by Wendy Leigh
Dear Marilyn,
I must apologize for the delay in writing, but we have only recently firmed up the plans for our Californian trip. This will be my first visit since our brief stay there during our honeymoon, and I am wild with excitement and anticipation.
Jack has been so dear and says that as the trip falls during my birthday—at the end of July—he wants to make it one, big gigantic birthday surprise. He has even enlisted his brother-in-law Peter Lawford—perhaps you know him?—as co-conspirator.* He insists that you contact Peter directly—via the studio—and co-ordinate our meeting with him, as I am to be kept in the dark! How very mysterious it all is, and very unlike Jack, too, which makes it all the more intriguing!
A studio tour would be delightful, thank you for suggesting it. I hope you will not be offended by my request—which I make at the risk of sounding like a soppy fan*—but if Clark Gable is affiliated—is that the right term?—with Twentieth Century-Fox and if you know him, I would adore meeting him, if only briefly. Primarily because of my passion for Gone With the Wind, and Rhett, but also because he is a dead ringer for my father, and I have been passionately in love with him since I was just knee-high.† In the eventuality that you can, indeed, arrange a meeting, I promise to be dignified, ladylike and not fling myself at Mr. Gable’s feet! I hope my request is not too troublesome, and shall, of course, fully understand if it is too difficult to arrange.
Please give my best to Joe.
Warm regards,
Jackie
__________________________
* British movie actor Peter Lawford was sexually enthralled by both Marilyn and Jackie—as well as being Jack’s friend and, some say, pimp. Enamored of Marilyn (although never willing or able to consummate the relationship), he would also go on to have a 1967 dalliance with Jackie during her trip to Hawaii. “I only know that Patricia Kennedy was livid that Peter and Jackie were in Hawaii together. And I do think they had a flirtation. Jackie definitely was sexually attracted to Peter.” (Patricia Seaton Lawford quoted in Wendy Leigh, Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy, Jr., Story [New York: Dutton, 1993])
* Jackie’s fascination with Hollywood is a matter of record, and remained strong throughout her life (see Bob Colacello, Holy Terror: Andy Warhol, Close Up [New York: HarperCollins, 1990], for her curiosity about Elizabeth Taylor, and Prince Charming for her cross-examining her son, John, regarding Madonna).
† Jackie says that she has always been in love with Gable since she was knee-high; however, her unconscious emotions came to the fore when writing this sentence, which reads that she has been passionately in love with her father since she was knee-high. Sarah Bradford noted that Jack Bouvier’s obsession with Jackie bordered on the unhealthy and was reciprocated in kind: “But his passion for Jackie (and hers for him) was overriding and semi-incestuous.”
Because Marilyn never knew her father, and Jack Bouvier’s emotions and behavior toward Jackie (see Klein on the young Jackie’s favorite game with her father—guessing which women were his lovers) tended toward the inappropriate, neither woman grew up with the security generally provided by a traditional father. Consequently, Jackie and Marilyn always gravitated toward father figures in their romantic lives. Part of Jack’s attraction for both of them (Marilyn was nine years younger than Jack, and Jack was twelve years older than Jackie) lay in his ability to listen intently to their concerns and give stellar advice, which lent him a paternalistic patina and an authority both women found alluring.
MRS. JOE DIMAGGIO
508 North Palm Drive
Beverly Hills, California
Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C.
May 30, 1954
Dear Jackie,
I was so happy to get your letter. I really wish I knew Clark Gable, but I only met him once, years ago, at Chasen’s and he signed my napkin. I think Joe used to play poker with him, but I’m a bit afraid to ask him to arrange an introduction.* Is the Senator a jealous man?† Because Joe goes really crazy if I talk about any other man, and I think he’d flip his lid if I asked him to set up a meeting with Clark. Even if I told him the truth that you, not me, want to meet him, he would still get mad. But maybe one day I’ll get to make a movie with Clark, then I’ll work it out so you can meet him as well.
