REVIEW (ok it's long..but just read it. Geesh!)
Norma Jean
by Fred Lawrence Guiles
"Norma Jean" by Fred Lawrence Guiles is a comprehensive biography - a full-bodied account mapping the evolution from Norma Jean(e)* to the star we know as Marilyn Monroe. *the "e" was used off and on throughout Norma's early life.
Marilyn already had 3 surnames before she adopted the one that made her famous. Born Norma Jean Mortensen, then baptized Norma Jean Baker, and finally Norma Jean Dougherty, through her first marriage to James. I think it's important to note that throughout Marilyn's life, her greatest wish was to belong to and to have her own family. Her young life began without a permanent name or family, and she died under a pseudonym created for the make believe showcase of Hollywood.
Norma Jean did not live a carefree childhood. Both her Grandmother and Mother were institutionalized for psychiatric reasons, and unable to care for her throughout much of her young life. Marilyn bounced from loving caretakers to friends of neighbors, also spending a short time in an orphanage.
Through modeling and associated contacts, Norma Jean signed a six-month option with Fox Studios. Her name was changed from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe - a combination of the casting director’s favorite Broadway musical actress, and the maiden name of Norma’s grandmother.
Marilyn Monroe was born. Along with a tumultuous relationship with Fox Studios that would last a lifetime.
Much of the story we already know, if not fully, than at least in part. Her failed marriages to both Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. Her not-so-secret affairs with the Kennedy’s. Her difficulty on set, and her eventual drug abuse and psychiatric issues.
The biography, however, goes beyond the attention grabbing Page 6 headlines. Guiles has a wonderful ability to show both the one-dimensional version of Marilyn’s “outrageous” behavior, but never discounts her multi-dimensional self: the truly loving accounts with friends, co-workers, and longtime associates. The enigma of Marilyn was that she never seemed to lose a friend, but was guilty of disposing of some longtime associates. She wouldn’t appear for work days on end - interrupting production and costing the studio millions - but her directors, co-stars, crew and friends alwaysfelt for her, despite their annoyance. She was a sensitive and intelligent woman, but will forever be known as the ultimate blond who is a wide-eyed moron counting on her looks to get by.
The book demands respect for Marilyn. She was not a pampered, drug addled Hollywood brat. She was fighting, always fighting, to win respect from an industry who refused to respect her. Fighting to be cast in serious roles. Fighting the antiquated contract she signed with Fox years earlier as a young starlet, which paid her significantly less than her costars, even when she was the star of the picture.
Norma Jean picked herself up from a childhood that would most certainly have destroyed many others, and she made herself into a whole new being. Is it a concentrated delusion, refusing to accept the life you’ve been dealt.? Was her life Odysseus-esque, seeking a way home and finally pretending to be someone else? Or was it Hollywood egotism that kept the machine moving the short time that it did?
Probably all of the above.
Reading the biography, I find myself relating deeply to the person that is within the image of who we call Marilyn. I feel for her through the pages, even when you want to ring her neck. I relate to what she feels, how she finds herself a lost woman, how she clings to people, how she questions herself, and her fear of loneliness.
I am also in awe of her tremendous strength and fight. She was no one’s fool. And only a fool would underestimate her. Her strength is immeasurable.
If a biography can elicit such emotion from me, I can’t help but recommend the book wholeheartedly.
Norma Jean
by Fred Lawrence Guiles
"Norma Jean" by Fred Lawrence Guiles is a comprehensive biography - a full-bodied account mapping the evolution from Norma Jean(e)* to the star we know as Marilyn Monroe. *the "e" was used off and on throughout Norma's early life.
Marilyn already had 3 surnames before she adopted the one that made her famous. Born Norma Jean Mortensen, then baptized Norma Jean Baker, and finally Norma Jean Dougherty, through her first marriage to James. I think it's important to note that throughout Marilyn's life, her greatest wish was to belong to and to have her own family. Her young life began without a permanent name or family, and she died under a pseudonym created for the make believe showcase of Hollywood.
Norma Jean did not live a carefree childhood. Both her Grandmother and Mother were institutionalized for psychiatric reasons, and unable to care for her throughout much of her young life. Marilyn bounced from loving caretakers to friends of neighbors, also spending a short time in an orphanage.
Through modeling and associated contacts, Norma Jean signed a six-month option with Fox Studios. Her name was changed from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe - a combination of the casting director’s favorite Broadway musical actress, and the maiden name of Norma’s grandmother.
Marilyn Monroe was born. Along with a tumultuous relationship with Fox Studios that would last a lifetime.
Much of the story we already know, if not fully, than at least in part. Her failed marriages to both Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. Her not-so-secret affairs with the Kennedy’s. Her difficulty on set, and her eventual drug abuse and psychiatric issues.
The biography, however, goes beyond the attention grabbing Page 6 headlines. Guiles has a wonderful ability to show both the one-dimensional version of Marilyn’s “outrageous” behavior, but never discounts her multi-dimensional self: the truly loving accounts with friends, co-workers, and longtime associates. The enigma of Marilyn was that she never seemed to lose a friend, but was guilty of disposing of some longtime associates. She wouldn’t appear for work days on end - interrupting production and costing the studio millions - but her directors, co-stars, crew and friends alwaysfelt for her, despite their annoyance. She was a sensitive and intelligent woman, but will forever be known as the ultimate blond who is a wide-eyed moron counting on her looks to get by.
The book demands respect for Marilyn. She was not a pampered, drug addled Hollywood brat. She was fighting, always fighting, to win respect from an industry who refused to respect her. Fighting to be cast in serious roles. Fighting the antiquated contract she signed with Fox years earlier as a young starlet, which paid her significantly less than her costars, even when she was the star of the picture.
Norma Jean picked herself up from a childhood that would most certainly have destroyed many others, and she made herself into a whole new being. Is it a concentrated delusion, refusing to accept the life you’ve been dealt.? Was her life Odysseus-esque, seeking a way home and finally pretending to be someone else? Or was it Hollywood egotism that kept the machine moving the short time that it did?
Probably all of the above.
Reading the biography, I find myself relating deeply to the person that is within the image of who we call Marilyn. I feel for her through the pages, even when you want to ring her neck. I relate to what she feels, how she finds herself a lost woman, how she clings to people, how she questions herself, and her fear of loneliness.
I am also in awe of her tremendous strength and fight. She was no one’s fool. And only a fool would underestimate her. Her strength is immeasurable.
If a biography can elicit such emotion from me, I can’t help but recommend the book wholeheartedly.
