marilyn monroe
I was born Norma Jean Baker on June 1, 1926 at nine am. I was named after Norma Talmadge, but not Jean Harlow. I had a rough childhood: I never knew my father. I had no stable mother figure. I went through three orphanages and more than a dozen foster homes. I was sexually assaulted twice, by my stepfather and my cousin. I was exposed to many religions including Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and Christian Science. I was forced by Grace, later my guardian, to idolize Jean Harlow, and despite everything I was also unpopular among my peers. I ended up living with Grace Goddard, my mother's boss and best friend, after she was declared unfit to care for me. Grace married a man named Goddard, and they wanted to move away with his daughter. They could not afford to take me, so they married me off to a family friend, Jim Dougherty. Jim went into the service during World War II, and I took a job folding parachutes. Photographers came to take pictures of us to send to the soldiers. One, David Conover, took a particular interest in me, and directed me to Snively's Modeling School. From there I met Anare de Dienes. He and I took many photo trips together, and Jim was rightly jealous, so he filed for divorce.
I signed for a year's contract (twenty-six months) with Ben Lyon who worked for Twentieth-century Fox Productions, on August 24, 1946. He was responsible for changing my name. While working at Fox, I met someone who was later to become my best friend, Allan Snyder, and got two bit roles. In August of 1947, Fox downsized and did not renew my contract. I went to the Actor's Laboratory and studied drama and met a long string of influential people including Lee and Paula Strasberg, who in turn introduced me to Joe Shenck who wanted one thing, and I gave it to him. In return, he got me a job with Harry Cohen, who paid me $125 per week for six months on one condition: I had to cut my hair and go blonde. Through Harry Cohen I met several more important people like John Huston, Joe Mankiewitz, Natasha Lytess, my lesbian drama coach, and Johnny Hyde, who fell in love with me soon after our first meeting. Johnny, in return for my 'love' got me a screen test for a movie that was never produced, a three-year contract with the Studio Acting Guild, and a role as a secretary in As Young As You Feel. However, Johnny was not feeling young, and his death by heart attack shook me up a lot. Enough to make me start taking sleeping pills, given to me freely by Sidney Skolsky who worked at a pharmacy as well as in Hollywood. A man named Feldman became my manager and I was allowed to have Natasha on the set with me. Bit by bit that year, I was becoming more noticed and recognized. I began seeing my teenage idol, Joe Dimaggio, and although we had different I ideas about most things, the relationship ran smoothly for a while. Natasha, however, had fallen in love with me also, and she was very jealous. One of Joe's main complaints was my lack of modesty, and he was really upset after I sang for the soldiers in Los Angeles, and especially when my nude calendar came out, Golden Dreams. 1952 had been a big year for me, publicity wise: love, the calendar, my appendectomy, five films and endless interviews especially when I got the lead in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which pretty much summarized my relationship with men. I began taking sleeping pills regularly at this time, but it was not a big deal; Hollywood was run on pills. Fox suspended me for not showing up to film one week, and I began to look for good scripts not good pay, so my friend Milton and some others organized Marilyn Monroe Productions to help me do just that. In 1954, Joe married me and on our honeymoon in Japan, the crowds and press around me was worse than in the US. Fox wanted me back so they said that if I did No Business Like Show Business they would give me the lead in The Seven Year Itch. I agreed. Natasha continued working on the set with me, although no one from Fox approved of her. Rumors floated about me and Hal Schafer, the musical director, and I will admit that they were true. That combined with the skirt blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch led Joe to file for di
Some common words found in the essay are:
Olivier London, Seven Itch, Arthur Miller, Clark Gable, Jose Balaņos, Secondal Phenobarbital, Jean Harlow, Prefer Blondes, Grace Goddard, Sidney Skolsky, sleeping pills, marilyn monroe, fell love, taking sleeping pills, jean harlow, harry cohen, found pregnant, mother figure, seven itch, monroe productions, clark gable, marilyn monroe productions,
Approximate Word count = 1994
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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