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The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me: Six Months on the Set With Marilyn and Olivier
MM doesn’t really forget her lines. It is more as if she had never quite learnt them – as if they are pinned to her mental noticeboard so loosely that the slightest puff of wind will send them floating to the floor . . . This is very disconcerting to the other actors . . .’
It’s Tuesday, 14 August 1956, and through a combination of chutzpah and some useful contacts (he is after all the son of Lord Clark of Civilisation), Colin Clark, fresh from Oxford, has got himself a job. He’s now a ‘gofer’ or general dogsbody on the Pinewood Studios set of The Prince and the Showgirl, a light comedy starring Sir Laurence Olivier (abbreviated in the diary Colin is beadily keeping to SLO) and Marilyn Monroe (MM).
It’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 his glamour.’ Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.
Poor 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.
In The Prince, the Showgirl and Me, 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.
The Prince and the Showgirl did eventually get made and sank without trace. Some years later Colin Clark met Billy Wilder, director of Some Like It Hot, 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.
‘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’ The Times
‘Sheer delight . . . sharp, funny and irreverent’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Extraordinarily compulsive reading . . . a fascinating document’ Mail on Sunday
It’s Tuesday, 14 August 1956, and through a combination of chutzpah and some useful contacts (he is after all the son of Lord Clark of Civilisation), Colin Clark, fresh from Oxford, has got himself a job. He’s now a ‘gofer’ or general dogsbody on the Pinewood Studios set of The Prince and the Showgirl, a light comedy starring Sir Laurence Olivier (abbreviated in the diary Colin is beadily keeping to SLO) and Marilyn Monroe (MM).
It’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 his glamour.’ Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.
Poor 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.
In The Prince, the Showgirl and Me, 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.
The Prince and the Showgirl did eventually get made and sank without trace. Some years later Colin Clark met Billy Wilder, director of Some Like It Hot, 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.
‘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’ The Times
‘Sheer delight . . . sharp, funny and irreverent’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Extraordinarily compulsive reading . . . a fascinating document’ Mail on Sunday
237 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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678 people want to read
About the author
Colin Clark
3 booksColin Clark was a British writer and filmmaker who specialised in films about the arts, for cinema and television.
He was the son of the art historian Kenneth Clark, and the younger brother of the Conservative politician and military historian Alan Clark, with whom he was not always on good terms.
Born in London, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. From 1951 to 1953, he did national service as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force. In that capacity, he flew the Handley Page Hastings aircraft to Malaya and the Middle East.
Colin Clark's first job on leaving university was as a personal assistant on the film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), directed by Laurence Olivier and starring Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, an experience Clark later turned into two books – The Prince, the Showgirl and Me and My Week with Marilyn – the former a set of diaries (a TV documentary version of which was also made in 2004) and the latter a memoir of his relationship with Monroe. Clark's period with Monroe is the basis of the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn.
Clark was briefly married to prima ballerina Violette Verdy in the 1960s. Their marriage ended in divorce. He retired from filmmaking in 1987 to write books. He died in December 2002 in London.
Abridged from Wikipedia.
He was the son of the art historian Kenneth Clark, and the younger brother of the Conservative politician and military historian Alan Clark, with whom he was not always on good terms.
Born in London, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. From 1951 to 1953, he did national service as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force. In that capacity, he flew the Handley Page Hastings aircraft to Malaya and the Middle East.
Colin Clark's first job on leaving university was as a personal assistant on the film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), directed by Laurence Olivier and starring Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, an experience Clark later turned into two books – The Prince, the Showgirl and Me and My Week with Marilyn – the former a set of diaries (a TV documentary version of which was also made in 2004) and the latter a memoir of his relationship with Monroe. Clark's period with Monroe is the basis of the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn.
Clark was briefly married to prima ballerina Violette Verdy in the 1960s. Their marriage ended in divorce. He retired from filmmaking in 1987 to write books. He died in December 2002 in London.
Abridged from Wikipedia.
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September 26, 2011
THE PRINCE, THE SHOWGIRL, AND ME: SIX MONTHS ON THE SET WITH MARILYN AND OLIVIER, by Colin Clark.
When possibly the greatest actor in the world joined forces with the biggest movie star in the world for a romantic comedy, one could justifiably hope for a Great Event in cinema history. One could just as justifiably wonder how these astonishingly different people could possibly work together.
