But then, of course, a number of years later, an ex-wife of Peter"s came forward and added to the confusion. She said that Peter finally confessed all to her "when he was kind of high." The next day, Peter was so confused about what he may have said while up on his cloud, he called the ex-wife and told her to just forget about all of it. He was stoned and, he observed, "Who knows what I was talking about?" Of course, she didn"t forget. However, to take the secondhand recollection of someone who was "kind of high" as gospel truth is perhaps not the wisest course of action in matters so historical.
Sadly, Peter Lawford-a kindhearted even if conflicted man who many say would never have betrayed a friend-has been widely quoted about Marilyn and the Kennedys decades after his death. It"s as if the man couldn"t stop talking about them during the last months of his life. But did he really make all of those statements, especially to ex-wives? "If you knew Peter like I knew Peter," Dean Martin told this writer when I wrote a book about Frank Sinatra, "you would know that he would never have said those things about Marilyn and the Kennedys-especially if those stories were true." if those stories were true."
Of course, it"s easy to see how Marilyn and the Kennedy brothers became eternally linked to so many sensational and lurid tales. The confluence of these powerful and historical men with one of the most legendary movie stars of her time has been too compelling to ignore. The Kennedy regime was viewed as a special time in history-Camelot, it was called after the fact-during which idealistic men came into power with an eye toward changing the way people thought of government. Both brothers were known philanderers, though it wasn"t reported at the time because, pre-Watergate, the press was much more protective of those in government. Marilyn"s publicist Michael Selsman recalls, "I spent a lot of time saying to reporters, "The president? What? You must be joking!" Knowing all the while that it was true. I was also good with, "Pills? What pills?" And, "Drinking? Of course not. Marilyn is just a social drinker." "
Sometimes, though, JFK"s nature was at least suggested in the press, and as a result, innuendo about him and Marilyn can be traced all the way back to 1960. For instance, in July of that year, after learning that Marilyn had been asking questions to her friends about Kennedy"s policies, Art Buchwald wrote, "Let"s be firm on the Monroe Doctrine. Who will be the next amba.s.sador to Monroe? This is one of the many problems which president-elect Kennedy will have to work on in January. Obviously, you can"t leave Monroe adrift. There are too many people eyeing her, and now that Amba.s.sador Miller has left, she could flounder around without any direction." Such wink-and-nod reporting was going on way back in 1960 where JFK and Marilyn were concerned, and she"d only met him twice by that time.
One of the major leaps toward national fascination where this subject is concerned happened in the 1970s with a lavish Marilyn Monroe biography by Norman Mailer that actually involved the Kennedys in her death and, for the first time, linked Marilyn with Bobby. Of course, rumors about whether or not Marilyn had been murdered didn"t begin in the 1970s. Michael Selsman put it this way: "The rumor that Marilyn had been murdered happened immediately after she died. Within five minutes of her body being found. The first thought was, "Is there a movie in this?" That"s this town [Hollywood]." When this writer spoke to Mailer, though, he indicated that he wasn"t proud of his murder theory. "Not my best work," he said of his book, "and not my best research. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn"t have allowed its publication." He"d also said that he "needed the money" and that this was why he allowed to be published details about Marilyn and the Kennedys that were not verified, and that have gone on to be considered fact. That"s difficult to believe of a gifted Pulitzer Prize winner, yet apparently true. After Mailer"s book was published another came forth from syndicated gossip columnist Earl Wilson, which was the first to formally reveal that Marilyn and JFK had been in a s.e.xual relationship. That work opened the floodgates, and since that time there have been many, many books whose premise has been different variations on the Kennedy theme. Truly, stories involving Marilyn and the Kennedys have been circulating for many decades.
Also being written about for just about as long as Marilyn has been dead are the many different tapes that supposedly exist implicating people in her death. If one is to believe all that has been published in the last few decades-and entire books have been published based on these supposed recordings-poor Marilyn was being bugged by everyone from the Teamsters, the FBI, the CIA, Howard Hughes, the Kennedys, and the Mafia to her own movie studio, 20th Century-Fox. The woman must have had so many different wires and recording devices in her homes, it"s a wonder she was able to get a decent radio or TV signal. Even her answering service was supposedly tapped. She wasn"t the only one, of course. Peter and Pat Lawford, the Kennedys, Frank, Sammy, Dean... all of them were supposedly also the subject of wiretapping that resulted in audio doc.u.mentation of a plethora of shocking secrets. There"s even supposed to be a tape recording of Marilyn and Bobby Kennedy having a violent argument just hours before her death over a diary in which she supposedly kept all of the secrets of state revealed to her by the Kennedy brothers. "I want that diary, Marilyn. And now, d.a.m.n it! And now, d.a.m.n it!" Yet, in almost fifty years, not one single tape has ever seen the light of day.
The fact of the matter is that no matter how many people claim to have heard these tapes-and there are dozens-until the rest of us have the opportunity to do so, they simply don"t matter. "You could hear the voices of Marilyn and JFK," Peter Lawford supposedly said of one of the tapes, "in addition to Marilyn and RFK. In both cases you could make out the muted sounds of bedsprings and the cries of ecstasy. Marilyn, after all, was a master of her craft." Ignoring the fact that Lawford would never have made such comments-not to mention that the notion of a menage a trois between Marilyn and the Kennedy brothers is preposterous-it"s at long last time to accept the truth: These tapes do not exist.
