26-FOOT-TALL
 “FOREVER MARILYN”
SCULPTURE COMING
 TO PALM SPRINGS!

Last week, the  statue was removed from its current location in Chicago. The 34,000-pound sculpture, which costs about $40,000 to
transport, will be trucked across the country and arrive in Palm Springs
on May 14. It will take a few days — and a few cranes — to reassemble
it at the corner of Palm Canyon and Tahquitz Canyon Way, where it will
reside until June 2013.

The sculpture by Seward Johnson, the 80-year-old artist and Johnson
& Johnson heir who’s known for casting famous images into giant
sculptures, re-creates the scene from the 1955 film “The Seven Year
Itch” in which a drafty New York subway grate blows the sex symbol’s
skirt well above her knees.

The piece did not receive the
warmest reception from the Windy City since its  debut last year, and was the
target of more than a few vandals and critics. Some called the
undergarment-baring pose sexist, while VirtualTourist.com dubbed
“Forever Marilyn” the No. 1 piece of bad public art — ahead of a
Bewitched statue in Salem, Mass.

Several cities tried to bid  to host the massive Marilyn when her Chicago
residency wrapped, including China and Brazil, perhaps because August marks the 50th anniversary of
the Hollywood legend’s death.

“We received many requests as far
away as Tokyo and Madrid and cities in Brazil, and we really felt that
Palm Springs has a special connection to Marilyn because it is the
legendary play land for Hollywood,” said Paula Stoeke, the director and
curator of the Sculpture Foundation, an organization funded and run by
Johnson with offices in Santa Monica.