I called Mr. Lawford, but I’m not allowed to give anything away, just that your trip will be real fun. I can’t wait to meet you and the Senator at last.
Love,
Marilyn
P.S. When I was a little kid in the orphanage, I used to dream all the time that Clark Gable was my real father. I even had his picture next to my bed and always kissed it good night every single night. Isn’t it cute that we are both crazy about the same guy?
__________________________
* Jackie observed in her diary, “Joe D is clearly living up to the stereotypically jealous Italian male. And I’ve got the feeling that MM isn’t the least bit amused. I’m starting to feel a little sorry for her. All that sex appeal, but no stability. A recipe for disaster??”
† Marilyn often complained to beautician and confidante Patty Renoir that no matter how sexually desirable her male leading men, and no matter how strongly she stressed their desirability to Mr. G, he categorically refused to show any signs of jealousy. Thus she is probing to see whether or not he used the identical tactics with Jackie.
SENATOR AND MRS. JOHN F. KENNEDY
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Joe DiMaggio
508 North Palm Drive
Beverly Hills, California
June 15, 1954
Dear Marilyn,
You are so dear to be concerned about my childish whim regarding Mr. Gable. Please do not feel under any obligation whatsoever—for if you had managed to arrange a meeting, I would probably have dissolved into shyness, or run a mile! Apart from the fact that Jack would have been furious, not because of jealousy but because he would have considered it unseemly for a Senator’s wife to have a crush on a movie star. All of which leads me to answering your next question.
You asked whether or not Jack is a jealous man. He is jealous when it comes to his mother and how much she adores Teddy—his youngest brother—and also when Ambassador Kennedy talks too much about his eldest son, Joe—who died in the war—and how he was “the pick of the litter”—as you know, that’s how the Ambassador talks, but he is so charming that I generally forgive him his frequent linguistic lapses of taste. But when it comes to me, Jack has never exhibited any signs of jealousy. I think he would be quite sanguine about my spending an entire evening with Mr. Gable, and not remotely concerned with the possibility that he might spirit me away to some secret Hollywood mansion and make passionate love to me all night long!
On a more serious note, I think the basis of Jack’s lack of jealousy is a deep sense of security, garnered through years of women adoring him—often not from afar. Of course—and I know you won’t repeat this to Jack when you finally meet him—I also adore him, but I don’t generally tell him so. But I am rambling on and this letter has become a series of incoherent: thoughts, I suppose because I feel that I can trust you with my musings, as you do me with yours.
In any event, I can hardly contain my anticipation at meeting you.
Warm regards,
Jackie
MRS. JOE DIMAGGIO
508 North Palm Drive
Beverly Hills, California
Mrs. John F. Kennedy
The Bel-Air Hotel
701 Stone Canyon Road
Bel Air, California
July 30, 1954
Dear Jackie,
It was wonderful meeting you and the Senator at last. I think Peter was very clever to pick Charlie Feldman’s house for our surprise dinner, what with Charlie being my agent and the Senator being his old friend.*
You are even more beautiful than in your photographs and you make me feel like dieing [sic] my hair br
unette. I loved your dress and think that Dior is such a heavenly designer. I also adored the stories you told me about your cheating father.† No one ever told me stories when I was a child—not even at bedtime—so I love them even more now. I am sending you a tube of my lipstick, which you liked so much—Revlon Strawberry Pale—so you can try it. I am sure it will look wonderful on you. I am also mailing you a lip brush—because that way you can apply the lipstick more accurately. You asked about my makeup secrets. Well, they aren’t anything that special.* I usually use three colors: a dark one to outline my lips, a paler color inside, and a little white or silver dot in the center of my mouth. Then I cover my lips with a thin coat of Vaseline, to make my mouth gleem [sic]. I don’t know if you want to do all that, but if ever you do, I hope knowing that is a help.
Most of all, I really wanted to apologize for Joe. At heart, he is a very decent man, but he sometimes goes crazy for no reason and I can’t understand why. After all, he was in the middle of a fascinating [sic] conversation with you about Italy, and shouldn’t have cared less that I stepped outside for a minute to show the Senator Charlie’s new pool house. Joe dragging me away from the party before I could even eat dessert made me feel as if I had committed some kind of crime.
