Pin up Icon JEANNE CARMEN talks about MARILYN MONROE and the KENNEDY’S on the MOVIES! channel

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN talks about MARILYN MONROE and the KENNEDY’S on the MOVIES! channel show HOLLYWOOD COUPLES: MARILYN MONROE and JOE DiMAGGIO

 

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO CLIPS AT THESE LINKS ON YOUTUBE

 

 

Night Owls- live radio interview from Las Vegas w/ Brandon James on Jeanne Carmen

Check it out! Live Radio Talk Show tonight!!

BRANDON JAMES and his sister JADE will be interviewed on a LIVE radio talk show tonight from Las Vegas at 10PM. It’s called NIGHT OWLS with host Jim Barsich
Las Vegas’ only historical music and information radio station. We take you back to Las Vegas when Vegas was Vegas. Music All Day. Talk All Night.
You can click on the website and there is a link on the home page to listen live on the internet

here is the link to KIYQ FM Las Vegas

http://www.kiyq.org/

or.. you can call in and listen live on your phone

The phone numbers to call are on the website but i will give them to you again
Here is how to listen: On the radio at 107.1 fm
Call from ANY TELEPHONE (702) 489-0110,
Or call (605) 477-2857 on any telephone,
if you are in the UK call: 443303326422, or from Australia call: 0280725152

Jeanne Carmen – at Don Wilson’s Hollywood Beat

check out this amazing new article at this link

http://donwilsonshollywoodbeat.blogspot.com/2016/09/jeanne-carmen-and-marilyn-monroe-by-don.html

Here is a brief excerpt:

Jeanne became known as “Queen of the B Movies”, that title was used by E! Television on their series E! The True Hollywood Story in 1998. It was the first widespread coverage on media where Jeanne spoke about her “dangerously close friendship with Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys”. Jeanne had told this writer that after Monroe’s death she was warned her to leave Hollywood or she’s be leaving in a box like Monroe. It was Chicago mobster Johnny Rosselli who was working with Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana. Carmen heeded his advice, packed up all of her belongings and boxed up her career, the films, magazines, glamour photos and left California for a quiet life in Scottsdale, Arizona. She married and had three children along the way. It was her son Brandon and his curiosity while going through boxes that he learned of his mother’s Hollywood career. 

Author BRANDON JAMES talks JEANNE CARMEN on AFTERBUZZ TV

Celebrity reporter KATERINA COZIAS interviews author BRANDON JAMES and his sister JADE about their mother, Pinup Icon JEANNE CARMEN and Brandon’s book about her MY WILD WILD LIFE for BOOK CIRCLE ONLINE which is a part of AFTERBUZZ TV which is owned by reknowned celebrity TV  host and Hollywood Icon MARIA MENOUNOS.

Check it out at this link

 

JEANNE CARMEN: MY WILD WILD LIFE by BRANDON JAMES

Check out this new updated version of the incredible true life story of Pinup Icon JEANNE CARMEN by BRANDON JAMES

The book is now available at AMAZON at this link

https://www.amazon.com/Jeanne-Carmen-WILD-LIFE-Queen/dp/0595409067/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465887679&sr=1-1&keywords=jeanne+carmen

 

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN on CASE CLOSED: MARILYN MONROE on REELZ channel

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN appears on the new show CASE CLOSED with A.J. BENZA: MARILYN MONROE on the REELZ channel

Jeanne Carmen’s son BRANDON JAMES reveals what really happened to MARILYN MONROE on the last night of her life on this explosive new show on the REELZ channel

 

check out these amazing video clips from the show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN talks about MARILYN MONROE and the KENNEDY’S on the MOVIES! channel

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN on the MOVIES! channel talking about MARILYN MONROE and the KENNEDY’S

check it out at this link

 

Jeanne Carmen – new article in Gulf Coast Motorsports in Florida

 

Check out this amazing new article on Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN in GULF COAST MOTORSPORTS magazine in FLORIDA.

Here is a pdf of the article

Anastasia Castro FEB_2016_Jeanne Carmen

Here is a link to the article:

Here is a brief transcript:

Perfect pinup and Hollywood starlet Jeanne Carmen

by Candy Cocktail

In honor of Valentine’s Day, it is the month to remember what we love most. One of my favorite things is pinups! I adore vintage ladies with classic style as well as the golden age of Hollywood, with its glamorous starlets, blonde bombshells and tap dancing leading men. A bygone era in cinema; a time when a confident girl from a rural southern town ran away from home at age 13 to become Jeanne Carmen, pinup queen, model, actress, trick shot golfer and girlfriend to some of the most famous men in Hollywood.

