One day in 1955, a 14-year-old boy’s dream came true. Bronx high-school student Peter Mangone had cut classes to stake out Marilyn Monroe’s hotel with an eight-millimeter movie camera, and got far more than he bargained for when the star invited him to accompany her entourage as they wandered Fifth Avenue. Taken from the five-and-a-half minutes of footage Mangone shot that day — which only resurfaced in 2002, when his brother found it in a box of things Mangone thought he had thrown away — the stills below provide a remarkable composite portrait of Monroe. There’s the movie star mugging for the camera, sure, but some of the most powerful shots find her staring vulnerably into the distance or with her eyes closed and faced fixed in an expression of utter beatitude. Click through to see a selection of stills from Marilyn Monroe (New York, 1955): The Lost Film of Peter Mangone, on view at Danziger Gallery in Chelsea from January 10 through February 9.
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Image credit: Peter Mangone. Courtesy Danziger Gallery