- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; New edition edition (6 Mar 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002571277
- ISBN-13: 978-0002571272
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 655,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
My Week With Marilyn
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Product Description
Review
‘My favourite book of the year’ Joan Collins
‘This book is sheer delight…wonderfully funny…by the end of this short but richly packed chronicle, Colin Clark seems like an old friend…he is blessed with a sharp eye and an even sharper pen’ Sunday Telegraph
‘The marvellous traumas and stampings of feet of the stars are recorded through the eyes of a star struck youngster whose bedside prose is so sharp and polished’ The Times
‘The immediacy and charm of Clark’s recollections are possibly more illuminating than the millions of words and pictures pumped out to expose or dish the dirt on the Monroe legend’ Helen Osborne, Sunday Times
‘Delightful: so observant and pleasing, and such enjoyable asides’ Alan Clark (letter to Colin Clark)
‘Beguiling, touching and compassionate’ Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard
‘An extraordinary story’ Frank Johnson, Spectator
‘It’s the funniest account of life in the booby-hatch that’s a film studio known to me…It’s not that I await [his next] diaries eagerly, but I’m planning to sneak into Clark’s house and read them right this minute’ Spectator
‘Revealing, moving and deliciously funny’ Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.Product Description
A delightfully comic and touchingly romantic interlude in which Colin Clark describes – for the first time – what happened between Marilyn Monroe and himself during the missing week in his celebrated diary for 1956, published in 1995 as The Prince, The Showgirl and Me.
In 1956, fresh from Eton and Oxford, the 23-year-old Colin Clark (younger son of ‘Lord Clark of Civilisation’, younger brother of notorious maverick Tory MP and diarist Alan) worked as a humble ‘gofer’ on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that united Sir Laurence Olivier (directing) with Marilyn Monroe, on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller.
Nearly 40 years on, his diary account, published by HarperCollins, was chosen as their book of the year by Jilly Cooper, Joan Collins and Helen (widow of John) Osborne. but one week was missing, and this is the story of that week: a delicious idyll in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from the pressures of working with Olivier and all the people with a vested interest in her. Her new husband Arthur Miller had gone to Paris, and the coast was clear for Colin to introduce her to some of the pleasures of British life. How he ended up sharing the same bed is a tale too rich to summarise!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you're reading this you've probably seen and enjoyed the recent film, My Week With Marilyn, as I did, so there's no need to tell you what it's all about. But is it worth investing in the book?
Well, yes and no.
If you're a movie fan who likes to read about how famous films were made, then you'll probably enjoy the first part, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me, which is the diary that Colin Clark kept while he worked on The Prince and The Showgirl [DVD] [1957]. There's not a lot left to say about Marilyn, of course, but this first-hand, day by day account of her notorious encounter with Olivier, and how it all went wrong, is new, funny and fascinating. And it's not just backstage gossip, he also talks about how the film was put together and financed, and the jobs that everyone did behind the scenes, so you learn a lot too.
However, you might find that the real Colin Clark isn't quite the sweet and awkward young man you saw and liked in the film. He can be pushy, snobby and sexist, and he milks his upper class charm and connections for all they're worth - although, in his defence, it was a different world in the fifties, and he was very young.
But there's no excuse for the second part of the book, My Week With Marilyn, written two years before Clark's death in 2002. He himself calls it a fairy tale or a miracle, but one that was real ... I'm still not sure what that's supposed to mean.
Have you ever re-lived a scene in your head over the years, and wished that you could re-write it with all the things you should have said and done? Because that's what seems to be happening here. Clark just goes through the whole thing again, but with the benefits of hindsight and a more modern outlook: Marilyn confides her innermost secrets, he tells her where she's going wrong. I found it very hard to believe in places, and critics have pointed out how inaccurate he is about the details of her miscarriage, for instance. And that dialogue ('I love you like the wind, or the waves ... You're a beautiful force of nature, Marilyn') doesn't exactly help.
The book includes a letter he wrote to a friend at the time, re-telling the story yet again and milking it absolutely dry. There's also a couple of contributions from the makers of the new film, which are mildly interesting.
So it's the sort of book that's been cobbled together to cash in on a film release, and it's a bit of a mess. But four stars for the diary and the photographs (it's fascinating to compare those taken at the time with stills from the new film). Only one star for the other parts, but I'll average it out with a generous three.
Well, yes and no.
If you're a movie fan who likes to read about how famous films were made, then you'll probably enjoy the first part, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me, which is the diary that Colin Clark kept while he worked on The Prince and The Showgirl [DVD] [1957]. There's not a lot left to say about Marilyn, of course, but this first-hand, day by day account of her notorious encounter with Olivier, and how it all went wrong, is new, funny and fascinating. And it's not just backstage gossip, he also talks about how the film was put together and financed, and the jobs that everyone did behind the scenes, so you learn a lot too.
