I'm John Palmer. Perhaps once a decade, a person, a trend, or a style captures the American imagination and makes a permanent mark on our lives.
No woman has ever captured our imaginations as completely as Marilyn Monroe.
In a moment, we'll look back on one wrenching chapter in her life, her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller.
During the 1960s, Betsy Johnson and Vidal Sassoon captured our imagination with a revolutionary new look for women, a look that's still with us today.
So look sharp! You're about to experience instant recall.
They were the most unlikely couple in show business. Broadway's Brady Playwright and Hollywood's Blonde Bombshell. Passion drew them together. Mistrust tore them apart.
There was a seed that was planted at the beginning of the marriage that gave Marilyn a message loud and clear that she was being used.
They cut their hair, shortened their skirts, and threw out their bras, but they were more than slaves to fashion.
It was a revolution by design, and after the 60s, women would never be the same.
You don't remember the same rules and regulations against the 60s clothes. It was a threat to older people.
Sister! Piper!
Also ahead, the ups and downs of a beloved television family, the making of a special episode of Upstairs, Downstairs.
Our first story takes place on January 20, 1961. It's the day John F. Kennedy is sworn in as President of the United States.
But there's another story unfolding, a story of failed love that touches our hearts.
Marilyn Monroe hopes the press will be so preoccupied with the inauguration that it will leave her in peace. But she's wrong.
The press will scrutinize every moment of a marriage that many said was doomed from the beginning.
My angel baby, my angel baby.
They would seem to be on the surface until the end, until the breakout. A loving couple, a happily married couple.
January 20, 1961. Marilyn Monroe travels to Mexico to divorce playwright Arthur Miller.
Their marriage lasted four and a half years, Marilyn's longest relationship. Her previous marriage to Joe DiMaggio had survived only nine months.
The Miller-Monroe love story begins in 1950, when Arthur Miller meets an unknown Marilyn in Hollywood.
She met a man who had a certain position who did not try to seduce her, and this made a major impression on her.
They corresponded over the years, and then when she came and lived in New York, they met again.
In late 1954, Marilyn comes to New York and makes the city her home.
She's tired of the Hollywood scene, tired of the dumb blonde image that she has been molded into.
She enrolls in the actor's studio, studying under Lee Strasberg. She wants to be taken seriously.
It's not that I object to doing musicals or comedies. In fact, I'd rather enjoy it, but I would like to do also dramatic arts, too.
So the sex symbol from Hollywood surrounds herself with well-known intellectuals, Carl Sandberg, Truman Capote, and Arthur Miller.
She moved well among the literary people because they recognized in her an artist, and I think they sensed that aside from the fact that she was a beautiful woman.
Norman Rosten is a college friend of Arthur Miller and a fellow writer. It is at his home that Miller and Monroe would meet.
I know that she liked him. She always said, two most beautiful men, Arthur Miller and Abraham Lincoln.
Miller's face is a little like Lincoln's face. She might have been around him because she respected him, admired him, knew he was our most famous playwright, I suppose.
It's a natural fire, a glow.
The first year of their relationship is kept in private. After all, Miller is a married man with two children. Finally, the silence is broken.
When are you getting married, Mrs. Monroe?
It will be sometime between now and the 15th of July.
When are you going to be married?
I don't know right now. I haven't had a minute to think, but it will be sure.
To feel more accepted into Miller's religious family, Marilyn converts to Judaism. On July 1, 1956, Marilyn and Arthur Miller are married.
It was a Jewish wedding, which she wanted. She was very happy, yes.
Anybody could ask her, I mean, kiss my arm and roll it out, they did.
But Marilyn learns quickly that this marriage is going to have its share of heartache.
Not long after their wedding day, Miller is brought up on charges of communism by the Committee on Un-American Activities. Marilyn doesn't leave his side.
I'm fully confident that in the end my husband will win this case.
She was putting her career on the line, and yet she stood by her feelings. Surely she helped clear his way. I mean, he had America's sweetheart on his arm.
The legal problems are followed tragically by a number of miscarriages. But through it all, Marilyn's work on the screen continues to improve.
Films like Bust Off and Some Like It Hot win Marilyn favorable reviews. But this praise is not enough to snap her out of her always impending depression.
She takes pills to sleep and begins writing soul-searching poetry, which she hides from her husband and shows to Norman Rosten.
Help. Help, I feel life coming closer when all I want is to die.
There was a seed that was planted at the beginning of the marriage that gave Marilyn a message loud and clear that she was being used,
so that by 1959, when he was writing the misfits, she discovered that he was quoting her directly. So as a human being, she had to begin to react to this, become angry.
