What we need to stimulate the local economy is the big Marilyn Monroe — the 26-foot tall statue of the Blonde Bombshell — now in Chicago.
I urged Joan Carter, former executive director of the Davie County Chamber of Commerce and manager of the Town of Bermuda Run, to see it two weeks ago while she was in Chicago for a sisters reunion.
Go see Marilyn. Take your Enterprise-Record and get a picture, I had said.
She hadn’t heard about big Marilyn and didn’t pack her newspaper. She was more than a little skeptical.
Big Marilyn has been posed on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile since July in a recreation of her famous pose in “The Seven Year Itch” with her skirts billowing up to her waist while she stands on a subway grate, underwear exposed.
It’s the new tourist rage in Chicago and is supposed to stay there until next spring.
Maybe we should invite Marilyn here when Chicago is finished with her.
Joan found the statue on a rainy day and took the photo at left. That’s a man posing beneath Marilyn, a hand on each leg.
Joan had to venture alone in the rain with her camera, her sisters not willing to risk looking silly … or wet.
“Sisters were across the street staying dry,” she wrote. “Figured I would get pneumonia soon from the cold. She was, however, pretty neat and big! It took me 15 minutes to get a shot without the men gawking.”
There is a lot of gawking. Tourists pose between Marilyn’s legs. Some are offended. Some think it’s fun. All are amazed …