Joe always behaves so unreasonably whenever I am anywhere near another man, even a happily married one like the Senator. At first, I was flattered by his jealousy because it made me feel wanted and needed. Now, though, I feel as if I am in prison. As we were saying over dinner—and I loved our conversation—men are so different, so difficult for us to understand. Yet sometimes we love them just because they are that way.
But I don’t love Joe for his jealousy. Or that a lovely evening is ended because Joe suddenly goes crazy with jealousy, which he shouldn’t be feeling or showing. I feel like someday doing something he really can be jealous of!!!
But I have never cheated on Joe, I can promise you that. I have been faithful from the moment of our marriage and shall be faithful to him till the day I die, if I can. I have to be completely in love before I can be faithful forever. Joe is a decent man, of course, only he does seem set on isolating me. He never wants me to see any of my movie colony friends—although you can’t really blame him that much, because some of them are real creeps—or my other friends either. Even when strangers applaud me, like in Korea, when the crowds went wild, Joe just hates it. He threatened to divorce me, even though we were still on our honeymoon. But I am sure things will get better because I would rather be Joe’s wife than just a love potion to the world. …
I was so glad you wanted to know about all the stars I’ve met. At dinner, I was dying to tell you an amazing story about John Wayne, but I didn’t dare.* The story is so shocking that I figured Charlie might get mad if I told it. But, like you said last night, neither of us are particularly shockable—you because of your father, who sounds wicked but real cute, and me because of my life here in Hollywood. If you have time, I’d love you to tell me his ten top tips for seduction—you know, the ones you mentioned. I promise I won’t tell anyone else.
Anyway, now it is just you and me in a letter, I’ll tell you. … A few years back, vice caught John Wayne having sex with a man in a public bathroom in Santa Monica. The dumb cop who arrested him didn’t recognize him and didn’t believe he was who he said he was, but once they got to the station, they knew immediately and let him go. Hedda and Louella didn’t get to hear about it, because, luckily, the studio is good at hushing scandals up for us. I wasn’t that surprised about John Wayne, though, because sometimes the most macho men like a little variety and I don’t judge them, because I really do think sex is sex and not anything evil. So I’m not a bit shocked and I know you wouldn’t be either. But if his fans knew, his career would be over, so please don’t breathe a word to another living soul.
I also couldn’t stop thinking about what you said at dinner, that everyone thinks Hollywood is a fairy tale, filled with magical beings, but that underneath it all, movie stars are still human. I just wish other people thought like you.
I loved meeting you, Jackie. I just hope you don’t think less of me for what Joe did.
Love,
Marilyn
P.S. I forgot to write that I think the Senator is very nice and I was glad to meet him as well.
P.P.S. You said in your last letter that you would never tell the Senator that you adore him. I wondered why you wouldn’t.
__________________________
* Tony Summers writes that in 1954, Marilyn and Joe rented a house at 508 North Palm Drive, Beverly Hills. Her agent, Charles Feldman, lived across the road. “In the summer of 1954, Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy were invited to Charlie Feldman’s for a dinner party and among the guests were Peter and Pat Lawford and Feldman’s neighbors, the DiMaggios.”
† Jackie may, as was her wont, have talked freely about Jack Bouvier’s womanizing. However, it is highly unlikely that she was so blithe regarding his propensity for dallying with men as well—if, indeed, she was ever aware of it.
C. David Heymann in A Woman Named Jackie (New York: Birch Lane, 1994) explores the allegation that Blackjack Bouvier might have been bisexual. He cites Charles Schwartz’s Cole Porter: A Biography (New York: Dial Press, 1977): “Some of Cole’s most intense affairs were with men from distinguished families. Cole for instance was reported to have been very much taken at one time with Black Jack Bouvier. ‘I’m Just Wild About Jack’ Cole is supposed to have written about his very close friend at the height of his relationship with Bouvier.” Heymann goes on to say, “Several members of the Bouvier family were aware of a sexual relationship between Black Jack and Cole Porter. One family member confirms—Jack was very bi.”