Colin Clark (son of the great art historian Sir Kenneth Clark) worked as a third assistant director on the film, which was called THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. Sir Laurence Olivier repeated his stage role as the pompous prince regent of a Balkan nation. Marilyn Monroe played the slightly ditzy yet actually quite bright (and adorable) American actress who catches the prince's fancy then shows him a thing or two about being human. Olivier directed the film, and he and Monroe, through their respective production companies, produced it. Though the film itself is rather lovely, the making of it is a bit of a horror legend in the film world. Clark's daily diary entries take the reader through a close-up view of the normally difficult world of movie making, with special emphasis on the abnormally difficult making of this particular film.
Olivier was the most professional of actors: letter-perfect on his lines (and everyone else's), punctual, assured, and deeply prepared. Monroe was a limping fawn with little self-esteem, virtually no professionalism, and an unfailing ability to live without awareness of any needs but her own. That her life before fame had been a battered one, and that her need for affirmation and adoration revealed itself by ignoring anything that *wasn't* affirmation and adoration, are well-known. In Clark's view, she was not an awful person who deliberately dismissed the concerns of others. Rather she was incapable of seeing any needs but her own, which meant that the world revolved around her needs and she was blind to all else. Blind, as in cannot be blamed for not seeing. In normal circumstances, one can accommodate the needs of someone so wounded, so helpless. But when millions of dollars are at stake, when people's entire careers are on the line, and when one's entire being is centered on an ideal of professionalism, it's easy to see how pity would quickly subside, to be replaced by anger and contempt.
Monroe was never on time. She found it difficult to remember any lines that required her to change her course of thinking in a scene. She was sometimes dazed or bewildered, sometimes tipsy, sometimes drugged. She was freshly married to famed playwright Arthur Miller, who apparently treated her abominably. She was pregnant and apparently suffered a miscarriage during filming. She was unable to accept direction from anyone except her acting coach (actually, the *wife* of her acting coach). She often left early or missed entire shooting days without notice. Olivier lost patience quickly, struggled mightily to maintain the production, had difficulty with his own performance, and was so traumatized by the experience that he didn't direct another film for 13 years.
But it is Monroe who, in my reading, comes off the most sympathetic. It's not that Olivier should have done anything different--perhaps he would better have coddled her than confronted her as often as he did, perhaps not--but rather that the situation was simply impossible. When Colin Clark mentioned a few years later to director Billy Wilder that he, too, had worked with Monroe, Wilder exclaimed, "Ah. Then you too know the meaning of pure pain." Monroe was most certainly incapable of being anything or anyone but who she was, and to get what was indeed her special magic on screen, it was necessary to live with who and what she was, to go through the crucible of fire that working with her entailed. Olivier, on the other hand, (despite being one of my two favorite actors and a figure I esteem higher than anyone in the profession), comes off as unfeeling and short of understanding and flexibility. There is probably nothing he could have done to make the situation better, but his rigidity on and off camera might have made it worse.
Colin Clark himself seems like a likeable fellow with a fine eye for detail and a rare insight into human nature. Though but a callow youth at the time of his experience, he shows an admirable realism about the people he cares about (particularly Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh) while making it clear that Monroe's often abominable behavior was not entirely condemnable, in light of who she was. Clark is a wonderful guide behind the scenes in the making of a film that, considering how awful the making of it was for all concerned, came off as a not unenjoyable piece of cinema.
On the day Monroe finished the film, she presented presents to the entire crew. Upon her departure, to a one, the crew tossed the gifts unopened into the waste bin. Clark's book makes it very understandable how such a gesture of disdain could be possible. It also makes it very clear that the gesture was not entirely justified.
By the way, I read this book and saw the movie more or less simultaneously. If you ever get a chance to do it that way, I highly recommend it. It made every moment richer, both in reading and in watching.
When possibly the greatest actor in the world joined forces with the biggest movie star in the world for a romantic comedy, one could justifiably hope for a Great Event in cinema history. One could just as justifiably wonder how these astonishingly different people could possibly work together.
