Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, and Aging

How 1952's 'Monkey Business' satirizes the youth obsessed culture that would make a goddess of Monroe.

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The world’s obsession with Marilyn Monroe will never die. For the latest evidence of this fact, look no further than the much-anticipated Monroe biopic Blonde, which received a 14-minute standing ovation when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival this week. It’s easy to become fascinated with Monroe for all the wrong reasons, to learn the wrong lessons from her life, ideas that motivated Joyce Carol Oates to write the novel on which Blonde is based. Oates sought to look past the superficial persona that enraptured the world and examine how Monroe wasn’t the person everyone tried to make her out to be.

Monroe’s death at the age of 36 granted her a special status in pop culture: She would forever be young, beautiful and sensual. Blonde grapples, by all accounts darkly, with the destructive behavior that led to Monroe’s premature death and America’s unhealthy fixation with her, but there’s another—radically different—film that also deals with the youth- and beauty-obsessed culture that turned Monroe into a goddess. 

This week marks the 70th anniversary of the release of Monkey Business, a screwball comedy in which Monroe played a supporting role the year before her star-making turns in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire.

The film follows forty-something Dr. Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant) as he tries to create an elixir of youth for his elderly employer, Oliver Oxley  (Charles Coburn). An accident at the chemical company leads to the genuine product being created without Fulton and Oxley’s knowledge, and the watercooler gets tainted with a drug that makes those who take it feel younger. Fulton and his wife Edwina (Ginger Rogers) accidentally ingest the elixir and hijinks ensue. Barnaby, feeling like a 20-year-old, gets his hair cut far too short, buys loud clothes, drives a flashy car, and hits on Oxley’s secretary, Lois Laurel (Monroe). With a teenaged-mentality, Edwina is alternately shy, angry, and mischievous.

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  1. Safety Cone

    Elvis (Costello)
    "This Year's Girl"

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  2. Richard Kennedy

    Congratulations Andrew! This is the first Dispatch article to make the Google aggregation page!

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  3. CatoTheElder

    It’s been years—too many years, at that—since I watched ‘Monkey Business’. I now have on my to-do list a note to rectify that.

    With regard to Monroe, I’ve always found myself uninterested in learning much more about her. Not to say that she wasn’t an interesting person, or smart, or capable, or whatever. It’s simply a matter of all that baggage that comes with that (yes, admittedly quite attractive) package. When it comes to MM, it seems most everyone has one of two almost diametrically opposed opinions, both of which, I suspect, are rather wide of the mark. So I just quietly smile and nod when people tell me about their Marilyn, regardless of how accurate, wise, sensational, or ridiculous it all may be.

    On the other hand, when it comes to Cary Grant, I’ve always been a big fan of Grant the actor, while keeping Grant the man at arm’s length, at least. The same is true, in varying degrees, for some other actors: Sean Penn, Katherine Hepburn, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, and quite a few more. Perhaps this pattern is to be recommended? At the moment, the first actor that comes to mind when I ask myself the question, “Which would you like to have over for dinner and an evening conversation?”, is the deceased actor/playwright Sam Shepard. But that’s probably a reflection of some degree of projection on my part, so…. Maybe Tommy Lee Jones?

    Anyway, thanks, Alec, for a fine essay.

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      Nice list!

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    Jaliranchr

    One of my all-time favorite movies, Alec. Ginger Rogers stole the show for me and cracks me up every single time. Wonderful movie to pull from the library every once in a while for a break from the world.

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  5. PatThomson

    "Those who attempt to avoid old age by refusing to accept it when it arrives, on the other hand, will never know what a full life is."

    How do you know?

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      Good question, but it’s a great observation all the same.

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    Ben Connelly

    “ but because there is something wrong with wanting those things when they’re no longer yours to have.”

    Well said. Our culture’s backwards-looking (as in individuals looking back within their own lives) with youth is unhealthy and destructive. Both to youth and to people who spend their 40s and 50s unhappy!

    “ youth and beauty are not portrayed as things to aspire to, but they’re not made out to be bad either: They’re simply qualities that exist. Here one season, gone the next. ”

    There are good things about youth but there are bad things too (callowness, immaturity). There are bad things about getting older but there are also many good things too.

    I’ve been an old man in a young man’s body for over a decade, but I wish people around me stopped thinking that I was unhappy about being young and started realizing that I’m just pointing out the obvious about the harm youth-obsessed culture has created.

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      I miss the energy I had, and it’s hard seeing the physical changes, but I have no desire to go back to my youth. I’m so much more at peace with myself, and there are many things I appreciate and enjoy that aren’t about how I look to others.