THE FBI"S FILES ON MARILYN In October 2006, under the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI released a number of new files on Marilyn Monroe, referenced in the text of this book. One is truly extraordinary and has to do with Marilyn Monroe and Bobby Kennedy. This three-page doc.u.ment-called simply "Robert F. Kennedy" and referenced in this book"s chapter "Were Marilyn and Bobby "The New Item"?"-has never before been mentioned, despite hundreds of articles, books, and doc.u.mentaries about Marilyn Monroe"s death. It was written by an unnamed "former special agent" supposedly working for the then governor of California, Democrat Pat Brown, and forwarded to Washington by Curtis Lynum, then head of the San Francisco FBI. Though this paperwork is like all of the FBI"s doc.u.mentation of Marilyn and the Kennedys in that it can"t be substantiated-and this one even states that the source of the information is unknown and the information can"t be verified-it was circulated to the FBI"s most senior officers, including Director J. Edgar Hoover"s right-hand man, Clyde Tolson. Despite its specious nature, it"s interesting just by virtue of the fact that this report-cla.s.sified for decades-was written and filed back on October 19, 1964, years before people started gossiping that the Kennedys may have had something to do with Marilyn"s death.
As earlier stated, this file announces that Marilyn and Bobby were having a "romance and s.e.x affair" and that Bobby promised to divorce Ethel and marry Marilyn. However, according to the report, she soon figured out that he was lying. At this same time, according to the report, "Marilyn also had an intermittent lesbian affair with [name deleted] while Robert Kennedy was carrying on his s.e.x affair with Marilyn Monroe," and also "on a few occasions John F. Kennedy came out and had s.e.x parties with [name deleted] actress." Moreover, "During the period of time that Robert Kennedy was having his s.e.x affair with Marilyn Monroe, on one occasion a s.e.x party was conducted at which several other persons were present. Tape recording was secretly made and is in the possession of a Los Angeles private detective agency. The detective wants $3000 for a certified copy of the recording, in which all the voices are identifiable."
The details in the paperwork continue by stating that Marilyn began to call RFK "person-to-person" to complain to him about her problems with Fox and the ill-fated movie Something"s Got to Give. Something"s Got to Give. Bobby "told her not to worry about the contract-he would take care of everything." Later, they had "unpleasant words" and she became upset and "threatened to make public their affair." The report continues, "On the day that Marilyn died, Robert Kennedy was in town and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel. By coincidence, this is across the street from the house in which a number of years earlier his father, Joseph Kennedy, had lived for a time, common-law, with Gloria Swanson." Bobby "told her not to worry about the contract-he would take care of everything." Later, they had "unpleasant words" and she became upset and "threatened to make public their affair." The report continues, "On the day that Marilyn died, Robert Kennedy was in town and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel. By coincidence, this is across the street from the house in which a number of years earlier his father, Joseph Kennedy, had lived for a time, common-law, with Gloria Swanson."
Moreover, the doc.u.ment maintains that Peter Lawford made "special arrangements" with Marilyn"s psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson-who, it says, was treating her to "get her off of barbiturates"-to give her sixty tablets of Seconal on her last visit to him, "unusual in quant.i.ty especially since she saw him frequently." (Note: The truth is that the day before her death she was given Nembutal, not Seconal, and twenty-four of them, not sixty, and by Dr. Engelberg, not Dr. Greenson.) It says that "Peter Lawford knew from Marilyn"s friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was induced to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy."
The report states that Marilyn"s publicist, Pat Newcomb, and her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, conspired with Peter Lawford and Dr. Greenson "in a plan to induce suicide." (In return for her a.s.sistance, Newcomb was "put on the federal payroll.") The report suggests that the princ.i.p.als deliberately gave Marilyn the means to fake another suicide attempt by making sure-via Eunice Murray-that the pills were on her nightstand before she went to bed. It"s not clear why they believed she would want to try to kill herself that night, but the implication is that they were going to do or say something that would drive her to want to at least act as if she were going to kill herself, and then "[she] expected to have her stomach pumped out and get sympathy for her suicide attempt." But this time, she was allowed to die rather than be saved just in time, as had often happened in the past. After the deed was done, RFK telephoned Peter Lawford "to find out if Marilyn was dead yet." It goes on to state that Joe DiMaggio knew exactly what was going on but was powerless to stop it; he "is reported to have stated that when Robert Kennedy gets out of office, he intends to kill him."
Bits and pieces and different variations of the above scenario have appeared in a number of books and magazine articles over the years having to do with Marilyn"s death, but none of it is verifiable. Still, it"s very interesting that what was once just gossiped about by secondhand sources and then reported by a slew of biographers turns out to actually be material found in the FBI files. It does give all of those who believe that RFK was involved in the death of Marilyn Monroe a little more certainty in their beliefs.
So, what does all of this mean? Unfortunately, not much. There are a couple of possible scenarios as to why the report exists in the FBI files. It"s well known that J. Edgar Hoover strongly resented Bobby Kennedy and perhaps intended to use the report to discredit him at some point along the way, maybe before the 1968 election. One wonders, though, what might have happened if the doc.u.ment had been leaked in 1968. It might have done some damage just by virtue of the fact that it"s an FBI doc.u.ment. But how seriously anyone would have taken it given its gossipy nature-and the fact that it"s not sourced at all-is questionable. What"s laughable is that the report refers to all of the princ.i.p.al players by their first names; the doc.u.ment reads as if it were written by a Hollywood gossip columnist.
