Marilyn Monroe

by Michelle Morgan

  ‘I loved him dearly, but I was not in love with him,’ Marilyn said in 1952. She knew that Hyde longed to marry her, but she just couldn’t do it – they both knew that, and yet Hyde refused to let the subject go. Perhaps by being late to the hospital, by fussing with her hair and make-up for hours on end, Marilyn was putting off the inevitable conversation of him asking for her hand in marriage, and her having to turn him down, yet again.

  Friend and lover, Elia Kazan summed it up when he wrote in a letter to Marilyn, ‘[Johnny] made you his when you really didn’t love him – which is a terrible thing to do to anyone. You took shelter under his roof like a hurt animal.’ In turn, she was to confide to Kazan that the more Hyde begged her to be his wife, the less she loved him and indeed began avoiding him because of his anxiety over their relationship.

  Hyde couldn’t stop his infatuation, however, and continued to beg her to become his wife. When she turned him down on one particular occasion, he finally felt he’d had enough and told her the relationship was over. Marilyn did not wish to cause her lover any hurt, and telephoned him the next day, when he was particularly abrupt on the phone. Later that day she went to visit Hyde and was shocked when he asked if she would consider pretending to be his fiancée instead, an offer which she immediately turned down.

  In December, thanks to Hyde, Marilyn shot another screen test at Twentieth Century Fox, and later that month she started shooting a small role in As Young as You Feel. All this became insignificant, however, when Johnny Hyde suffered a major heart attack and died on 18 December 1950. Marilyn later told reporter Jim Henaghan that Johnny had once said that if he died, she was to hold him in her arms, and life would come back again. When she was told of his death whilst standing in the hospital corridor, she later claimed to have run into his room and held Hyde’s body for half an hour before finally giving up. This seems quite unlikely, however, as his family were at the hospital and had already refused her entry into the room, disliking her immensely: ‘They thought I was awful,’ she later said. So much so, it would seem, that as soon as Hyde passed away, they issued orders that Marilyn was to stay away not only from his North Palm Drive home, but also his funeral, which was to take place on 20 December. ‘They were spitting tacks,’ remembered actress Annabelle Stanford.

  Ignoring his family’s wishes, on 19 December Marilyn went shopping for a funeral outfit at I. Magnin, and that night claimed to have sneaked into the North Palm Drive house, where Johnny’s body was lying. According to Elia Kazan, she spent the entire night with the body, and then slipped out of the house in the morning to prepare herself for the funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

  Rumour has it that she became hysterical during the funeral and one of Hyde’s children later remembered hearing Marilyn shouting his father’s name over and over again. Marilyn herself later told reporters that she ‘felt such a sadness for him, I threw myself on the coffin and wished I was dead with him’.

  The actress was absolutely devastated to lose her protector and it took his death for her to realize the true extent of her feelings towards him. She later expressed her feelings to Jim Henaghan: ‘Once I was in love with a man. He was old enough to be my father and people called me a dumb blonde because they didn’t understand and I knew they didn’t understand and I was afraid to talk about it. And then he died.’

  Despite being seen as something of a gold-digger, Marilyn received nothing from Hyde’s will, and ended up with a few pieces of bed linen and several towels as reminders of their relationship. She sank into a deep depression over the loss of her mentor, and just a day or two after the funeral, Natasha Lytess claims Marilyn made an attempt to take her own life. According to the drama coach, she found a note pinned to her pillow which read: ‘I leave my car and my fur stole to Natasha,’ and another on her bedroom door, saying ‘Don’t let Barbara [Lytess’ daughter] come in.’ Natasha then claimed that Marilyn was lying in bed with her cheeks ‘puffed out like an adder’. When she didn’t answer Lytess’ call, the drama coach said she forced open her mouth and scooped out a handful of dissolving pills.

  This story came to light when Natasha Lytess wrote an embittered account of her relationship with Marilyn after they had parted ways, and could very well be exaggerated. What is more interesting, however, is that while Natasha Lytess quite happily reported Marilyn’s ‘attempted suicide’, she failed to mention her own apparent overdose on Tuesday, 23 February 1943.

