Remarking on his spectacular and highly unlikely career to the Los Angeles Times in 1984, Bruno Bernard, or “Bernard of Hollywood” as he was known, reflected, “I had two good teachers: trial and error.”
In the wide-open space that was the advent of Hollywood movies and their associated glamour, Bernard created from scratch the concept of sultry, slightly sexy starlets photographed in gorgeous light. His images were visually arresting and deeply compelling.
Bernard’s career is an amazing story of resilience and hard work. Born into poverty, and having escaped Nazi Germany, he graduated from University of California, Berkeley after studying psychology and aspired to be a theater director. A lifelong interest in photography allowed him to make a living while waiting for his big break. His unique style of “posed candid” shots, developed through trial and error, suited the nascent movie industry in the 1930s and 1940s.
Perhaps the most iconic celebrity photographic image of all time was created by Bernard. His pictures transformed Norma Jeane Dougherty into a full-blown movie star, Marilyn Monroe. And that started in Palm Springs in 1947.
The connection between the Coachella Valley and Hollywood went back to the 1920s. Much has been written about the studio system requiring those under contract to stay within a two-hour drive of their sound stages. The sun and the anonymity undoubtedly also contributed to the allure of the valley as a getaway for those in the movie business.
Bernard’s daughter Susan recalled for Palm Springs Life magazine in 2002, “It was in the Springs one auspicious morning that Marilyn, smelling like baby powder, was unloaded along with the camera equipment from Dad’s station wagon. This magical photo safari would change the course of her life forever, when Dad introduced her to Johnny Hyde, vice president of the William Morris Agency, who fell head over heels for her.”
Susan told the magazine that her father remembered in his own words the meeting between Monroe and Hyde: “The Palm Springs Racquet Club’s tennis courts were swept clean when the voluptuous Marilyn posed in her body-hugging swimsuit and four-inch cork heels on the diving board.”
“‘Who’s this gorgeous dame … your girlfriend?’ a voice said. ‘I knew at that instant this could only have been Johnny Hyde, a vice president at William Morris, a shrimp in stature, but long in connections. I felt annoyed at what he was implying. He asked if I would mind taking a few snapshots for private use. In Marilyn’s present state of unemployment, this introduction to Johnny was welcome.”
Hyde would go on to get Marilyn her first major roles and the resulting Bernard photographs at the Racquet Club presaged those that he would take of her years later on the set of the 1954 movie “The Seven-Year Itch” in a white halter dress with a billowing pleated skirt.
That image has been replicated thousands of times and endures in the world’s psyche as well as having been reproduced in gargantuan proportion in the “Forever Marilyn” statue that has itself become part of Palm Springs history of late.
Bruno Bernard would become lifelong friends with Marilyn. Marilyn had been photographed by others before Bernard. She was a model and even posed nude. But Bernard’s lens captured something more. She credited him with starting it all for her movie career with his images.
That Palm Springs figures in the history of one of the most recognizable personages and images from the 20th century is interesting. Lots of captains of industry, important politicians and celebrities have been part of the desert scene. The fortunes of Hollywood and Palm Springs are remarkably similar, following cycles of birth, decline and renaissance.
The desert has proven fortunate for many an aspiring actor. A long list of movie stars have had escapades and affairs; owned houses and businesses; floated in a pool and sunned in a lounge chair; and driven the two hours back and forth from the desert to Hollywood over the last century.
That early trip of an aspiring starlet Marilyn Monroe, with her friend and photographer Bruno Bernard, in a station wagon in 1947 was one of the most consequential of those trips.
The Film Society of Screwball Comedy is commemorating Monroe’s association with Palm Springs and celebrating the centennial of her birth at the Plaza Theatre by spending the weekend screening an interesting selection of her films.
The Seven Year Itch: Friday, May 29, 7 p.m., May 29, kicks off the celebration. The film explores the hilarious temptations and fantasies of a midcentury married Manhattan man left alone for the summer, whose life is suddenly turned upside down by his glamorous upstairs neighbor. This witty, stylish film is famous for Monroe’s luminous performance and includes the most iconic scene in cinematic history, now memorialized in downtown Palm Springs.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Saturday, May 30, 7:30 p.m.. Monroe is irresistible with Jane Russell, her witty best friend, on a quest for love, fortune, and fun on a trip across the Atlantic. The film is filled with sparkling musical numbers and clever twists. This subversive satire showcases Monroe’s comedic brilliance and musical gifts.
Some Like It Hot: Sunday, May 31, 2 p.m., touted by the American Film Institute as the Best Comedy in film history, Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, sizzle together on screen. Their hilarious antics and quick-thinking lead to comedic misadventures and is worth seeing just for the shots of the Del Coronado Hotel.
The Misfits: Monday June 1 at 7:30 p.m., on Monroe’s 100th birthday, concludes with a moving tribute to her legacy. Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift co-star in a story of lost souls seeking connection on the sunbaked desert, albeit the Nevada desert. Monroe’s last film is haunting in its portrayal of her extreme empathy and strength coupled with fragility.
Tickets available at the Plaza Theatre website or get the all-access pass and spend the weekend with Monroe on the big screen and fellow cinephiles. https://www.palmspringsplazatheatre.com/events/detail/all-access
Tracy Conrad is president of the Palm Springs Historical Society. The Thanks for the Memories column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Write to her at pshstracy@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The history of Marilyn Monroe in Palm Springs
Reporting by Tracy Conrad, Special to The Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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