Marilyn Monroe

by Michelle Morgan

Norma Jeane moved into the Goddard home at 3107 Barbara Court, and after the time spent in the orphanage she revelled in her new family. Grace loved having the child around and, as they were both fans of Jean Harlow, she began to mould Norma Jeane into her idol. Along with her sister, Enid Knebelkamp, Grace encouraged her young charge to consider acting as a future profession, as later recalled by Enid’s friend, Catherine Larson: ‘Aunt Enid and Aunt Grace always knew Marilyn would make it in Hollywood; they had a sort of quiet certainty about it because they thought she was such a beautiful girl.’

  Spurred on by dreams of stardom, Grace would take Norma Jeane to Columbia Studios, where she was working in the film library, and show her off to her co-workers. One of them, Leila Fields, later told biographer Maurice Zolotow that Grace adored Norma Jeane and took her everywhere with her, convincing the child that she would one day be a famous movie star. Fields gave Grace all the credit for Norma Jeane’s success and concluded that ‘Grace had an obsession about her.’

  Another colleague, Olin Gleason Murphy, later recalled: ‘Miss McKee would have someone bring a little girl to the lab an hour or so before noontime closing. We workers were introduced to her, and every introduction was the same over and over . . . “Baby I want you to meet Olin. Olin this is Norma Jean, isn’t she pretty? Norma Jean shake hands with the nice man, fine, now turn around and show the big bow on the back of your dress.”’ This routine would repeat over and over again, with Grace having the child tell everyone that when she grew up she was going to be a movie star. Murphy described it as ‘brainwashing’ that continued for the entire time Norma Jeane was with Grace.

  The Goddard house on Barbara Court wasn’t exactly a dream home, but at least it wasn’t the orphanage. Grace bred cocker spaniels and Norma Jeane spent much of her time playing with the animals. Life was once again beginning to settle down into some kind of normality, but money was extremely tight for the Goddard family, and on more than one occasion both Grace and Norma Jeane found themselves waiting in a long line for stale bread. As Doc’s daughter Bebe later remembered, ‘Daddy was not a very dependable type of character when it came to breadwinning.’

  Added to the financial worries were various other stressful events during 1937. In January, Gladys caused concern by escaping from guards whilst being taken from Norwalk State Hospital to Portland, Oregon. The incident was kept secret from Norma Jeane, but did make the pages of the Los Angeles Times on 21 January.

  Then later in the year came two pieces of sad news. Firstly, Norma Jeane was devastated when her idol, Jean Harlow, died suddenly at the tender age of twenty-six. Then in September 1937, there was tragic news for Grace from Las Vegas.

  Her uncle Kirby Willett was about to retire from his Union Pacific railroad job and move with his wife Minnie to a farm near San Diego. He had worked for many years on the railroad and moving from Las Vegas to the quiet countryside of California was something to which both he and Minnie were looking forward. Unfortunately, during a trip to California on 16 September, Kirby was involved in an automobile accident and killed instantly. Grace and Doc had married at the Willett home in Las Vegas, and when news of Uncle Kirby’s death reached Grace she was both shocked and devastated.

  The news only contributed to the other problems being experienced by the Goddard family at that time and it wasn’t long before Grace took the decision to move both herself and Norma Jeane out of the family home. They moved in with Grace’s sister, Enid Knebelkamp, and Norma Jeane became friends with her young daughter, Diane, who later shared her memories with her own daughter, Jo: ‘Norma Jeane was very sweet and always nice to my Mom. My Mom said that she was also very smart and the family didn’t like that she was portrayed as being a dumb blonde.’

  Over the years it has been said that Grace removed the child from her Barbara Court home because Doc Goddard had made a fumbled pass at Norma Jeane when he was drunk. This seems highly unlikely, especially since she returned to the home several years later and kept in touch until Grace Goddard passed away. Almost sixty years later, his daughter Eleanor ‘Bebe’ Goddard talked to the ‘All About Marilyn’ fan club about the stories: ‘The fact is that my father never touched Marilyn. He was a real lady’s man in that he loved women and they loved him, but that was only a big show and I never encountered a more faithful man than my father was to his wives.’

