Marilyn, still hot after all these years

Los Angeles - Marilyn Monroe would probably have been a trifle disappointed, given her status as sex goddess, universal icon, and major money-making machine, writes Phil Reeves. She might have poutingly observed that the occasion required something just a little grander.

By American standards, Los Angeles marked the 30th anniversary of her death in a relatively subdued fashion. This was not because the city has grown weary of its most famous citizen. People talk, write, broadcast and fantasise about her all the time. So yesterday was not much different from any other.

But none of the commemorative events reflected her huge Hollywood status - there was nothing truly glitzy laid on by the industry for which she has become an enduring symbol. Last night around 500 Monroe fans were preparing for a ceremony at Los Angeles' Westwood Memorial Park, where she has a simply marked wall crypt.

Her foster-sister, Bebe Goddard, and longtime friend Susan Strasberg were expected to be among the guests, along with dozens of reporters, camera operators and members of at least three Monroe fan clubs.

Unsurprisingly, the occasion has not passed unnoticed by the multi-million-dollar Monroe memorabilia industry that has been churning out products - mugs, sun-glasses, posters, jewellery, handbags - year after year. A pile of new products has arrived on the market, including a label of Napa Valley wine: Marilyn Merlot. Several new books are being published, to add to the library of more than 100 that have been written about her since her death.

All this will fuel the national obsession with Monroe, which began when her naked body was found sprawled across her bed in the early hours 30 years ago. Ever since then there has been a procession of biographers, alleged former lovers and even psychics who claim to have contacted her in the after-life. An exasperated Elizabeth Taylor once reputedly demanded: 'What do I have to do to become like Marilyn Monroe? Kill myself?'

(Photograph omitted)