The sculpture of Marilyn Monroe erected in Bendigo this week is already conjuring memories of yesteryear for passers-by old enough to remember the bombshell’s heyday.
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One such onlooker was Geoff Stopps, who was visiting from Donald on Wednesday.
Mr Stopps said he remembered being taken to watch movies starring the blonde bombshell at Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal when he was only eight years old.
His aunt was a fan of Monroe, and together they would catch the train to Castlemaine before scoring a lift home in a family friend’s car.
Trips to the movies were a rare treat for Mr Stopps whose family faced hardship after his father passed away.
He said he remained fond of Marilyn today, believing her position in pop culture was akin to Elvis Presley.
“I was only a little one, but she’s something you’ll never forget,” he said of the 20th century screen icon.
When he heard the Seward Johnson artwork had been put together in Rosalind Park, Mr Stopps decided to take a look.
“It brings back memories,” he said.
“It was a good time living back then.”
He and a friend often laughed they had “seen the best of it”, Mr Stopps said.
Another pair of out-of-town onlookers were Joe and Joy Derricott from Kyneton.
“She nearly jumped out of the bus when she saw it,” Mr Derricott said, describing the moment his wife spotted the sculpture.
Mr Derricott described himself as a fan of Monroe’s work, and both he and Mrs Derricott were upbeat about the potential economic impact of the Marilyn exhibition on Bendigo.
”It’s going to bring people to it and I think it’ll get the tourist dollar,” Mrs Derricott said.
But it was not just fans of Monroe’s movies that crowded around her plinth in the piazza yesterday.
Despite never seeing The Seven-Year Itch, the movie in which Monroe adopted the famous pose atop a subway grate, Taiwanese tourist Monnew Chang said she was familiar with the iconic film star.
“I don’t know her face, I just know this action,” Ms Chang said.
The international visitor said she thought the sculpture and its accompanying exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery had the potential to encourage more people from her homeland to visit the central Victorian city.
