Shortly after signing to Fox, actor Alan Young was organizing a float in the Hollywood Christmas parade. He was new in California at that time and didn’t know much about the event, so phoned Ben Lyon who told him he’d organize four or five girls to sit on the float. Young liked this idea and, as luck would have it, one of the girls selected for the event was Marilyn (who was still calling herself Norma Jeane), who sat with the others, waving and cheering on the float. Young remembers: ‘After the parade, we went to the Brown Derby but I didn’t drink, and neither did Norma Jeane, so we decided instead to go and get some cocoa together. I asked if she would like to go to a party with me, which was taking place several weeks later, and she said yes. She seemed like a frightened rabbit at first, and I didn’t realize she had been raised without parents. I really liked her.’
The couple only went on a couple of dates; the first being to a friend’s party: ‘I went to pick her up from Aunt Ana’s house and Ana looked at me with great suspicion, as I was taking out her “daughter”, and was a little older than Norma Jeane, but she let her go anyway. I had seen a photo of a church in Ana’s house, and Norma Jeane told me it was the Christian Science church and that she used to go to Sunday School there and loved it. We spoke a lot about it in the car.
‘On the way to the party we got lost and I realized that I’d have to go home and get directions. Norma Jeane looked at me very suspiciously, and when we pulled up outside the house, she refused to go in with me. I assured her that my parents would be there, so she did come in, and it was all very friendly. Of course my parents thought it was a serious thing because I’d brought a girl home! My mother was a Christian Scientist too, so they both had lots to talk about.’
That date was a success, and Marilyn appeared in several publicity photos with Young, showing them both attempting to play the bagpipes. However, the last date they went on wasn’t so successful: ‘Well I thought I’d better kiss her goodnight,’ remembered Young, ‘because I didn’t want her to think I was square. I went to kiss her cheek, and she turned her head so I got her ear instead. I was so embarrassed about it that I never phoned her again.’
That was the end of their short ‘relationship’, but the couple were to meet again several years later, when Marilyn had become successful: ‘I was working at the studio and was sitting in make-up, when a blonde girl rushed up and yelled “Alan!” She kissed me and asked about my parents and asked me to give her a call. After she had gone, the make-up man asked how long I’d known Marilyn Monroe and I answered, “About two minutes!” That was the last time I ever saw her.’
On 13 September, Marilyn went back to Las Vegas briefly in order to complete her divorce from Dougherty. In the presence of her ‘Aunt’ Minnie she was questioned briefly by her lawyer, C. Norman Cornwall, and claimed falsely that she was still resident in Las Vegas, and fully intended to make her home there. When asked to explain why she had charged James Dougherty with mental cruelty, she answered, ‘Well, in the first place my husband didn’t support me and he objected to my working, criticized me for it and he also had a bad temper and would fly into rages and he left me on three different occasions and he criticized me and embarrassed me in front of my friends and he didn’t try to make a home for me.’
After listening to her plea, and questioning Minnie Willett, the divorce was granted, and Marilyn returned to Los Angeles a free woman.
Not long after the divorce was granted, Berniece left Los Angeles, and shortly after, Gladys decided she no longer wished to stay in California and moved back to Oregon. Around the same time, Marilyn determined it was time to gain some independence of her own, and left Aunt Ana’s in search of her own place.
She found a small apartment at 3539 Kelton Avenue, and fully embraced the chance to live by herself for the first time in her life. She started to frequent Schwabs drug store, which aside from selling the obvious, also acted as a café and hangout for budding actors. She became friendly with newspaper reporter Sidney Skolsky, who had offices at Schwabs, and with Steve Hayes, who later managed Googies, the coffee shop next door.
Hayes remembers being introduced to Marilyn by Sydney Chaplin, whose brother, Charlie Jr, dated her briefly. In his 2008 book, Googies: Coffeeshop to the Stars, Hayes recalled: ‘[Sydney and I had] been talking at the bar in the Garden of Allah, and when it became crowded we walked across Sunset to Frascati’s to grab some dinner. Marilyn hung out there and at The Garden in her early years and when she saw Sydney she quickly joined us for a drink.’
