In the early morning hours of September 15th 1954, pop culture history was made.  Marilyn Monroe on the streets of New York, standing over a subway grate whilst filming “The Seven Year Itch” has to be one of the most instantly recognisable movie scenes of all time.

64 years later, the appeal of this iconic image has never diminished.  Paul Wurtzel, who was then FOX’s head of special effects once remembered:

“I think they really used the wind from the subway train.  At least, we never sent anyone to New York from our department for that segment, so I don’t think anybody rigged it.  The location shoot was partly unsuccessful because there was just too much noise and commotion.  We did not have the techniques then that we have now to dub voices.  I was standing inside a wind tunnel under the stage where the subway grating was and on cue we’d remove this sliding top to create the effect of the train going by and blowing up Marilyn’s skirt.  Well that scene took all day, what with Billy Wilder filming it over and over and over again, and there I was underneath her.  Marilyn had a habit of squatting down and talking to me.”

Source “Blonde Heat: The Sizzling Screen Career For Marilyn Monroe.”