Marilyn's Mexican: The Last Song

Marilyn's Mexican: The Last Song.

by Mónica Belén Hernández Bennettz

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"Marilyn, everyone knows you are here," said Lucy Quijada, head of public relations for the Hilton chain in Mexico. "Okay, let us  show them." On February 22, 1962, two days after her arrival in Mexico City, the national press was going crazy for knowing details about her. The “Tesoro” room of the defunct Hilton Continental Reforma Hotel was full; a hundred men of all ages were waiting for her, huddled around a beige armchair.  They readied their cameras and electronic implements to remember the moment and sharpened their tongues to ask the most appropriate questions to such an actress, an icon of feminine sensuality eternalized on the screen.

The appointment was at 2:00 pm, but  everything started 2 hours later. Those present forgot their despair when they saw her arrive dressed in pastel green satin outlining her body, stylized blonde hair, a scarf of the same color of the outfit in her right hand with which she greeted, a bright smile played on her lips. Two glasses of champagne sat on the table that separated her from the crowd hungry for her attention. They all surrounded her. It was a huge mess. Lucy Quijada translated the questions that the journalists asked.  She laughed, blushed, answered with the sagacity worthy of a statesman’s sharp mind; she did not save anything. “What has been the love of your life? Everyone." “Would you undress again? Under the same circumstances, yes. I have a beautiful body, but it is already more exclusive who can see it. ” "Would you like to have an affair with a Mexican actor? But why an actor? A Mexican is enough. I'll keep my eyes peeled.” "Do you have any ambitions to fulfill? Yes, to be a complete woman. ” "Are you bitter about your failed marriages? No, I still hope to find happiness.” " Are you living a critical moment in your career? The public is the judge and is more qualified than me to say it. ” What do you despise in men? That they are not present .”."Why don't you wear stockings? Why, do I need them?” She looked down to see her legs. "What are your measures? I never measure myself, people are the ones who do it. ” She did not hesitate in any response. She raised her glass several times to toast Mexico.

Antonio Caballero, a journalist for the defunct graphic newspaper “Cine Mundial” fired his camera 57 times at her. One image was enough for some to make the world realize that Marilyn was not a natural blonde. When her legs crossed, she exposed the most intimate part of a woman. In the blink of an eye, this flashing became world famous. The conference concluded at 5:07 pm. Marilyn posed for the photographers and left.

The next day, she arrived at the Churubusco Studios forum located in the south of the City where the famous director Luis Buñuel recorded "The Exterminating Angel" with the Mexican actress Silvia Pinal. (the last living Diva of Mexican cinema) She met the cast and exchanged words with the director and the incredible cinematographic photographer Gabriel Figueroa who told her: “You have to know the house of my compadre, El Indio.” So it was. By telephone they spoke, and they planned to see each other.

She also ate mole, maguey worms, bullfighting tacos, drank the famous margaritas, the owner of the local Don Rafael Guillén, ordered Mariachis to be brought. They sang and celebrated with her for three hours without ceasing. "She looked happy," witnesses said. She said goodbye and was invited to the historic neighborhood of writers and artists Coyoacán (“Place of the coyotes” in Nahuatl) where Emilio “El Indio” Fernández was her host. In "La Escondida" house of "El Indio", who incidentally, in 1928 was introduced to Cédric Gibbons by Dolores del Río and posed naked as a model for the Statuette of the "Oscar" Awards, she learned to drink tequila "by la Mexicana” with salt, lemon in “el caballito ” - that is  how it is called to measure tequila, in a small glass. Accompanied by his wife, the famous actress Columba Domínguez and the extraordinary photographer Gabriel Figueroa, both icons of the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema," they enjoyed a long evening, where it is said that Marilyn cried, sang, laughed, and revealed her most deep secrets.  She stayed there until 2:00 pm the next day. "When you feel sad, come here, here we receive you with great affection," Don Emilio would say. He would send two mahogany dressers for Marilyn's house in California, which were silent witnesses to what happened that night of August 4.