Sharing the same favourite joints, the pair would often run into each other around town, and soon became friendly. ‘Marilyn was anything but dumb,’ remembers Hayes. ‘Her only problem was she was incapable of concentrating on more than one thing at a time – and anything for a long time. To combat that she skipped from one subject to another, hoping no one would catch on.’
Marilyn continued her studies at the studio, but became disheartened when her trips to the casting department always resulted in the same outcome – no call. Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of the studio, seemed to barely notice her presence and was certainly in no hurry to use her in any productions. However, he could hardly fail to notice her increasing popularity, evident in events such as a trip to Castroville and Salinas in order to take part in various publicity events.
After travelling for hours on a bus packed with Italian fishermen, Marilyn eventually arrived at her destination, where she was shocked to find hoards of fans and admirers. Stanley Seedman, the owner of the Carlyle’s store where she was due to make an appearance, had ordered 200 photos, but soon found it was not enough to satisfy even a minority of the followers who had turned out to greet her. More photos were ordered and he later told reporter Ken Schultz, ‘We didn’t know how big this was going to go. Before the week was over we had given out either 1000 or 1200 of them.’
The trip was a huge success and Marilyn was bestowed with various titles including the rather curious ‘Artichoke Queen’. Finally, Zanuck could ignore her growing popularity no more and in February 1947 her contract was extended, and she won parts in two films: Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay and Dangerous Years.
In the first, Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay, Marilyn had an uncredited role and played in two scenes, although one later ended up on the cutting-room floor, and the other went so fast that it would take a trained eye to spot her. In the second film, Marilyn spent a week on the set starting on 30 July 1947. For her efforts she received a speaking part as a waitress, although as she later wrote to her sister, ‘I’m in it but for heaven’s sake don’t blink your eyes, you might miss me.’
During this time, both Marilyn and Shelley Winters started to attend lessons at the Actors Lab, an establishment led by Morris Carnovsky and his wife Phoebe Brand, and located at 14355 Laurel Ave. Marilyn truly believed in the work that was being done there, so much so that several years later she tried to convince Bill Pursel to attend too. Bill remembered: ‘She tried to enrol me in Actors Lab; she wanted me to become an actor, I guess, as I had done some acting at high school. Without my knowledge she set up an appointment and I know she was disappointed when I didn’t go, but I had no intention to forfeit my last year at Woodbury College where I was an honor student and tops in my major.’
Inspired by her work at the Actors Lab, Marilyn jumped at the chance of attending classes being taught by actor Charles Laughton at his home on Curson Avenue. It was, however, an unfortunate experience; just starting out and not classically trained, Marilyn felt intimidated by her other classmates and the intensity of the classes, and left after only a few sessions. She did, however, continue her studies at the Actors Lab, and started to take an interest in books – buying them from Pickwick Books, Martindales Book Store and Marian Hunter’s Book Shop.
But attending the Actors Lab wasn’t the only training Marilyn was interested in pursuing, and she began lessons at the Beverly Hills home of Twentieth Century Fox’s acting teacher Helena Sorell. Over fifty years later film fan Christine Krogull visited Helena at t
he home where she had taught Marilyn all those years before. ‘The apartment had undergone no major changes,’ recalled Christine. ‘You could feel and smell the history there. Marilyn had once been photographed in front of a painting in Helena’s living room and it was still there, in exactly the same place!’
Christine spent a few hours talking with Helena, who shared her memories of Marilyn with her. ‘She told me that Marilyn was an extremely talented student. She always followed her advice, rehearsed and practised a lot, and was very friendly. During one training scene she was to eat a slice of bread with meat. Helena played in the scene with Marilyn and when they came to the point of eating, Marilyn stopped – began to search for something – took imaginary salt and pepper shakers and pretended to sprinkle them over the meat because in her opinion that was what was missing from the scene. Helena was surprised because Marilyn had done it so naturally and was more surprised the next day when she came with a present of a real salt and pepper shaker – in the shape of a cat and dog.’