In truth, if in 1965 the FBI truly believed that Robert Kennedy, Peter Lawford, Eunice Murray, and Pat Newcomb conspired in the death of Marilyn Monroe, wouldn"t they all have been charged? Obviously, that never happened. Was it because the FBI didn"t believe its own files?
Also very interesting is that this latest Marilyn Monroe release from the FBI refers to a "s.e.x tape" supposedly featuring Marilyn Monroe. The memo is t.i.tled "interstate transportation of obscene matter." It says, "[Deleted]... at his office ran a French-type movie which depicted Marilyn Monroe, deceased actress, in unnatural acts with an unknown male. [Deleted] informed them he had obtained this film prior to the time Monroe achieved stardom and that subsequently Joe DiMaggio attempted to purchase this film for $25,000. This information should not be discussed outside the bureau."
In April 2007, someone-not named by any news reports-supposedly purchased this fifteen-minute tape (which allegedly shows Marilyn having oral s.e.x with an unidentified male) for $1.5 million. The anonymous purchaser is quoted by the person who says he brokered the deal-someone named Keya Morgan who was apparently making a doc.u.mentary about Marilyn-as saying he would not release the tape, and that he only bought it to keep it out of circulation because he is trying to protect Monroe"s legacy. Likely, though, it won"t be shown because it does not exist. The timing is just too convenient. It"s likely that someone came up with the idea of saying that the video described in the latest FBI doc.u.ment actually exists and, not only that, was just purchased? What was the intent of doing such a thing? Who knows? In truth, though, not one shred of evidence has been brought forth to prove that the sale was even made-no seller has been named, no buyer identified, no receipt either. Yet the story received national attention, demonstrating if nothing else that the public"s hunger for interesting stories about Marilyn Monroe has never waned. However, like all of the other audio- and videotapes of Marilyn Monroe supposedly having intimate encounters with the Kennedys or others, if this one ever actually surfaces it"ll be a first.
THE JOHN MINER TRANSCRIPTS.
John Miner, now about ninety years old, is the former deputy district attorney of Los Angeles County and the founder and head of the medical-legal section of that office. He claims to have heard hours of secret tapes of psychiatric sessions between Marilyn and Dr. Ralph Greenson, and while doing so took copious, "nearly verbatim" notes-many, many pages-reconstructing word for word every statement she made during the sessions. Entire books have been based on these notes, which include in-depth and very personal comments from Marilyn about her affairs with both Kennedys, her s.e.x life, her career aspirations, and so on. This writer spent six hours with Miner and reviewed all of his handwritten notes.
"You are the only person who will ever know the most private, the most secret thoughts of Marilyn Monroe," she told Greenson, according to Miner"s transcript. "I have absolute confidence and trust you will never reveal to a living soul what I say to you." Would Marilyn really speak like that? Would she really find it necessary to make such statements to a doctor she had been seeing almost every day?
Miner says, "I kept my promise to Dr. Greenson to respect the confidentiality of his interview with me and the contents of Miss Monroe"s tapes, I kept that promise in spite of incredible pressures from reporters, authors, and official investigators to relate this information. It is only after [authors] Donald Spoto, Marvin Bergman, and others accused Dr. Greenson of being responsible in some way for causing Marilyn Monroe"s death that I approached Dr. Greenson"s widow to ask for a release from my promise to her husband. She wishes to do whatever is possible to clear his name and granted my request."
Miner"s explanation that he reconstructed his copious notes from memory is troubling. It takes a leap of faith to believe his verbatim recollection of so many quotes. Here, he provides a synopsis of what he says he heard on these tapes: "She explains that she has recorded her free a.s.sociating (saying whatever comes into her mind; a necessary technique used in psychoa.n.a.lytic therapy) at home because she could not do it in office sessions. She hoped this would a.s.sist in her treatment. And she believes that she has discovered a means of overcoming the resistance which patients have in being unable to comply with the psychiatrist"s request to free a.s.sociate because the mind becomes a blank.
"She tells how she plans to become the highest paid actress in Hollywood so that she can finance everything that she wants to do.
"She says that she aspires to do Shakespeare and that she will pay Lee [Strasberg] to coach her in Shakespeare as his only student for one year.
"Laurence Olivier, she says, had agreed to polish her Shakespearean training after Strasberg finished, and she would pay him whatever he asked.
"She says she would pay Dr. Greenson to be his only patient while she was undergoing the instruction in Shakespeare.
"She says that when she is ready she would produce and act in all of the Shakespeare plays that she would put in film under the rubric Marilyn Monroe Shakespeare Festival.
"For those many writers who maintain that she was going to blow the whistle on JFK about their s.e.xual relationship, she shoots down such speculation when she expresses utmost admiration for the President and explicitly says she would never embarra.s.s him.
"Her remarks disprove those who claim that she killed herself because Robert Kennedy broke off their relationship because it was she who broke it off.
"She strongly a.s.serted that she wanted to rid herself of Eunice Murray, her housekeeper, and requested Dr. Greenson"s a.s.sistance in so doing.
"She says that she never had an o.r.g.a.s.m before becoming Dr. Green-son"s patient but that he had cured her of that infirmity for which was she was forever grateful."