I was recently given what I would consider to be one of the most amazing opportunities in my career: to interview Brandon James, the son of icon Jeanne Carmen. He gave me an unforgettable, two and a half hour telephone interview about his mother’s incredibly unique life with no questions off limits. It was an honor to hear the thrilling, exceptional stories of his mother’s glamorous life. I am thankful to Brandon James as it was an amazing experience to be given the chance to talk with him.

With her own E! True Hollywood Story, her extraordinary life is a who’s who of vintage Hollywood; a real life version of an exciting Hollywood masterpiece: full of fascinating adventures, varied careers, fame, and colorful characters, including mobsters, starlets, athletes and even one of the most infamous presidents in America’s history.

According to her E! True Hollywood Story, Carmen had a very close relationship with Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys. After Marilyn’s murder, she was told to leave town by Chicago mobster and friend Johnny Roselli who was working for mob boss Sam Giancana. Carmen left the flash of Hollywood for a simple, more domestic life in Scottsdale, Arizona. Much like Bettie Page, Jeanne Carmen disappeared after she left Hollywood. She dyed her hair and had a family life in Arizona where she seemed like just an average housewife. Although little did anyone know she was far from your average housewife.

Fame returned in the 80s when author Anthony Summers tracked Carmen down in Newport Beach, California. He was writing a book called Goddess, about the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. Carmen, being a close friend of the woman whose death has always been surrounded by controversy and mystery, is thought to have been one of the last people to talk to Marilyn Monroe the night that she died. Marilyn called Carmen three times that day before calling Peter Lawford. Carmen was also a friend of The Kennedys and knew about Marilyn’s relationships with both JFK and Bobby.

Among the many notable highlights of Jeanne’s extraordinary life, I would consider her friendship with Marilyn Monroe to be one of those highlights. Jeanne was in fact one of Monroe’s best friends, even during the last days of Marilyn’s life. Jeanne Carmen and Norma Jean met as young women in New York City. Jeanne took acting classes at the home of Lee Strasberg, who would later teach at the famed Actors Studio. At Strasberg’s urging, Jeanne would sometimes sit in on classes at the studio. In 1952, Marilyn was in New York while filming the movie Niagara. Marilyn wanted to be a serious actress and was planning to take classes at the Actors Studio, but was nervous so she stopped in the nearby bar for a drink before the class. Marilyn, in a dark colored, Cleopatra style wig, walked in and sat at the bar next to Jeanne Carmen who was there studying her lines. It was not until later that night when she saw Marilyn’s real hair that she was shocked to realize that the woman she had been talking to was indeed Marilyn Monroe. The two starlets became friends.

The two blonde beauties ended up as next door neighbors later in life. The gals lived in West Hollywood in a 5-apartment complex surrounding a courtyard. The entire compound was owned by old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra. Marilyn Monroe lived there after she divorced Arthur Miller and left New York to return to Hollywood. Sinatra had the apartments for some of his favorite people to stay in, including his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jeanne Carmen. Sinatra’s long time butler and valet, George Jacobs, lived in the apartment complex as well. He later wrote the book, Mr. S-My Life with Frank Sinatra. The book tells of their close friendship and mentions Sinatra’s favorite lady, Jeanne Carmen.

Brandon said that his mother was a modern woman in an old-fashioned time. She approached relationships and dating more like a man. She loved Frank Sinatra, whom she dated for seven years on and off. Sinatra eventually proposed. The flawless pinup with a body that could stop traffic turned the proposal down many times because the charismatic singer wanted an open marriage.

Nearly nine years after her death, Jeanne was the topic of a feature article in a recent issue of Playboy Netherlands. Despite Hugh Hefner’s persistence, she never appeared in Playboy. She was a close friend of Mr. Hefner and over the decades in which they knew each other, he tried to convince her to pose for the popular men’s magazine. Even though she never appeared in a pictorial, she liked Hefner. She said that Hefner was very nice and that he and Playboy Magazine do not exploit women. On the contrary, Hef appreciates their beauty and femininity.

