Old Footage Of Marilyn Monroe In Manhattan, Filmed By A Bronx Teen In 1955

In 1955, a scrawny 14-year-old boy from the Bronx got to spend an afternoon with Marilyn Monroe. Peter Mangone was fixated with the 29-year-old movie star, and had been skipping school (he attended James Monroe High School) in hopes of catching a glimpse of her outside of the Gladstone Hotel on East 52nd Street, where she stayed after divorce from Joe DiMaggio. And one day, Mangone got more than he ever hoped for.

Armed with an 8-mm Kodak camera, he spotted Monroe with her friends, photographer Milton Greene and fashion designer George Nardiello (who years later sewed Monroe into the dress she wore for President Kennedy's Madison Square Garden bash). When she saw Mangone, "she waved, winked and invited him along" on their shopping trip. Throughout the afternoon he filmed Monroe from just a few feet awayin total the silent film runs 5 minutes.

Eventually Mangone misplaced the footage, which was rediscovered in 2002, found amongst his father's possessions in mint condition. At the time, Mangone said "it was like refinding my high school sweetheart. She was just the way I remembered her."

Last year, prior to Mangone's death in December, a book of stills from that day was published. The book will now! have a release party at Danziger Gallery on January 10th (6 p.m.), where an exhibition titled Marilyn Monroe Rediscovered: The Lost Film of Peter Mongone will also take place.

Danziger Gallery is located at 527 West 23rd Street, where the exhibit will run from January 10th through February 9th. And here's Mangone talking to Katie Couric about that day in 1955: