Marilyn in Santa Monica, 1952

Written by Michael

"Look! This statue has pubic hair!"

from LIFE.com’s Picks of the Week:

“In January 1952, starlet Marilyn Monroe — just 25 years old, and fresh off another tiny but scene-stealing role in As Young as You Feel — captivated fellow partygoers at the Club Del Mar in Santa Monica, Calif. She was there to accept one of the first awards of her career: the “Henrietta” for Best Young Box Office Personality, given by the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood (an ancestor of the group that hands out the Golden Globes today). LIFE’s Loomis Dean was one of many photographers on the job that star-studded night, but his pictures, capturing Marilyn at the start of her meteoric rise, were never published. In this exclusive LIFE.com gallery, see the young sex symbol work her magic.”