Who do you depend on? Who?
It touched her own life, because it was a movie about, you know, the end of a marriage and a divorce, and talk about guts to play that.
The tension on the set of the misfits proves to be the last straw in Marilyn and Arthur's relationship.
By the time the film is released, the distrust between the pair, their inability to have a child, and Marilyn's depressions have become too much for them to overcome.
Their love affair is over.
The breakup, you could see that was coming. The public was in on it. It was Hollywood. It was a movie. It was painful, you could see that.
Her life was entering a sad period.
So sad you lost good love, oh baby.
Marilyn Monroe became severely depressed after the divorce and the failure of what was to be her last film, The Misfits.
She died of a drug overdose a year and a half later.
Arthur Miller remarried and now lives in Connecticut. Norman Rostin is a poet and writer and lives in Brooklyn.
James Haspiel, the fan who became a friend, still lives in Manhattan.
Next, another moment, another time, on Instant Recall.
It's mini, it's mod, and it's back. Why, the fashions of the 60s are a big hit today.
Also, upstairs is a place of power and privilege. Downstairs is the home of humility and hard work.
The two worlds of television's upstairs, downstairs.
A continuing subversion of nature's design.
Tropicana Twister announces new designer flavors.
How absolutely uncalled for.
Tropicana Twister, now with exotic new flavors Mother Nature never planned on.
This is a world of trouble.
Orange rubbery guava, orange mango, mandarin orange papaya.
Could lead to dancing.
Tropicana Twister, flavors Mother Nature never intended, but should've.
We may have to nip this thing in the bud.
If you've been abducted by space aliens, who can you talk to?
The authorities perhaps?
What about Mom?
There's always your best friend.
When people need to talk, they turn to Sally.
Actually, the Tritonites are a peaceful race, despite their reptilian appearance.
Sally Jesse Raphael, the talk show host who listens.
Weekdays at 9, here on KNSD.
Welcome to Soapbox Day. Well, it's summer and the days is getting hotter.
Shane plants a bug on Kim's earring so that he can listen while Kim and Lawrence make love.
That's disgusting, and I know disgusting.
Once I slept with my husband's ex-girlfriend Lone Shark on her yacht during her breakdown.
Ha! I wrote that clip, Nose-On, disgusting baby. Let me...
We are experiencing technical difficulties.
We are not experiencing technical difficulties. We are experiencing disgust!
Experience the days on NBC.
Don't go to camp this summer. Become an astronaut.
Aero Center 91, a live-in six-day summer aviation and space sciences camp, is enrolling seventh and eighth grade students now.
Do simulated aviation flight programs. Design a spacecraft.
Fly a simulated manned space mission.
Find out what leads to aviation and space exploration careers.
For location dates and fees, call the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 2328322.
July 22, 1968. It's an historic date.
Newsweek magazine declared that finally, after all the hoops, howls, and heckles, the miniskirt has won mainstream acceptance.
It's hard to believe that was 23 years ago, given that almost any fashion magazine you open today trumpets the return of the 60s look as the latest and greatest in fashion.
But there's a difference. Today, the look is just a fashion. Back in the 60s, it was a statement.
There was a passion about the 60s. It was as if creativity was the whole point of life.
The 1960s, a decade which has been described as a renaissance, a revolution, and explosion of new music, new frontiers in space, a heightened political awareness, and sexual freedom.
This exciting sense of change extended all the way into the world of women's fashion.
Clothing turned from proper to provocative, from conservative to extravagant.
In London, it began with Mary Quant's new and daring look, the miniskirt.
Mary called one day and said, I think I've got the look, and I think you've got the hair. Let's put it together.
And when she showed it to me, there was this miniskirt, and all you could see was marvelous long legs. And what was wrong with that?
A lineup of nimble knees shows that the hem has risen to a point of no return.
The new look focused for the first time on younger women.
Skirts and dresses were shorter, cutouts and mid-dress were designed.
Fashion was following the growing liberation of women, and a woman's body was suddenly exposed.
I think that the most positive aspect of the look was its total sharp legs.
The reaction was naturally surprising, but that's what the point was.
The point was to experience something brand new.
They took off the bras and the corsets. End the bras and corsets. Forget it. Loosen the women.
Sandy Ho's no-bra and short length was crucial. That was the crucial formula.
But you could not wear it without a Susten S. Caredew and twiggy kind of eyes.
The Dow Susten gave us haircuts that we could go in the shower, come out, towel dry, and it was no big deal.
