Anna Nicole Smith

[Robert M. Blevins]

Anna Nicole Smith died today.

Big deal.

She was famous only for being famous. Her life was what it was. And in reality, it was a shallow life, indeed.

I have to take exception at her self-comparisons to Marilyn Monroe. She was often asked this question, and from her answers, you could tell she considered herself the 2007 version of Monroe.

Well, I can't agree with this. Monroe was an actress. She starred in several Academy-Award winning films, with leading men like Clark Gable. For Anna to compare herself to Monroe is an insult to Monroe.

Anna tried to suck millions of dollars from an 86-year-old millionaire.
Monroe ended her marriage to baseball legend Joe Dimaggio with style and grace. They were friends even after the divorce.

Anna spent her time encouraging the paparazzi to splash her image around the globe.
Monroe worked hard, and was gracious with the press, but did not encourage them for her own benefit.

Marilyn Monroe never bore any children. She was often quoted as saying she wanted children, but until she found a stable relationship, she would not do this.
Anna had a son. He died of a drug overdose in her hospital room while nobody noticed.

Marilyn had both looks and true talent, and starred in major films still popular today.
Anna had a crappy reality show while she was more than fifty pounds overweight.

When Marilyn died, her funeral was a who's-who of Hollywood and beyond, attended by hundreds of people. Huge crowds lined the streets to view the funeral procession. Joe Dimaggio cried.
Since Anna Nicole's death, the only 'friends' who have gone public to speak about her are mostly unknown and very strange people.

A hundred years from now, Marilyn Monroe will be remembered and her work in Hollywood enjoyed by millions.
Anna will be a lousy footnote at Wikipedia...

[Ed]

IMO Marilyn Munroe was pretty similar in a lot of ways.  She had plastic surgery to correct a weak chin, dyed her hair blond, because her natural ginger wasn't considered attractive enough for the image she went for.  Changed her name.  So, yeah - thoroughly fake.

She also posed for pornographic pictures in her early years, when she was still Norma Jean Baker.  Arguably a poor actress, at least until very late in her career.  And she married a succession of older men, possibly had an affair with JFK and finally died of a drug overdose at about the same age as Anna Nicole.  If she lived in today's world, the press would rip her apart.  As it was, she lived in a gentler era, when stars got a lot more respect from the press.

Anna Nicole was a strange character, and she said she truly loved the old man, which might have been true.  After all, money is supposed to be a powerful aphrodisiac

[Robert M. Blevins]

Hollywood in the 1950's and 60's was hard work.
Can you imagine Anna Nicole trying to fill Marilyn's shoes in the film 'Some Like It Hot' or her film with Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable?
Anna was a media joke, and not much more. Her death was like when you have a cute toy and the batteries finally go dead.
Monroe was (and still is) a legend.

You could boil down my other post to the very last sentence.

[Ed]

Yeah, I'm not saying she was any better than Munroe, but I don't think she was a hell of a lot worse, either, TBH.  With better mentoring I think Smith could probably have done everything Marilyn did, not with quite the same panache, but close enough for today's market. 

The difference is that ANS made no bones about being white trash - she was big and brassy with no class.  Marilyn hid her roots better, learned how to fit in, had a bit of class about her, but we still don't know much more about her than the studio system let us know.  She was the product of a different time.  It would be interesting to see how Marilyn would fare in today's climate and, likewise, what ANS would have been in Marilyn's time.

[Walker]

I feel sorry for her, and a child whom will never know it's own mother. Losing her son last year must have really affected her in a bad way. I can't even imaginge the pain in losing a child, nor do I care to experience it. As far as fleecing money from an old man goes, he was lucid and he loved her. It was his money to do with as he wished and I'm sure he was wise enough to not be fooled by her. If I'm ever that rich and single and really old, bring on the ladies. You can't take it with you and there's no way I'd let a family of vultures fight over it, as if they were entitled to it all along-- like I'd borrowed it from them or something, cuz that's how they acted.
She sure had lots of problems, a lot of the celebs do, but there always seems to be a certain few who were never meant to handle fame, or notoriety. I'm always impressed with the ones who manage to completely stay free of the media barbs-- like Robert Redford-- not so much by the ones who persue it. Being famous must be similar to throwing stones at a sleeping pitbull-- it's only fun until you're noticed.

[Ed]

Hah - love the simile

But, yep - how sad for the child.  Like you say, Walker, losing her son must have been devastating.  At least her youngest is still a baby and has a shot at growing up relatively unscathed.

