The Iconic Marilyn Monroe Image That Never Graced The Silver Screen

Even if you've never seen a Marilyn Monroe film before, it's more than likely that you've seen her most iconic image. You know the one: the bubbly blonde standing over a subway grate, laughingly trying to tame the white halter dress billowing up over her knees. Culminating in a perfect display of playfully oblivious seduction, the image has become synonymous with the Old Hollywood star, inspiring controversial statues and countless imitations decades after it was taken.

It was September 15, 1954, when Monroe struck her famous pose during the filming of Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch" – a romantic comedy in which she starred as a charmingly dim-witted blonde known simply as "The Girl." Surrounded by a sea of cameras, photographer Sam Shaw captured the historic moment in which a 28-year-old Monroe entranced a crowd of onlookers on the streets of New York City, flashing a smile while also flashing glimpses of her white ruffled underwear. Though the spectacle sent shockwaves that are said to have led to her divorce from baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, the famous images it produced have endured the test of time. Surprisingly, despite all the commotion it made, the most famous shot didn't even make it into the movie.

Amidst thousands of spectators and 100 camera lenses from male photographers, the film crew shot 14 takes of the famous "flying skirt scene" in New York City. However, due to the noise emitted by the roaring crowd, the footage was unusable and had to be re-shot on a Fox soundstage in Los Angeles. Clearly, the images captured in New York didn't go to waste, and many were used for promoting the film. Perhaps the most brazen promotional display was a giant billboard looming outside Loew's State Theatre, in which the laughing starlet and her exposed legs towered over Times Square for all to see.

Though the famed full body image is so deeply embedded in pop culture history, only Monroe's legs made the final cut in "The Seven Year Itch." In the classic scene, Monroe steps out of a movie theater into a hot summer night with her co-star Tom Ewell. Moments later, she becomes distracted by the cool breeze of a train passing beneath the subway grate, inspiring her to squeal with delight, "Isn't it delicious?" as her dress flutters suggestively above her knees.

The camera focuses on Monroe's bare legs for no more than five seconds before abruptly cutting to a shot of her blissfully oblivious smile contrasting with Ewell's ogling open-mouthed expression. Though another train rolls by in the scene, exposing her legs once more, the Hollywood Golden Era's most famous full-length shot never made it onto the silver screen.

Premiering on Monroe's 29th birthday on June 1, 1955, "The Seven Year Itch" is arguably less renowned than its famous unused shot. Though it raked in $12 million at the box office and became Fox's highest-grossing film of 1955, it consistently falls flat with modern-day audiences. One Rotten Tomatoes critic writes that the film is "Very dated and not consistently funny, but famous for the iconic Marilyn air vent shot." Meanwhile, a similar Reddit review critiques Monroe's underwritten character and points out that the flying skirt scene is very brief and doesn't match the famous photographs.

Regardless of what made it into the movie or how it was received, the iconic image continues to captivate and inspire. The storied subway grate on Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street in New York City draws in fans from around the globe, many mimicking Monroe's signature pose in tribute. On the other side of the U.S., a 26-foot statue towers over Palm Springs, where tourists line up to snap photos and sneak a peek up the starlet's skirt (Don't worry, she has underwear painted on). The skirt itself — which is actually a pleated halter dress – sold at auction in 2011 for a staggering $4.6 million (via Hollywood Reporter), proving that seven decades later, audiences are still itching for Marilyn Monroe.