Arts
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, August 4, 1982 Page 7
Monroe's allure hasn't died
By The Associated Press
HOLLYWOOD- Twenty years have
passed since too many sleeping pills
silenced that naughty, breathless
whisper. But goddesses don't die.
So it is with Marilyn Monroe.
The platinum blond hair. The grace-
note mole. The wide-eyed innocence.
The sense of vulnerability. And, to be
sure, the erotic allure-her sensuous
saunter, the glowing complextion, the ,
luscious ripeness of her form.
THEY LIVE on a generation after
her death.
On state and on the screen, in
television movies and in newspapers,
books and magazines, Marilyn Monroe
still inspires fantasy, still captures
hearts, and, with few parallels, still
sells.
"I love her more every day, and I
miss her more every day," says Billy
Wilder, who directed her two most suc-
cessful movies, "The Seven-Year Itch"
and "Some Like It Hot."
ROSES ARRIVE three times a week
at her grave. They come from Joe
DiMaggio, the ex-husband and New
York Yankees baseball star generally
considered the great love of her life. MARILYN MONROE with Sir Laurence Olivier ina scene from the 1957 film 'The Prince and the Showgirl.'
But those who knew her are not alone stemmed roses four times a year-on from an overdose of sleeping pills. She ONE THEORY advanced in books
in the remembrance. As many as 25 the anniversaries of her death and June' was 36 years old. and scandal tabloids suggested Marilyn
fans visit her crypt at the Westwood 1, and Easter and Christmas. Steen Was it suicide or an accident? No one was in love with Robert Kennedy and
Memorial Park each day. says the fan has told him he goes to will ever know. But speculation about took her life because he would not leave
"They take the roses sent by Joe church to recite a Rosary for Marilyn her death continues after two decades. his wife for her. There also were
DiMaggio, but usually replace them each day Her third marriage, to playwright rumors that she had a brief fling with
with other flowers," says Mike Steen, Arthur Miller, had broken up. She had John Kennedy.
director of the three-acre park. TT WAS 20 years ago Thursday that been fired by her studio for tardiness. See MONROE Pa 10
One Pennsylvania fan sends 37 white- Marilyn Monroe was found dead She was alone and distraught.
SearchiJngfor the Maltese Falcon BVIDUALTHETRES
5th Ave .oflberty 761-9700
VALLETTA, Malta (AP)- The nation's main library, where all the im-
mystery started with a simple question portant historical documents of Malta's
to a cab driver: Where is the Maltese much-conquered existence are kept. "ONE OF THE
Falcon? The librarian said there indeed is a YEAR'S BEST"
"We don't get many birds around legend of the Maltese falcon, and then GENE SISKEE
here," the cabbie replied. shuffled off into a backroom. He
"No, not the bird. You know, the emerged 10 minutes later carrying a
leendary iewel-encrusted statue. " rumblinghnokEN T R

I

That started a week-long search for
the inspiration of Dashieel Hammett's
The Maltese Falcon and the classic
movie of the same name directed by
John Houston.
An unscientific survey of native
Maltese produced a surprising result.
Almost none of them had heard of the
book, much less seen the movie.
And the stylized black-enamel statue
of the falcon that drove Sydney Green-
street to murder and mayhem across
two continents seemed a natural trinket
for selling to tourists.
That led to Republic Street, the
clogged thoroughfare of downtown
Valletta. The street is lined with shops
of all descriptions, mainly catering to
tourists. Nowhere was there a statue of
the falcon, and the proprietors met
questions about the absence of such an
obvious tourist attraction with a blank
stare.
One owner, however, did offer to sell
a book on the birds of Malta. It listed
four types of falcons that are seen on
Malta-none of them native and none of
them called Maltese.
The shop owner then pointed down
the street to the firstreal clue.
It was in the Biblioteca-this island

In it was this story: The Knights of St.
John came from the medieval Order of
John the Baptist, established in
Jerusalem by Italian merchants as a
hospital order to care for pilgrims to
the Holy Land.
The order eventually developed into a
military organization, whose knights
took vows of chastity, poverty and
obedience.
In 1291, the knights were forced to
retreat to Cyprus and then 18 years
later to the island of Rhodes, which they
held for 200 years.
But in 1522, Rhodes fell to the Ot-
toman Turks. For several years after,
the knights wandered Europe looking
for a home.
Finally, in 1530, Emperor Charles V
of the'Holy Roman Empire offered the
knights the 122-square-mile island of
Malta, 60 miles south of Sicily.
There were only two conditions. First
they had to protect Tripoli 22 miles to
the south, and second, they had to pay
rent-one falcon a year.
That was the Maltese falcon-the
kind with feathers. Even without any
jewels, it turned out to be an expensive
rent.
Several of Malta's European patrons

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THIS PICTURE MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO THOSE
PERSONS SENSITIVE TO TOTAL NUDITY.
OFFICER
ANDA
GENTLEMAN
DEBRA RICHARD
WINGER GERE

Houston
... director of 'The Maltese Falcon'
took a fancy to the idea of receiving the
same homage yearly from the knights.
Those birds eventually cost more than
$3,000 to maintain and ship-a huge
amount of money for its time and a
treasure that might interest any Sam
Spade.
The rent, by the way, stopped in 1798
when Napoleon invaded Malta and
kicked out the knights, who later settled
in Rome and returned to being a
hospital order.

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