Hope you are enjoying these quick looks into what was happening on the set of Some Like It Hot during August 1958. Am not doing it every day but most days in the run up to the launch of my new book Nobody's Perfect linktr.ee/NobodysPerfe... #NobodysPerfectProject

Later in the week am going to focus on the creatives who helped Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon create these characters including makeup artists Emile LaVigne, Harry Ray and Barbette who supposedly gave up in frustration at Lemmon's hopeless attempts at walking in heels.

And these concerns over potential public backlash had meant that the initial marketing plans which included photoshoots of the "brand new" girls and publicity stunts were scaled back because of the cautious executives.

10th August 1958: It's the day before filming of the big reveal of Joe and Jerry's disguise and surely the pressure was on. Whilst essential to the plot dressing their two male stars in drag for the majority of the movie was considered risky by United Artists, who were going to distribute the film.

Miller celebrated at home in Connecticut and Monroe hosted a champagne breakfast in her dressing room at Goldwyn Studios telling press she was happy that 'truth and justice …exist in this country.' Whilst she hadn't started filming she had been at the studio rehearsing and taking ukulele lessons.

to consult her doctor. She had also been dealing with some personal worries, including the fact that her husband - Arthur Miller - had found himself entangled in the ongoing House Un-American Activities Committee investigations but was relieved that the latest hearing had gone in his favour.

But it is that Marilyn arrived back in Hollywood feeling fragile, self-conscious about her body and profoundly lonely. She told journalists that she particularly missed Hugo, her beloved basset hound. #NobodysPerfectProject

#OTD in Hollywood in 1958 it was a Saturday so nothing scheduled. A lot of the cast were, of course, based in Hollywood, so went home when not filming but Marilyn had moved to New York a few years earlier so was based at the Hotel Bel Air, tucked away on Stone Canyon Road in Beverley Hills.

Filming for this crucial sequence went smoothly enough - with one notable exception involving George Raft who supposedly refused to kick the toothpick from the mouth of the recently rubbed out Toothpick Charlie. Apparently because the actor - George E. Stone - was a close friend.

This was a way for the team to replicate a provision that those affiliated to the bigger studios had access to: the miracle of research libraries. The Britannica Service offered expertly complied dossiers on virtually every conceivable topic and subscribers received their reports in bound folders.

#OTD the Some Like It Hot St Valentines Day Massacre sequence was filmed. This is when the stakes are upped and the story veers into more violent territory. Wilder and Diamond wanted to get this relatively historically accurate and had contacted the Encyclopedia Britannica Library Research Service.

It took two days to film this sequence which is nearly four minutes in length with no dialogue whatsoever and is the perfect introduction to the movie and lets us know exactly where we are. #SomeLikeItHot

This was done by the second unit, directed by Richard Talmadge, who captured the dramatic nighttime chase beginning with a hearse gliding through the city streets and ending with a leaky coffin being unloaded and carried inside the funeral parlour, overseen by Spats Columbo - the big boss.

Plus some links to extra bonus content - interviews and articles about my book Nobody’s Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot.

#OTD they are using Eastside street which was decorated to stand in for late 1920s Chicago. And we saw in the production records Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Pat O'Brien (Mulligan), George Raft (Spats Columbo) were on set that day working on the exterior sequences set around Mozarella's Funeral Parlor

Although Goldwyn Studios would serve as their primary base for many of early sequences they would use the permanent sets at MGM. Every major studio would have an area like that which appeared again and again in films - altered as needed with clever dressing, fresh paint or temporary facades.

So lets start the dive into #OTD for Some Like It Hot on the 4th August 1958 - the first official day of filming. This work order (preserved in the Margaret Herrick Library) is from MGM where Ashton Productions - Billy Wilder and Iz Diamond's company - had rented space on their famous Lot 2.

No cheating post your lock screen

It’s officially one month to publication day for Nobody’s Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot. If this sounds like something you would enjoy (or you know anyone who loves this movie) please do consider pre ordering from all the normal places!

So thrilled to have spoken to @phihpod.bsky.social about Marilyn Monroe and Some Like It Hot. Now she is, of course, hardly a hidden figure but there is still so much to reveal about her motivations and management of her career we felt that she was due an episode. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...

Am on my way - forgot what the # is though.

Sunday (or whenever I remember) shout out about my books! Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium

UK "radium" quack items fans. I have an empty bottle of Radol radium which am selling on eBay for a low low price. And have written about what this was for museumofradium.co.uk/radol/

If you want chapters and chapters of WTFs then definitely buy my book on the history of radium - medical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, fashion, theatrical - it certainly was a big part of everyday life at one point and the ramifications of that are still with us today.

London people! Am doing an event on the evening of Friday 26th June at Burley Fisher Books It's free but you do need to register in advance burleyfisherbooks.com/products/lip...

Hillary Belzer of @makeupmuseum.org will tackle the enduring “lipstick index” myth - the idea that lipstick sales rise during economic downturns and can be used as a reliable indicator of recession. It’s an interesting theory but is there any truth to it?

Eileen G’Sell (author of Lipstick) will look at the story that in ancient Greece, sex workers risked punishment if they appeared in public without lipstick. What does this reveal about gender, status and social control?

Rethinking Lipstick - Free online event 12th June 2026, 12pm EST/5pm GMT Join us for a session as three expert speakers debunk some of the lipstick myths and legends that often circulate online and in print media.

Marvellous evening at the preview is Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery tonight.

Squee I’ve got me the hottest ticket in town to celebrate #marilyn100