.

He turned to the next blonde in the audition line, �All right, we�re ready for you. Remember; innocence and sex, Venus, the Valentine Devine. Marilyn was that kind of figure. Archetypal�

Daryl Gedney, a 23-year-old City College drama student, had the familiar breathy voice down pat but it was obvious that she wasn�t completely satisfied with her undulating effort. �I don�t think I could ever come close to what she was and still is to many of us," she said.

�There was that way she seemed to surrender to the camera, as if she were making love to it. Nobody had more of a relationship with the camera than any star of her time, or since. I think of her as a fine actress. More, there was this total giving to people about her.�

Lou Bailey, a 21-year-old hopeful who is a Union Street sales clerk in the day-to-day world, noted that the fabled star who died a decade ago would have been 49 if she had lived.

�She�d probably look even more sensuous today. She�d also be into more serious parts � actressy things like Elizabeth Taylor is doing.

�It�s so sad she had more downs than ups�. Remember, she was an orphan and a confirmed alcoholic. Oh, if only she could have held on. I�d love to have met her. Why, I�ve seen every movie of hers. I�ve seen them twice and three times.

For a moment, the Marilyn Monroe look-a-likes in the audition room all looked somewhat forlorn. Then the City College drama student brightened, �Things would be different nowadays for somebody like Marilyn Monroe,� she said. �For one thing, there�s the women�s movement. She�d find more respect and understanding. The people of her own time were sort of shallow.�

Page 2 San Francisco Chronicle *** Fri. February 14, 1975