Classic Rant #1,184 (April 11, 2014): Marilyn and Elia

A big "so what" little piece of Hollywood's past has turned up nearly 60 years later, but even though at this point it appears to be no big deal, it still is generating a bit of a buzz.

A letter has turned up from 1955 where famed director Elia Kazan admits to his wife that he had an affair with actress Marilyn Monroe.

It says some other things about the time and place, but really, nobody cares about the other things.

All anyone cares about is Marilyn Monroe.

Monroe was the sex symbol to end all sex symbols.

She was beautiful, had an incredible figure, yes, used plastic surgery to get herself to this perfection, was a better than given credit for actress, and yes, she slept around.

A lot, if you want to believe everything you read.

We know that she did have some psychological problems, and probably soothed most of those with her bed hopping, if, again, you want to believe everything you read.

Not only was she married, at different times, to the likes of Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio, but she supposedly had affairs with everyone from the Kennedy brothers to Albert Einstein.

Heck, I am surprised my father never had an affair with her, and the same is true for my grandfathers. She supposedly slept with every man alive in the mid 1950s.

Heck, if I was of age, she would have slept with me, too.

Now Kazan comes into the picture. I guess you have to believe this stuff, because why would he confess to his wife if he didn't sleep with her?

But you know, at this point in time, does it really matter?

Monroe has been dead for more than 50 years. Even her death is shrouded in mystery.

Why can't we just let things be, and why do we constantly have to drag her memory through the mud like we do?

I think it has a lot to do with her mystique and the way we judge women, at least during that period in time.

She remains a larger than life figure, a person who is even more popular in death than she was in life.

There were a lot of pretenders to her throne, but nobody has succeeded her.

There are beautiful women in Hollywood, but has any one of them become the sex symbol that Monroe was?

Also, even to this day, men are the ones to sleep around, in particular, Hollywood men.

Heck, if Monroe slept with every man who was alive at that time, then Frank Sinatra probably slept with every women.

Women are not supposed to be having affairs on a regular basis like men are, in particular married women, but as we know, that isn't true.

But Monroe typified a more innocent time, when men were men and women were, well, perfect ladies, not thinking of doing such things.

Well, Monroe slept around, so she went directly against the stereotype.

Why she slept around is the saddest thing about these things that come up from time to time, and yes, the men probably did take advantage of her extremely vulnerable state.

But I just find it amazing that all these years later, people actually care about this part of her life, and heck, I guess I care, because I am writing about it today.

Monroe will always live on as the penultimate sex symbol, but we sully her short life by making her the symbol of sex.

Speak to you again on Monday.