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The Morning GIF: Norma Jeane Baker

Here's a stunning image of Marilyn Monroe circa 1948. 

 

Lorraine Murphy

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Posted on Mar 14, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 8:06 pm CDT

Here at the Daily Dot, we swap GIF images with each other every morning. Now we’re looping you in. In the Morning GIF, we feature a popular—or just plain cool—GIF we found on Reddit, Canvas, or elsewhere on the Internet.

Here’s something refreshing to get you through Hump Day: early modeling shots of sweet young Norma Jeane Baker from 1948, shortly after she became a blond and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Well before she became the world’s greatest sex symbol, she was working for the Blue Book modeling agency at the time and not having much success in her nascent movie career.

Los Angeles photographer Leo Caiola (alternate spelling “Cailoa”) was in charge of the group shot and filming of the models. You can see from the final moments of the film just how much Marilyn’s incredible energy and beauty differentiated her from the ordinary run of professional, attractive models. A life-long devotee of weight lifting, the definition in her arms and legs is noticeable here and was unusual for a woman at the time.  

This GIF, which has 4485 notes so far, comes from a set of eight on the YoungFirstLady Tumblr.

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*First Published: Mar 14, 2012, 11:00 am CDT