Botanical center crowns local beauty
Life came close to imitating art at a Marilyn Monroe look-alike contest Sunday afternoon at the Quad-City Botanical Center in Rock Island.
The four Monroe look-alikes were circling the garden paths blowing kisses and smiling at the crowd of about 100 people, when a sudden gust of wind gave their white, pleated dresses a gentle rise — any more of a breeze and it would have been the real thing.
The contest was held as a send-off party, which included a classic car show and a hula hoop competition, for the most famous of seven J. Seward Johnson statues that have adorned the center’s front garden since June.
Johnson’s Monroe statue, “Forever Marilyn,” depicts the actress in perhaps her most famous pose — holding her skirt against a gust of air rising from a New York City subway grate.
“We really wanted to celebrate the ’50s,” said Cheryl Carney, executive director of the center, “and provide a tribute to the statues and to Marilyn.”
The four Monroe look-alikes stood next to their idol’s statue in the center of the garden, while they were judged based on how closely their hair, smile and clothes resembled those of the 1950s starlet.
Carney was one of three judges who scored the contestants.
“It was very hard to judge,” she said.
But after a short deliberation the judges named Jessica Wasilewski, 23, of Moline, the winner.
Wasilewski said she was surprised she won. “I didn’t think I had a chance.“
The only preparation she did for the contest was watch “The Seven Year Itch” — the film from which the famous skirt scene is taken — the night before, Wasilewski said.
“I was her for Halloween a year ago, so I had the costume laying around and thought I’d give it a go,” she said. “I’m a huge Marilyn fan. I think she’s the most beautiful woman that ever lived.”
Many in the crowd agreed with the judges’ decision, including Elaine Pease, 62, of Rapids City, Ill.
“She’s built like Marilyn. From a distance you would have thought it was Marilyn,” she said.
Some people there could remember when the photograph that inspired Johnson’s sculpture first appeared.
Nancy Mullin, 62, of Davenport, grew up in Patterson, N.J., near New York City. “I’ll never forget that picture on the front page (of the newspaper)” Mullin said. “She was dynamite.”
The sculpture Johnson made based on the photo of Monroe was a departure from his usual subject matter. Johnson, whose grandfather founded Johnson & Johnson, is famous for sculpting life-sized figures of average people in routine poses.
Some of the other sculptures featured at the center were of a woman carrying a child on her back, “Life At A Proper Distance,” and a man drinking a Coke while taking a break from mowing the lawn, “Hell, Time to go Fishing.”
The sculptures will remain on display until Thursday.
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