Colin Clark (son of the great art historian Sir Kenneth Clark) worked as a third assistant director on the film, which was called THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. Sir Laurence Olivier repeated his stage role as the pompous prince regent of a Balkan nation. Marilyn Monroe played the slightly ditzy yet actually quite bright (and adorable) American actress who catches the prince's fancy then shows him a thing or two about being human. Olivier directed the film, and he and Monroe, through their respective production companies, produced it. Though the film itself is rather lovely, the making of it is a bit of a horror legend in the film world. Clark's daily diary entries take the reader through a close-up view of the normally difficult world of movie making, with special emphasis on the abnormally difficult making of this particular film.
Olivier was the most professional of actors: letter-perfect on his lines (and everyone else's), punctual, assured, and deeply prepared. Monroe was a limping fawn with little self-esteem, virtually no professionalism, and an unfailing ability to live without awareness of any needs but her own. That her life before fame had been a battered one, and that her need for affirmation and adoration revealed itself by ignoring anything that *wasn't* affirmation and adoration, are well-known. In Clark's view, she was not an awful person who deliberately dismissed the concerns of others. Rather she was incapable of seeing any needs but her own, which meant that the world revolved around her needs and she was blind to all else. Blind, as in cannot be blamed for not seeing. In normal circumstances, one can accommodate the needs of someone so wounded, so helpless. But when millions of dollars are at stake, when people's entire careers are on the line, and when one's entire being is centered on an ideal of professionalism, it's easy to see how pity would quickly subside, to be replaced by anger and contempt.
Monroe was never on time. She found it difficult to remember any lines that required her to change her course of thinking in a scene. She was sometimes dazed or bewildered, sometimes tipsy, sometimes drugged. She was freshly married to famed playwright Arthur Miller, who apparently treated her abominably. She was pregnant and apparently suffered a miscarriage during filming. She was unable to accept direction from anyone except her acting coach (actually, the *wife* of her acting coach). She often left early or missed entire shooting days without notice. Olivier lost patience quickly, struggled mightily to maintain the production, had difficulty with his own performance, and was so traumatized by the experience that he didn't direct another film for 13 years.
But it is Monroe who, in my reading, comes off the most sympathetic. It's not that Olivier should have done anything different--perhaps he would better have coddled her than confronted her as often as he did, perhaps not--but rather that the situation was simply impossible. When Colin Clark mentioned a few years later to director Billy Wilder that he, too, had worked with Monroe, Wilder exclaimed, "Ah. Then you too know the meaning of pure pain." Monroe was most certainly incapable of being anything or anyone but who she was, and to get what was indeed her special magic on screen, it was necessary to live with who and what she was, to go through the crucible of fire that working with her entailed. Olivier, on the other hand, (despite being one of my two favorite actors and a figure I esteem higher than anyone in the profession), comes off as unfeeling and short of understanding and flexibility. There is probably nothing he could have done to make the situation better, but his rigidity on and off camera might have made it worse.
Colin Clark himself seems like a likeable fellow with a fine eye for detail and a rare insight into human nature. Though but a callow youth at the time of his experience, he shows an admirable realism about the people he cares about (particularly Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh) while making it clear that Monroe's often abominable behavior was not entirely condemnable, in light of who she was. Clark is a wonderful guide behind the scenes in the making of a film that, considering how awful the making of it was for all concerned, came off as a not unenjoyable piece of cinema.
On the day Monroe finished the film, she presented presents to the entire crew. Upon her departure, to a one, the crew tossed the gifts unopened into the waste bin. Clark's book makes it very understandable how such a gesture of disdain could be possible. It also makes it very clear that the gesture was not entirely justified.
By the way, I read this book and saw the movie more or less simultaneously. If you ever get a chance to do it that way, I highly recommend it. It made every moment richer, both in reading and in watching.
November 26, 2019
Marilyn doesn't remember her lines. Marilyn never shows up. The crew can't function around Marilyn but the whole set feels empty without her. She messes up every scene yet she's the only one you watch. The Marilyn effect is beautifully explained in the book as well as a glance behind the lens of a motion picture. You're making a movie with Marilyn Monroe. If the movie is a hit you win. If the movie is a flop, you still win. xoxo
March 8, 2013
Who could imagine the great stage actor Laurence Olivier would seek to revive his film career by inviting the Marilyn Monroe to star opposite him in a British period comedy? In 1956, when such a film is actually made, Marilyn was already a great film star, but she wanted to be considered a great actress, and playing opposite Olivier in anything would raise her star. This book is the result of that collaboration. Author Colin Clark kept a diary of his time working on the film as Third Assistant Director, a position he blithely calls “gofer.” Clark was a young Oxford graduate interested in breaking into film direction, and he wangled his way into a position from which he was able to observe the stars, the tensions, the successes and the failures. It is a remarkable, insightful, true-to-life tale of two of the most famous actors of the post-war period, agonizingly piecing together a tragedy comedy.