  However, in spite of that, there were certainly problems between Doc and Grace, and for the next few months both she and Norma Jeane shuttled back and forth between the Knebelkamp home and that of Grace’s Aunt Ana Lower. Doc meanwhile rented a room from Mrs Cora A. French at 920 Hyperion Avenue and listed himself quite ambitiously as a director on official records. Eventually, however, the couple reunited and moved into a home at 6707 Odessa Avenue. This was a positive step for them, but not so for Norma Jeane, who was moved from the Knebelkamp/Lower homes and placed in that of her aunt, Olive Monroe.

  Olive Monroe was born Olive Brunings (aka Olyve Brunnings) and married Gladys Baker’s brother, Marion Otis Monroe, in San Diego on 20 September 1924. Together they had three children, Jack, Ida Mae and Olive Elizabeth. On 20 November 1929, just over nine months after the birth of their third child, Marion told his wife he was leaving on routine business, but would be back by 6.30 p.m. in time for dinner. He never returned and all attempts to find him failed. Whether Olive believed he had deserted her, or something more sinister had befallen him, is unclear, but eventually she was forced to declare herself destitute and petitioned to have Marion declared dead, in order that she could receive aid from the state.

  Although she kept in touch with Gladys, and even travelled with Grace to visit her in the institution, one has to wonder if Olive was entirely convinced when Grace approached her about looking after Norma Jeane. By 1937, Olive was living with her mother, Christian Science practitioner Ida Martin, along with her three children. Being in a negative financial position, perhaps she was consoled with the idea of the $30 per month that she would be paid for caring for Norma Jeane; it would certainly enable her to loosen the purse strings a little. And so it was that Norma Jeane found herself delivered to the home of the Martin/Monroe family on Oxnard Avenue (now Oxnard Street), in December 1937.

  From the start it was a tricky situation, with a house full of women and a boisterous twelve-year-old boy, all vying for space and attention. As well as that, Ida’s seventy-eight-year-old mother Olive Henderson was also living with the family at the time, which added more stress and reduced the breathing space. The woman was fairly temperamental and Norma Jeane’s memories of her consisted of scary tales of the ‘old days’ and being unfairly accused of tearing one of the other girl’s dresses.

  As with many of her childhood memories, Marilyn’s stories of the Monroe/Martin family were not altogether positive, and she later lamented always being the last in line for the bath, when the water had already turned putrid and cold. She also had vivid memories of Christmas with the family: ‘All the children got presents under the tree. I got a 10-cent manicure set and at that period in my life, believe me I didn’t have the least interest in my cuticles.’

  But it would seem that it definitely wasn’t all hardship. Norma Jeane became friends with her cousin Ida Mae, who later remembered that the two of them would get into all kinds of mischief: once, they planned to run away to San Francisco where it was rumoured Marion Monroe had been spotted; and another time they tried to make wine (complete with grape stomping in bare feet), only to discover that all they’d achieved was an intense stench under the front porch. Norma Jeane also felt comfortable enough in Ida Mae’s company to confide that she had been molested before she entered the orphanage, and had bathed for days afterwards.

  During the time living with her aunt and cousins, Norma Jeane attended the Lankershim School on Bakman Avenue. It was here that she really started to live an imaginary life and dreamed the day away, before taking a long walk home, engrossed in her pretend world: ‘I remember a vacant lot that I used to cross on my way home from the Bak
man Avenue school in North Hollywood,’ she said. ‘It was just a dirty old lot overgrown with weeds, but from the moment I stepped on to it, it became a magic and private place where I could be all of the people I had been thinking about all day in the classroom.’

  On 3 March 1938, while Norma Jeane was still living with the Monroe/Martins, Los Angeles was hit by a catastrophic natural disaster, when a great flood struck. The floodwater came from the mountains, swirled around the city and its suburbs in the middle of the night and began to recede shortly after dawn, but the damage created had been astronomical. Newspapers estimated $25,000,000 worth of damage, homes were without power and thousands of people found themselves fleeing for their lives from the swollen rivers.