John Miner maintains that Marilyn was murdered with a lethal enema of Nembutal, which he believes was administered by housekeeper Eunice Murray-who, oddly, was was doing the laundry when the police arrived in the middle of the night. It"s been maintained by many people that Eunice Murray customarily gave Marilyn Monroe enemas. ( doing the laundry when the police arrived in the middle of the night. It"s been maintained by many people that Eunice Murray customarily gave Marilyn Monroe enemas. (Why? Isn"t this something a woman would want to do for herself? Is a housekeeper really necessary for this kind of duty?) Isn"t this something a woman would want to do for herself? Is a housekeeper really necessary for this kind of duty?) The bigger question, perhaps, is: Why would Marilyn Monroe have had to explain the background and history of each person mentioned in her long narrative, editorializing as if she and Dr. Greenson had never met? She had been seeing him almost every day.
It would seem that John Miner, a very nice, congenial man, would have no reason to lie. It therefore comes down to a simple matter of choice as to whether or not a reporter feels he can rely on his notes. In fact, no one has ever heard these tapes, other than John Miner-not even Ralph Greenson"s wife or children. John Miner believes that Greenson, who died in 1979, destroyed all of the tapes. In other words, there is one and only one source for all of this information... and, believe him or not, that"s John Miner.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
THE AUTHOR"S SUPPORT TEAM During the course of years of production on a book such as The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, many people become invested in the project, from researchers and investigators to copy editors and fact checkers to designers, publicists, and, yes, even attorneys. My colleagues at Grand Central Publishing have always made it possible for me to utilize all of the resources available to me-no matter how complex the working situation or how many people necessary to complete the task at hand. In fact, an author could not ask for a better and more nurturing environment than the one I have been so fortunate to have at Grand Central for the last ten years of my career. In short, it"s been terrific. As with all of my books, this one is a collaborative effort. None of it would be possible, though, without my publisher at Grand Central, Jamie Raab. As a publisher-and an editor-she is without peer. I want to thank her for her patience and trust in me as she shepherded this project along for the last couple of years. She had to make more than a few concessions for me along the way with this work, and she always did so happily. What more can an author ask for? Thanks also to Jamie"s wonderful a.s.sistants, Sharon Kra.s.sney and Sara Weiss. I would also like to thank Frances Jalet-Miller for her conscientious work on this book and for helping me to shape its story. I really appreciate her help so much and look forward to working with her again. Interior production of this book was handled by Tom Whatley; the amazing jacket was designed by Flamur Tonuzi, with print coordination handled by Antoinette Marotta. I thank them all, and thanks also to Anne Twomey. Special thanks also to Bob Castillo for his work in managing editorial, to my able copy editor, Roland Ottewell, and proofreaders Richard Willett and Lisa Nicholas.
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe-my fifteenth book-was, without a doubt, my most challenging, primarily because its development took so many years. I first began to work on it in 1995 at the time I was writing Sinatra: A Complete Life Sinatra: A Complete Life, my biography of Frank Sinatra. Then, in 1998 and 1999, as I wrote Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, I continued to keep the Monroe project on the back burner. I always knew that many of the interviews I would conduct for books about Sinatra and the Kennedys could and should be utilized in a book about Marilyn Monroe. I was very fortunate to draw from these interviews because, in the intervening years, many of those valuable sources would pa.s.s away. However, I believe that each is well served on these pages.
Also, I am very fortunate to have been a.s.sociated with the same private investigator and chief researcher, Cathy Griffin, for the last twenty years. Much to my great advantage, Cathy has also worked on a number of books about Marilyn Monroe in the past. Therefore, I was able to rely on her many years of research, including invaluable interviews she conducted in the past, again with people no longer with us.
I must acknowledge my domestic agent, Mitch Douglas. He has been a very important person in my life and career for more than ten years, and I thank him for his constant and enthusiastic encouragement. He went the extra mile for me, especially with this book.
Dorie Simmonds of the Dorie Simmonds Agency in London has not only been an amazing agent for me in Europe for the last ten years, but a loyal and trusted friend. I so appreciate her dedication to me and to my work. Dorie manages to perform miracles for me on a daily basis, and I don"t know how she puts up with me. However, I do know that an author could not ask for better representation, or a better friend.
My capable fact checker and editor, James Pinkston, has worked for me on my last five books. He reviews everything I write long before anyone at Grand Central ever sees it-thank goodness! I can"t imagine what kind of book we would be publishing if not for Jim"s tireless quest for accuracy. Working with him on The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe has been a true honor and joy. has been a true honor and joy.
THE TRUE EXPERTS.
Whenever I write a new book, I am fortunate to meet people who have devoted their lives to better understanding my present subject. If an author such as me is lucky enough to be able to call upon true experts in the field in which he"s working, it just makes for a better and more comprehensive book. Happily, I had the good fortune of being able to call upon one of the greatest, I think, experts in all things Marilyn, and that"s James Haspiel. I thank him for the time he gave in setting straight some of the myths about Marilyn. Mr. Haspiel was not only a fan of Marilyn"s, he became a close friend of hers. In fact, if I had to recommend any of the many books that have been published about Marilyn over the last forty years, I would wholeheartedly recommend Haspiel"s two books, Young Marilyn: Becoming the Legend Young Marilyn: Becoming the Legend and and Marilyn Monroe: The Ultimate Look at the Legend. Marilyn Monroe: The Ultimate Look at the Legend. They"re both revelatory not only because they are so personal in scope but because the many photographs of James as a youngster with the stunning Marilyn in her prime are absolutely priceless. I was truly inspired by James"s devotion to Marilyn and by the way he brought her to life in his books. No doubt, every author"s vision of a subject is different, and so I am therefore not sure how James will feel about my "take" on his greatest star-but I have so loved his. Mr. Haspiel was interviewed on March 17, 1998, and again in April 2008. They"re both revelatory not only because they are so personal in scope but because the many photographs of James as a youngster with the stunning Marilyn in her prime are absolutely priceless. I was truly inspired by James"s devotion to Marilyn and by the way he brought her to life in his books. No doubt, every author"s vision of a subject is different, and so I am therefore not sure how James will feel about my "take" on his greatest star-but I have so loved his. Mr. Haspiel was interviewed on March 17, 1998, and again in April 2008.