In 2011 a film was made of the story recounted in this book. Called
My Week with Marilyn, the film has the most brilliant star-studded cast including Michelle Williams playing Marilyn, Kenneth Branagh as Olivier, Julia Ormond as Vivian Leigh, and Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark. But somehow My Week... carries with it the doom of the earlier film with the famous and talented Olivier and Monroe. It simply doesn’t work. There is no one with the camera-presence of Marilyn Monroe. Her voice, body, and mystique all worked together to suck the air out of a room. The camera saw only her when she was on. Branagh faithfully reproduced a “wooden and awkward” Olivier, and showed us his seams when he waited, and waited…and waited for his co-star to show up, to remember her lines, to be the great actress she was supposed to be.
The book must be something of a cult classic since it came out in 1995, for it shows a time and a culture through the lens of a rather brilliant and interested observer who manages to keep his friendships throughout the ordeal: “When the filming was completed I was almost the only person who was still on speaking terms with everyone else. That alone probably makes this diary unique.” (p. 12) But Clark also got to the heart of the Marilyn phenomenon…why she was so great, and even possibly why she ultimately failed.
This is Clark when he first sees Marilyn “in the flesh”:
After Clark has been working on the film some time, he comes to the conclusion that Marilyn Monroe is something completely extraordinary:
Finally, after many, many years, Clark publishes his diary of that time. In the Postscript he shares his remembrance of that time:
In 2011 a film was made of the story recounted in this book. Called
My Week with Marilyn, the film has the most brilliant star-studded cast including Michelle Williams playing Marilyn, Kenneth Branagh as Olivier, Julia Ormond as Vivian Leigh, and Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark. But somehow My Week... carries with it the doom of the earlier film with the famous and talented Olivier and Monroe. It simply doesn’t work. There is no one with the camera-presence of Marilyn Monroe. Her voice, body, and mystique all worked together to suck the air out of a room. The camera saw only her when she was on. Branagh faithfully reproduced a “wooden and awkward” Olivier, and showed us his seams when he waited, and waited…and waited for his co-star to show up, to remember her lines, to be the great actress she was supposed to be.
The book must be something of a cult classic since it came out in 1995, for it shows a time and a culture through the lens of a rather brilliant and interested observer who manages to keep his friendships throughout the ordeal: “When the filming was completed I was almost the only person who was still on speaking terms with everyone else. That alone probably makes this diary unique.” (p. 12) But Clark also got to the heart of the Marilyn phenomenon…why she was so great, and even possibly why she ultimately failed.
This is Clark when he first sees Marilyn “in the flesh”:
”Well, she certainly looks like Marilyn Monroe, and not all film stars do look their image. She has got a cute smile, but so far she only turns it on for the cameras. Her figure—and especially her bust—is fantastic but a little on the plump side. Problems—too much fakery: peroxide hair, dead white make-up, heavy lipstick, but that is her image. She looks confused too, lost, troubled. That the MM image, too, I know, but even when she’s shot the door on the reporters, she still looks in distress, not just acting it. “
After Clark has been working on the film some time, he comes to the conclusion that Marilyn Monroe is something completely extraordinary:
”Whenever I meet anyone who has got right to the top, I always notice that they have something extra that ordinary people—including me alas—do not have. And that ‘little extra’, whatever it is, does not mean that they have a happy or an easy life—quite the contrary. We have no right to demand that they share that little extra with us and then criticize them for being different or difficult or ‘dangerous to know’. MM has more than a little extra, and yet the technicians expect her to behave like a twopenny Rank starlet. If was [Olivier] I would tell them off, and lay out the red carpet for MM every day. But that would mean telling himself off too, and admitting that while he is great in many ways, it is MM who is the MOVIE STAR.”
