Life has put eighteen of the shots on their website, part of an ongoing effort to digitize their entire photo archive. Clark is quoted in one of the captions as saying because she was an unknown at the time, he got to spend a lot of time shooting her in the park, a shoot in which she read poetry during her breaks. The only clue to why the photos were never published comes via an editor's note found with the negatives in the archives that read, "this take was over-developed and poorly printed."

Marilyn: Never-Published Photos [Life]
via David Carr's Twitter

He was thrilled to meet her and they got along very well: They had lunch and he gave her an impromptu tour of the Senate building. Makes us wonder if when McCain met Palin for the first time, he said, 'You know, you remind me of someone..."

We're a little skeptical that the Life shoot was McCain's first introduction to Fey — after all, he'd previously guest-hosted on Saturday Night Live while Fey was still head writer. And, as long as we're pouring cold water on rumors, let's dash the hopes many hold that Fey will cameo on the SNL season premiere as Palin. Something tells us that SNL will be spoofing Palin until the election (and beyond), in which case they'll probably use a regular like the Palin-a-like Casey Wilson. Still, let's enjoy the Life cover as a snapshot of what could have been. Lord knows, Fey has more pressing concerns to handle right now.

• Poynter Online