I also have to thank my very good friend of many years, Charles Casillo. Charles is another "ultimate" Marilyn Monroe fan who understands her character and personality so well. He also brought her to life in a different way, a fictional telling of her story called The Marilyn Diaries The Marilyn Diaries. It"s a terrific book and I would recommend it as well. I want to thank Charles for setting me straight on so many details about Marilyn"s life. To show you how long Charles and I have been thinking about Marilyn"s life and career, he and I actually interviewed Kennedy hairdresser Mickey Song more than ten years ago-he touched up Marilyn"s hair for her "Happy Birthday" performance at Madison Square Garden in 1962. I had completely forgotten that we collaborated on that effort until I found the tape recording of the interview while researching this book. Whereas I, apparently, have a bad memory for such things-thank goodness for tape recorders!-Charles does not. He remembers virtually everything having to do with Marilyn Monroe, and for that I thank him. This is a much better book because of him.
Maryanne Reed allowed me access to her complete collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, most of which was culled from the files of the newspaper Hollywood Citizen-News Hollywood Citizen-News and the and the Woman"s Home Companion Woman"s Home Companion, both of which are now defunct. I am so grateful to her. This material was invaluable to me in that it provided many leads and also included the unpublished notes and interviews of reporters who were covering Marilyn for the News News and and Companion Companion in the 1950s. I listened to and utilized in this work thirty-five previously unpublished taped interviews and conversations with Marilyn intimates such as Jim Dougherty, Ida Bolender, Wayne Bolender, and costars such as Jane Russell, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall, all of which Ms Reed generously had transferred from reel-to-reel format to ca.s.sette for my convenience. in the 1950s. I listened to and utilized in this work thirty-five previously unpublished taped interviews and conversations with Marilyn intimates such as Jim Dougherty, Ida Bolender, Wayne Bolender, and costars such as Jane Russell, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall, all of which Ms Reed generously had transferred from reel-to-reel format to ca.s.sette for my convenience.
Also, Maryanne Reed has on file many doc.u.ments a.s.sociated with Inez Melson"s relationship with Gladys Baker and Marilyn Monroe. This includes correspondence between Ms. Baker and Ms. Melson, as well as rare published interviews such as one that appeared with Melson in The Listener The Listener (London) on August 30, 1979. Acquired through a private purchaser, they became key to my research. Importantly, Ms. Reed also obtained from a private source tapes of interviews conducted with Eleanor "BeBe" G.o.ddard that were made in or around January 1991. She also provided me with doc.u.ments relating to Emmeline Snively, including a rare interview with her that was published in the (London) on August 30, 1979. Acquired through a private purchaser, they became key to my research. Importantly, Ms. Reed also obtained from a private source tapes of interviews conducted with Eleanor "BeBe" G.o.ddard that were made in or around January 1991. She also provided me with doc.u.ments relating to Emmeline Snively, including a rare interview with her that was published in the Los Angeles Daily News Los Angeles Daily News on February 4, 1954. Working with Maryanne was a real pleasure and I am eternally grateful to her for everything she did for me while I was working on on February 4, 1954. Working with Maryanne was a real pleasure and I am eternally grateful to her for everything she did for me while I was working on The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe.
GENERAL RESEARCH.
Over the course of years I have devoted to The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, a great number of people went out of their way to a.s.sist me, literally hundreds of relations, entertainment journalists, socialites, lawyers, celebrities, show business executives and former executives, a.s.sociates, and friends as well as foes, cla.s.smates, teachers, neighbors, newspersons, and archivists. However, at the very beginning of this project, I sat down with my researchers and investigators and posed the very important question: What is there about Marilyn Monroe that has not been reported in about a hundred other books about her? It took us some time to answer that question, and we had a few false starts over the years-as my publisher well knows! However, it was the relationship between Marilyn and her mother, Gladys Baker, that began to most fascinate me as we continued our research, and I soon realized that it was one of the stories I most wanted to tell on these pages-because it had never before been told. I must thank my amazing researcher Michael Stevens, who uncovered much of the information on the Rock Haven Sanitarium and of Gladys Baker"s time there. What a wonderful job he did for me on this book! He dedicated himself to Ms. Baker"s memory and was truly a champion of hers during this entire process. Together, we went on an amazing fact-finding journey, and I thank him so much for the experience. I"ll never forget a moment of it. Also, he obtained from a private collector more than twenty-five files from Rock Haven regarding Gladys"s treatment there, most of which were invaluable to my research.
Also important, I must acknowledge all of the fine people at Julien"s Auctions for making available to me so many of the letters and notes from Gladys Baker that were utilized in this book and, I might proudly add, for the first time in any Marilyn Monroe biography. Also, my researchers obtained a treasure trove of material-including correspondence from Gladys Baker, Berniece Baker, BeBe G.o.ddard, Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, Dr. Ralph Greenson, and, of course, Marilyn Monroe-from the following auction houses: Bonham"s, b.u.t.terfields, Christie"s, Hunt Auctions, and Sotheby"s.
