My journey ends here...
1946
JANUARY :
At the end of the month, Jim went back again in the Pacific Ocean where the Merchant Marine transported men and material in America and Europe after the Allies victory.
His couple being in a dead end, Norma Jeane decided to ask for divorce.
Grace McKee-Goddard invited her for a lunch in Van Nuys, or to spend the week-end if she wanted to .
She
declined the offer, with the wish to maintain her independence in
relation to the past and mostly because Grace had become alcoholic;
sometimes she felt dizzy and spoke wildly, or became distant, gloomy.
Like Gladys,
Grace was from then on unpredictable.
Norma Jeane still lived in Ana
Lower's apartment, in Nebraska Avenue.
FEBRUARY :
About her job, Norma Jeane was very popular.
She worked with the Scottish photographer William Burnside (
,
,
) who was amazed by her look lost in the middle of a smile, and like Conover and De Dienes,
he was seduced by her spirit of cooperation, and her wish to be
attractive. But she wasn't like those starlets who sold themselves to
succeed; Burnside remembered of her shyness and her lack of
self-confidence. It was out of the question to conquer her by force.
She also worked with the photographer Richard
Miller (
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
).
Norma Jeane was changing; if her clumsiness, her need of being
accepted, her stutter were stil existing, then the just visually gave
herself to the camera.
She also posed for the illustrator Earl Moran (
) who paid her 10$ an hour.
After, he used those snapshots to make charcoal or chalk (or pastel) drawings, whose some of them were used, among other, for the famous Brown and Bigelow Company calendar, the most important factory of art calendars in the USA.
She started to express the idea of wanting to be an actress. She talked about it to Emmeline Snively.
The different photographers she had worked with, had also encouraged her, thinking she had the necessary disposition to aspire to the starlet title in the studios "live-box".
Every year, hundred of girls made screen-tests and signed for small parts; a handful was prepared to talking parts and some rare ones finally reached the actress status. Among those candidates, few of them became stars. The studios knew the changing tastes of the public and the passing success. The producers wanted to have a live-box of talents to hand from which they could draw the future stars. A young single woman had much more chances to succeed. A pregnancy could cost a lot if a shooting had to be interrupted or a distribution remade. To sum up, a starlet trainee had to be ready to all kinds of sacrifices.
MARCH :
Sunday, March 10 : she made a picture session with the photographer Joseph
Jasgur.
On Emmeline Snively's request, this celebrities registered photographer agreed to take pictures of Norma Jeane.
He was known for his collaboration with magazines like Silver Screen,
Photoplay and Hollywood Citizen
News.
He was surprised to find in front of the door of his Hollywood studio, a shy young woman, who had nothing to do with a classic model, anxious and breathless. She was also an hour late which surprised him because it seemed to him incompatible with the seriousness with which she managed her career.
They continued the picture sessions during the whole month of March, at Zuma Beach.
He took color and black and white pictures, fixing in the real her spontaneity while she drew hearts on the wet sand :
,
,
.
Monday, March 11 in anticipation of a movie hiring, Emmeline Snively had advised Norma Jeane to sign a contract with the National Concerts Artists
Corporation of Helen Ainsworth who was one of her friends.
Harry Lipton (
), member
of the National
Concerts Artists Corporation, became her agent .
So
that she could succeed more easily, he advised her to divorce Jim Dougherty.
In her mailbox, she found everyday some pathetic letters of Gladys, begging her to take her with her, promising her not to bother her , and that she would find a job.
Norma Jeane sent some money to Gladys, in Portland (Oregon) where she lived, so that she could come back to Los Angeles.
They lived together in the apartment above Ana Lower's one, located 11348 Nebraska Avenue, West Hollywood. Ana Lower found a job to Gladys in a department store.
It was Norma Jeane's last attempt to get back in touch with her mother.
It was obvious that she wasn't in condition to take responsibility for herself and Norma Jeane wasn't able either to take on such a responsibility.
The
exact nature of Gladys mental disorders are not known,
because the medical reports found in the family remained vague.
On one hand, she was lively, aware of her environment and
identity, didn't suffer from hallucinations, nor paranoia or
schizophrenia, and on the other hand, she was like withdrawn
within herself, without any direct catch oon things. She didn't seem
able to keep relationships with her famlily circle, and let alone to
keep a stable job : it seemed that she suffered from a loss of
affection.
Saturday, March 16, Norma Jeane and Jim Dougherty had lunch at the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel of
Los Angeles : 
.
In the light of their former arguments, he interpreted Gladys presence as a convenient way for Norma Jeane to prepare him to a break-up.
He didn't know about Gladys first request in Portland; to him, Gladys was an insensitive woman, not to say an intruder.
He went back to his service in the Merchant Marine whitout having seen Norma Jeane again.
Norma Jeane met Grace who confirmed her the required demands to be a starlet, and that she had to divorce if she fed any hope to one day, become a star.
Grace had dealt with Gladys first hospitalization, had obatined Norma Jeane guardianship then decided to make her enter the orphanage. She had arranged the wedding with Jim, and then she approved her divorce. As Jim said, Grace interfered with everything.