  Astonishingly, her story is almost word for word the same as the one she attributed to Marilyn nearly eight years later: allegedly Lytess overdosed on tablets at her home on North Harper Drive, and was discovered unconscious on a bed by some friends. She was then rushed to West Hollywood Hospital, where she was treated for an overdose of sleeping pills and later discharged. According to police reports, Natasha disclosed that she had been ‘upset due to personal reasons’ and had ‘mistakenly taken too many tablets in order to get some rest’. The whole story was then reported in the Los Angeles Times on 25 February 1943 but has remained long buried until now.

  Chapter 9

  Miss Cheesecake

  In early January 1951, film director Elia Kazan arrived in Los Angeles with his friend, the playwright Arthur Miller. The two were in California to drum up interest in Miller’s screenplay, The Hook, which Kazan planned to direct. Kazan moved into the home of producer Charles Feldman, and immediately realized that Feldman and his friends Pat De Cicco and Raoul Hakim had a variety of girls they would squire around town, show off at important parties and generally treat in a discourteous manner. One of these girls was Marilyn Monroe.

  Kazan later wrote to Marilyn and begged her to stop ‘hanging out’ with De Cicco, though he never gave a reason for it. However, since he was once rumoured to be a possible suspect in actress Thelma Todd’s death, it can be understood why Kazan would have his concerns. More insight on De Cicco can be given from Marilyn’s friend, John Gilmore: ‘Pat De Cicco was a sharpie, would-be actor come low-rung gangster/wannabe producer, but firmly a supplier of available girls for Hollywood “big wigs” that catered to a mixed pallet of stars, high-roller producers and entrepreneurs like Joe Schenck. Marilyn’s connection with him stems from a few girls recruited from modelling jobs, like “gimme three blondes, a redhead and a brunette for Saturday”. I don’t think he gave a rat’s ass about the girls, other than making him look good in the eyes of the big boys. In short, De Cicco was a thug who could turn on the charm. He wasn’t personally interested in bedding the cutie-pie blondes or the nameless brunettes and redheads; he chased bigger fish for notoriety – he wanted fame.’

  But while De Cicco and his ilk were interested in Marilyn, she couldn’t have cared less about them, as she was still mourning the loss of Hyde. On the set of her new film, As Young as You Feel, director Harmon Jones complained that she spent most of the day crying and hiding out on the next set. When Kazan met Marilyn, he immediately felt a sense of sorrow for the mourning actress, and asked if she would like to have dinner with him. Marilyn initially refused his offer, though she finally agreed and the two became close; the already married Kazan provided a willing ear for her grief over the loss of Hyde and her tales of past romantic disappointments. It wasn’t long before they became not just friends, but lovers too.

  One evening Charles Feldman was hosting a party in honour of Arthur Miller, but because Kazan had already made a date with another woman, he asked Miller to take Marilyn to the party instead. They had briefly met on the set of As Young as You Feel, and when Miller suggested he pick Marilyn up in his car, she was taken aback. When Hyde wanted to escort her somewhere, she had always taken a cab, and when she mentioned this to Kazan, he was amazed: ‘Why should you be “used” to going to parties in a taxi?’ he wrote. ‘For Christ’s sake you’re so much better than the people who throw the parties!’

  The Feldman party was both a success and a wake-up call: for Marilyn, it enabled her to spend time with someone who was interested in her opinions; but for Miller it spelt do
om, as despite being married with two children, he could feel himself being drawn to his companion. They spent a lot of time together following the party, with Kazan and Miller using Marilyn as their ‘mascot’, and enjoying various escapades, including one where Marilyn dressed up as a secretary for a meeting with MGM boss Harry Cohn. Cohn had held a grudge against Marilyn since the time he’d unsuccessfully asked her to travel to Catalina Island with him, but had no idea she would later turn up as a secretary in his own office. The incident was a joke, a little revenge, and although it is unclear as to whether or not Cohn actually recognized the starlet, the group of three must surely have enjoyed the challenge.