The ‘Queen of the B Movies’ achieved quite the cult following later in life after she reemerged on the Hollywood scene. As Brandon James stated, “Horror fans are unequivocally diehard. Her roles in monster movies would make her a fan favorite until the end of her life.” Talk about a legend; her role in the classic monster movie has been so influential in the pop culture film genre that Rob Zombie even wrote a special cameo for her in his horror film House of a Thousand Corpses. However after the original film was pulled for being too violent, it was picked up by a different studio where it was heavily edited and her part did not make it into the final film.

When I asked Brandon James what people were surprised to know about his mom, he replied that it was her sense of humor. Brandon stated, “People are always surprised by how funny she was. She found humor in anything. She was always out having a good time. She found the best in everyone and she enjoyed making them smile.”

Brandon further explained that his mother had a personality that was like the character Mary in the movie There’s Something About Mary. He said she just had that type of effect on people; everyone that met her would leave feeling a little happier and she enjoyed being that person that made them happier.

She was still active when she was older, appearing in a George Michael music video. Even at the end of her life she stayed busy attending events and conventions where she was a fan favorite. Throughout the years she always had an exceptional presence and beauty about her. Sometimes time can be cruel to a woman’s beauty, but not in Jeanne’s case. Even in her 70s, her beauty remained remarkably stunning.

Jeanne died from lymphoma in 2007, at age 77, in Irvine, CA. Yet her star continues to shine. She recently became the logo of a Canadian barbeque restaurant called Jane Bond Grill. The Calgary, Alberta eatery is using Jeanne Carmen’s image on their menu and in the theme of their restaurant. Likewise, there is a commercial currently on the air featuring a clip of Jeanne Carmen screaming as she sees the monster from the classic movie The Monster of Piedras Blancas. Her son Brandon James has kept her remarkable legend alive. With a website, a book and talks of an autobiographical film, her name has never quite left the Hollywood scene.

If you would like to read more about Jeanne Carmen, check out her new website http://www.jeannecarmen.com. The book, Jeanne Carmen, My Wild, Wild Life as a New York Pin Up Queen, Trick Shot Golfer and Hollywood Actress by Brandon James is available on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

 

 

 

Jeanne Carmen – on Arkansas State Government website

Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN is now included on the official website for the state of ARKANSAS as being one of the famous citizens born in the small little town of PARAGOULD in GREENE COUNTY

here is the link:

http://greenecounty.arkansas.gov/county-history

Here is the transcript:

Jeanne Carmen

Jeanne Carmen spent her early childhood in Arkansas with her family picking cotton. At age 13 she ran away from home, eventually landing in New York City and taking a job as a dancer in an off-Broadway touring company. The early 1950s found her in Las Vegas, in the company of the likes of mobster Johnny Roselli. She discovered she had a natural talent for the game of golf and made great hay and much money hustling on the links. In the early ’50s she turned her back on the game of golf and went to Hollywood, where she was often in the company of some of that town’s most notable swingers, men like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and many others. She also maintained a close relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Jeanne never made it into the “big” movies but appeared in many “B” pictures, and was quite an item at the celebrity parties. After the death of her close friend Monroe, Carmen dropped out of sight and resided in Arizona.

 

JEANNE CARMEN on THE ORIGINAL BAD GIRL BLOG in Sydney, Australia

Monday, 7 December 2015

 

Check it out at this link:

#badgirlcrush – Jeanne Carmen

This week’s #badgirlcrush is the brunette, and occasional blonde bombshell, Jeanne Carmen!

“I was just a little country girl that wanted to be a movie star.”

Jeanne worked as a waitress in St.Louis before moving to New York City on the suggestion of a producer and landed a job as a chorus girl in the broadway show Burlesque.

In 1949 she got a job modelling golf clothes for Jack Redmond in Manhattan and discovered her natural talent for the sport!

In a whirlwind she became a professional trick shot golfer who could hit a golf ball off a tee in someone’s mouth 210 yards. Jeanne stated “There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do with a ball.” , and in springolators, even more impressive!

Jeanne moved to Las Vegas when she was dating a Chicago mobster – Johnny Roselli, and they hustled tourists who took one glance at Jeanne and doubted her golf talent ; she’d let them get ahead for a couple of holes then dazzle them with her trick shots, she never lost a round!

By 1953 Jeanne had moved to Los Angeles and invested in property, this saw her acting career begin but unfortunately she didn’t think of it fondly, “ Then I got into the movies and that was the worst thing I could have done.”

With a hourglass figure, green eyes and raven hair, Jeanne was typecast in sultry spanish roles and appeared as a señorita in The Three Outlaws and an Indian girl in War Drums in 1957.