APRIL :
One of the pictures taken by Andre De Dienes (
), in December 1945 made the cover of Family Circle magazine :
.
,
,
;
,
,
,
).
SPRING:
Her picture started to appear on many covers of magazines and she acquired kind of a celebriry as one of the most popular models of the West Coast.
She appeared on the cover of not less that 33 magazines (
, like Swank, Sir (
), U.S, Camera, Parade
(
), Glamorous Models (
), Personal Romances (
), Pageant (
), Laff
(
), Peak et See.
MAY:
Since Tuesday, May 14, she lived in Las Vegas, Nevada where she stayed at the home of Grace McKee's aunt, Minnie Willette (604 South 3rd Street 
), in order to be resident of Nevada and so quickly obtain a divorce.
She kept this address for 4 months.
JUILY:
Friday, July 5 : Norma Jeane presented a divorce request (
,
).
Jim was back in California. Ana Lower gave him the phone number of Minnie, in Las Vegas, but Norma Jeane was hospitalized at the Las Vegas General Hospital for a buccal infection subordinate to the extraction of a wisdom tooth, then for a measles bout (the day following her outing for the buccal infection).
When she told Jim she didn't want to loose him, that they still could see each other and that she had taken this decision only for her career, Jim was inflexible. Her future being uncertain, Norma Jeane tried to find a compromise.
She only went back in Las Vegas on Friday, September 13, for the announcement of the
divorce.
Actually, she spent most of the time in California, to make picture sessions while she had to legally live in Nevada, until her divorce was granted.
She was on the cover of magazines, including Laff, where Howard Hughes (head of the RKO) saw her :.
Wednesday, July 17 at 10.30 AM :
Helen Ainsworth had obtained an apointment for Norma Jeane at the Twentieth Century Fox, in the studios of
Pico Boulevard, in the west of Los Angeles.
She met the casting director, Ben
Lyon (
), who asked her to read few lines from a part played by Judy Holliday in "Winged Victory", a 1944 melodrama about the war.
Ben Lyon's enthusiasm was such that he wanted her to make a screen-test, 2 days later.
Friday, July 19 :
Norma Jeane was taken on the set of Betty Grable's new movie, "Mother woreTtights".
Ben Lyon had gathered 4 of the best studio technicians for the screen-test.
She was introduced to the great film-maker Leon
Shamroy (who had obtained Academy Awards for "The Black Swan", "Wilson" and "Leave Her to Heaven"), to the make-up artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder
(who took care of the Fox stars like Betty
Grable, Gene Tierney, Linda Darnell and Alice Faye, and who later
became her personal make-up man and intimate friend), to the director
Walter Lang and head of the wardrobe Charles
LeMaire.
Norma Jeane sweat and began to stutter. To her great relief, she was told that the screen-test was non-speaking : she would also be introduced to the head of the production Darryl F.Zanuck on the strenght of her only physical appearance.
Some simple instructions were given to her, and the whole crew of technicians put in place, a huge Technicolor roll film was put in the camera, and Lang asked for silence.
Wearing a crinoline, Norma Jeane paced up and down, sat on a stool, lit a cigarette, crushed it , went to the window
(
,
).
As soon as the camera began to shot, a real metamorphosis occured within herself. Her hands didn't shake anymore, her movements were less hesitant , she looked self-confident.
In the following days, Darryl Zanuck, whose agreement was necessary to sign a contract, viewed the test.
Straightaway, he wasn't enthusiastic : she had never act before and hadn't take any drama lessons.
Zanuck, whose personal taste rather led him to brunettes, had already Betty Grable as sulfurous blonde. At least, he didn't see in Norma Jeane the same radiance than his colleagues.
But trusting Ben Lyon and Leonard Shamroy, he didn't take a huge financial risk.
The Fox legal department received the order to make a contract out.
Helen Ainsworth sent Harry Lipton, Norma Jeane's agent, at the Fox to introduce her new client.
Actually, there was nothing to negotiate, because Norma Jeane had a kind of contract with neither endorsement nor amendment
(
,
).
Here are the terms of her contract :
The first 6 months : 75$ a week
The 6 following months : 100$ a week
The 6 following months : 125$ a week
The 6 following months: 150$ a week.
She had a guaranteed salary (whether she worked or not) of 75$ a week for 6 months, the studio being free to renew this period with a salary twice higher.
Her destiny would be set not really by her talent but rather by the interest she could arouse to the 90 people of the press and studio publicity crews.
Those
press agents aroused the public curiosity on about actors, put some
anecdotes in newspapers and magazines and caught the attention of the
most influent columnists of that era: Hedda Hopper (
), Louella Parsons (
), Walter Winchell ( 
) and Sidney Skolsky.
All those columnists, and also some publications such as Photoplay, Modern Screen, Silver Screen and other magazines had an enormous power : they were wooed and coaxed to further the actors career.