And that was freedom.
What I was trying to do was to cut shapes into bone structure so that the woman could shape her hair
and a man would want to put his hands through her hair.
In Europe, the new look took off almost immediately.
Designers from Pierre Cardin to Paco Rabanne, Christian Dior to Emilio Pucci were raising hemlines
and daring to create unique, provocative fashion.
But in the United States, the transition away from the more traditional look of the 50s
was much more difficult for the average woman.
New York was three, four years behind the time.
We had to gently break New Yorkers into the way we felt about fashion, the way we felt about living and nutrition and exercise.
You don't remember the strange rules and regulations against the 60s clothes. It was a threat to older people.
Short skirts, tight.
Women were looked upon as a bit freakish, and the male attitude was in some cases embarrassing.
Embarrassing. It was too forward for him, too aggressive.
Can-suits were outlawed from the theater, from restaurants.
Too short wasn't allowed in certain places.
I got turned away from City Hall when I went to get married in my crushed velvet pantsuit.
American women could not resist the new look for long.
If you got it, you got it. If you didn't get it, you slowly but surely did because you didn't want to be so out of it.
Even my mother, I will never wear skirts above my knees. She did.
A mini panorama, one of the season's framed benefits.
This passing parade of breezy knees promises to make girl-watching outranked baseball as America's favorite summer pastime.
By 1968, the new modern look had finally gained acceptance and was here to stay.
A Newsweek poll on July 22nd showed that 52% of American businesses now approved of the conservative miniskirt.
Women were free to express themselves.
It was great because your stuff had to be new, it had to be different, it had to be exciting.
I'll never do as modern, as futuristic, as clean work again in my whole life that I did in the 60s.
How long did it look like? It's still here. It's still here.
Nothing! Nothing!
Got a woman or a girl.
Vidal's Fassoon now runs 21 hair salons worldwide and recently launched a new product called UltraCare.
Polly Mellon is a special projects editor at Vogue.
Betsy Johnson has 12 stores around the country where she sells her own line of fashions.
Next, at home with TV's most elegant family.
Guess who's coming to dinner?
Upstairs, downstairs serves up a television banquet that's fit for a king.
Beaver Creek Resort, Colorado's Alpine Resort Hideaway.
Serene and lovely.
Seventy degree days and clear skies beckon the whole family to recreation and relaxation.
How easily they blend into one at Beaver Creek Resort.
Four night summer packages start at $132 per person.
For information or to make reservations, call 1-800-525-2257.
New San Diego's Call for Action team provides consumer help and recovers thousands of dollars in cash, goods and services.
Maybe you'd like to join our team of volunteers.
If you could donate a day of your time each week, send us a letter telling us a little about yourself to New San Diego, Post Office Box 719-739, San Diego 921-719739.
You can help others by becoming a New San Diego Call for Action volunteer.
Friends of the Family is important to you because every Thursday you'll learn something that could help your family.
That's a big promise. It's an even bigger commitment.
But KNSD believes this kind of television can change lives.
And with the combined resources of Jack in the Box and Nashville University, we know we can make a difference.
Friends of the Family. People helping people.
And that's with being a friend. People move out.
Watch Friends of the Family, Thursdays at 5 on New San Diego.
Can you imagine what the American flag would look like if it had no red in it, and no blue in it, and no white in it?
It wouldn't look like an American flag at all, would it?
Well, the American people are a lot of different colors, just like the American flag.
So if you took away the red ones, and the black ones, and the yellow ones, and the white ones, and the brown ones,
there wouldn't be any American left for you. And then where would you be?
Prejudice is something America can do without.
If you've had a sexually transmitted disease, like gonorrhea, herpes, or syphilis,
listen. What you were doing that exposed you to that disease could also expose you to the AIDS virus.
There is no cure for the AIDS virus.
You're living proof that a sexually transmitted disease can happen.
Please don't prove it again.
Music
It was one of the most successful drama series of the 1970s, seen by two billion viewers in 70 countries.
Week after week, we tuned in to observe the residence of an elegant London townhouse.
Upstairs were Lorde and Lady Bellamy and their children.
Downstairs, their extended family of servants, butler, cook, footman, and maids.
Some called it a glorified soap opera, but many found this glimpse of a bygone way of life just their cup of tea.
I just had confirmation from Buckingham Palace that His Majesty the King will be dining here on Thursday evening.
This is Lady Marjorie Bellamy, fictional head of an aristocratic British household, and this is her butler, Hudson.