      At 70, I still exercise and do my best to keep fit because I think it makes life better in general. But, it is interesting to remember how insecure youth is.

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        Ben Connelly

        I’d like to keep some physical athleticism as long as I can, but other than that I think a lot of the benefits of youth are overrated whereas the benefits of age and experience can be comparatively underrated by some people. There are good and bad things about every age and maybe it’s best not to worry to much about it.

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          Anne W (Raw5254)

          I think the biggest difference is physical vs mental. Youth spends a fair amount of time working at attracting the other sex, of course. It’s a time for learning a lot about how to succeed and get along in the world. There are some hard lessons, too.

          Aging brings experience and much more introspection. Hopefully, we’ve grown and learned from a lot of our youthful mistakes. I, too, miss the physical abilities I had (and took for granted). Keeping fit is much more about wanting to be able to do things for myself, and still being able to do as much as possible the things I enjoy. It’s one of the reasons I don’t understand why so many people don’t take care of themselves.

          What has surprised me, however, is that I still feel so many of the same things as I did when I was young. I’m still curious; I appreciate a good sense of humor, and still laugh at ridiculous things (probably one reason my husband and I still have so much fun together); I’m still petty and envious at times (although I try hard to be aware of it); I still love learning new things; I’m still very sentimental (maybe more so); my feelings can be hurt just as much as when I was young, but I’m better at not taking everything so personally.

          I have always been a worrier, and that hasn’t changed either, unfortunately!

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            Ben Connelly

            Thanks for sharing! I hope I age as gracefully.

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  7. Seth Halpern

    I might have added that Cary Grant himself was married five times, the last to a woman who was 47 years his junior. Far be it from me to claim that he did not age gracefully.

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      Alec Dent vertical-nib Author

      Grant the man and Grant the movie star were very different people. His relationship with the female sex was quite sad

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        Anne W (Raw5254)

        Good actors often have lives that have nothing that relates to the characters they play.

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    Jason Gibson

    I didn't think anyone knew this film!

    So I'm a ridiculous expert on the films of Howard Hawks (who directed this) and I think this is his best comedy. (a genre he was known for)

    I actually think that Ginger Rogers is overlooked in this movie.

    So good choice Alec. You continue to impress the movie fans at the dispatch!

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    1. Pohl

      Rio Bravo deserves high marks, though primarily a Western. Walter Brennan is a hoot. Some of Angie Dickinson’s deliveries still make me cringe, but she grows on me another 5% on each viewing. Even Ricky Nelson, who sometimes struggled playing himself on Ozzie & Harriet, does a good job.

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        Jason Gibson

        Totally agree. Other Hawks gems:

        Only angels have wings
        Red River
        To have and have not (just rewatched it’s ridiculously entertaining)
        Ball of fire
        Bringing up baby
        Seargent york
        His girl Friday
        You get the idea: Small films with snappy dialogue
        And my favorite el dorado

        He also would later direct gentlemen prefer blondes that is mentioned in the article

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        1. Pohl

          I haven’t seen 2 of those, but how can El Dorado beat out Rio Bravo?

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            Jason Gibson

            Robert Mitchum and James caan over dean martin and Ricky Nelson…

            Also sober up cure is classic

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  9. Seth Halpern

    My brother married a woman nearly 35 years his junior and fathered two children with her when he was around 70. They had a long and happy marriage, albeit one marred by illnesses eventually occasioned by his age. (Then again, my father suffered comparable problems despite being only 11 years older than my mother.)

    In my experience the people most enraged by large age differences are middle aged women who feel forsaken or ignored by middle aged men. But these days plenty of middle aged women consort with men years their own junior, so what's good for the goose, etc.

    I wouldn't go so far as to claim that age is just a number, but in an era of improving health and increasing life expectancy there's no reason why a fit, active person of whatever years should feel obliged to lie down in a coffin just because many of his or her more self conscious contemporaries do.

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      Aylene Wright

      There's a reason that "May-December" relationships are arguably less socially acceptable these days despite overall increased life expectancy (although the US life expectancy has actually fallen the last 3 years) and healthier older people.

      The problem with large age gap relationships isn't really the age difference, it's a power difference. I find a 70 year old and a 35 year old in a relationship is much less problematic than a 50 year old and a 25 year old, and a 30 year old in a "relationship" with a 15 year old, would be considered criminal in most states, perhaps even all.