I"ve had many investigators and researchers over the years, but none who have been as consistent as Cathy Griffin. Cathy is also a fine journalist in her own right. It would be easy with a subject as popular as this one to simply reinterview those people who have told their stories to others and hope for an occasional new angle. However, Cathy always manages to locate people who have new, previously untold stories-such as the story of Charles Stanley Gifford Jr., the man Marilyn believed to be her half brother. Gifford broke his silence for the first time on these pages, and I thank him for his interview of May 9, 2008. How Cathy ever locates people like him, I"ll never know, but I"m very glad she does. This particular work represents our seventh book together. I thank her for her a.s.sistance over the years, her tenacity, and, most of all, her friendship.
Thank you, also, to Jane Maxwell, a terrific pop culture historian who allowed me to have access to all of her notes and files concerning Natasha Lytess. Her a.s.sistance was invaluable. She also gave me access to all of the doc.u.ments that were culled from her research using "The Milton Greene Papers."
Also, I would like to thank Juliette Burgonde, Cloe Basiline, Maxime Rhiette, Suzalie Rose, and especially Mary Whitaker in London, who helped with the UK research.
Thanks to Samuel Elliot for helping us with all of the Bolender family history. What a tangled web that was to sort through, and I could not have done it without Mr. Elliot.
Of course, I reviewed every one of Marilyn Monroe"s films, as well as all of the made-for-television movies and miniseries about her and, obviously, scores of doc.u.mentaries. I would not have had access to all of this material had it not been for the efforts of Nick Scotti in the United Kingdom. I definitely owe him a debt of grat.i.tude for procuring all of this important research material for me. Also, I reviewed-and it took months, I might add-the vast 20th Century-Fox collection at UCLA, which contains detailed letters from executives about all of Monroe"s movies at the studio, legal and production files pertaining to same, as well as daily production reports. This material was also important to my research in all areas of this book.
Thanks also to the staffs of the Hans Tasiemka Archives in London and the Special Collections Library of the University of California in Los Angeles.
As always, Marybeth Evans in London did a terrific job at the Manchester Central Library reviewing reams of doc.u.ments for me and pointing me to just the ones I needed for this book.
Thanks also to Suzalie Rose, who did research for me in libraries in Paris. She and Carl Mathers spent so much time thinking about Marilyn and coming up with new ways to tell her story.
I also have to thank the fine folks at Photofest for some of the terrific photographs that are found in this book. I go to Photofest first whenever I begin the process of selecting pictures to ill.u.s.trate my books. They always come through for me, and I thank them.
Bernie Abramson, who was a personal photographer for President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had photographs of Marilyn with Peter Lawford, Pat Kennedy Lawford, and Frank Sinatra that he"d taken and that I had never before seen. I am so grateful to him for allowing us to publish them here, for the very first time in any Marilyn Monroe biography.
I want to thank all of the dedicated people at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their a.s.sistance on this and all of my books. I must also thank James Pinkston for all of the time he spent at the Academy Library for me.
I also owe a debt of grat.i.tude to Donald Spoto, the best-selling author of the excellent Marilyn Monroe: The Biography Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, for his having donated all of his interview tapes for that project to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His generous donation made it possible for me to obtain background and quotes from Marilyn Monroe"s publicist, Patricia Newcomb, and also from other sources who are either dead or were simply not available to me at this time. I also must acknowledge Maurice Zolotow, who wrote the first in-depth biography of Marilyn Monroe-Marilyn Monroe-published in 1960, before her death. Mr. Zolotow stored many of his papers in a collection at the University of Texas, and his impeccable research was vital to my own. As a side note, I have always been moved by the poignant last pa.s.sage in Zolotow"s book about Marilyn. He wrote, "Now, at thirty-four, Monroe has it all... [but her] great achievement has been the making of herself and the imposition of her will and her dream upon the whole world.... In one sense, then, her life is completed because her spirit is formed and has achieved itself. No matter what unpredictable events may lie in her future, they cannot change who she is and what she has become. And there will be many surprises and alterations in her life ahead; there will be, in Hart Crane"s phrase, "new thresholds, new anatomies." In her heart is a questing fever that will give her no peace.... her soul will always be restless, unquiet."
I would be remiss in not mentioning the other preeminent Marilyn Monroe biography, and that is, of course, Anthony Summer"s G.o.ddess. G.o.ddess. It"s one of the first books historians most often turn to when trying to understand Miss Monroe-and rightly so. It"s one of the first books historians most often turn to when trying to understand Miss Monroe-and rightly so.
