Source: Bruce Fessier/The Desert Sun August 16, 2016
The insanely popular 26-foot Marilyn Monroe sculpture is coming home to Palm Springs. Seward Johnson’s stainless steel and aluminum magnum opus is probably in New Jersey by now, getting its nose powdered and high heels polished.
This is the massive depiction of Monroe posing over a subway grate on New York’s Lexington Avenue, her skirt blowing in the wind for a scene from the 1954 film, “The Seven Year Itch.” It’s scheduled to be put on a truck and shipped back to Palm Springs by late September.
It is rumored that the sculpture may be placed in front of the Spa Resort Casino before hopefully landing in the new downtown park being developed near Desert Fashion Plaza, where it attracted voyeurs with cameras for 22 months before going on the road again.
Aftab Dada, of the Palm Springs Hilton, is still raising money to bring “Forever Marilyn” back to Palm Springs. Monroe was first discovered by her Hollywood agent at the historic Racquet Club and supposedly once owned a home in the city’s Movie Colony neighborhood.
She, and 2nd husband Joe DiMaggio, did own a home on Rose Avenue in Las Palmas at one time.