Finally, after many, many years, Clark publishes his diary of that time. In the Postscript he shares his remembrance of that time:
“While she was making The Prince and the Showgirl, Marilyn was often in great distress. Of course she was in an unfamiliar country, but even those with whom she had chosen to surround herself were from a completely different world to her. Milton and Amy Greene, Lee and Paula Strasberg, Arthur Miller, Hedda Rosten, Arthur Jacobs and Irving Stein all came from a New York, Jewish, immigrant background which was the opposite of Marilyn’s unstructured Californian upbringing. Not for her the possessive mother in the warm Bronx kitchen, giving a child a sense of its own worth, and the future confidence that goes with it. And yet, when she was in front of a camera, Marilyn radiated a joy and a vitality which made everyone else pale by comparison. No wonder we cannot forget her.”
March 29, 2021
I recently saw "My Week with Marilyn" and just had to borrow the book it was based on.
Let's just say that no literary prizes were won by Colin Clark, but the book did provide the framework for the movie.
That framework: the making of "The Prince and the Showgirl," a 1957 film starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. No prizes were won by the film either, but it had a lot of stars and big names running around during the filming.
You should see the movie just to observe Eddie Redmayne stealing every scene he is in.
Let's just say that no literary prizes were won by Colin Clark, but the book did provide the framework for the movie.
That framework: the making of "The Prince and the Showgirl," a 1957 film starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. No prizes were won by the film either, but it had a lot of stars and big names running around during the filming.
You should see the movie just to observe Eddie Redmayne stealing every scene he is in.
April 18, 2012
If you LOVE movies
and "behind-the-scenes" stuff
with some amusing
AND intelligent insights into Human Nature
you will probably enjoy this on-the-spot diary of 1956
by the 23 year old Colin Clark
son of the gracious Lord Kenneth Clark.
This is a Great Read.
AND an excellent film ..."My Week With Marilyn".
BOTH are worth a look.
On site you may be unfortunate enough to read
the reviewers whose critical faculties can't get past
"boring". If only we could despatch them a peanut.
and "behind-the-scenes" stuff
with some amusing
AND intelligent insights into Human Nature
you will probably enjoy this on-the-spot diary of 1956
by the 23 year old Colin Clark
son of the gracious Lord Kenneth Clark.
This is a Great Read.
AND an excellent film ..."My Week With Marilyn".
BOTH are worth a look.
On site you may be unfortunate enough to read
the reviewers whose critical faculties can't get past
"boring". If only we could despatch them a peanut.
April 23, 2012
The take-away from this book is that movies, although the stuff of dreams and leisure, are not easy to make. Whether by actors or by crew, they are hard work. Personalities clash, but perfection is essential.
At the same time as the author sheds some light on this little-understood world, at times he spends too much time on it. The narrative can drag.
At the same time as the author sheds some light on this little-understood world, at times he spends too much time on it. The narrative can drag.
November 25, 2022
My Week with Marilyn, het moet denk ik één van de beste films over Marilyn Monroe zijn die ik al heb gezien. Ondertussen al vele jaren niet meer gezien – volgens mij heb ik de film enkel in de cinema gezien – maar de naam Colin Clark was wel altijd blijven hangen. Hij speelt namelijk een grote rol in die film (hij wordt gespeeld door Eddie Redmayne), maar het was natuurlijk ook zijn dagboek waar de film de inspiratie ging halen.
Aangezien ik altijd wel te vinden ben voor dit soort dagboeken over films/series (die van Michael Palin blijft imposant goed), was dit dan ook een erg fijne tweedehands vondst. Zoals de titel doet vermoeden, gaat dit dagboek dan ook over de periode waarin Marilyn Monroe en Laurence Olivier samen de film The Prince and the Showgirl maakte. Een film waar veel van afhing (het was Monroe’s eerste film onder haar eigen productiehuis en ze zag het als een kans om zich een ander imago aan te meten), maar die uiteindelijk geen potten brak. Ik heb er echter altijd wel een zwak voor gehad en in dat opzicht is het erg tof om als een vlieg op de muur mee te krijgen wat er allemaal op set gebeurde. Vooral grappig om Clark te zien groeien naar bepaalde mensen, bij zijn eerste ontmoeting had hij geen al te hoge dunk van Monroe, maar het boek zit vol met kleine details die je in de film niet opvallen. De vele problemen met het te laat komen van Monroe, problemen met belichting, … Er loopt vanalles mis en hoewel Clark natuurlijk een erg vertekend beeld geeft (hij was een huisvriend van Laurence Olivier en Vivien Leigh), lijkt het me wel een eerlijk beeld. Monroe was niet makkelijk om mee samen te werken, maar kon echt magisch zijn.