Numerous other organizations and inst.i.tutions provided me with articles, doc.u.ments, audio interviews, video interviews, transcripts, and other material that was either utilized directly in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe or just for purposes of background. Therefore, I would like to express my grat.i.tude to the following inst.i.tutions: the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; the American Film Inst.i.tute Library; the a.s.sociated Press Office (New York); the Bancroft Library (University of California, Berkeley); the Billy Rose Theater Collection in the Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York; the or just for purposes of background. Therefore, I would like to express my grat.i.tude to the following inst.i.tutions: the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; the American Film Inst.i.tute Library; the a.s.sociated Press Office (New York); the Bancroft Library (University of California, Berkeley); the Billy Rose Theater Collection in the Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York; the Boston Herald Boston Herald Archives; the Beverly Hills Library; the University of California, Los Angeles; Corbis-Gamma/Liason; the Ernest Lehman Collection at USC; the Glendale Central Public Library; the Hedda Hopper Collection in the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills; the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts; the Kobal Collection; the Archives; the Beverly Hills Library; the University of California, Los Angeles; Corbis-Gamma/Liason; the Ernest Lehman Collection at USC; the Glendale Central Public Library; the Hedda Hopper Collection in the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills; the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts; the Kobal Collection; the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times; the Los Angeles Public Library; the Louella Parsons Collection at the University of Southern California; the Margaret Herrick Library (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences); the Museum of Broadcasting, New York; the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio archives, now part of the Turner Entertainment Group, Los Angeles; the Museum of the Film; the National Archives and the Library of Congress; the New York City Munic.i.p.al Archives; the New York University Library; the New York Daily News New York Daily News; the New York Post New York Post; the New York Times New York Times; Occidental College (Eagle Rock, California); the Philadelphia Public Library; the Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia Inquirer and the and the Philadelphia Daily News Philadelphia Daily News; the Time-Life archives and Library, New York; the Universal Collection at the University of Southern California; the University of Southern California; and, finally, Rex Features.
SOURCES AND OTHER NOTES.
In all of my books I provide doc.u.mentation of firsthand sources, which I think is very important to most readers. I also usually set forth the hundreds of other books, periodicals, magazine, and newspaper articles consulted by myself and my researchers. After careful deliberation, I"ve finally come to the conclusion that the listing of such material is nothing more than typing practice for all concerned. In truth, in my twenty-five years of authoring books about public figures, I have encountered very few people who have ever actually paid attention to such material. Therefore, with this, my fifteenth book, I am going to dispense with the customary page-after-page accounting of secondary source material, if only for the sake of s.p.a.ce and time considerations. In a few cases, I will mention secondary source material in the notes that follow if I think it"s important to understanding my research. Generally, though, I can a.s.sure my readers that many books about Marilyn Monroe, the Kennedys, Frank Sinatra, and others were reviewed as part of my research, as were countless newspaper and magazine articles.
Also, in writing about a person as popular and also as beloved as Marilyn Monroe, a biographer is bound to find that many sources with valuable information prefer to not be named in the text. This is reasonable. Throughout my career, I have understood that for a person to jeopardize a long-standing, important relationship with a celebrity or a famous person"s family just for the sake of one of my books is a purely personal choice. Nevertheless, I appreciate the a.s.sistance of many people close to Marilyn who, over the years, gave of their time for this project. I will respect the wish for anonymity of those who require it, and, as always, those who could be identified are named in these notes.
The following notes and source acknowledgments are by no means comprehensive. Rather, they are intended to give you, the reader, a general overview of my research.
PART ONE: THE BEGINNING.
I relied heavily on the interview with Nancy Jeffrey, only surviving foster daughter of Ida and Wayne Bolender, conducted on May 21, 2008. I thank her so much for her trust and confidence.
I"d also like to thank Louise Adams for her insight into the lives of Gladys Baker and Ida Bolender. Also, Rose Anne Cooper-who worked at the Rock Haven Sanitarium in La Crescenta, California-was extremely helpful and spent more hours with me in 2007 and 2008 than I"m sure she cares to remember. She even had photographs of Rock Haven, key to my understanding of the environment there. I owe a real debt of grat.i.tude to both Ms. Adams and Ms. Cooper, both of whom I interviewed on February 1, 2007, April 10, 2007, June 15, 2007, and January 3, 2008.
I must give special acknowledgment to Mary Thomas-Strong, whose mother was a close friend of Ida Bolender"s. I interviewed Ms. Thomas-Strong on April 1, 2008, April 3, 2008, and April 10, 2008. She also provided me with boxes of material invaluable to my research and to my understanding the complex relationship between Ida, Gladys Baker, and Norma Jeane. This material included correspondence files between her mother and Ida Bolender. It also included The Legend of Marilyn Monroe The Legend of Marilyn Monroe, a rare film source of information from 1964, from David L. Wolper Productions, Inc. This doc.u.mentary features what I believe to be the only televised interview with Ida and Wayne Bolender. Ms. Thomas-Strong also provided for me the medical files of Della M. Monroe from the Norwalk State Hospital, including her death certificate (#4081). Moreover, she provided me with a copy of the doc.u.mentary Marilyn: Beyond the Legend. Marilyn: Beyond the Legend.
Special acknowledgment must be extended to the family of Bea Thomas, who knew Grace G.o.ddard. Ms. Thomas was interviewed in January 1990 by Elvin Summer for a family history. I obtained that history from a private source.
Thanks also to Esther Thompson, whose mother, Ruth, worked with Grace McKee at Consolidated Studios. Ms. Thompson spent many hours with me reconstructing certain events for this book and I thank her for the interviews I conducted with her on July 2, 2007, and February 1, 2008.
Mary Robin Alexander"s father, Albert, was a close, personal friend of George and Maud Atkinson"s. I thank her for sharing her dad"s memories of the Atkinsons and Norma Jeane Mortensen with me on July 2, 2007, and August 11, 2007.
Dia Nanouris"s mother was an a.s.sistant film editor at Columbia who worked with Grace G.o.ddard at that company. She provided absolutely invaluable insight in my interview with her on December 15, 2007.
