10. Power, Glamour, and Language Traps (II)

It was May 19th, 1962 (that’s almost fifty years ago), and more than 15,000 people were gathered at the old Madison Square Garden to attend a birthday gala – well, not an ordinary one, for we are speaking of none other than the celebration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s birthday. Organized ten days before the actual day of his 45th birthday (Tuesday, May 29), it was based on a script – nothing out of the ordinary here, as this has been part of show biz since the beginning of 20^th Century entertainment.

Google Images

Several show presenters were scheduled to enact the script. Monroe was to be introduced by English-American actor Peter Lawford – himself a member of a group of actors originally centred on Humphrey Bogart; whether his artistic career is now remembered is of little importance; what really matters, though, is his relation to the protagonist of the gala: brother-in-law to US President JFK, he was perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting.



Marilyn sang the traditional "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics, with "Mr. President" inserted as Kennedy's name, and continued the song with a snippet from the classic song, "Thanks for the Memory", for which she had written new lyrics specifically aimed at Kennedy.

Google Images

Thanks, Mr. President

For all the things you've done

The battles that you've won

The way you deal with U.S. Steel

And our problems by the ton

We thank you so much

Sung in a sultry voice, the song cued President Kennedy’s own stage intervention: it enabled him to joke and to allude to Monroe's delivery, her racy dress, and her general image as a sex symbol saying, "I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way."

But all this happened after Marilyn’s <sweet, wholesome> delivery. What happened before her performance was a number of introductions throughout the night; each time the hall echoed with murmurs of expectation – but she did not appear in the limelight waiting to spot her. Why wouldn’t she?

 THE LATE MARILYN MONROE

Apart from having difficulty in remembering lines during production, Marilyn was known to suffer from stage fright, and be late at rehearsals. The actress’s very “flaws” provided Lawford with the momentum of his performance, for they enabled him to make a play on the actress's lateness: as she finally came on stage several hours into the show, he introduced her as the "late Marilyn Monroe".

Needless to say, you’ll have to look words up in a dictionary in order to answer the questions below:

What kind of language play is this?

How do you take the joke?

Do you think that Marilyn knew about it, and accepted it, or – on the contrary – that it was perhaps Lawford’s cherished trump?