Af en toe wel iets teveel gegoochel met namen, maar langs de andere kant is dat wel logisch. Dit is echt puur hoe Clark indertijd zijn gedachten neerpende en voor hem zijn dit allemaal gezichten die hij al jarenlang kent. Uiteindelijk wel wat aan de korte kant en iets teveel herhaling, maar ik heb er van genoten.
Aangezien ik altijd wel te vinden ben voor dit soort dagboeken over films/series (die van Michael Palin blijft imposant goed), was dit dan ook een erg fijne tweedehands vondst. Zoals de titel doet vermoeden, gaat dit dagboek dan ook over de periode waarin Marilyn Monroe en Laurence Olivier samen de film The Prince and the Showgirl maakte. Een film waar veel van afhing (het was Monroe’s eerste film onder haar eigen productiehuis en ze zag het als een kans om zich een ander imago aan te meten), maar die uiteindelijk geen potten brak. Ik heb er echter altijd wel een zwak voor gehad en in dat opzicht is het erg tof om als een vlieg op de muur mee te krijgen wat er allemaal op set gebeurde. Vooral grappig om Clark te zien groeien naar bepaalde mensen, bij zijn eerste ontmoeting had hij geen al te hoge dunk van Monroe, maar het boek zit vol met kleine details die je in de film niet opvallen. De vele problemen met het te laat komen van Monroe, problemen met belichting, … Er loopt vanalles mis en hoewel Clark natuurlijk een erg vertekend beeld geeft (hij was een huisvriend van Laurence Olivier en Vivien Leigh), lijkt het me wel een eerlijk beeld. Monroe was niet makkelijk om mee samen te werken, maar kon echt magisch zijn.
Af en toe wel iets teveel gegoochel met namen, maar langs de andere kant is dat wel logisch. Dit is echt puur hoe Clark indertijd zijn gedachten neerpende en voor hem zijn dit allemaal gezichten die hij al jarenlang kent. Uiteindelijk wel wat aan de korte kant en iets teveel herhaling, maar ik heb er van genoten.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2024
I recently picked this book up upon the recommendation of a Goodreads friend's review, something I haven't done before.
Cons: Clark's writing wasn't compelling and his lack of a personal relationship with Marilyn made his observations lack any insider knowledge. Also, Clark was a horndog and his descriptions of certain women in the story made him come off as a chauvinist who really only saw women's worth in terms of their sexual allure.
Pros: Clark's distance from Monroe put him in a good place to reach a less biased viewpoint than some other biographers.
I didn't have any in depth knowledge of Monroe to start with but from cursory read throughs of other biographies of her, they seemed to be written by men who were infatuated with her and thought of her as a frightened and helpless victim, a viewpoint Clark seemed to share.
Monroe was already in the thick of her pills addiction, with some overuse of champagne thrown in. Apparently, she had just married Arthur Miller prior to filming, and that relationship was tumultuous from the beginning. Not only did Monroe suffer a miscarriage during filming but she also purportedly found some of Miller's derogatory writing about her, which sent her completely off the rails. Her behavior on set was infamous and her chronic lateness infuriated Laurence Olivier and all of the people on set waiting around for her. Olivier and Monroe were at complete odds with one another and the author's statement that they should have just had a brief affair before filming started in an attempt to get to know each other was just asinine. They did not understand each other and didn't take the time to do so either. It didn't seem like Monroe was in her right mind for most of filming because due to her pill popping, her behavior was quite bipolar and polarizing.
Clark completely missed the mark in some areas, in my opinion, such as the belief that she was weak and vulnerable. I think she was a grown woman who had the capability to make her own decisions and take credit for her successes and failures. However, I thought he made some good points. He said she was a natural on camera but not a great actress. It seems like the only time she performed well was by sheer happenstance.
All the people round her want to control her, but they do so by trying to give her what they think she wants.
Cons: Clark's writing wasn't compelling and his lack of a personal relationship with Marilyn made his observations lack any insider knowledge. Also, Clark was a horndog and his descriptions of certain women in the story made him come off as a chauvinist who really only saw women's worth in terms of their sexual allure.