* Here Marilyn is playing modest. In actual fact, her makeup secrets are intricate, and were revealed by her makeup artist, Whitey Snyder.
To make Marilyn up for the movies, Snyder first applied a light base. He highlighted under her eyes and out, over, and across the cheekbones. Next he added toning to the eye shadow, working lightly out toward the hairline, followed by a pencil outline around the eyes; her brows would be pointed slightly to make her forehead look broader, with more toning would be added beneath her cheekbones. Further shadings were added to match costume and lighting. Lipstick colors vary depending on what was needed for a particular scene.
It took Marilyn and Snyder anywhere between one and a half and a full three hours to work the magic that turned her from Norma Jeane into the Marilyn fans wanted and expected.
When doing her own makeup, Marilyn would use a base stick to darken the flesh tones of her face and chest, and then take most of it off, using witch hazel and tissue.
Marilyn washed her face several times a day to prevent clogged pores, took long baths, and made frequent visits to the dentist to make sure that her teeth were in perfect gleaming health.
She also studiously avoided the sun to keep her skin as white as possible.
At various times during her life Marilyn protected her face by smearing it with Vaseline, cold cream, or hormone cream. Partly as a consequence of using hormone creams, by her mid-thirties, Marilyn had a fine down on her cheeks (see Victor).
* The John Wayne story was confirmed to Wendy Leigh (see her 1999 book, Hollywood Insider [Honolulu: Baynards Press]) by an LAPD detective who was shown the arrest sheet early in his career.
SENATOR AND MRS. JOHN F. KENNEDY
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Joe DiMaggio
508 North Palm Drive
Beverly Hills, California
August 10, 1954
Dear Marilyn,
Thank you so much for your delightful letter. Now that we have met, I can hear your voice in every line and feel exactly as if you are talking directly to me. Regarding Joe—of course I don’t think less of you! None of us is remotely responsible for our husbands’ actions.
Your John Wayne story was delicious—I promise never to reveal it to anyone and I think you w
ere right not telling it in front: of Charles, or for that matter, Jack. Men are such infants when it comes to their heroes, aren’t they!
You were so kind and generous to send me Strawberry Pale. I absolutely adore it. Your thoughtful gift of a lip brush and the accompanying advice is invaluable—thank you. All through dinner, I was mesmerized by the luminosity of your skin and (at the risk of sounding like one of your abortive dates) am longing to know your secret. I once asked another movie star (Zsa Zsa Gabor), whom I met on a plane, for her skin secrets and she instructed me to eat a piece of raw green pepper every single day in order to achieve and maintain beautiful skin. I followed her advice, but noticed no improvement. So, if I might prevail upon you, I should be most grateful for your skin care advice.
I do hope you will like the fictionalized autobiography of Napoleon’s first fiancée, Désirée Clary, which I am sending you. It is one of my favorite books (I love that period of history) and I think you might like it as well.
I found our conversation riveting—your life seems so glamorous next to mine. You spend your days on movie sets, mingling with stars like Betty Grable and Cary Grant. I spend mine answering Jack’s mail and reading the Congressional Report. Yet despite your glittering existence, in person you are so down-to-earth and so far removed from your movie image.
Before you left so suddenly, I wanted to ask you what Betty Grable is really like. My curiosity is grounded in the fact that I believe my father had a brief affair with her.
In the meantime, please forget all about Joe’s behavior, because as far as I am concerned, it was not in the least bit reprehensible. In fact, his jealousy was really rather sweet. For my part, I was delighted that Jack was so very thrilled to meet you. After having listened to you at dinner and observed the way in which you constantly underrate yourself, I know you will immediately assume that he, too, merely sees you as a movie star, and not a person. But that is not remotely the truth, because I know Jack genuinely sees the real Marilyn, as I believe I do as well.