'Take care of my body' and 'always be on time'; Marilyn Monroe's 1955 new year's resolutions unveiled

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'Take care of my body' and 'always be on time'; Marilyn Monroe's 1955 new year's resolutions unveiled

By Stylist Team

Updated 8 years ago

A diary entry of Marilyn Monroe's new year's resolutions has resurfaced on the internet, revealing her career aspirations and hopes of tackling her insecurities.

And while the Hollywood icon's world might have been very different to ours, the list from 1955 - published in the book Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters and shared by uproxx.com - shows she was just as determined to perfect her craft and look after herself as a lot of us will be this year.

The star, who was 29-years-old at the time, refers to lectures and acting classes she hoped to attend having been accepted in Lee Strasberg’s prestigious Actor’s Studio school and that she was looking to find someone to teach her dancing.

Monroe also addresses her phobias - "must make strong effort to work on current problems and phobias that out of my past has arisen" - and hopes of taking a more mindful approach to life, writing: "keep looking around me – only much more so – observing – but not only myself but others and everything – take things (it) for what they (it’s) are worth."

Looking after herself was also a key resolution, writing "take care of my instrument – personally & bodily".

At the time, the actress' career has progressed in leaps and bounds having starred in hits such as All About Eve, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch, which contains the scene where Monroe's skirt gets caught in an upward breeze from a New York City subway grate. It went on to become one of the most iconic moments in cinema history.

Monroe's new year's resolutions capture her as a young woman determined to be taken seriously in her profession and grow into a mindful individual.

Read the full transcript below.

"Must make effort to do
Must have the dicipline to do the following –

z – go to class – my own always – without fail

x – go as often as possible to observe Strassberg’s other private classes

g – never miss actor’s studio sessions

v – work whenever possible – on class assignments – and always keep working on the acting exercises

u – start attending Clurman lectures – also Lee Strassberg’s directors lectures at theater wing – enquire about both

l – keep looking around me – only much more so – observing – but not only myself but others and everything – take things (it) for what they (it’s) are worth

y – must make strong effort to work on current problems and phobias that out of my past has arisen – making much much much more more more more more effort in my analisis. And be there always on time – no excuses for being ever late.

w – if possible – take at least one class at university – in literature –

o – follow RCA thing through.

p – try to find someone to take dancing from – body work (creative)

t – take care of my instrument – personally & bodily (exercise)

try to enjoy myself when I can – I’ll be miserable enough as it is."

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