{"product_id":"the-prince-the-showgirl-and-me-no-61-by-colin-clark","title":"The Prince, the Showgirl and Me (No. 61) by Colin Clark","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"entry-quote\"\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s Tuesday, 14 August 1956, and through a combination of chutzpah and some useful contacts (he is after all the son of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/books\/page-turner\/the-seductive-enthusiasm-of-kenneth-clarks-civilisation\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLord Clark of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCivilisation\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e), Colin Clark, fresh from Oxford, has got himself a job. He’s now a ‘gofer’ or general dogsbody on the Pinewood Studios set of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Prince and the Showgirl\u003c\/em\u003e, a light comedy starring Sir Laurence Olivier (abbreviated in the diary Colin is beadily keeping to SLO) and Marilyn Monroe (MM).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been clear almost from the moment Marilyn Monroe and her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, stepped off the plane at Heathrow, shortly to be followed by Marilyn’s acting coach Paula Strasberg, that this ill-advised project is going to be a car crash. ‘SLO probably thought the whole thing would be a bit of a lark,’ writes Colin. ‘He could have fun, make money and add considerably to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ehis\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eglamour.’ Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePoor SLO is increasingly grim-faced as MM fails to turn up on time, can’t remember her lines and when she does can barely speak them without consulting Paula – or worse, making long-distance calls to Paula’s husband, the guru of ‘Method’ acting Lee Strasberg in New York – a terrible affront to SLO’s dignity as he is supposed to be in charge. As for SLO, he’s out of his depth with this very un-British crowd, and Marilyn herself is a troubling enigma – impossible to deal with, unable to act, yet possessed of some indefinable magic that makes her irresistible on screen when the ‘rushes’ come through, often upstaging Sir Laurence Olivier himself. For him she’s the ultimate dumb blonde, though there are hints from Colin, who like most men on the set has fallen in love with her, that she’s brighter than she seems.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \u003c\/span\u003eThe Prince, the Showgirl and Me\u003cspan\u003e, Colin Clark is in a brilliant, fly-on-the-wall position to record all this since he knows SLO personally as a family friend yet is so junior that his presence is barely noticed when crises occur and important decisions are being made. There are some delicious cameo appearances too in this tragicomedy: Arthur Miller, smug and self-important, ‘grinning like an amiable crocodile’ at the side of his trophy wife;  MM’s publicity man, the appalling Arthur P. Jacobs (‘close-cropped black hair, pugnacious, bad-tempered, puffy face’) who keeps Colin waiting outside the Savoy hotel for an hour and a half and finally emerges without a word of apology; and, pouring oil on troubled waters, saintly Dame Sybil Thorndike, already in her seventies, who turns up promptly and professionally at 6.15 every morning while Marilyn is still in bed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Prince and the Showgirl\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e did eventually get made and sank without trace. Some years later Colin Clark met Billy Wilder, director of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSome Like It Hot\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, at a party and mentioned that he too had worked with Marilyn Monroe. ‘Then you know the meaning of pure pain,’ Wilder growled. Colin’s hilarious account of it, however, is pure pleasure.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Fruity, lascivious, apple-cart upturning, this has all the elements we have come to expect from the Clark school of diarifying . . . quite wondrously and toe-curlingly frank’\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003csmall\u003eThe Times\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"entry-quote\"\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Sheer delight . . . sharp, funny and irreverent’\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003csmall\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"entry-quote\"\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Extraordinarily compulsive reading . . . a fascinating document’\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003csmall\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN: 9781910898758\u003cbr\u003eDimensions: 170 x 110mm\u003cbr\u003ePublication date: 1 December 2022\u003cbr\u003eGenre: Memoir\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Cloth hardback\u003cbr\u003eTrimmings: Coloured endpapers; silk ribbon, head- \u0026amp; tailband; gold blocking to spine; blind blocking to front\u003cbr\u003eNB: Hand-numbered limited edition of 2,000\u003cbr\u003ePreface: Derek Parker\u003cbr\u003eNumber in SFE series: 61\u003cbr\u003eMade in Britain\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Wave of Nostalgia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":65719637868893,"sku":null,"price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/8838\/2301\/files\/SFE-61-Colin-Clark-The-Prince-the-Showgirl-and-Me-Slightly-Foxed-Edition-Winter-2022.jpg?v=1787906161","url":"https:\/\/waveofnostalgia.co.uk\/products\/the-prince-the-showgirl-and-me-no-61-by-colin-clark","provider":"Wave of Nostalgia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}