Marilyn Monroe's 60th Anniversary of her death

In interviews with over 700 people, Anthony Summers, author of Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe (2017) encountered nothing to suggest that Daryl Zanuck or any Hollywood producer assaulted or raped Marilyn Monroe. Summers says he is fearful about Andrew Dominik's new film based on Oates' novel, Blonde, starring Ana de Armas. Summers said: "When Oates’ novel Blonde came out, her defence was that, in a work of fiction, she ‘had no particular obligation’ to the facts. In my view, that is not so. The people she named in her novel were real people with real reputations – and historical legacies – and such fictional fabrication is unjustifiably cruel. The fact that the individuals concerned are dead is no defence." ‘The scale of the Monroe myth is impossible to measure,’ Professor Sarah Churchwell wrote in her book "The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe" (2005): "More books have been written about the star than about any other entertainer. More than 20 films already offer a fictional version of her life story." Will the coming Netflix film be an indulgent wallow in her sex life and in conspiratorial fantasising about her death, or deliver something worthwhile? Source: theguardian.com

Donald McGovern: Netflix, the gigantic streaming service did not invent scandalous or salacious entertainment, but they have the authorship of a content company that churns out such provocative reflections on reality, week by week. Its latest slop, served for an audience of armchair detectives, is a special kind of gross. The problem is you have to be familiar with the subject matter. Most of the public which watches this will not be. When I first learned that Netflix would be airing a doc that intended to reveal some previously unheard tapes obtained by Anthony Summers, I assumed the tapes would only be the interviews obtained by the author during his research prior to writing Goddess. These mysterious secret tapes were purportedly made by private detectives Fred Otash, Bernard Spindel, and Barney Ruditsky, all three of questionable character and honesty. Of course, Summers offered some commentary about his investigation into Marilyn’s life, but primarily her death and her sex life. Some of the interviewees knew Marilyn, or alleged they knew her anyway; but most of the persons that Summers interviewed, or at least the tapes of interviews that he included in the movie, operated on the periphery of Marilyn’s life. 

Several persons who were actually an integral part of her life, Pat Newcomb and Susan Strasberg for instance, persons that Summers interviewed just to mention two, did not receive any airtime, did not even receive a mention. Marilyn’s three husbands, Jimmie Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, and Arthur Miller did not appear. Marilyn comments prophetically: “Because the true things rarely get into circulation. It’s usually the false things.” But Anthony Summers certainly could not be interested in false things, could he? Marilyn signed her initial Fox contract on the 26th of August in 1946 at the tender age of twenty years. Besides, Al Rosen never represented Marilyn, a fact that did not, of course, preclude a possible acquaintanceship. Still, Summers did not tell his audience that Rosen was not Marilyn’s agent. Rosen told Summers that Marilyn and the powerful movie mogul, Joseph Schneck, were lovers. After all, Rosen concluded, “Schneck was a human being;” and Schneck was not alone. He was just one of Marilyn’s many potential human beings. Of course, Summers did not report that both Marilyn and Joe Schneck denied that they had been lovers. Each maintained steadfastly that their relationship was strictly platonic. 

Marilyn Monroe denounced the rumors circulating through Hollywood that she was Mr. Schenck’s paramour. She called these rumors "scurrilous lies". Also, according to Marilyn, the aging producer never solicited her for sex. According to Albert Broccoli, who later produced several 007 movies, Schneck had kind feelings for Marilyn. Broccoli asserted that Marilyn’s wonderful smile invigorated Schneck: his face brightened when he saw her. All Joe Schneck wanted from Marilyn, according to Broccoli, was her friendship. But according to Rosen, Marilyn’s name was in the little black books of Hollywood moguls. The reason Summers and Netflix positioned Rosen’s interview at the start of their flick is painfully clear: it’s all about the voyeurism, it’s all about the sex. Still, just how well Al Rosen actually knew Marilyn and when he actually knew her is open to debate. And not one of the many Marilyn biographies that I consulted even mentioned Al Rosen. Hmm. 