Also, Eleanor Ray"s mother knew Grace G.o.ddard and Ms. Ray spent many hours with my researchers in preparation for this book. I interviewed her as well on February 1, 2008. Also, she provided me with details of Grace G.o.ddard"s suicide found in California State File #53087308.
Thanks to Elliot Ross for providing us with the files of the Los Angeles Orphans" Home having to do with "Norma Jeane Baker," including correspondence from 1937 relating to Grace G.o.ddard, Ida Bolender, and the orphanage"s headmistress, Sula Dewey. Also, Magda Bernard"s stepbrother, Tony, was at the orphanage at the same time as Norma Jeane, and Ms. Bernard provided me with a terrific amount of background and color when I interviewed her on March 2, 2008, and April 13, 2008.
For many sections of this book, I also relied on voluminous correspondence between Norma Jeane and her half sister, Berniece, which has fallen into the public domain as a result of its placement in public auctions over the years.
Marybeth Miller-Donovan"s aunt, Ethel, was Ana Lower"s best friend. She provided me with great detail and insight into Norma Jeane"s time with her beloved aunt when I interviewed her on March 11, 2008.
I also referenced personal correspondence that had been exchanged between the Bolender family members, obtained from a private source.
I referred to the many notes and transcripts of Ben Hecht, the original ghostwriter for Marilyn"s autobiography, Marilyn: My Story Marilyn: My Story. All of Hecht"s notes and other paperwork regarding this book are found in his personal collection at the Newberry Library in Chicago.
I interviewed James Dougherty, Norma Jeane"s first husband, in May 1999 and utilized parts of that interview in this work. I also referred to Jane Wilkie"s interview with Mr. Dougherty for "Marilyn Monroe Was My Wife," Photoplay Photoplay, March 1953. Moreover, I referenced Mr. Dougherty"s 1976 memoir, The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe. The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe.
I also referred to "Body and Soul: A Portrait of Marilyn Monroe Showing Why Gentlemen Prefer That Blonde," by Barbara Berch Jamison in the New York Times New York Times, July 12, 1953.
Moreover, I referenced: The Divorce pet.i.tion of Della Monroe Graves vs. Lyle Arthur Graves The Divorce pet.i.tion of Della Monroe Graves vs. Lyle Arthur Graves, Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Pet.i.tion #D-10379; Gifford vs. Gifford Gifford vs. Gifford, Superior Court of the State of California, Divorce Pet.i.tion #D-24788. Divorce Pet.i.tion of Baker vs. Baker Divorce Pet.i.tion of Baker vs. Baker, Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Pet.i.tion #D-10379; Mortensen vs. Baker Mortensen vs. Baker, County of Los Angeles, File #053720; Gladys Baker/Edward Mortensen, California State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, register no. 13794; Death Certificate of Tilford Marion Hogan, Missouri State Board of Health, File #17075; Norma Jean Dougherty, Plaintiff vs. James Edward Dougherty Norma Jean Dougherty, Plaintiff vs. James Edward Dougherty, Defendant Defendant, #31146, Eighth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, Clark County, July 5, 1946.
PART TWO: TRANSITIONING.
Charles Stanley Gifford Jr.-son of Charles Stanley Gifford (who Gladys Baker said was Norma Jeane"s father)-was very helpful in filling in details of these early years. He was interviewed on May 9, 2008.
Alexander Howell, the great-nephew of Chester Howell, was helpful in helping us reconstruct Norma Jeane"s wedding to James Dougherty. I interviewed him on June 10, 2007.
Martin Evans was a close friend of James Dougherty"s. His memory was vital to understanding Dougherty"s marriage to Norma Jeane, and I appreciate the interviews I conducted with him on May 20, 2007, July 30, 2007, and April 11, 2008.
Anna DeCarlo"s mother, Florence, worked at Radioplane during the time that Norma Jeane was employed by that company. I interviewed her on May 22, 2007, and her stories were vital to my research.
I also relied on Mona Rae and Berniece Miracle"s wonderful book, My Sister, Marilyn My Sister, Marilyn, for certain details in this section and in others in this book.
I had a number of sources with connections to the Agnews State Hospital in San Jose, California, who asked for anonymity, and I will of course respect their wishes. I also obtained from a private source all of Gladys Baker"s medical records from that hospital.
John Leonard"s father, Mack, was a friend of Gladys Baker"s, and he was vital in reconstructing Gladys"s search for her children. I interviewed John Leonard and his wife, Marcia, on November 11, 2007, and November 20, 2007.
I must acknowledge sources in the Cohen family who asked for anonymity and who provided information having to do with Gladys Baker"s work for Margaret and John Cohen. Also, these sources provided the correspondence between Gladys Baker and the Cohens, which is referenced in Part Three of this book.
Marilyn"s friend Michael Shaw was also very helpful in reconstructing certain events in this section of the book, and I thank him for his enthusiastic cooperation. He was interviewed by Cathy Griffin on April 17, 2008.
I also referred to "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe" by Maurice Zolotow in American Weekly American Weekly, October 23, 1955.
PART THREE: MARILYN.
Norman Brokaw, the esteemed entertainment agent, provided details for this and other sections of the book. He rarely grants interviews, and never about Marilyn Monroe and his uncle, Johnny Hyde. Therefore, I thank him for his trust. His cooperation was invaluable. Cathy Griffin interviewed him on May 14, 2008, and May 16, 2008.