Biography Of Marilyn Monroe

28 Kasım 2023

PART III

The bride was on time. On January 14, 1954, at one o’clock, Marilyn Monroe, twenty-seven years old, married Joe DiMaggio, thirty-nine, in the San Francisco City Hall. The ceremony, which lasted all of three minutes, was performed by Municipal Court Judge Charles Peery. *The Los Angeles Herald Express* commented sarcastically on the marriage that shook the nation: “It could only happen here in America, this story-book romance. . . . Both of them . . . had to fight their way to fame and fortune and to each other. One in a birthday suit, as a foundling and later as a calendar girl, the other in a . . . baseball suit.” Photographs from UPI.

January 14, 1954 Marilyn Monroe marries former baseball champion Joe DiMaggio, a “living legend” of American sports, in San Francisco. He has courted her assiduously for a year. The marriage receives worldwide publicity, and Marilyn is able to get 20th Century-Fox to drop the disciplinary measures resulting from her breach of contract. The newlyweds’ honeymoon begins in Japan.

The honeymoon brought Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn to Japan. The crowd of fans greeting her on their arrival at the Tokyo international airport was so hug that the couple had to leave the airplane through the cargo hatch. At this time Marilyn was the most popular foreign film star in Japan. Then, interrupting her visit to Japan, Marilyn flew to Korea, where she performed for the American troops stationed there. For the soldiers she sang songs like “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” “Bye Bye Baby,” “Somebody Loves Me,” and “Do It Again.” Within four days, she gave ten shows to more than a hundred thousand soldiers who came from all parts of the Korean peninsula. The enthusiasm was mutual. Marilyn said: “This was the best thin that ever happened to me,” and, “I never felt like a star before in my heart.”

February 16, 1954 Marilyn interrupts her honeymoon and flies to Seoul to entertain the troops stationed in Korea. She later calls her appearance before the soldiers one of the high points in her life. “I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to look down and see a fellow smiling at me,” Marilyn admitted to her friend Amy Greene.

Snapshot taken during the shooting of River of No Return, 1954.
Publicity still for River of No Return. Under the direction of Otto Preminger, Marilyn played the bar singer Kay, who starts a new life after many adventures with the widowed Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) and his ten-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig). It was Marilyn’s first western.

August 10, 1954 Filming for The Seven Year Itch, directed by Billy Wilder, begins. Marilyn plays the luscious blonde who lives in the apartment over that belonging to the conventional but susceptible costar Tom Ewell. When his wife goes on vacation, he is inspired to bold, erotic fantasies.

Publicity stills for *River of No Return,* in which Marilyn sang “River of No Return,” “I’m Gonna File My Claim,” “One Silver Dollar,” and “Down in the Meadow.” She herself was very unhappy with the film and blamed it on 20th Century-Fox: “I think I deserve a better deal than a ‘Z’ cowboy movie in which the acting finishes third to the scenery and cinemascope.”

**In a limousine during the shooting of *River of No Return*. Photograph by John Florea, 1954.**

September 15, 1954 The famous scene on the subway grate from The Seven Year Itch is filmed in New York. Tipped off by the press through the studio’s publicity department, thousands gather behind wooden police barriers to see the lovely young woman’s snow-white skirt billow up to her shoulders—to the amusement of Marilyn and Tom Ewell. Less amused is Joe DiMaggio, who watches the scene in the crowd and thereafter engages in one of his and Marilyn’s worst marital fights.

**A happy Marilyn Monroe posed for the British photographer Baron in the summer of 1954.**

October 5, 1954 Marilyn and Joe separate officially. “Our marriage wasn’t a happy one,” she said later.

October 27, 1954 Marilyn files for divorce in Santa Monica.

Publicity still from *There’s No Business Like Show Business,* in homage to the great Irving Berlin. Marilyn accepted the rather weak script on the promise of being able to star in the filming of the Broadway comedy *The Seven Year Itch.* The film turned out to be somewhat of a flop and Marilyn became determined to accept only artistically demanding material.

Marilyn Monroe “getting good and ready” for her performance in *There’s No Business Like Show Business*(above). In this film Marilyn sang three songs, “After You Get What You Want, You Don’t Want It,” “Heat Wave,” and “Lazy.”

November 6, 1954 Hollywood’s film society celebrates Marilyn Monroe on the occasion of the completion of The Seven Year Itch at Romanoffs Beverly Hills restaurant. The signatures in her honor on the huge “Marilyn” souvenir portrait include those of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert, William Holden, James Stewart, Susan Hayward, Gary Cooper, and Doris Day. Hollywood’s film moguls, including Sam Goldwyn, Jack Warner, and Darryl Zanuck, pose for the cameras. For the first time Marilyn meets her childhood idol, Clark Gable.

Nevertheless, the celebrated star decides to turn her back on Hollywood. Shortly before Christmas 1954 she puts on a dark wig and sunglasses and, with a ticket in her pocket issued to the name of “Zelda Zonk,” flies from Los Angeles to-Connecticut, where she retreats to the house of photographer Milton H. Greene. Her self-imposed exile lasts a year.