On 15 April 1947, Marilyn attended the Annual Ceremony and Presentation of Honorary Colonels at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, where she received a badge of honour along with seventeen other ‘Studio Starlings’. Then during the summer of 1947, Marilyn and Bill Pursel were able to get together once again, when she and some other starlets were required to travel to Las Vegas for a publicity event at the Flamingo Hotel. Bill remembered: ‘Norma Jeane asked me to meet her there, but when I arrived I wasn’t allowed in. The curtains were pulled across the door and when I told the security man that there was a girl in there I was meeting, he said, ‘Oh sure there is’, however, he parted the curtains and I could see some dance girls on stage. Norma Jeane’s group was seated right in the centre of the room, flanking a long table just below the stage, and she spotted me and yelled and waved. I was very embarrassed, especially when I entered the showroom and the spotlights went right on me! She had saved me a seat and when I made my way to her, we hugged one another and everyone cheered.’
The couple went out to the pool to catch up, but after just ten minutes one of Marilyn’s group came out and sternly demanded she go back inside. ‘The man was very aggressive and I confronted him by threatening to throw him in the pool,’ remembered Bill. ‘He backed off and left, but then Norma Jeane told me she was supposed to be inside with the rest of the girls, shilling at the gaming tables. [A shill is a person who works for the gambling house and is supplied money with which to gamble.] I was so angry I snapped at her and took her back inside.’ For a time, Bill sat at the bar with the actors David Niven and Sonny Tufts, before excusing himself and heading to the door to leave. ‘I spotted Norma Jeane and waved bye to her as I left.’
When Pursel told his sister, Jeanne Chretien, what had happened, she was shocked. ‘Bill told me they were trying to boss Norma Jeane around and I was appalled,’ remembered Chretien. ‘I said, “That’s awful, she’s such a sweet girl,” to which Bill replied “No one’s going to treat her like a tramp while I’m around.”’
On 11 June Marilyn signed an agreement with Twentieth Century Fox to reconfirm her contract, and a month later, on 20 July, she appeared at the Brentwood Country Club for Fox’s Annual Golf Tournament. This event did not further her career, but another golf tournament on 17 August proved to be highly influential, when she was assigned the job of caddy to actor John Carroll and his wife, MGM talent scout Lucille Ryman. The Carrolls were interested in and took pity on the young, determined actress, and quickly befriended her.
This support couldn’t have come at a better time, as just when she was starting to feel slightly confident about her career, Marilyn was unceremoniously dropped from Twentieth Century Fox. Her agent, Harry Lipton, had the unenviable task of telling her the news, and she was, of course, absolutely devastated. Lipton remembered: ‘Her immediate reaction was the world had crashed around her ears – unhappiness and tears. And then typical of Marilyn she shook her head, set her jaw and said “It really doesn’t matter. After all, it’s a case of supply and demand.”’
What did matter, however, was that before her contract ended, Marilyn had been rehearsing for the Twentieth Century Fox annual show, held on the Fox lot. With a staunch determination and a commitment to her cause, she was determined that even though she had been dropped, she would still go through with the event. Kathleen Hughes Rubin remembered: ‘The show was made up ninety per cent from secretaries, mailroom people etc, but there were always a few contract players too. My cousin was in the show and had told me all about Marilyn, saying that she was incredibly talented but had just been dropped. She was sure that if the executives saw the show, they would re-sign her.
‘Marilyn sang a song called “I never took a lesson in my life” and wore a sexy dress. I can still remember what it looked like! She sang and danced a little – the song was a double entendre song and she did it wonderfully . . . but although Marilyn was wonderful, the executives didn’t re-sign her.’
After being dropped from the studio, Marilyn’s income plummeted and before long she found herself in financial dire straits, often not having enough money for food or rent. One of the reasons for this was the purchase of a record player, which Marilyn had bought on instalment when she first signed to Fox. She later remembered that this ‘splendiferous’ player did everything but fry an egg; it cost $1,500 and was custom-made. Her agent, Harry Lipton had remarked that she ‘was out of her mind’ to buy it, and in the end, according to him, he had to make several payments on it himself.