Pros: Clark's distance from Monroe put him in a good place to reach a less biased viewpoint than some other biographers.
I didn't have any in depth knowledge of Monroe to start with but from cursory read throughs of other biographies of her, they seemed to be written by men who were infatuated with her and thought of her as a frightened and helpless victim, a viewpoint Clark seemed to share.
Monroe was already in the thick of her pills addiction, with some overuse of champagne thrown in. Apparently, she had just married Arthur Miller prior to filming, and that relationship was tumultuous from the beginning. Not only did Monroe suffer a miscarriage during filming but she also purportedly found some of Miller's derogatory writing about her, which sent her completely off the rails. Her behavior on set was infamous and her chronic lateness infuriated Laurence Olivier and all of the people on set waiting around for her. Olivier and Monroe were at complete odds with one another and the author's statement that they should have just had a brief affair before filming started in an attempt to get to know each other was just asinine. They did not understand each other and didn't take the time to do so either. It didn't seem like Monroe was in her right mind for most of filming because due to her pill popping, her behavior was quite bipolar and polarizing.
Clark completely missed the mark in some areas, in my opinion, such as the belief that she was weak and vulnerable. I think she was a grown woman who had the capability to make her own decisions and take credit for her successes and failures. However, I thought he made some good points. He said she was a natural on camera but not a great actress. It seems like the only time she performed well was by sheer happenstance.
All the people round her want to control her, but they do so by trying to give her what they think she wants.
April 24, 2025
Colin Clark was a very impressive young man! After he graduated from Eton, he was determined to become a director, and his parents were friends with Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. So he camped out in the office of the newly formed Laurence Olivier Productions in London, to try to get a job on Olivier's current film, The Sleeping Prince (based on a Terrence Rattigan play). He cleverly devised ways to be a "gofer" and eventually became the 3rd Assistant Director of the movie, now called "The Prince and The Showgirl," starring Marilyn Monroe! This diary of his six months as an insider on the soundstages at Pinewood Studios is filled with anecdotes, intrigue and surprises. (For the complete story, also read "My Week With Marilyn," and see the movie!) Clark later went on to produce and direct over 100 documentary films, and helped to establish New York's Channel 13. Quite the success story!
January 7, 2026
Really enjoyable. Colin Clark manages to document the movie making process and everyone’s strengths and foibles (including his own) with remarkable honesty understanding and insight without being condescending. Marilyn Monroe is the star of the story including the pressure on her and how her team (and new husband Arthur Miller) make this harder rather than easier. It’s also delightfully detailed - the process of finding a house for MM to stay in, the process of lighting and makeup, how Marilyn’s dress and makeup are done, the processes of set design and shooting logistics. Really great read.
July 16, 2020
Ok so I watched the movie, "My Week With Marilyn" (twice) before reading this book and the movie is actually what inspired me to get the book and trust me. It did not disappoint.
Well I don't really want to "rate" the book as it is a memoir and based off of the journal entries that Colin Clark wrote; however, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned a lot, and highly recommend giving it a read...then watching the movie :)
Well I don't really want to "rate" the book as it is a memoir and based off of the journal entries that Colin Clark wrote; however, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned a lot, and highly recommend giving it a read...then watching the movie :)
May 22, 2023
Hmmm. I had this on “to read” list for years. It’s a diary, so I was able to read it between other books. Marilyn is a mess during the filming. It is so sad really. She doesn’t seem to have anyone with her who doesn’t want something from her. I am going to read the missing week which is the companion book and was made into a movie.
February 23, 2024
If you love Marilyn Monroe or Laurence Olivier, you’ll enjoy this. It was interesting to get a personal account of what it was like working on a movie set in the 1950’s with two huge, but extraordinarily different artists. There were so very dated themes and topics that I personally did not care for.
February 17, 2019
An interesting tale from an insider during an awkward film with Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. Significantly different from Marilyn and Me movie. I enjoyed the insight of the insider author.
December 8, 2022
A fun bit of time travel but gets repetitive after awhile. DNF at 35%.
November 27, 2024
Gossipy account of directing Monroe.
June 6, 2025
I loved watching the movie. Reading someone's account from working on the set of filming the movie is a privilege. Rest in piece Marilyn, Sir Laurence, and Colin. I wish you were still here.