Film still from *How to Marry a Millionaire.*

December 31, 1954 With Milton H. Greene she founds Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc. Her enthusiastic remarks about her companion: “I feel deeply about him. I’m sincere about his genius. He’s a genius.” As her mentor, partner, and impresario, he ensures that Marilyn’s high cost of living of about $50,000 a year can be financed.

Arrival at Idlewild (later John F. Kennedy) Airport, for the shooting of *The Seven Year Itch.* The puckered lips were for the photographer Weegee, the craftiest of all New York’s fleet-footed reporters. Photograph by Weegee, 1955.

The shooting of *The Seven Year Itch* took place in New York. The location was a brownstone on East Sixty-first Street in Manhattan. During the breaks, Marilyn laughed and waved to her numerous fans assembled in front of the house.

An ever-increasing number of photographers followed the shooting of *The Seven Year Itch.* These two shots of Marilyn Monroe, taken during a break, are by Elliott Erwitt and Bob Henriques, two photographers from the famous picture agency Magnum.

Surely the most famous scenes from *The Seven Year Itch,* photographs of which went around the world like wildfire, show Marilyn on a subway grate with her skirt flying up. More than four thousand fans, including many reporters, arrived on location (Lexington Avenue and Fifty-second Street), in the early-morning hours of September 15, 1954, to witness the spectacle. Billy Wilder repeated the scene, which gave the film international publicity, more than fifteen times before he was satisfied. Bruno Bernard was among the photographers and is responsible for these two extraordinary classics of all the Marilyn photos.

During the shooting of *The Seven Year Itch,* rumors about a marriage crisis began to intensify. On October 6, 1954, Marilyn, accompanied by her lawyer, Jerry Geisler, appeared before the reporters who had gathered in front of Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio’s house in Beverly Hills. Geisler announced that a suit for divorce had been filed. Marilyn herself was silent, but she sobbed and burst into tears before they all drove away. Geisler remarked: “She had nothing to say except that her application for a divorce is based on a matter of conflicting careers.” A witness described the scene and Marilyn’s appearance as “worthy of an Oscar.” Again, it is Bruno Bernard (right) who captured the climax of the scene in a memorable photo. Picture above is from UPI. One day later Marilyn was back on location for *The Seven Year Itch,* in pink pajamas, shooting one of the funniest scenes in the movie. This movie was the biggest box-office hit of 1955.

After the divorce Marilyn left Hollywood and moved back to New York accompanied by the photographer Milton H. Greene, who now looked after her personally and professionally. Commissioned by Greene, the photographer Ed Feingersh took several pictures of Marilyn in the summer of 1954. This photograph shows a pensive Marilyn on the balcony of her hotel room.

**Marilyn in a pose that could illustrate one of her oldest bons mots: when asked by a journalist what she wore in bed, she answered, “Chanel Number Five.” Photograph by Ed Feingersh, 1955.**

On March 9, 1955, Marilyn Monroe took the part of an usherette at the Astor Theater, New York, for the charity premiere of the film *East of Eden,* directed by Elia Kazan for Warner Bros. James Dean, the star of the film, died six months later.

**The proceeds of the benefit went to the Actors Studio. Marilyn devotedly posed for the crowd of photographers. Picture left is by Frank Maestro of UPI.**

January 15, 1955 Marilyn’s absence from Hollywood and her private initiative with Milton Greene lead 20th Century-Fox to announce another suspension. During a press conference in New York arranged by Milton H. Greene, Marilyn reveals her new dramatic ambitions, including the desire to play Grushenka in The Brothers Karamazov, a wish the press comments on sarcastically. 20th Century-Fox counters by pointing out that M.M. is bound to the studio until 1958, and that they see no necessity to honor her wishes for future roles. “In Hollywood last week Marilyn got a brusque reminder that she is firmly under contract to the studio until 1958. Fox issued a paper: ’20th Century-Fox is very satisfied with both the artistic and financial results from the pictures in which Miss Monroe has appeared. . . . 20th Century- Fox has no intention of granting Miss Monroe’s request that she play in Brothers Karamazov.’ ” (Time, January 24, 1955)

On March 31, 1955, Marilyn rode a Barnum & Bailey elephant, painted pink, as part of the great Mike Todd Memorial, a benefit performance for victims of arthritis. She was accompanied by the enthusiastic applause of the more than 25,000 spectators. Photographs by Carone for *Paris Match.*

**This picture shows a beaming Marilyn surrounded by circus performers on March 31, 1955, in Madison Square Garden, New York. Photograph UPI.**

March 31, 1955 Marilyn Monroe rides on a pink-painted elephant in Madison Square Garden. The occasion is the benefit for the Mike Todd Foundation for victims of arthritis and rheumatism. Twenty-five thousand spectators enthusiastically applaud her appearance.

