Giant statue of Marilyn Monroe erected in Chicago

(16 Jul 2011) SHOTLIST
1. Mid shot head and shoulders of Marilyn Monroe, pull out to wide shot, tilt down to legs
2. People looking at statue
3. SOUNDBITE (English) ): Leslie Mickey, visiting from Nebraska:
"Marilyn Monroe's an icon. I just think it's really neat."
4. Pan from skyscrapers to legs and skirt of statue
5. SOUNDBITE (English) ): Darin Mickey, visiting from Nebraska:
"They still don't have any idea... Try to explain to them that she was the sex symbol back in the day."
6. Wide shot back view statue, zoom in
7. Front view statue, pull out
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Don Archer, Chicago resident:
"Yes, I was like looking at the statue. I collect Marilyn memorabilia and I saw this coming up this whole week, the unveiling like from her legs up, and it was unbelievable. And then last night I was coming home from work and I saw the face was still covered and I had to come this morning to take pictures of it."
9. Head of statue, tilt down to legs
10. Man pointing at statue, tilt up to knickers and skirt, pull out
11. Skyscrapers, tilt down to wide shot statue
STORYLINE:
Marilyn Monroe's billowing skirt shows it's possible to catch a nice breeze in the Windy City.
As dozens of people watched Friday, a 26-foot-(8-meter-)tall sculpture of Monroe in her famous pose from the film "The Seven Year Itch" was unveiled on Chicago's Magnificent Mile.
In the movie, a draft catches Monroe's dress as she stands over a subway grate to cool off.
Many in the crowd that descended on the plaza throughout the day - including a tuxedo-clad wedding party - wasted little time positioning themselves under the movie star's dress to catch a subway-level view and take pictures with their cell phone cameras.
Not that Monroe, her eyes closed and a sublime smile on her face, seemed to notice.
Some of those who took pictures of the sculpture called "Forever Marilyn" were surprised when they came around the side and back of the sculpture and saw honest-to-goodness lace panties on the movie icon.
The film scene and photographs taken from it left much more to the imagination than artist Seward Johnson's sculpture.
Chicago has a history of public art displays, including a herd of fibreglass cows that lined Michigan Avenue some years back.
The plaza where Monroe will be stationed until next spring was the home a few years ago to another Johnson sculpture: the equally iconic, though far less glamorous, grim-faced farmer and his spinster daughter from Grant Wood's "American Gothic."
The actual white dress worn by Monroe in the scene from director Billy Wilder's 1955 film that helped make her a screen legend sold for 4.6 (m) million US dollars at an auction last month of Hollywood costumes and props collected by film star Debbie Reynolds.

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