  The Martin/Monroe family was, like thousands of others, affected by the floods and had to relocate from their Oxnard Avenue home. Court records state that Ida Martin was paid for Norma Jeane’s expenses until August 1938, but when foster sister Bebe Goddard was interviewed by the ‘All About Marilyn’ club, she claimed that Norma Jeane moved out of the Martin home after the flood, and was placed temporarily into the home of Grace’s brother, Bryan Atchinson, his wife, Lottie, and their daughter, Geraldine. ‘Uncle Bryan’ lived at 1826 East Palmer Avenue but it is probable that while Norma Jeane lived there, the Monroe/Martin family continued to receive payments so they could pick up the pieces after the disaster.

  When Norma Jeane moved in with the Atchinson family, she once again changed schools; this time to Vine Street School, which she had attended during her time at the orphanage. But she had hardly had time to settle at all, when in September 1938 Grace moved the child into the permanent care of the woman who was to become the biggest influence of her entire life: Ana Lower.

  Edith Ana Lower (known to everyone as Ana) was Grace’s paternal aunt and was fifty-eight years old when Norma Jeane came to live with her. She had been married for a time to a gentleman by the name of Edmund H. ‘Will’ Lower and together they had bought various rental properties, earning them a modest income. By 1938 Ana was divorced, but still earning money from some of the properties, and supplemented her income by working as a Christian Science practitioner. She lived in a two-storey duplex at 11348 Nebraska Avenue, where she occupied the upstairs apartment, while renting out both the unit below and the house next door, and in the mornings she could be seen on the sidewalk, sweeping up the fruit that had fallen from the abundance of fig trees located outside her property. ‘She was nice looking; sort of a grandmother type,’ remembered friend Bill Pursel. ‘Very alert and kept a nice clean house with no junk lying around.’

  When Norma Jeane first pulled up outside Aunt Ana’s home, she feared the worst. She had stayed here before, during Grace’s marital problems, and presumed this would be just another in a long line of foster homes and foster-mothers. However, from the moment Norma Jeane entered Ana Lower’s home, her mood shifted and she discovered ‘a wonderful human being’ who changed her whole life and gave her more confidence in herself. Aunt Ana provided Norma Jeane with kindness and love; something she had very rarely experienced in the past, and the child revelled in her devotion.

  Ana believed wholeheartedly in Christian Science, and in 1935 had travelled up to San Francisco to nurse her sister, Hattie, while she was fighting a losing battle with cancer. A caring soul, Ana passed what she could on to Norma Jeane, and also took her to Christian Science services. As Gladys Baker had practised the religion too, it wasn’t totally unfamiliar to Norma Jeane, but she didn’t find the religion totally helpful. ‘I’ve read Mrs Eddy [founder of Christian Science and author of Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures] and tried to put some of her ideas into my life, but it doesn’t work for me,’ Marilyn was later to say.

  Unfortunately, almost as soon as she arrived on Ana’s doorstep, she also entered puberty, which brought yet more heartache for the young girl. Her periods were so painful that she would often lie on the floor, sobbing in agony. Aunt Ana, who was well over ‘the curse’, did her best to help Norma Jeane, but to no avail. Being a Christian Scientist, tablets were not an option, so Ana turned to her beliefs in order to bring comfort to the youngster: ‘Aunt Ana used to pray with me, but it seems I had such a strong belief in pain that she couldn’t overcome it,’ Marilyn later recalled. And thus began a lifetime of painful periods and endometriosis, which ruled Marilyn’s life until the day she died.

  Menstruation aside, Norma Jeane’s life with Ana was fairly settled and calm; she worshipped the middle-aged lady who in turn gave her the love and protection she had so often sought. But once again, schooling presented the child with problems, namely the fact that she stuttered quite badly, and only had a very limited wardrobe, of which the children loved to make fun. Attending the seventh grade at Sawtelle School, Norma Jeane made hardly any friends and felt alienated much of the time: ‘In school I was very quiet. I was never the life of the party. Everyone talked so glibly; they all knew the latest slang and the smartest stories, and I’d stand around like an idiot – never knowing what to say.’ Adding to her feelings of alienation was the fact that she was tall and skinny, making her a talking point with other students. She was cruelly nicknamed ‘Norma Jeane, Human Bean’ and was labelled as being dumb with no personality. She was extremely hurt when one boy in her class told her, ‘I hope some day your legs fill out.’ But at least Ana provided a sympathetic ear when she arrived home at night, which is something she had rarely experienced in the past.