Together, they starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, a long-running TV series that explored the relationships between an upstairs world of privilege
and a downstairs world of domestic service in turn of the century England.
And in this close-knit household, a visit from King Edward VII affects more than just the upstairs.
Everyone, especially Mrs. Bridges the Cook, is excited.
But cast members say this interplay between upstairs and down very nearly didn't happen.
The series initially featured only servants.
Originally it was totally downstairs, and then of course they have to serve somebody, so it became downstairs, upstairs, and then it became upstairs, downstairs.
Time above all, a series praised for its attention to detail.
Historical consultants oversaw the elaborate preparations for the King's Supper to make sure it was authentic.
Oh, it was terrific fun to do. I did lay the table and learned a lot about laying a table.
Upstairs, Downstairs was equally meticulous in its portrayal of Edwardian etiquette.
Here Rose, the head parlor maid, complains that as a female she will not be allowed to serve the King.
Your Majesty, I am Rose, head house parlor maid, and I think it's very mean of you not to let a female servant wait at table.
Ironically, the class distinctions that provided so much drama in Upstairs, Downstairs were soon mimicked by the cast in real life.
The downstairs got on well together and the upstairs got on well together. We didn't mimic very much.
I became very servant-like, and the upstairs people became rather grand.
But on the night King Edward VII arrived for dinner, everyone basked in grandeur, until the arrival of an unexpected guest, Sarah, a former maid.
She is in labor, expecting the child of the Bellamy's son, Master James.
This dramatic paralleling of plot lines was a fixture in every show. Upstairs, the Bellamy's enjoy a social triumph.
Downstairs, Sarah's newborn dies.
We were determined that we wouldn't be sentimental, that we wouldn't be like a villain and a nice person.
By the time the series ended, all those of 165 eaten place had experienced both villainy and kindness.
They had also suffered four deaths, one world war, one suicide, and a stock market crash.
Even so, for some fans, the saga ended too soon.
I'd like to go back and do, say, thirteen episodes ten years later.
So, of course, would we.
Sadly, a reunion of the complete upstairs-downstairs cast would be impossible.
Gordon Jackson, who played Hudson, and Angela Batalee, who played Mrs. Bridges, the cook, have both died since the series ended.
Now, here's a look at Tomorrow on Instant Recall.
Tomorrow on Instant Recall is a vision of peace, harmony, and progress.
The future is bright at the World's Fair of 39.
Also, the young Frank Sinatra.
How the King of Swoon knocked the Bobby Sox off the generation.
The test of your dishwashing liquid isn't dishes. It's those last greasy pots and pans.
Don't quit on me now.
Talking of, by the time you get to the really tough grease, most leading brands just can't cut it.
But there's one that can. New Dawn. Improved? Definitely.
Look, the suds actually come back, a signal that New Dawn still has the power to cut the toughest grease.
New Dawn. We cut it when they can.
In an attempt to be more health-conscious, the employees at Brown Fish and Fry started using low-fat milk in their coffee.
It made a lot of sense. It just didn't make a very rich cup of coffee.
Then they found out about it. New coffee made light.
With no tropical oils, it has less saturated fat than low-fat milk, and it made their coffee rich and delicious.
New coffee made light. It makes good sense and a great cup of coffee.
Black man is outnumbered. Five to one, nature is going to require that he take responsibility for more than one woman and her children.
Next on a hue, an explosive book divides the black community.
Are you saying then that submission and cooperation are one and the same?
It's to go back 100 years to say that now the black man must enslave black women and all forces develop.
Charizard Ali.
Integration was the worst thing that happened to my people.
Next on a hue, Monday at 3, right here on KMSD.
Before watching Fresh Prince.
Now we'll hear status reports on sales, distribution, and productivity.
To comp.
Distribution? Down.
Productivity? Down.
After watching Fresh Prince.
Yo, what happened?
Sales are down. Distribution is down.
Productivity is down.
Ha ha ha!
Did I miss something?
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Monday on NBC.
Thanks for watching Instant Recall.
We leave you now with the top 10 song from 1955, Earth Angel by the Penguins.
And until other moments and other times, I'm John Palmer.
Earth angel, earth angel, will you be mine?
My darling dear, love you all the time.
I'm just a fool, a fool enough with you.
Earth angel, earth angel, the one I adore.
Love you forever and evermore.
I'm just a fool, a fool enough with you.
I fell for you and I knew the vision of your long loveliness.
I hope and I pray that someday I'll be the vision of your happiness.
Oh, earth angel, earth angel, will you be mine?
My darling dear, love you all the time.
I'm just a fool, a fool enough...