One of Jeanne’s most noted films was Untamed Youth, which starred Mamie Van Doren and Eddie Cochran, Eddie was besotted and named the song ‘Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie’ after her!

At that time in Hollywood most A List starlets were platinum blonde, and Jeanne was eclipsed by Mamie in Untamed Youth, so to try and compete with the likes of Mansfield and Monroe, Jeanne hit the bottle and went blonde.

 

The change to platinum blonde bought about more film roles and Jeanne cemented her title as the Queen of B Movies, and her enviable figure shot her to pin up stardom.

To this day Jeanne is most recognisable as a blonde, but we think she looks great brunette or blonde!v

Jeanne (centre) and Mamie Van Doren (blonde) at an after party for Untamed Youth in 1957.

Jeanne left Hollywood in 1962 after the death of her close friend Marilyn, and focused on raising her family in private in Arizona, she later passed away at home on December 07, 2007, but remains a pin up icon of the golden Hollywood era.

“Everything I’ve done, I think I did at the right time…And it turned out great. Maybe a few marriages I could have done without. As for my career, it absolutely happened the way it was supposed to happen. A door opened and I was a pin-up”

With her enviable figure, here’s some of Jeanne’s best Bad Girl outfits!

Big love heart eyes over this killer two piece leopard print suit!

The only pin up to make us swoon over a hoody and shorts!

Patsy – Jungle Pat 

(Columnist for The Original Bad Girl Blog)

JEANNE CARMEN’S LIFE-OF-THE-PARTY LEGACY LIVES ON

FILM NOIR BLONDE – BLACK & WHITE AND CHIC ALL OVER

Check it out at this link:

http://www.filmnoirblonde.com/jeanne-carmens-life-of-the-party-legacy-lives-on/

September 1, 2013 by Film Noir Blonde

So, at the memorial service for Marilyn Monroe last month, I met Brandon James. Brandon is the son of Jeanne Carmen, a pin-up model, ace golfer, B-movie actress and friend of Marilyn’s.

Jeanne was born Aug. 4, 1930 in Paragould, Ark., to a family of cotton pickers. After winning a beauty contest at 13, she left home to pursue her dream of Hollywood stardom. Though she never became a top-tier actress, she most definitely left her mark and had a good time – clinking glasses and climbing under the covers with the likes of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra andJohnny Roselli.

After Marilyn died on Aug. 5, 1962, mobsters told Jeanne to keep quiet about Marilyn’s connection to the Kennedy clan, according to her son. Jeanne heeded the warning and, leaving her party-girl life behind, became a wife and mother in Scottsdale, Ariz. She died Dec. 20, 2007.

Her name appears in Christopher Andersen’s new book, “These Few Precious Days,” which details JFK’s last year with Jackie, including his presumed affair with Marilyn and use of amphetamines provided by “Dr. Feelgood.” Andersen writes that Marilyn frequently confided in Jeanne during this time, reportedly asking her, “Can’t you just see me as first lady?”

Additionally, a clip of Jeanne in “The Monster of Piedras Blancas” (1959) is used in American Standard’s new at-home movie marathon commercial, which, btw, also features an adorable cat. The ad will run for four months.

For more info about Jeanne, you can visit Brandon’s site and watch this edition of E! True Hollywood Story. Perhaps more off-screen than on, she was a femme fatale and blonde bombshell who was the scribe and star of her own fascinating drama.

MARILYN MONROE: THE TRUTH ABOUT HER DEATH! – article in Argentina

Read the explosive article published in Argentina at this link

http://tinyurl.com/Diario-Jornada

Here is a brief translation

The affairs of Monroe with Kennedy and his relationship with the gangster Johnny Roselli are also confirmed in the exciting and complete biography of Jeanne Carmen: My Wild, Wild Life as a New York Pin Up Queen, Trick Shot Golfer Hollywood Actress, written by her son Brandon James.

According to the book, Carmen’s life in Hollywood came to an abrupt end after his close friend Marilyn Monroe died mysteriously on August 5, 1962. The next morning, Carmen’s apartment was destroyed and looted. She crossed the intruder and thrown to the ground. The man standing next to her was the famous Hollywood private detective Fred Otash, who in turn pulled a gun, pointed at her face and fired. Fortunately, the gun barrel of the gun was empty and only came a loud noise. Carmen collapsed and began to sob after hearing the accusation that the mob boss of Chicago, Sam Giancana, had killed Marilyn Monroe in an attempt to ruin the political careers of the Kennedys.

Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962. The public fascination and adoration for the unlucky star did not disappear. So who would want to steal from someone who was so dear to life? “Many people had a lot to lose if Marilyn spoke,” said author Darwin Porter in his book “Marilyn at Rainbow’s End: Sex, Lies, Murder and the Great Cover Up.”

MARILYN MONROE DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE! – article in Venezuela

Read the explosive article published in Venezuela at this link

http://www.telesurtv.net/analisis/Marilyn-Monroe-no-se-suicido-20140805-0033.html

Here is a brief translation

“Marilyn Monroe Did Not Commit Suicide”

According to the book “Marilym at Rainbow’s End: Sex, Lies, Murder and the Great Cover Up” the acclaimed author and investigative journalist Darwin Porter, Marilyn Monroe died in the hands of five gangsters just before the heartthrob star plan a press conference He had shattered the lives of the Kennedy clan and Mafia boss Sam Giancana.

If Monroe had lived, she would have revealed her affair with John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. And it would have disclosed the ties that bound JFK mobster Giancana, Porter said.

Bobby Kennedy and her husband actor Peter Lawford visited Monroe hours before her death to try to convince her not to publish her secrets, he said.

Later that night, Monroe was ambushed by Johnny Roselli, a mobster boyfriend who left her door unlocked for the five gangsters entered Porter said. The murderers surprised the star as she slept with a rag soaked in chloroform. Then they stripped and introduced an overdose of barbiturates in her rectum by an enema with a lethal amount of chloral hydrate, a powerful sedative and narcotic.

“Her close friend and actress Jeanne Carmen told me that Marilyn thought she was too big forhim to do something. After Marilyn’s death, Johnny Roselli ordered Jeanne to leave the village. Shemoved to Arizona, she stopped acting and worked as a waitress. That shows how afraid I was, “she said.

In the book, Porter also explains that after JFK won the Democratic nomination for president, Peter Lawford organized a wild party for him in his beach house in Santa Monica. Marilyn said JFK personally called to invite her and suggested, “You should bring a friend.” She understood the intention of that invitation and called Jeanne Carmen to invite.

Carmen later said that this wild party at the home of Lawford quickly degenerated into an orgy. She said that after swimming with some of the attendees, who were naked, retired to a room Lawford’s house to take a shower. Marilyn knocked on her door and told her to JFK wanted to come to his room. Carmen rejected the proposal in principle but Marilyn asked him, “We should think of this as if we were doing it for our country.”

There are serious doubts that Marilyn had to pray too hard. Without much persuasion, Carmen entered the room followed by Marilyn JFK. The candidate for President of the United States was lying in bed in his underwear. He called Carmen and began to give massage on the shoulders. He whispered that Marilyn and she should think of themselves as “pioneers of the New Frontier of the sixties.” Carmen admitted that she finally relented – “I was overwhelmed by the extraordinary charm of Jack, his warm eyes and buzz caused by consumption of alcohol at Peter’s party. ”

As I looked up after kissing on the mouth JFK, she saw Marilyn threw her towel down and approached the bed.

JEANNE CARMEN at CINE KOLOSSAL in ITALY

Read the article published in Italy at this link

http://www.cinekolossal.com/star2/c/carmen/

Her full name was Jeanne Laverne Carmen. American actress, queen of pin-up ’50s, in the period, dominating the b-movie

Famous not so much for the performances as for outrageous flirt, true, false or assumed, undertaken with famous celebrities and not only (from Kennedy brothers to Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tony Curtis, Bob Hope, Errol Flynn and many others), such that they end up repeatedly on the front pages of newspapers and the most important American magazines.

Platinum blonde, sultry voice, voluptuous and exuberant in its provocative behavior, without basic education in compulsory schooling, only thirteen left her family and moved from Arkansas to New Orleans where she works as a waitress at a popular restaurant. Here, he is discovered by Italian singer Sandy Scott (who will become her husband, for a short time, 15 years apart), on tour in the US, that will start to her artistic career.

She moved to New York, is a model for sports clothes and soon became an icon of the first female golfer.

Tightens ties with the celebrities of the silver screen and in particular with Marilyn Monroe, close friendship and confidence that allows her to appear in several films, all second-rate: The three outlaws (1956), War Drums (1957),  and the horror, unprecedented in Italy, The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959).

