Travel Portraits
Lexington Avenue NY

The first in a series of stories and watercolours by Pat Keenan

     It is one of the iconic shots of cinema history or, come to think of it, the entire 20th century, and you will find no plaque to mark where it took place. 

     The film, released in 1955, was The Seven Year Itch directed by Billy Wilder. We see Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe walk out of the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre which was at 589 Lexington Avenue. The film they had just seen was Creature from the Black Lagoon. 

     There is the sound of a subway train beneath the grating and Marilyn stands astride. She is wearing an ivory white halter neck cocktail dress. "Ooo," she says in her oft imitated soft girly voice "do you feel the breeze from the subway?" The rush of air from the passing train billows her dress upwards and one of the most memorable cinematic moments is captured for all time. 

     Her husband at the time was baseball star Joe DiMaggio and he was present at the shoot which took place on September 11, 1954. We are told disapproved so much he walked off. Joe later said he also hated the white dress but in 2011 someone loved it enough to buy it at auction for $5.6 million. (that included the auctioneers $1 million commission)

     The famous grate is in front of 590 Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street, NewYork and I have a photograph of it somewhere. I'll find it. Mind you it looks like all the other subway grates in Manhattan

For more of Pat Keenan's Paintings

Visit www.facebook.com/PatrickKeenanGallery