Marilyn’s psychological difficulties have been discussed and written about frequently; her personality and her behavior have been analyzed by psychologist and psychiatrist alike. Leading to diagnoses that Marilyn possibly struggled with a bipolar disorder along with a borderline personality. Her mood swings and her feelings could be extreme. Her thoughts could be intensely focused on her profound unhappiness. Tired of the incessant gossip, Marilyn asked both Rupert Allan and Ralph Roberts if they had heard the rumors regarding a romance between her and Robert Kennedy. When each man responded affirmatively, she responded emphatically that the rumors were false. And she confided in each man that Robert Kennedy, although she appreciated him, was not her physical type. Even Peter Law­ford testified to the LAPD that what had been written by various authors about Marilyn and the middle Kennedy brothers was pure fantasy. And Lawford reported to Randy Taraborrelli: “All of this business about Marilyn and JFK and Bobby is pure crap. I think maybe—and I’m saying maybe—she had one or two dates with JFK. Not a single date with Bobby, though…” Also I have several serious issues with Arthur James’ testimony. But for the sake of brevity, I’ll discuss only one at this time: the assertion that Marilyn spent a weekend with her alleged good friend and confidant in Laguna Beach. James says that, “We met in Laguna a month before she died. She came down for the weekend and she told us…what had really taken place with the Kennedys.” There are only two weekends during which this purported visit to Laguna Beach could have occurred within a month of her death: the last Saturday in June and the first Sunday in July (June 30th and July 1st), or the first weekend in July (July the 7th and 8th)

I can only surmise that Marilyn did not inform Arthur James of any other life altering events that she had recently endured, at least not on the tape Netflix and Summers shared, just her alleged shattering break-up with the middle Kennedy boys. “As a person, my work is important to me,” she commented in early 1962. “My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on.” Considering that her profession was in serious peril at that time, surely she would have mentioned that fact to her dear friend, Arthur James; and too, clearly there are calendar date conflicts. She could not have been in Laguna Beach if she was with George Barris at Santa Monica Beach or with Richard Meryman at Fifth Helena Drive giving an interview. Arthur James also testified that Marilyn “was terribly hurt when she was told directly never to call or contact” the Kennedys again. An order that supposedly came from both the President and the AG: “That’s the end of it.” 

Curious. If Robert Kennedy abruptly dispatched Marilyn and ordered her not to contact him ever again, why did he and his wife invite Marilyn to attend a party at their Virginia mansion shortly afterwards? Under the circumstances described by Arthur James, for Robert Kennedy to have extended that invitation was certainly nonsensical. Researcher Donna Morel asked Arthur James if he had “any letters, photos or any type of evidence to substantiate his relationship with Monroe.” James admitted, just like Jeanne Carmen, Robert Slatzer, and Ted Jordan, that he likewise had no evidence, no proof that he even knew the world’s most famous movie star, much less that he was one of her confidants. But of even more importance is this: James denied asserting that Marilyn visited him at Laguna Beach in 1962, a month before she died. He reported to Donna that Marilyn’s weekend visit occurred “at least a year earlier than that. Then he seemed to indicate this happened in the early 1950s and she would stay at an apartment building he owned.” So, James denied saying what he had clearly said on tape; at least the tape that Summers decided to use. 

A considerable amount of testimony pertaining to Robert Kennedy’s Puritanical attitude and behavior has been offered over the years. Testimony from acquaintances, friends, and even FBI agents dispatched by J. Edgar Hoover with the expressed mission of mining muck on one of Hoover’s archenemies. In his posthumously published memoir, William Sullivan, who was Deputy Director of the FBI under Hoover, asserted that the boss desperately wanted and attempted to catch Robert Kennedy in compromising situations. But the FBI director never did because Robert Kennedy “was almost a Puritan.” Agents of the FBI often observed him at parties during which the attorney general “would order one glass of scotch and still be sipping from the same glass two hours later,” Sullivan asserted. The stories involving a love affair between Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were just that, stories started by Frank Capell, “a right-wing zealot who had a history of spinning wild yarns.” According to many persons who knew Robert Kennedy, he was a devout Catholic. And regarding whether or not Marilyn was under the influence of a “Bobby thing” or a “Jack thing,” 

Jeanne Martin recalled that her impression was both. Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines impression as follows: “An often indistinct or imprecise notion or remembrance.” Gloria Romanoff, wife of restaurateur Michael Romanoff, briefly mentioned the Lawfords’ 1962 dinner party, which Marilyn and Robert Kennedy attended on the 1st of February, along with many other guests, including Robert Kennedy’s wife, Ethel, Pat Newcomb, Edwin Guthman, and John Seigenthaler. Tony Curtis and his wife, Janet Leigh, also attended, along with members of the media. As Gloria noted, during the dinner party, Robert Kennedy telephoned his father, who had recently suffered a serious stroke; and Marilyn spoke to the aging patriarch. During the course of that same evening, Gloria reported, Marilyn actually danced with the attorney general. John Seigenthaler, Robert Kennedy’s administrative assistant and his friend for most of his political life, noted in a newspaper article: “Yes, Robert Kennedy danced with Marilyn Monroe. So what? I danced with Janet Leigh. Ethel Kennedy danced with Tony Curtis and Bobby danced with Ethel. It was dinner, dancing, conversation—and that was it;” and according to Seigenthaler, Robert Kennedy’s social encounters with Marilyn were just that and nothing more. Besides, Marilyn’s friendly conversation with the ailing Joe Kennedy, Sr., who could barely speak, and her dance with Bobby, proved nothing, except this: any activity, regardless of its innocence, can be transformed into innuendo and used to suggest an ill intent; especially when one is looking for it." 