**Marilyn with friends at Sardi’s restaurant in New York. Photograph by Leonard McCombe for *Life,* about 1956.**

April 8, 1955 On Good Friday at breakfast time, Milton Greene and Marilyn’s house in Connecticut is beseiged by several TV crews. M.M. appears on Edward R. Murrow’s famous interview program “Person to Person,” which is seen by more than fifty million viewers.

**The writer Truman Capote dancing with Marilyn Monroe at El Morocco, 1955. Whereas Capote’s expression is somewhat strained, Marilyn’s pose appears perfectly relaxed. Photograph UPI.**

Spring 1955 Marilyn makes concerted efforts to fill in the gaps in her education, at least in the professional realm. She acquired Max Reinhardt’s private library at an auction in December 1952 (and sold it shortly thereafter at cost to Reinhardt’s son Gottfried). For seven years she has been taking drama lessons from Natasha Lytess and Michael Chekhov. Now she decides to switch to Lee Strasberg, breaking with Lytess. Strasberg’s New York theater workshop, the Actors Studio, is of great benefit to Marilyn. In the 1950s, actors such as Marlon Brando, James Dean, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Paul Newman, Montgomery Clift, Steve McQueen, and Tom Ewell are among the most prominent to attend the studio, which has become one of the most influential setups of its kind.

At this time, Marilyn’s psychiatric treatment, which began around 1954, intensifies. She often goes five times a week to her female psychiatrist. Dr. Hohenberg, on the New York East Side.

One of the many publicity events that Milton H. Greene arranged for Marilyn during her self-imposed exile from Hollywood was her big appearance on Edward R. Murrow’s television show “Person to Person,” broadcast in April 1955 to more than fifty million viewers in the United States.

Marilyn getting into a taxi in New York City. No opportunity seems too trivial for the photographers, and no photographer that Marilyn is not willing to grace with a beaming smile.
Photograph about 1955.

June 1, 1955 On Marilyn Monroe’s twenty-ninth birthday. The Seven Year Itch premieres.

November 1, 1955 Marilyn’s divorce from Joe DiMaggio is granted.

December 31, 1955 On the basis of the phenomenal box-office success of The Seven Year Itch, Darryl Zanuck concludes a new contract with Marilyn, the best of her career. A clause very important for Marilyn gives her the right to reject any film that in her opinion is not “first class”; the same applies to directors and cameramen. This contract change, negotiated by Marilyn and Milton Greene, guarantees her a high level of artistic freedom, the prerequisite for her long-dreamed-of career as a serious actress. In addition, the clause gives her greater scheduling leeway to allow her to pursue projects in her own firm.

January 16, 1956 A press bulletin confirms that both parties have reached agreement on contested points in previous contracts. “Last week as the battle ended, the clear winner was Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc.” (Time) In 1970 Zanuck admits that he had underestimated Marilyn:

“One day, a great friend of mine, Joseph M. Schenck, brought over to my home in Palm Springs this very beautiful girl who was also on the plump side. I didn’t jump up and say, ‘Oh, this is a great star,’ or anything like that. Later on, Joe said, ‘If you can work her in some role or something, some, you know, supporting role, do so.’ I did, but I didn’t think that I had found any gold mine. John Huston gave her a hell of a good role in The Asphalt Jungle’ (1950). Jesus, she was good in it. I thought, it must have been the magic of Huston, because I didn’t think she had all that in her. But then I put her in ‘All About Eve’ (1950), and she was an overnight sensation.” (Look magazine, Novembers, 1970)

Marilyn’s move from Hollywood to New York, the phenomenal success of The Seven Year Itch, and the founding of her own production firm, the first project of which was to be a film with Laurence Olivier, all carefully managed by Milton H. Greene, strengthened her position vis-a-vis 20th Century-Fox to such an extent that she was given a contract granting her extensive rights in selecting future film projects. In February 1956 shooting began for the 20th Century-Fox production Bus Stop. Marilyn chose the story herself, as well as the director for it. The publicity stills were taken by Greene. During the shooting a cover story in Time appeared, which spoke of Marilyn’s wish “to be a real actress” and added: “In Bus Stop she has the chance to show what she can do with the first part she has ever played that is any deeper than her makeup.” For many critics, Marilyn’s portrayal of Cherie in Bus Stop was her most significant accomplishment as an actress.

February 1956 Marilyn’s performance of a scene from Anna Christie at Strasberg’s Actors Studio in New York wins the applause of a select audience.

February 9, 1956 Marilyn holds a press conference with Sir Laurence Olivier at the New York Plaza Hotel to announce her next project: the filming of Terrence Rattigan’s play The Sleeping Prince.

February 25, 1956 After a year of self-imposed exile, Marilyn returns to Hollywood.

**Publicity stills for Bus Stop by Milton H. Greene.**

May 3, 1956 The shooting for Bus Stop begins. This is the first project largely chosen by Marilyn herself, including the director, Joshua Logan, and the material, based on a successful Broadway comedy. Marilyn’s friend and partner Milton Greene is responsible for stills and makeup, and she selects her own costumes. In spite of these concessions and her successes, her New York psychiatrist has to be flown in to stabilize her emotionally.