  But it wasn’t all fun and games for Kazan, Miller and Marilyn. She had fallen hard for the playwright and made no effort to hide her feelings from Kazan – even when they were making love. Miller, on the other hand, was terrified by his feelings towards her, and abruptly cut short his trip to California, returning to his wife before he could have any regrets. The two would innocently keep in touch by sending letters and book lists, but it would be four years before they were to meet again.

  Kazan left California shortly after Miller, and Marilyn saw him off at the station, sad that once again she would be on her own and wondering if she would see him again. Before he left, she revealed to Kazan that she was pregnant, but later wrote and told him she’d had a miscarriage. Many authors have wondered if Marilyn was ever pregnant at all, claiming that she had made up her condition in order to back Kazan into a corner. The incident is seen as nothing more than a stunt to gain attention and pity after his decision to return to his wife, but this seems a little too harsh. After all, the couple were sexually active, as confirmed by Kazan in his autobiography, so the chance of her falling pregnant most certainly wasn’t impossible.

  Nevertheless, the two remained friends and shortly after his return to New York, Kazan wrote to tell her that he would do everything in his power to stay close to her, given the circumstances. He then went on to write a deeply thought-provoking letter, urging her to learn everything she could about acting; spend more time on her own; go to college; speak up for herself; ‘don’t take any shit from anyone’; and cease living with Natasha Lytess.

  Marilyn took his ideas on board, and shortly after receiving the letter, she moved away from Natasha, into 8573 Holloway Drive, with friend Shelley Winters. The two young women were ideally suited, and spent many hours playing classical music, listening to Sinatra and talking about men. They also went to the theatre together, and on one occasion even took Natasha Lytess to the Circle Theater to see Sydney Chaplin rehearse a play that was being directed by his father, Charlie. Unfortunately, the three women had to make an early exit when Lytess was overheard criticizing the elder Chaplin, much to his annoyance.

  Another friend at this time was actor Dale Robertson, who got to know Marilyn well when they were both at the beginning of their careers. Robertson remembered: ‘We would go to ball games together and she was very pleasant company, but we were never boyfriend and girlfriend because we just weren’t attracted to each other.’

  The two enjoyed each other’s company, but even so, Robertson could sense sadness in Marilyn: ‘She had a rough time for a while, and her biggest enemy was herself,’ he remembered, more than fifty years later.

  While her career was beginning to work out for her, it is true to say that, personally, she was still having a hard time, and none more so than when she asked Natasha Lytess to accompany her on a trip to visit her father. Since the time she had phoned him whilst married to Dougherty, Marilyn had begun to make a name for herself in movies, and felt that Gifford would now want to make contact with her. She was to be proved wrong, however, when she and Lytess travelled to Hemet where Gifford was now living. Several miles away from his home, Marilyn attempted to call him from a payphone, but without luck; when she eventually got through, Gifford did not want anything to do with his daughter, citing the fact that he already had a family and a wife.

  The incident once again caused a great deal of trauma in Marilyn’s already fragile personal life, and it was around this time she was introduced to a $25-an-hour psychiatrist, Dr Judd Marmor. This was to be the beginning of a long and often painful journey into psychoanalysis, which was to last until the very end of her life.

  On 8 February 1951, reports surfaced in the newspapers that although Marilyn had been in virtual retirement since the death of Hyde, she was now due to appear in a Fox movie entitled A WAC in his Life (later retitled Love Nest). Shortly before shooting began, however, Marilyn took Kazan’s advice once again, and enrolled at university.

  She found one course that interested her – ‘Backgrounds of Literature’, which was described by UCLA as ‘Historical, social and cultural aspects of various periods with an introduction to the literature itself’. According to Marilyn’s school record, the course began on 5 April 1951 and was conducted by Ms Claire Soule in room 616 at the UCLA Extension’s Hill Street building, in downtown Los Angeles. Every Thursday she would travel to the building in time for the 7 p.m. start, and would engross herself in her studies until the class ended at 9 p.m., making it home in time to ready herself for her work the next day.