June 5, 2012
A diary by Colin Clark, who was the third assistant director on the aforementioned movie. I read this after seeing the movie Marilyn and Me, and I'm still awaiting the DVD of the Prince and the Showgirl. My leap of faith is that this is the actual diary Clark kept and not something that was cobbled together later, after Monroe died. I kind of believe it, there are a lot of superfluous details that one would keep in a diary, I suppose. Not surprisingly there was a lot of gay sex going on between male cast members, crew members, etc, including an instance with the author and another actor. The way he described it gives me more insight into the great John Lennon/Brian Epstein legend that has been bandied about for years (but I'll leave that subject for another day AND another book!). After Clark's encounter, he refers to it by saying, "I'm through with that schoolboy stuff," which makes me think this was more the norm in England. I'm reminded of Fenway's comment to Boog in the movie Diner: "Ya ever get the feeling something's going on we don't know about?"
June 9, 2016
I started reading this book right after watching the Academy Awards. I was in a Hollywood/film type of mood. I had already seen the movie "My Week With Marilyn" so I knew ahead of time the basis of Clark's story. However, I found out many more secrets the movie left out. And, as I enjoyed the character of Colin Clark portrayed in the movie, I liked him even more in his own words. I absolutely loved the fly on the wall point of view of the movie set. I also enjoyed many of the in depth descriptions and details of what goes in to making a movie. My only qualm was at times I got rather confused with the many listing of characters Clark encountered. Sometimes he would use their first name, sometimes he would use their last name, and sometimes he would identify them by initials and it was hard to keep up. But, still a good read! I'm now off to read his second book, which describes a certain week left out of "The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me."
April 19, 2012
For those interested in the details of how a film is made this may be more interesting. It's a very detailed day by day diary. Also, the missing week of the diary, which s another book seems even more fabricated after reading this. Marilyn's pregnancy was found out before the missing week in this but in the other book, My week with Marilyn, Colun was with Marilyn when the doctor was called. I finished the book wondering if something more exciting would happen but it didn't.
May 23, 2014
The first part, "My Week with Marilyn," I enjoyed more than the second part, "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me." The first part is about the week that the author left out of his original diary (second part), so I found that much more interesting than the behind-the-scenes diary, as I am a fan of Marilyn Monroe. The diary is interesting and those who enjoy behind-the-scenes stories should like this one very much, but it didn't give the insight into Marilyn's personal life that "My Week" had.
July 13, 2016
I have to start by saying that I love Marilyn Monroe and I know she had many problems.I feel like she faked a lot of things to get attention.But honestly I think Colin Clark was a womanizer.They way he talked about women made me dislike him.I almost didn't finish the book because he seemed like a douche bag.I believe he also embellished his Week with Marilyn too.
November 3, 2011
Ultimately, pretty damned boring, unless you're really, really into reading about every boring detail that goes into the creation of a bad movie. This is the author's first book about Monroe, and probably the only true one. The one about his "week with Marilyn"? Complete fabrication.
June 4, 2012
A wonderful, easy to read memoir of life on a film set with Olivier and Monroe. Wonderful view of behind-the -scenes. The film "My Week with Marilyn" (2011), based on the book, took some serious liberties with events but on the whole both book and film very enjoyable.
August 3, 2012
I read so many reviews telling how boring this book was in relation to My Week With Marilyn. I feel so differently! The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me ushers you right into the world of movie production and shows you exactly what goes into making them. I found it fascinating.
May 27, 2013
A sad cautionary tale of how the fame machine of the commercial media industry makes it almost impossible to maintain the self-awareness and self-possession necessary to live any kind of a meaningful life.
May 9, 2016
I wasn't nearly as enameled by this memoir as I was with My Week with Marilyn. This was told just as it was written, as diary entries, which was fine, but he abbreviated nearly everyone's names, and at times it was difficult to remember whose initials were whose.
Want to read
September 21, 2012I would read this book, but it's 200 fucking dollars, so... I dont think so.
February 17, 2012
Quite a bit different from the movie but Interesting none the less. I really enjoyed the movie. Very well directed and great acting.
February 21, 2012
Interesting tidbits about how movies are filmed & what sort of planning goes into them, but not much of an actual story (as it's just the author's diary).
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