The visits with celebrities, politics and shady business (known her relationship with the alleged gangster John Rosselli), on the one hand in favor of the celebrities on the other,

After the death of Monroe, received death threats for revelations about the death of her friend, She abandons the set and retired to Arizona. Only in 1978 is back in California,  Later appears in a TV special dedicated to her.

Suffering from cancer, she died two years later at 77 years.

THE EMPTY GLASS. New Movie about MARILYN MONROE featuring JEANNE CARMEN

The movie rights to the fascinating film noir crime novel THE EMPTY GLASS by J.I. Baker (Penguin Books, 2012) has been optioned by legendary Hollywood Mega Producer IRWIN WINKLER.  Winkler is the producer on such iconic American films as WOLF OF WALL STREET, GOOD FELLAS, THE RIGHT STUFF, RAGING BULL and all 5 ROCKY movies.

Pin-Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN is featured prominently in the book as a platinum blond femme fatale who knows the secrets that will unlock the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe.

Here is a link to a news item about the movie option:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/marilyn-monroe-novel-the-empty-glass-winkler-films-374847

New Article on JEANNE CARMEN in BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE

Bachelor Pad Magazine interview

Author BRANDON JAMES remembers his famous Pin-Up Mom JEANNE CARMEN

An amazing new 6 page article on Pin-Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN has just been published in BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE (issue 31 Spring 15). The Digest of Atomic Culture. Pin-Up girls, Retro Lifestyle, tiki and more.  Celebrating Booze, Babe’s and Burly Q

Click this link to check out the Bachelor Pad website and get this copy for your collectors edition.

http://www.bachelorpadmagazine.com/

The article is a Q & A with JEANNE CARMEN’S son BRANDON JAMES about the book he wrote titled JEANNE CARMEN: MY WILD, WILD LIFE As a New York Pin Up Queen, Trick Shot Golfer & Hollywood Actress.

There are 6 pages filled with revealing and often hilarious stories about JEANNE CARMEN and her sexy escapades with stars such as ERROL FLYNN, ELVIS PRESLEY, MARILYN MONROE, JACK BENNY and President JOHN F KENNEDY and his brother, attorney general ROBERT F KENNEDY

You  can view the whole article at this link:

Bachelor Pad Magazine

Here are a few excerpts:

On Elvis Presley:

“…I love the story of how my Mom invited Elvis over to her apartment for dinner and attempted cook him a special southern fried chicken dinner. As a gift, Elvis brought her a sexy French Maid outfit. My Mom put it on and then went over to check on the chicken cooking in the oven.  When she bent over, it was more an Elvis could handle and well.. I guess the chicken ended up burning that night.

On Marilyn Monroe and Jack Benny:

“…Yes, my Mom and Marilyn Monroe went to a steam room on Santa Monica Blvd with Jack Benny. Jack wore a fake beard and dark glasses and a baseball hat so he wouldn’t be recognized.  They did it several times.  Then one time they were all three in the steam room wearing their towels and Marilyn and my Mom were talking and laughing and gossiping when suddenly Marilyn looked down and saw that Jack Benny was visibly excited which was uncharacteristic for him.  Usually he was cool with the girls being naked around him and he always behaved like a perfect gentleman.  However this time, he became aroused and started to pinch my Mom’s and Marilyn’s boobs and butts which they were not having any part of.  Suddenly Jack became belligerent and used explicit language which shocked Marilyn and my Mom.  They decided they needed to cool Jack down a bit so they tackled him and because Jack was older and hardly a muscleman, he immediately fell to the floor and didn’t put up much of a fight.  My Mom took a large eucalyptus branch out of one of the pots in the steam room and began spanking Jack with it while Marilyn had him in a head lock. My Mom scolded him and with each swat she would say “Jack are you ever going to use foul words again?” and Jack would mutter “No.. never.” “Are you ever going to pinch Marilyn’s butt again?” Swat!!!  “No.. never.”  Then Jack faked a hear attack and my Mom and Marilyn freaked out thinking it was real and they rolled Jack over and began to administer CPR and Marilyn started to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation when Jack suddenly burst out laughing.  They all had a good laugh on the way home thinking about that one.

On Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy:

“It was during this period that Marilyn and my Mom lived at 882 North Doheny Blvd in Frank Sinatra’s apartment complex that Marilyn Monroe started her affair with President Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy.  Marilyn also started spending a lot of time with Peter Lawford and Peter’s role at the time in the Kennedy family was to get girls for Jack Kennedy.

