President Kennedy's Birthday Salute (1962)

Could anyone have known all the nuances of the truth 40 years ago, nor predicted the impending events, when Marilyn Monroe came on stage at Madison Sq. Garden to sing Happy Birthday to JFK? It was late May of 1962.

In a little less than 18 months Marilyn Monroe would be dead from suspicious circumstances that arouse conjecture and controversy 40 years later still. Peter Lawford will have set the rest of his life into a tailspin cause his brother-in-laws, President John Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy thought it unwise for the president to stay with Frank Sinatra at his California home. Sinatra blamed much of it on his "Ratpack" buddy Lawford and exiled him from the group thereby setting Lawford's career afloat. And by late Nov.'63 JFK himself would be dead, the victim of one of the most controversial and debated assassinations in history.

Behind the scenes JFK had had an affair with Marilyn, Bobby was reportedly next in line with the ultra sexy blonde bombshell, Monroe's career was spinning out of control with alcohol, pain killers, a reputation in Hollywood as unreliable, and Jackie Kennedy seethed while Monroe pranced out in an evening dress so custom made for her that it had to be peeled off and one which she wore with no undergarments!

Still and all this event would not hold our collective fascinations if not for the incredibly sexy and breathy delivery of perhaps the single greatest fantasy girl Hollywood has ever known. Through the years there have been many impersonations of Monroe's version of Happy Birthday but maybe none funnier than the priceless version Mike Myers delivered to Tia Carrere in the original Wayne's World.

The original recorded version floats on the internet and can be downloaded. For any fan of collector item events you need to find it!!! You'll even get a kick after Monroe finishes her rendition and JFK is introduced to a rousing ovation he comments somewhat tongue in cheek that "now I can retire from politics after having happy birthday sung to me in such a sweet and wholesome fashion".