  There was only one problem with this situation: while Marilyn deeply enjoyed Ms Soule’s insights into literature and gained much from the course, her star was well and truly on the rise, and she began to be recognized by her fellow classmates. She had, by now, appeared in several high-profile films; she was renegotiating her contract with Fox due to her increasing popularity; and on 29 March she had even presented an Academy Award at the Pantages Theater. Her fellow students started to stare at her, and when Ms Soule asked why, Marilyn told her she acted in films.

  This answer shocked the teacher, who replied ‘Why I thought you were a young girl straight out of the convent.’ ‘She was very sincere when she said it,’ laughed Marilyn, many years later. For several weeks after being recognized, she still made the journey to the Extension building, but eventually she decided the recognition was causing too much trouble, and dropped out before the class finished on 31 May.

  On 5 May 1951, Marilyn’s relationship with her coach was put under strain when Lytess wrote to her, c/o William Morris, to ask if she would pay $1,000 Lytess owed to her dentist. Marilyn was shocked but agreed to pay the dentist in instalments of $200 per week, which Lytess promised to repay to Marilyn at a rate of $25 per week. Thankfully for both actress and coach, Marilyn signed a new, renegotiated contract with Fox on 11 May 1951, and began filming a small part in Let’s Make It Legal, starring Claudette Colbert and Macdonald Carey.

  Marilyn was cast as Joyce Mannering, yet another sexy blonde with little to do or say, but, despite that, she certainly made her presence felt when she was continually late on set and cheekily told director Richard Sale to call Joe Schenck if he had a problem with her behaviour. Sale was not fazed and threatened to call the head of Fox, Zanuck, instead, a move which prompted Marilyn to storm off set, only to return shortly after to apologize for her behaviour.

  While Twentieth Century Fox was still wondering how exactly to use Marilyn, she was loaned out to RKO for a part in Clash by Night, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas and Robert Ryan. Her friend Sidney Skolsky helped her obtain the part in the film, which revolved around Stanwyck’s character Mae, who marries dependable Jerry (Douglas) and has an affair with his best friend Earl (Ryan). Marilyn played Peggy, the girlfriend of Mae’s brother, and it was by far the best role she had ever played. Although the part was still relatively small, she really made it her own and the performance was nothing less than superb, but still, there were problems on the set – most of which were not of Marilyn’s making.

  Firstly, director Fritz Lang seemed to dislike her, and did not appreciate Natasha Lytess being on the set. Also, although the cast was made up of brilliant actors, many of them did not know how to deal with the attention Marilyn was beginning to receive both in the media and from the public. Of particular concern was Paul Do
uglas, who seemed to cause more than his share of bad feeling on the set: one of the extras thought he seemed intoxicated on several occasions; he objected to Marilyn’s name being above the film titles; and even exploded at her when she called him by his first name.

  Still, Marilyn was determined to do her best in the part, and she worked exceptionally hard, as writer Richard Baer remembered: ‘Marilyn was always on set on time, she wasn’t yet a big star and was very anxious to please. I didn’t think she was at all difficult or demanding and she was concerned about what people thought of her. Sometimes other actors gathered around to watch her scenes because they knew she wasn’t classically trained and they would laugh and smirk. I thought that was unkind, but she wasn’t terribly accomplished and had no real training, which made her easy to ridicule. She was ambitious and determined with her eyes on the goal, and Jerry Wald knew there was something special about her. I have nothing bad to say about this woman at all.’

  As mentioned by Baer, some of the actors were less than helpful to Marilyn, and a rather sad example of this was when she was filming a scene in which she had to run down some stairs. She ended up falling down the steps and instead of being concerned for her welfare, various members of the crew found the whole thing highly amusing and actually laughed out loud. Marilyn emerged from the staircase uninjured, and continued shooting her scene, which required a great deal of guts and emotional backbone.

  Baer and Marilyn became good friends whilst on the set, and she relied on him to tell her how she looked in the rushes, but he became exasperated when she refused to trust him enough to give out her telephone number or address. She would call him many times and the two would discuss everything from Johnny Hyde to her work on the film, but still she would not cave in to his requests for her address. ‘I would often say, “My hand is aching and my ear is sore from being on the phone, can’t we just do this face to face?” But she would always say, “No.”’