It was during this period that my Mom and Marilyn went to a wild pool party at Peter’s beach house and Jack Kennedy tried to get them to have a threesome with him.  Jack gently massaged my Mom’s shoulders and told her “Think of it as a New Frontier. The Frontier of the 1960’s.  And ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. And girls, this afternoon, think of me as your country.”

On Marilyn and Robert F Kennedy:

It was also during this period that my Mom and Marilyn went to a nude beach with Bobby Kennedy in Malibu.  Bobby was at Marilyn’s apartment one day and he noticed a fake beard and glasses laying around and he asked what it was all about.  Marilyn and my Mom told Bobby about how they would go to a steam bath on Santa Monica Blvd with Jack Benny and Jack would wear the disguise so nobody would recognize him.  Bobby started laughing and said if Jack Benny could get away with it he could.  Then Marilyn and Mom dared Bobby to don the disguise and go to the nude beach in Malibu and Bobby being a Kennedy couldn’t resist a dare and went along with it.

New Article on JEANNE CARMEN in GERMANY in ROCKABILLY RULES magazine

A new article on Pin Up Icon JEANNE CARMEN has been published in GERMANY in ROCKABILLY RULES Magazine – The Online Magazine that Rocks!

Read the full article at this link:

Pin Up Queens Teil 3: Jeanne Carmen

Here is a brief excerpt: [translated into English]

After the death of her dearly beloved friend MARILYN MONROE, JEANNE CARMEN was threatened by JOHNNY ROSELLI, who worked for the Mafia boss SAM GIANCANA from Chicago. Because the beauty’s life was in danger, she retired from Hollywood and fled to Scottsdale in Arizona.

For more than a decade JEANNE CARMEN lived there incognito and dyed her platinum hair brunette. She never mentioned her showbiz career, married, had three children moved on and led a quiet and peaceful life without the big stage, the spotlight or any glamour. In 1998, Jeanne Carmen was the subject of the TV biopic “Jeanne Carmen: Queen Of The B-Movies” that rotated [on the E! Entertainment Television series True Hollywood Story].

In the opening scene it evokes that the beauty [Jeanne Carmen], “had maintained a dangerously-close friendship with MARILYN MONROE and the KENNEDY’S and that following the death of MARILYN, CARMEN was told to leave the city immediately.”

On 20 December 2007 JEANNE CARMEN died of a malignant lymphoma at the age of 77 years at her home in Orange County, California

JEANNE CARMEN is still unforgotten and always will be the best friend of the film icon MARILYN MONROE in memory.
Text: Isabella Labella

New Article on JEANNE CARMEN and MARILYN MONROE in GERMANY – Part 2 of 2

This is part 2 of a new 2 part article published in MARILYN TODAY – The International Marilyn Monroe Fan Club newsletter published in Germany

Part 1 is in Issue no 25; September 2014

Part 2 is in issue no 26. December 2014

The entire article is published in both German and in English.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO READ THIS AMAZING DOUBLE ARTICLE IN A PDF FILE

SLIH REPORT – INTERVIEW WITH BRANDON JAMES

Here a partial transcript of the 2nd part of the article:

In your opinion, how Marilyn Monroe died? Was a suicide or a murder? Do you think that the Mafia may have had a part in this dark death?

Marilyn was murdered by the Mafia because of her ties to the Kennedy’s. Specifically Bobby Kennedy. The week before she died, Marilyn went to the Cal Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe to hang out with Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford. Mob Boss Sam Giancana was there that weekend and Marilyn got really drunk and ended up having sex with Sam Giancana which she regretted later. Marilyn told my mom she was grossed out by Sam and couldn’t believe she had sex with him. That weekend Marilyn told Sam Giancana a lot of stuff about the Kennedy’s and her relationship with them. That set in motion the terrible events of the last night of Marilyn’s life. Johnny Roselli was a friend of my Mom’s and a friend of Marilyn Monroe’s since her early days in Hollywood as a young starlet. Sam ordered the hit on Marilyn and Johnny brought in the killers from Chicago.

Queen of the B-Movies and 50’s Pin Up – Jeanne Carmen, Book Signing by Brandon James

“Fascinating” – J. Randy Taraborrelli

“If you like your starlets sexy, spicy, and sassy – this is the story for you”

– E! Entertainment Television on Jeanne Carmen.