      It used to be that it was considered normal for marriage to be an UNequal relationship in which husbands weren't equal partners but authority figures who their wives obeyed. So if the husband already was expected to have power over the wife, the added power that a big age gap provides, wasn't really a big deal.

      Now it is.

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      1. Duane Truitt

        Power difference? Surely you don’t deny the power of sex, youth, and acceptance of the older partner.

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        CP

        This is very well said. I wonder, though, if this imbalance of power ever skewed in the other direction as well as the man got old and witless. Remember Chaucer’s Wife of Bath? Hardly powerless by any standard. Fictional, but surely there was a reason she resonated.

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          Aylene Wright

          Just to clarify, I didn't mean to claim that ALL "May-December" relationships are inherently problematic or immoral, nor that all the Mays are helpless victims of the Decembers with no agency. I was just pointing out that there are reasons why such relationships are probably looked on less favorably these days than during the 1950s.

          Indeed, one of the earliest references to May-December relationships is in another Chaucer tale, told by the Merchant. That features May cuckolding December with a man closer to her age. But although that might make sense as a power play, I don't think the model of "old man, young wife and secret lover" is actually the stuff of happy marriages these days.

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            Anne W (Raw5254)

            My husband and I are 2 years apart, and I’m the older one. I will say that there are a number of things I appreciate about being closer in age.

            We have similar memories from our youth, and lives, in general. If I bring up some old TV show from the 60s, he doesn’t look puzzled. We laugh about similar memories, We both knew this week why Queen Elizabeth was such an important part of history.

            Dare I say, we are sexually compatible in that we’re still interested (and we still do it), but we’ve both slowed down, and we’re both just fine with that.

            We both have aches and pains we didn’t have when we were younger, and let me just say, there’s nothing like being able to say getting up in the morning isn’t as zippy as it used to be, and the other person completely gets it!

            I think being the much older person in a good relationship is the probably best. The younger person is more likely to be the one who ends up taking on most of the responsibilities and taking care of you, if needed (and 35 years difference pretty much guarantees that).

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      3. Seth Halpern

        Politically correct dictates notwithstanding, I find it amusing that any attractive young woman of legal age should be deemed powerless unless she depends on the man for professional advancement.

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          Aylene Wright

          Hmm, straw-woman much? Never did I claim that "any attractive woman of legal age should be deemed powerless". But you seem to have the opposite assumption, that there's nothing at all inherently wrong with a 70 year old dating an 18 year old, which I also find amusing. As I do your using the outdated term "politically correct" to dismiss my opinion. The trendy term these days is "woke".

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          1. Duane Truitt

            Woke is a stupid term. Politically correct is an entirely descriptive and intelligent term. Trendiness in thought is usually wrong.

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          2. Seth Halpern

            Since you mention it, I consider a 70-18 gap to be highly unusual, but as the law does not prohibit it, neither would I. I don't presume to consider inherently wrong what the law permits.

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    Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

    "Everyone gets a taste of that youth again and finds it lacking, not because there’s anything wrong with being young or being like Monroe, but because there is something wrong with wanting those things when they’re no longer yours to have."

    Nearly 68 and not sure how I feel about that. I think there is something in us that will always rage against it. Went for my annual physical recently and every year it feels more and more like playing Russian Roulette. That feeling really doesn't make me want to retire gracefully into senescence - quite the opposite.

    "O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you."

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      I have already mentioned I’m 70, and I just had my annual wellness checkup. Everything was really good except my cholesterol, which is very frustrating. And, of course, the first thing they want to do is put me on meds. Ever wonder why so many older/elderly people are on a lot of meds? Doctors subscribe them and we automatically take them without question.

      They rarely talk to us about diet and exercise, and looking around me (youth included), we don’t seem to care.

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        Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

        It's always cholesterol for just about everyone. I fortunately process fat like a woodchipper goes through a tree branch. Apparently not the same with sugar. Happily the latter is just a diet change.

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          Anne W (Raw5254)

          Interesting. I have no trouble maintaining my weight, but I do exercise and I have a pretty good diet! I don’t think I eat that much sugar, but I did read that cholesterol tends to go up with age.

          I just get tired of the push to take drugs, in general. I’ve been encouraged (strongly) to get a bone density scan because I’m small, and apparently small women are more likely to have low bone density and break them easier. But, that leads to taking drugs that can actually make the problem worse (I’ve read a lot and talked to a surgeon).

          Now, of course, they would love to put me on statins, and they have their own set of issues.

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            Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

            Yeah, they got me with the statins too. I declined. I'll fall apart in my own way. 😉

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