However, when her option was not picked up at Fox, she returned home one day to find a man waiting to take away her record player. ‘I was almost heartbroken as I watched him carry it away, and to this day I have yet to see a more beautiful cabinet or player,’ she remembered. Although she later claimed to have learnt from the experience, this wasn’t the last time she would find herself tied up in financial difficulties, and friends began to worry that she had no idea about money at all.
Her days of unemployment were long and filled with insecurities. Sometimes the young actress would mope around her small apartment, wondering why she was such a failure and had been unable to make things work. Other times she would read and keep herself busy, studying at the Actors Lab, taking singing lessons, involving herself with occasional modelling work and neglecting her social life in favour of trying to ignite her career. Her friendships started to suffer as a result, and Bill Pursel remembers at least one occasion when their plans had to be cancelled: ‘While I was at the University of Nevada, Norma Jeane was going to come up to the University for a dance, but she called it off just a few days before the event because of a photo shoot she couldn’t cancel. I was disappointed and she was very unhappy, but it just wasn’t possible with all that she was doing with her career at the time.’
But sometimes work took a back seat and Marilyn would go ‘people-watching’ at Union Station, or stargazing in Hollywood. Johnny Grant, Hollywood’s honorary Mayor and friend of Marilyn in the early days, remembered, ‘She used to like to sit in the Roosevelt Hotel Lobby, observing people, and would occasionally make new friends. She had a mad crush on Clark Gable and would stand in front of his house, hoping to see him come or go. She would also often place her hands and feet in the moulds of other stars at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.’ Unfortunately, at this point in time it must have seemed that her dream of stardom was just as far away as it had been when she had done the same thing as a little girl.
It was during this time of aloneness and very little work that some authors have claimed she became a call girl. However, Marilyn effectively responded to such stories in 1953 when she spoke about being broke and receiving a phone call from a man who wanted to ‘help’ her: ‘He gave details of what I would be expected to do. He was brutally frank and all I could think of to say was that he shouldn’t talk that way over a public telephone. I didn’t realize how silly that sounded until I hung up and then I started to laugh.’
It seems highly unlikely that the girl who co
nstantly complained of being pestered by ‘wolves’ would ever sell herself for money. But while that story is ridiculous, it is nothing compared to another rumour that, at this point in her life, Marilyn became pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption. Bill Pursel laughs at both theories: ‘Wow! I don’t believe this for one moment. As far as I know this is a bunch of poppycock. I do know there were several women jealous of her after she became Marilyn Monroe and besides, call girls earn big money – I saw no evidence of this with her. I would put no credence at all in these rumours. It’s nothing but bilge . . . blather . . . hogwash . . . someone’s cheap imagination. It sorta makes me angry, or can’t you tell? She wasn’t pregnant when I knew her; she probably had several boyfriends over the years, but when these stories exaggerate the involvement into pregnancy or even intimacy they are way out of bounds. She had too much class to be so careless about who she dated. At least this is where I come from.’
This is backed up by agent Harry Lipton, in an article for Motion Picture in May 1956. He described a party in which a high-powered man offered Marilyn gifts in exchange for certain favours: ‘she refused, turned to her agent, demanded they leave and cried all the way home in the car. ‘What can I say to men like that, Harry?’ she asked her agent, to which he replied, ‘You’ll learn.’ This hardly seems the behaviour of a seasoned call girl, and a hungry one at that.
Marilyn moved around a lot at this time and sometimes found herself staying at the home of Aunt Enid and Uncle Stan Knebelkamp, in order to save money while commuting to and from Hollywood. She also lived in her fair share of cheap apartments, including one on Avon Street, where she later claimed to have experienced a trauma that left her extremely shaken and distressed. Although there are several versions of what actually happened, the general gist of the story is that Marilyn had received her last pay cheque from Twentieth Century Fox and, as the bank was closed, was seeking another way of cashing it. She was in the process of asking a restaurant manager, when she was approached by a policeman, who offered to accompany her to a clothes shop across the street. Once there, Marilyn wrote her name and address on the cheque; cashed it; thanked the policeman and left.
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