Besides, Summers was primarily interested in Marilyn’s decline, a topic about which he often asked his interviewees; and he asked if Margaret Feury saw Marilyn “in the time of her deterioration?” Apparently, Feury did not respond anything. In May of this year, I contacted Joan Greenson via email. I hoped she would agree to open a dialogue with me, during which we could discuss Marilyn along with the Greenson family’s association with Anthony Summers. The Greenson family, I had been warned by Donna Morel, felt that they had been misled by Summers about the kind of book he was writing. On the same day Fox filed their lawsuit for breach of contract, Dr. Greenson sent Marilyn for an examination by Dr. Michael Gurdin, the eminent Beverly Hills surgeon. Greenson was alarmed when he saw that Marilyn’s eyes were black and blue and swollen. According to Dr. Greenson, Marilyn provoked her injuries when she slipped and fell while taking a shower. Even though Marilyn’s nose was not broken, she retreated to her Fifth Helena Drive hacienda, where she sheltered herself for sixteen days. She didn't want be seen in public with a bruised, discolored face. 

Then, on Monday, June the 11th, Fox officially suspended production on Something’s Got to Give. Due to Marilyn’s bruised face, she declined several invitations to attend social events, including an invitation from Ethel and Robert Kennedy to attend a party honoring Pat and Peter Lawford at Hickory Hill, the Kennedy’s Virginia home. Marilyn dispatched her regrets in the now famous telegram to the Kennedys regarding her fight for minority rights and her right, as an earthbound star, to twinkle. It's probable due to her bruises, Marilyn increased her painkillers supply alongside her sleep medication. Finally, on the 5th, 7th and 9th of July, she gave Richard Meryman what would be her last interview for Life magazine. Source: kennedysandking

The Netflix Blonde movie trailer intimates that de Armas’ character has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). As a mental health condition that typically sees one person with a “host” personality and one or more “alters,” this implies that de Armas will not be playing Monroe in the traditional sense but will likely be playing Monroe as an alter for host, Norma Jeane. The trailer suggests that in this instance of DID the host personality has little or no control over the alters and vice versa. As detailed by the American Psychiatric Association, each personality state “takes control of the person’s behavior” and has a unique and distinct way of processing and relating to the world, frequently leaving the other states with long lapses in memory. This appears to be the case in the Blonde movie, with de Ana de Armas beginning the trailer as the host Norma Jeane at her dressing room, begging for her alter, Marilyn Monroe, to take control—thus relieving what appears to be an extremely shy Norma Jeane of a public appearance. While the implications of this speculative reimagining are substantial in respect to how the public perceives Monroe, the idea that Monroe was a product of Norma Jeane’s DID is surprisingly plausible.

As is commonly the case with those who develop DID, Norma Jeane is believed to have endured multiple forms of trauma at a young age. Furthermore, looking to Norma Jeane’s tragic death, especially untreated in the 1960s, people living with DID are prone to depression, drug addictions, and suicide. If the Blonde movie portrays de Armas’ character as one with DID, viewers will likely see de Armas playing Norma Jeane and Monroe as separate, distinct characters, but, interestingly, the trailer may suggest another alter as well. In the trailer’s final moment, the film’s title, Blonde, appears in three different fonts—an elegant, polished script for the “B,” followed by a less-refined, bolder “lond,” and finally a chalk-looking, printed, and perhaps child-like “e.” Considering this, it could be that the Blonde movie will see Norma Jeane as the host (in this case the most substantial part of the title), with Monroe being the elegant alter (and also the alter that the world sees first, i.e. the first letter of the title), and a second alter—possibly a child—represented by the title’s “e.” Accordingly, viewers should prepare to see Monroe in a whole new way and de Armas in the role(s) of a lifetime. Source: screenrant.com