Monday, July 29 :
The name of Norma Jeane Dougherty first appeared in the Hollywood echoes. In her column, Hedda Hopper wrote "Howard Hughes is on the mend". Actually, on Sunday, July 7,
producer Howard Hughes had an aircraft accident in Beverly Hills and
was seriously injured. "Seduced by a cover-girl picture in a magazine,
he had immediately given some instructions to sign her a contract for
movies. Her name is Norma Jeane Dougherty, a model".
AUGUST:
Jim Dougherty was in mission near Shanghai when he received a letter
from Nevada : a lawyer named C.Norman Cornwall informed him
that Norma Jeane had asked for a divorce (
,
,
).
He immediately sent a telegram in Los Angeles, to the Government office concerned, and suspended the payments he sent her each month.
Lyon asked her if she had a preference : Norma Jeane didn't hesitate a second and chose Monroe, her mother's maiden name, the only genuine family she had (like Jean Harlow who had chosen her mother's maiden name).
Lyon approved : Monroe, it was short, and sounded good. A real American name (like the President). She had to have a first name. Norma Jeane Monroe was heavy, Norma Monroe almost unpronounceable; they first chose Jean Monroe, but Norma Jeane didn't like its resonance.
She wanted to change her first name, and told him a little about her story.
Ben Lyon found Marilyn, because she made him think to the actress Marilyn Miller. Actually, like Marilyn Miller, Norma Jeane had blond hair and blue-green eyes. Previously, Ben Lyon had been in love with Marilyn Miller and was engaged with her, shortly before he met his wife, Bebe Daniels. Child, Marilyn Miller had been abandoned by a tyrannical father. Lyon had been struck by the similitary of their careers. She had become a Boradway musicals star in the 20's ("Sally and Sunny"), and had had a brief success in movies. After 3 marriages and professional failures, her health deteriorated and she died in 1936, aged 37.
Norma Jeane wasn't immediately convinced : Marilyn sounded weird, artificial.
Ben
Lyon remembered her that it was the most popular American name
since the First World War, precisely because of Marilyn Miller. So,
Norma Jeane Baker became Marilyn Monroe : 
.
Monday, August 26 : accompanied with Grace McKee-Goddard, "Marilyn Monroe" signed a contract with the Fox. Grace's signature was essential because Norma Jeane wasn't yet aged 21.
The decison was valided in September by the Superior Court of California, Norma Jeane being still under 18.
By affixing her signature, it was as if Grace signed Norma Jeane's passport for freedom, legitimate outcome of her former authority. She gave her the independence she hadn't when she had married Jim Dougherty, and she withdrew herself from the game, agreeing to become a character from the past.
Afterwards,
Norma Jeane didn't see Grace much : actually she was very
affected by the alcohol ravages on this one, and wanted to turn her
back on her former life.
SEPTEMBER :
Thursday, September 5 :
Variety magazine quoted her name for the first time, under the section "New contracts" : she was one of the new recruits of the Fox :
.
Friday, September 13, 2.00 PM, she obtained a divorce for "extreme mental cruelty having affected the plaintiffs health".
,
).Jim didn't attend the hearing.
In the common private property dividing, she obtained Jim's car, a Ford tourning coupé of 1935 : 
.
She celebrated the event at the restaurant (
,
where she invited Grace McKee- Goddard, Ana Lower, her
sister Berniece Miracle and her daughter Mona Rae (visiting Los
Angeles this summer) (
;
,
,
), Gladys and Enid Knebelkamp
(Grace's sister).
A couple of weeks later, Jim Dougherty countersigned the act, granted Norma Jeane her freedom : 
.
They didn't meet again, ever and didn't talk neither.
She lived at the Studio Club residence, located
1215 North Lodi Place (apartment hotel for women, located near the Columbia, founded by Mary
Pickford), room n° 307, she paid 12$ a week (
,
,
).
Having from then on a regular salary, Norma Jeane opened a bank account.
She regularly sent some money to Gladys, returned in Portland at the end of summer, to improve her everyday life.
FALL:
She
made her first radio experience : she appeared with promising starlets
interviewed by the radio station KFI, at the Los Angeles Ambassador
Hotel; for this occasion, she was photographed by Leo Caloia :
,
,
.
The end of the year passed witout any hiring from the Fox, even not a crowd scene.
Although she didn't have to , she went to the studio everyday.
She visited the wardrobe with curiosity, studying the period costumes as well as the contemporary wardrobe.
She asked questions to everyone who was likely to give her some informations about lighting, camera movements ot the actors acting or diction.
Eager for gleaning or assimilating everything she could, she wanted to know the different techniques for make-up, for black and white and color. Allan Whitey Snyer, famous in the whole profession for his skill to make the actors up in the most various parts, quickly became her mentor. She completely trusted him and had gratitude towards him about the time he devoted to her, despite her overburdened timetable.
Snyder was touched by her obvious lack of self-confidence, her childish amazement in front of the magic of cinema which she discovered the secrets.
He noticed the firmness with which she welcomed the ritual weekly "There's nothing for you", while keeping going in depth her knowledge.
BACK TO ALPHABETICAL INDEX
NEXT FILE