  In early 1939, Norma Jeane received a letter from Grace, telling her that she had a half-sister called Berniece. Grace had, of course, known about the existence of both Berniece and her late brother Robert for many years, but had not felt that it was her place to tell Norma Jeane. Finally, Grace had received a letter from Berniece to inform her that Gladys had been in touch from Agnew State Hospital, where she was residing at the time. Gladys had told her all about her half-sister Norma Jeane, and begged her eldest daughter to remove her from the institution. Spurred on by this, Berniece (who previously had no idea she had a half-sister and had believed her mother had probably died) contacted Grace, who in turn passed the letter on to Norma Jeane.

  The child, who had searched for family stability her whole life, was thrilled to discover she had a sister and wanted to know all about her. Berniece had been married on 7 October 1938 to Paris Miracle, and having settled into married life in Pineville, Kentucky, was now pregnant with her first child. Grace immediately wrote a long letter to Berniece, passing on news of Norma Jeane, and revealing that it had always been Gladys’ wish to have her children with her. Norma Jeane then wrote herself, enclosing a photograph and thus beginning an important relationship, which would last until her death some twenty-three years later.

  Meanwhile, on hearing of Berniece’s existence, Grace’s mind went into overtime, and she wondered whether Norma Jeane could possibly move in with her new sister. However, there were two problems with this plan: firstly, Gladys had always vetoed any idea of Norma Jeane leaving the state of California, and secondly, Berniece had neither money nor room to accommodate another child. Later Grace saw this for herself when she made a pitstop in Pineville during a trip to West Virginia.

  A year after she arrived at Ana’s house, Norma Jeane changed schools once again, and although she flunked arithmetic, she did do well in English and literature, once writing a paper on Abraham Lincoln, which was judged the best in the class. This seemingly small achievement was a great boost for Norma Jeane’s confidence and suddenly the child didn’t feel so dumb any more. Added to that, her once skinny body had begun to fill out, which attracted the attentions of some of her fellow students: ‘The boys didn’t have cars, they had bikes. They’d come by the house and whistle or they’d honk their little horns. Some had paper routes and I’d always get a free paper.’

  While Norma Jeane did enjoy most of the attention, some was certainly unwanted and unnecessary. On the way home from school one day, she noticed an older boy standing on the corner, who started shoutin
g obscene remarks as she passed. Hoping it would be a one-off occurrence she ignored him and made her way home. Unfortunately, the next day he was there again, and before long he was harassing Norma Jeane to such an extent that she told an older friend that she found the whole thing intimidating and rather scary. The problem was eventually solved with the help of a friendly storekeeper and a local policeman. ‘The fellow was let go with a stern warning,’ recalled her future sister-in-law Elyda Nelson, ‘and after that Norma Jeane went her way with no one molesting her in the neighbourhood.’

  Soon boys were walking her home from school, and they would often stand and talk outside Aunt Ana’s home. Other kids would come along, and soon there would be a large crowd gathered on the pavement, eventually to be ushered into the house by Aunt Ana, joking that they were ‘starting to resemble a mob’.

  The new attention spurred Norma Jeane on to have her first – albeit inappropriate – crush on a twenty-two-year-old man who lived across the street, who would often say hello and pat her on the head. One day, while Norma Jeane was outside Aunt Ana’s home, the man came past on his way to the movies. Asking if she’d like to go with him, Norma Jeane couldn’t believe her luck and after gaining permission from Aunt Ana, hopped into the car for what she thought would be a romantic date. She immediately tried (and failed) to act in a sophisticated manner, later commenting, ‘I was gawky, I was giggly, I was stupid,’ and after laughing at his driving technique, opening her own door and falling over herself on the way into the theatre, the young man drove her home, in no mood to ask her out again. (It is generally believed that this man was actually soon-to-be actor Howard Keel, who she went on to date for a short time in the late 1940s.)

  Norma Jeane’s confidence took a severe downturn after the failure of her first crush, and wasn’t made any better when some of the girls at school made a point of commenting on the fact that her clothes weren’t as pretty and up-to-date as theirs. One day she returned home in tears because of a cruel comment from one of the other girls, and Aunt Ana sat her down to console and inspire her: ‘It doesn’t matter if other children make fun of your clothes or where you live,’ she said. ‘It’s what you are that counts. You just keep being your own self, that’s all that matters.’