None of her observers or biographers seem to have considered the possibility that she might have needed to nurture the lost little girl inside herself first before giving birth to someone else. Only then would she have the strength and sense of self to nurture other children.
But women are supposed to give birth to others, not themselves. Sadly, Marilyn believed that, too.
A student, lawyer, teacher, artist, mother, grandmother, defender of animals, rancher, home-maker, sportswoman, rescuer of children—all these are futures we can imagine for Norma Jeane. If acting had become an expression of that real self, not an escape from it, one also can imagine the whole woman who was both Norma Jeane and Marilyn becoming a serious actress and wise comedienne who would still be working in her sixties, with more productive years to come.
But Norma Jeane remained the frightened child of the past. And Marilyn remained the unthreatening half-person that sex goddesses are supposed to be.
It is the lost possibilities of Marilyn Monroe that capture our imaginations. It was the lost Norma Jeane, looking out of Marilyn’s eyes, who captured our hearts.
Now that more women are declaring our full humanity—now that we are more likely to be valued for our heads and hearts, not just the bodies that house them—we also wonder: Could we have helped Marilyn survive?
There can be no answer.
But most of us, men as well as women, are trying to bridge some distance between our uniqueness and what the world rewards. If we learn from the life of Marilyn Monroe, she will live on in us.
Image Gallery
Technical Data
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS WERE SHOT with Ektachrome (Kodak) daylight color film, using Nikon’s 35 mm and Rolleiflex’s 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 cameras with a 1.4 lens. All were taken in June and July of 1962. Film was processed by professional color photo labs in Los Angeles.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Text copyright © 1986 by East Toledo Productions, Inc.
Photographs copyright © 1986 by George Barris
except image 4, copyright © 1973 by George Barris
The publish gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint excerpts from:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, copyright © 1974 by Milton H. Greene, reprinted by permission of Stein & Day Publishers.
Legend: The Life and Death of Marilyn Monroe by Fred Lawrence Guiles, copyright © 1984 by Fred Lawrence Guiles, reprinted by permission of Stein & Day Publishers.
Marilyn Monroe Confidential by Lena Pepitone, William Stadiem, and Maurice Hakim, copyright © 1979 by Lena Pepitone, William Stadiem, and Maurice Hakim, reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Your Inner Child of the Past by W. Hugh Missildine, copyright © 1963 by W. Hugh Missildine, reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Anthony Summers, copyright © 1985 by Anthony Summers, reprinted by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.
Portions of the last chapter have appeared in somewhat different form in Ms. magazine.
cover design by Andrea C. Uva
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Marilyn Page 15