Click here for the press release

http://patch.com/california/hollywood/queen-b-movies-and-50s-pin-jeanne-carmen-book-signing-brandon-james-0

By SZMedia (Open Post)
November 25, 2014 at 8:54am

(HOLLYWOOD, CA. November 10, 2014) On Saturday December 6th at 3 pm, author Brandon James will be at the West Hollywood Library to discuss and sign “My Wild, Wild Life” the biography of legendary pin up, trick shot golfer, Sinatra girlfriend, and friend of Marilyn – the incomparable Jeanne Carmen.

Carmen, who passed in 2007, was one of the last great Hollywood broads, who was honored by being selected as the first subject of the long running E! True Hollywood Story series. She was a certified member of the Rat Pack – having dated Sinatra on and off for decades, and was a dangerously close friend of Marilyn Monroe.

“So many people think Jeanne’s story is all about Marilyn, it’s not. While I love Marilyn, I have to tell you – Jeanne’s life was far more interesting and eventful than Marilyn’s ever was.” – says Hollywood producer, Jeannine Madsen. “But the association is eternal because of their close friendship. You will never find an interview of Jeanne where she is not crying while speaking about Marilyn.”

“Jeanne was a captivating personality which is why so many greats were drawn to her,” says James, who is also the subject’s son. “I had no idea my mother had this wild life until one day, in my teens, I discovered boxes of photographs and she came clean about her storied past.” Carmen had left Hollywood after Marilyn’s untimely death, which she always, outspokenly, maintained was murder. Jeanne was forever indebted to Sinatra for protecting her. An intimate of Sinatra, and legendary mobster Johnny Roselli since the 40’s, many claim next to Ava Gabor – Carmen was the love of Sinatra’s life – and it is an oft spoken rumor that Sinatra is the one that ordered no one hurt her. “She was told if she didn’t leave town immediately, she would leave in a body bag” James continues “she left and started a whole new life and it wasn’t until the 80’s when biographers started to track her down did she put herself back in the spotlight.”

While her friendship with Marilyn may be the defining public perception of her, one shouldn’t forget her career as a top billed B-Movie Queen. “She is part of the Hollywood mythology – she is absolutely fascinating”, says celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborelli (Call Her Miss Ross, Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness).

Prior to the B-Movies, Sinatra, the Kennedy’s, and Marilyn there was golf, “she was the first female trick shot golfer” says Golf Central. Jimmy Demaret, legendary golfer and winner of 31 PGA titles, called her “amazing”, bred her as a trick shot golfer and that’s what led her to Hollywood – and history.

“She was the Queen of the B-Movies and worthy of having a movie made about her”, says James. “How fortunate am I, as an author and to have a woman like this for a mother. Even if she weren’t my mother I would have felt compelled to tell this story.”

My Wild, Wild Lifechronicles her entire, and indeed, wild life.

Copies of My Wild, Wild Life will be available for purchase at the event.

The West Hollywood Library, 625 North Vicente, West Hollywood, Ca. 90069/ 310-652-5340

Author Talk & Book Signing: Jeanne Carmen: My Wild, Wild Life

Pinup Icon JEANNE CARMEN

Click the link below to see the press release

http://www.prlog.org/12400386-author-talk-book-signing-jeanne-carmen-my-wild-wild-life.html

Meet Author BRANDON JAMES

At the West Hollywood Library, Saturday, December 6th at 3pm

Signing his book on Pinup Icon: JEANNE CARMEN

Brandon James will be giving out a free Jeanne Carmen poster to everyone who buys a book at the signing. The poster is the classic shot of Jeanne Carmen laying on top of a piano draped in a towel.

Please join us as author Brandon James discusses the bookJeanne Carmen: My Wild Wild Life as a New York Pin Up Queen, Trick Shot Golfer & Hollywood Actress. Brandon James documents Ms. Carmen’s encounters and friendships with the famous as well as the infamous, including: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Lenny Bruce, Howard Hughes, Bob Hope, Joe DiMaggio, Sam Giancama, Johnny Rosselli and many more.

This program will take place in the library’s community meeting room and parking validation will be provided.

Brandon James will be signing copies of his book that are purchased at the program.

Sat, December 6, 2014
3:00 PM
–
4:30 PM

West Hollywood Library

625 N. San Vicente Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone:
(310) 652-5340

Click the link below for official details:

http://www.colapublib.org/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=63514

Media Contact
Brandon James
949 322 5943
brandon.james@cox.net