However, you might find that the real Colin Clark isn't quite the sweet and awkward young man you saw and liked in the film. He can be pushy, snobby and sexist, and he milks his upper class charm and connections for all they're worth - although, in his defence, it was a different world in the fifties, and he was very young.
But there's no excuse for the second part of the book, My Week With Marilyn, written two years before Clark's death in 2002. He himself calls it a fairy tale or a miracle, but one that was real ... I'm still not sure what that's supposed to mean.
Have you ever re-lived a scene in your head over the years, and wished that you could re-write it with all the things you should have said and done? Because that's what seems to be happening here. Clark just goes through the whole thing again, but with the benefits of hindsight and a more modern outlook: Marilyn confides her innermost secrets, he tells her where she's going wrong. I found it very hard to believe in places, and critics have pointed out how inaccurate he is about the details of her miscarriage, for instance. And that dialogue ('I love you like the wind, or the waves ... You're a beautiful force of nature, Marilyn') doesn't exactly help.
The book includes a letter he wrote to a friend at the time, re-telling the story yet again and milking it absolutely dry. There's also a couple of contributions from the makers of the new film, which are mildly interesting.
So it's the sort of book that's been cobbled together to cash in on a film release, and it's a bit of a mess. But four stars for the diary and the photographs (it's fascinating to compare those taken at the time with stills from the new film). Only one star for the other parts, but I'll average it out with a generous three.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I really enjoyed reading Mr. Clark's book while he worked on the set of the "Prince and the Showgirl", with its stars, Sir Lawrence Olivier and the memorable Marilyn Monroe. It was interesting to find the many problems and personal situations that sprang up during its production / filming. What I found of interest was the very private and emotional side of Miss Monroe, that many biographers fail to write about. Mr. Clark's previous book entitled, "The Prince, The Showgirl and Me", an equally interesting read, did not include of course the missing 9 days from his personal diary that he left unchecked for over 40 years. Through careful review of those notes that he set aside all those years he was able to reanimate a long gone era of a memorable time and a most memorable and lovely persona that was Monroe. I've been a avid fan of Miss Monroe for many years, and am still very fascinated by this wonderfully beautiful woman of the 20th Century who has become a true "Icon" of that era, that to this day, as we live in the 21st Century, has very few if any peers.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very sweet little book, the author comes across as a lovely gentleman who genuinely cared about Marilyn. I read it as the subject matter sounded intriguing, a little unimportant guy on a movie set gets to know the great MM and spends time along with her away from the set, at her request. It sounds surreal. You get a snapshot of MM's life, the pressures, who the major players were in her life, influencing her and manipulating her. There is a movie version of this book coming out this year starring Michelle Williams as MM and I wanted to read this before seeing the movie. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in MM.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A very good read!
When i first brought this book i was dubious as to how authentic the story really was, especially as it tied in very nicely with the film, but as soon as i began to read it i could... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Natasha Kikas
My Week With Marilyn
If you are interested in people, apart from Marylin Monroe, and film making, then you will probably enjoy this as much as I did. Read more
Published 2 months ago by tessa st john hughes
What a memory
Hmmmm. The diary is good; but the filled-in/recollected bit seems more like a deluded wish list than actual fact. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark Orchard
Loved it
I loved this book, I could not put it down, complete with some great photo stills. The book keeps you on edge right up until the point of when Colin finally comes face to face with... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Zoe
My Week With Marilyn review
On viewing the movie, i came home that night and immediately got on Amazon to purchase the book. After only just finishing it yesterday, i would like to say that in no way was i... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Emma
Dear sweet Marilyn!
Brilliant, if a bit tedious at times; but the character of Marilyn and those surrounding her during the making of the The Prince and the Showgirl are so fascinating you have to go... Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. C. Comer
The stars in their courses
The book in this edition is in two parts. The first, originally published in 1995 under the title "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me", is a transcript of the diaries Clark kept of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ralph Blumenau
A film star's fancy
What comes across through the eyes of a not particularly likeable, very junior member of a film production company is how ghastly
the Brits were to a luminous American film... Read more
the Brits were to a luminous American film... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Saltgrass
A good book!
At long last, here is a book that describes a young man's start in the film industry and his relationship with one of the greatest Stars in the Hollywood film history. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Marc Gelis
An absorbing snapshot
I am not a Marilyn aficionado: I simply like a good biography. This looked intriguing. To be honest, I was just expecting Clark to have had a cup of tea and a cake with Marilyn off... Read more
Published 6 months ago by uncle barbar
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