[Robert M. Blevins]

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but her nurse says that Anna had been suffering 'flu-like symptoms' for several days and had not felt well. If she died of natural causes, this would be 'better' than a drug overdose or suicide. If she OD'd or committed suicide, people would point to that and say, "See...I told you so."

Yes, it IS too bad for the baby, though.

Gayla the bookkeeper at Adventure Books kind of liked her, so no one is saying bad things about ANS around her today. Gayla was Miss Vista, California and competed for the Miss California title. I can't say what year, or she would kill me...(lol)

Today I am feeling a little less jaded and cynical about Anna. Blunt's right...she wasn't THAT bad. 

[neilmarr]

After a lifetime in newspapers, I swore off them ten years ago. I'd read at least two dozen a day in several languages for thirty odd years, but I doubt if I've even skimmed through more than one a year over the past decade. So I'm probably the only guy in the Western World who had never heard of Ms Smith until her name came up on BBC World Service radio this week. I feel a little like Aristotle on his first visit to a marked when he was over-awed by all the things he didn't need. RIP ANS, but I'm afraid it doesn't look likely that you were the stuff of legend. Neil

[Ed]

I don't read newspapers any more - I prefer impartial news coverage, in the style of the mainstream British TV companies.  One of the strangest things about watching American TV, while I was over there, was seeing news reports with an editorial bias.  I've never liked being told what to think, but I guess biased coverage makes for added conflict, which seems to be what people like (whether they know it or not).

Can't remember the last time I bought a paper, but I did go through a stint of buying the occasaional copy of the Daily Mail for its quiz pages.  Dear God, but that's a paranoid, glass is half empty kind of paper, IMO.  The Sun is nothing more than a rabble rousing comic, The Mirror isn't much better, the Star is of the same ilk.  The others are a bit better - the ones that used to be broadsheets seem to have a higher editorial standard, but I've never found time to read the whole thing.  I bought the Sunday Times once, and it took me a couple of weeks to read it all

[Walker]

One of the strangest things about watching American TV, while I was over there, was seeing news reports with an editorial bias.  I've never liked being told what to think, but I guess biased coverage makes for added conflict, which seems to be what people like (whether they know it or not).

A lot of western media is government controlled so they're always trying to use it push their agenda on the public. Where I live it usually backfires because nobody really trusts the media anyway, and certainly not the opinion of the anchorperson. Disagreeing with them is my favorite thing. As far as I'm concerned they're getting paid to read the news, not enlighten us with their unique take on things-- which is all too often a heavy right-wing slant. The media actually turned on our PM shortly after he was elected because he tried to shut them out. Stupid move, as it turns out. He became the focus of a pretty nasty and prolonged attack, and for once I agreed with them. Eventually they came to an agreement but I'm sure it hurt his popularity more than that of the media.
The only newspaper I read is (parts of) the local news because it tells what's happening in the community, etc.
Way too much propaganda in this world.

[Robert M. Blevins]

Blunt said:

"One of the strangest things about watching American TV, while I was over there, was seeing news reports with an editorial bias.  I've never liked being told what to think, but I guess biased coverage makes for added conflict, which seems to be what people like (whether they know it or not)."

Brother, you hit the nail on the head with that one...

Even Americans know this. Some television news organizations are definitely right or left wing, you can tell. Sometimes when I go out into the wilderness with my laptop and tent, I also take my short wave radio. That way you can pick up the BBC news. Seems like they just tell the story with a minimum of personal opinion or fuss. "This is the BBC..." 

[DragonMom]

I watch Good Morning America for the weather & a laugh.  The local paper, the Kansas City Star, is nothing but a yellow rag these days.  There's just no trusting the American media anymore, it sucks.  Personally, I don't pay attention except as entertainment value.

[Ed]

I watch Good Morning America for the weather & a laugh.  The local paper, the Kansas City Star, is nothing but a yellow rag these days.  There's just no trusting the American media anymore, it sucks.  Personally, I don't pay attention except as entertainment value.

Same here, except it's the British equivalent and they can't even get the weather right over here   As for the local rag, I had always assumed it was a bastion of good reporting technique and fairness, but it turns out to be nothing more than a cynical, small time little brother to the national scumbags. I think with the power and influence that media holds over the population, reporters should have more of a social conscience than they generally seem to.

[hugs_and_love]

I think that Anna dieing may have been the best thing that ever happened to that little girl.