6 More Stories That Have Nothing to Do With Current Events

Plus, inside the epic fall of Michael Avenatti View in your browser | Update your preferences A daily digest of things to discuss over drinks March 20, 2020 Marilyn Monroe's Kennedy Connections, the Making of The Blues Brothers, and More Things are tough right now. Why not take a break from the feeling of global panic and revisit the shenanigans from the Blues Brothers set, Grace Kelly's royal ascent, or Willie Nelson's musical partnership with the IRS? For your reading enjoyment, we've unlocked them from the V.F. Archive. To get unlimited access, consider subscribing today. READ MORE » Soul Men: The Making of The Blues Brothers The pitch was simple: "John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Blues Brothers, how about it?" But the film The Blues Brothers became a nightmare for Universal Pictures, wildly off schedule and over budget, its fate hanging on the amount of cocaine Belushi consumed. From the 1973 meeting of two young comic geniuses in a Toronto bar through the careening, madcap production of John Landis's 1980 movie, Ned Zeman chronicled the triumph of an obsession in 2013. READ MORE » Grace Becomes a Princess In 1956, Miss Grace Kelly of Philadelphia and Hollywood, decked in diamonds and pearls and 320 yards of Valenciennes lace, became Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco. One of her six American bridesmaids, Judith Balaban Quine, tells how in this 1989 excerpt from The Bridesmaids. READ MORE » It Happened in Laurel Canyon They made music together, took drugs together, formed bands together, slept together. But none of the legends of the Laurel Canyon scene that flowered in L.A. in the late '60s and early '70s—Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, and others—remember it quite the same way. READ MORE » The Man Who Kept Marilyn's Secrets No one knew more about Marilyn Monroe's shattered dreams of escape to the magic of Camelot than Pete Lawford. He had introduced the excruciatingly fragile star to the high-stakes world of his brother-in-law Jack Kennedy and witnessed the crash ending of her much more serious affair with Bobby Kennedy—on the last day of her life. But why did Lawford ignore her final plea for help? James Spada reports in an excerpt from his 1991 biography. READ MORE » Stealing Mona Lisa The shocking theft of the Mona Lisa, in August 1911, appeared to have been solved 28 months later, when the painting was recovered. In a 2009 excerpt from their book, the authors suggest that the audacious heist concealed a perfect—and far more lucrative—crime. READ MORE » The Ballad of Willie Nelson No wonder Willie Nelson writes such heartbreaking country anthems. When the IRS seized his home and his music and slapped him with a $15 million bill it was just the latest calamity in a hard-lived (and hard-played) life. But as Ron Rosenbaum reported in 1991, at least Nelson's Honeysuckle woes have got him back out on the road. Now he's pinning his hopes for recovery on two new albums and a controversial lawsuit—living the outlaw myth again. READ MORE » This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.