"Happy Birthday, Mr. President" is a song sung by actress and singerMarilyn Monroe on May 19, 1962, for PresidentJohn F. Kennedy at a gala held atMadison Square Garden for his 45th birthday, 10 days before the actual date (May 29). The event was co-hosted byArthur B. Krim andAnna M. Rosenberg, who sat next to the President during the star-studded event.[1]
Monroe sang the traditional "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics in a sultry, intimate voice, with "Mr. President" inserted as Kennedy's name. She continued the song with a snippet from the classic 1938 song, "Thanks for the Memory", for which she had written new lyrics specifically aimed at Kennedy.
Thanks, Mr. President
For all the things you've done
The battles that you've won
The way you deal withU.S. Steel
And our problems by the ton
We thank you so much
Afterwards, as a large birthday cake was presented to him, President Kennedy came on stage and joked about Monroe's version of the song, saying, "I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way," alluding to Monroe's delivery, skintight dress, and image as asex symbol.[2]
The performance was one of Monroe's last major public appearances beforeher death less than three months later on August 4, 1962. First LadyJacqueline Kennedy, who rarely attendedDemocratic Party events, instead spent the day at the Loudoun Hunt Horse Show with her children,John andCaroline. Monroe was accompanied byjazz pianistHank Jones.
President Kennedy's birthday celebration was held at thethird Madison Square Garden[3] on May 19, 1962, and more than 15,000 people attended, including numerous celebrities. The event was a fundraising gala for theDemocratic Party.[4]
Monroe attended the event during the production ofSomething's Got to Give, resulting in her receiving a hand-delivered note stating that she had violated her contract with20th Century Fox and eventual firing in June 1962.[5][6][dubious –discuss][disputed (for: contradictory to other sources; see dubious tag for full explanation) –discuss]
Monroe's dress was made of a sheer andflesh-coloredmarquisette fabric, with 2,500 shimmeringrhinestones sewn into it. The dress was so tight-fitting that Monroe had difficulty putting it on; she wore nothing under it.[7] It was designed byJean Louis.[8] Monroe's hair was styled byKenneth Battelle and her makeup was done byMarie Irvine.[5]
Monroe was accompanied to the event by her publicistPatricia Newcomb and her former father-in-law Isidore Miller, with whom she had remained very close.Peter Lawford was at the event that night to introduce Monroe. He made a play on the actress's reputation for tardiness by giving her a number of introductions throughout the night, after which she did not appear on stage. When Monroe finally appeared in a spotlight, Lawford introduced her as the "late Marilyn Monroe". Monroe peeled off her whiteermine fur coat, revealing the dress, and the audience gasped.[9]
The event was staged and produced by Broadway composer and lyricistRichard Adler.[10] The lighting design was by stage designerSam Leve. According to hisNew York Times obituary, "Perhaps his most famous, although unintentional, touch was the lighting he designed for Marilyn Monroe's birthday serenade to Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, which caused her dress to become see-through."[11]
Monroe'siconic dress was designed by costume designerBob Mackie, who was hired to sketch the design for the leading fashion designer of the time,Jean Louis, who paid $1,440.33 (equivalent to $11,403 in 2024[12]) for its construction. The dress sold in 1999 at an auction in New York City for over $1.26 million (equivalent to $2.22 million in 2024[12]).[13][7] Canadian billionaireJim Pattison subsequently purchased the dress on November 17, 2016, at a Los Angeles auction for $4.8 million,[14] making it one of themost valuable dresses.
In 2022,reality TV starKim Kardashian wore Monroe's Happy Birthday Mr. President dress for theMet Gala.[15] Kardashian had lost 16 pounds (7.3 kg) in three weeks to fit into the dress. Kardashian remains the only person other than Monroe known to have worn the dress.[16] Kardashian wore Monroe's original dress for approximately five minutes, only to walk up the runway, and then changed into an exact replica so as to not cause any more unnecessary strain to the 60-year-old dress.[17]
Displeased with both Kardashian and the current owner,Ripley Entertainment, Bob Mackie (who first sketched the design in 1962 at the age of 23) said in an interview withEntertainment Weekly, "I thought it was a big mistake.. [Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress."[18]
Within the same interview,Alicia Malone, a host forTurner Classic Movies (TCM), expressed her concerns, stating, "There are all the issues with the actual preservation of the dress and things like oxygen can affect a dress.. Usually, these outfits are kept very much in controlled environments. So, it was quite alarming that she was able to wear it. I personally wish she wore a replica instead of the real thing."[18][19]
In an interview withBBC in June 2022, Dr. Kate Strasdin, a senior lecturer in cultural studies atFalmouth University, remarked, "You can't even handle a dress like that without damaging it in some way, let alone wear it, so it was inevitable that there was going to be significant damage just by even wearing it on the red carpet... there will have been oils in her skin, there will have been all of that chemical reaction with a silk that is fragile". It is also noted that anInstagram account dedicated to "The Marilyn Monroe Collection", a company which claims to hold "the world's largest privately held collection of Marilyn Monroe's personal property," managed by owner Scott Fortner's team, posted a comparison image of the dress which showed significant irreversible damage which occurred after the gala event.[20][21]
In the 1987season three, sixth episode ofThe Golden Girls ("Letter to Gorbachev"),Rose Nylund (Betty White) dreams about, among other incidents,Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) singing a parody rendition titled "Happy Birthday, Mr. #1 Communist" toMikhail Gorbachev, the then-leader of theSoviet Union.[22]
In the 1992 filmWayne's World,Mike Myers puts on a bra and does an impression of Monroe singing the song as his character, Wayne, while his girlfriend Cassandra (Tia Carrere) is on the phone.[23] In 1994, Mathilda (Natalie Portman) reenacted Myers's scene inLeon: The Professional. At the time, she had never seen Monroe's performance.[24]
On the January 16, 1993, episode ofSaturday Night Live, musical guestMadonna parodied the song as "Happy Inauguration, Mr. President", alluding tothe first inauguration ofBill Clinton later that week.[25]
Geri Halliwell of theSpice Girls performed the song in 1998 for the thenPrince Charles' 50th birthday celebration, replacing the line "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" with "Happy Birthday,Your Royal Highness".[26][27]
In a season two episode ofBreaking Bad, "Mandala" (2009),Skyler White sings the song to her boss Ted Beneke for his birthday.[28] Fran Felstein sings it inThe Sopranos season 5 episode "In Camelot" (2004).[29]
In 2012, American musicianLana Del Rey reenacted the performance in the music video for her song "National Anthem", with herself as Monroe andASAP Rocky asPresident Kennedy.[30]
In 2016, a trailer for the second season of thealternate history seriesThe Man in the High Castle shows Monroe singing the song forAdolf Hitler, with the line "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" replaced with "Happy Birthday, MeinFührer".[31]
Blanche also does herMarilyn Monroe impression here, except she changes the words to "Mr. Number One Communist" instead of 'Mr. President'.
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