Adam Marciniak-Rivers has paid for flowers to be placed at the actress's crypt today (June 1) in Los Angeles, California, as he honours the media icon who has "guided his career".
The meticulous businessman is thrilled that he can now work full time in his home atelier, Jean Norman Dolls, and is fully booked for 2025 with commissions across the globe.
Adam, 33, said: "It was during Christmas when I was doing one of my latest dolls - the reaction was just unbelievable. I had 30,000 likes for one of my [social media] reels. It was for a gentleman in New York, from the 1959 premiere of Some Like It Hot - quintessential Marilyn Monroe: big platinum hair; earrings; a beautiful sparkly dress.
"This is the magic of Marilyn; she is instantly recognisible."
Adam first featured in the Chronicle in February 2021, when readers learned that, as a young boy, he watched a documentary about the film star and was instantly captivated.
Bullied for playing with dolls, he admired the actress's determination to "go against the grain", and started buying, repainting and selling Marilyn figurines for pocket money.
Adam said: "I think that Marilyn is still as relevant; it's woman power. Now people recognise it, but back then people didn't understand what Marilyn was about. She said there was nothing wrong with being sexual, and was one of the first women who fought for liberation and called out abuse in 1950s America. The Me Too movement started with Marilyn.”
He added: "People tend to think she was murdered, unhappy, pill popping, but she was an astute businesswoman."
Like Monroe, Adam strives for excellence, and conducts "extensive research" when a new comission arrives.
As well as working to recreate her hair colour - "which changed every six to eight months", the diligent doll maker is kept busy searching for the perfect clothing material, and studying old film clips to compare the most minute of details - "the size of a [finger] nail with the size of a bead".
Each doll takes anywhere between two-to-three to six-to-eight weeks to create, with demand surging from countries worldwide, including France, the USA, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Adam's husband, Al, 33, who "has the patience of a saint" is quite used to finding glitter, beads, needles and threads scattered about the house.
"The hoover is covered in glitter as well!" laughs Adam.
Inspired by Marilyn's drive to better herself - the star took acting classes well after her movie career had begun - Adam has signed up to a 'miniature sewing' course, and aims to sculpt his own doll bodies, rather than buy them in.
"I try to do my best and try to be respectful, because Marilyn was a perfectionist," he adds.
Adam would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported his dream - and not least to the pop culture icon herself.
He concluded: "I wish Marilyn could see how she's transformed my life, and how she has touched other people's lives 70 years after her death. It's her birthday coming up, and I wish she knew because in many different respects she guides me through life. It's lovely."
Adam, 33, said: "It was during Christmas when I was doing one of my latest dolls - the reaction was just unbelievable. I had 30,000 likes for one of my [social media] reels. It was for a gentleman in New York, from the 1959 premiere of Some Like It Hot - quintessential Marilyn Monroe: big platinum hair; earrings; a beautiful sparkly dress.
5. Press Conference
Dolls: Marilyn visiting Mexico in 1962, dressed for a press conference at the Hilton Hotel. Images: Jean Norman Dolls. Photo: News
6. Some Like It Hot
Dolls: Marilyn Monroe at the premiere of "Some Like It Hot", 1959. Images: Jean Norman Dolls. Photo: News
