My journey ends here...
1948
She appeared in "Sitting Pretty", shot for the Twentieth Century Fox, beside actor Clifton Webb; the movie was released in March 1948 but she was uncredited (
,
,
).
FEBRUARY:
During a party, John Carroll introduced
Marilyn to Pat De Cicco, an industrialist who had successfully launched
"Bon-Bons", a candy mainly sold in movie theaters. De Cicco
was a friend of Joseph Schenck (
), the former head of the Fox.
Joe Schenck, the Hollywood tycoon, organized legendary poker games in his sumptuous castle, pastiche of the Spanish and Italian Renaissance, located 141 South Carolwood Drive, one of the most uptown areas of Los Angeles :
Dream creatures were also invited to fill the champagne glasses up and to empty the ashtrays.
Schenck,
Darryl Zanuck (
) and other movie tycoons played cards.
That's how she was introduced to Joe Schenck.
In 1948, he was still one of the most influent personalitites of the Mecca of cinema. Former president of United Artists, ex boss of the Twentieth Century, then the Fox, he still exerted a significant influence on the main studios.
Used to be obeid, the old baron of the Fox could be magnanimous or quick-tempered, according to his mood of the moment.
During the party, this Saturday, Marilyn wasn't the only pretty girl. Around the poker table stuck together a host of pin-ups , models and other night butterflies attracted by the dazzling limelight. While distributing beverages and cigars, the majority of the cutesie hostesses (the "gin-rummy girls") seemed ready to do more personal favors to the players, in the hope that they found a contract in a studio. This evening, Marilyn stayed quietly seated next to De Cicco, pretending, with grace, to ignore the burning winks of the master of the house.
From the following day, Joe Schenck invited her to dinner one-to-one and sent for take her a sparkling Limo with chauffeur.
It was a proposition she would have been crazy to refuse.
She wanted to work, she wanted to succeed and she knew that in the Hollywood ruthless world, some business were easily negotiated in private than in the office of an agent.
Inveterate philanderer (Marilyn was only one of his countless conquests), Joe Schenck didn't drop her and they ended by linking with a strong friendship.
), number one of the Columbia.
Well-known
as heartless, hated by his circle, Cohn had at least, the virtue of
having discovered an obscure dancer named Margarita Cansino, to change
her into a beauty queen called Rita Hayworth :
.
Friday, February 20
: Marilyn was crowned Artichoke Queen of Salinas, California (
,
).
She posed for a publicity for bathsuits in Holiday magazine, published in February : 
.
MARCH :
Thursday, March 9 : Marilyn was hired by the Columbia for 6 months, paid 100 or 125$ a week. Furthermore, the studio housed her at the Bel Air Hotel.
Harry
Cohn confided her to the trained hand of the studio stylists who drew
her hair again, and made her hair more bouffant thanks to the
electrolysis sessions; then, they treated her ash blonde hair with
hydrogen peroxide to make them platinum.
Her reflection reminded her the favourite star of her childhood, Jean Harlow :
After a publicity picture session, and one with the photographer Ed Cronenweth (
,
;
,
,
,
,
;
,
), Max Arnow confided her to Natasha Lytess, drama teacher at the Columbia.
Those who mixed with Natasha Lytess attributed to her a vile temper. Haughty and strict, she had known how to impose to directors and actors. Gifted with an unfailing eloquence, she impressed with her culture and her art knowledge.
Her bitter remarks, her contempt for the Hollywood actors she found very inferior to the European theater great actors, and her mood swings had gradually weaved a legend around the extravagant Mrs Lytess, and soon, she was seen as a kind of exotic aristocracy, exiled in Hollywood.
During
the meetings with directors and producers, she couldn't put up with any
contradiction. In the studio, her name aroused a respect mixed
with resentment. Her embittered old maid attitude had made her
unpleasant to everyone, men and women.
Only Harry Cohn's admiration and the support of some devotees maintained her in position.
This behavior simply hid a bitter frustration. In the past, she had aspired to a theater living legend career.
Alas, the cinema reigned supreme over in Los Angeles. She could have,
maybe overcome her reluctance about film industry, if her strong accent
(she was native to Germany or Austria) and her somewhat
uninviting appearance hadn't relegate her to small parts.
Worse, her position as drama teacher forced her to take part in the successs of many unimpressive starlets whose only merit lay in youth and beauty.
Wednesday, March 10 :
Marilyn met Natasha Lytess and was immediately fascinated by her erudition; for her part, Natasha seemed to be less impressed.
Marilyn mentionned at length with her, her experience at the Actors Laboratory; Natasha replied to her with a conference about the Moscow Art Theater, the revolutionary theories of Konstantin Stanislavski (
) and the influence of Michael Tchekhov (
) about modern theatrical art.After this first contact, Natasha Lytess put a lot of herself into Marilyn's career, at a time when nobody had this courage; she helped her to develop and express her talents and curiosity of the theater world and general knowledge.
Marilyn followed her teaching until 1955.
She played the role of a portrayed stability in the young actress opinion.
In terms of stage acting, she taught Marilyn the subtlety of gesture, elocution, diction and breath, encouraged her to speak in a natural way and gave her intensive lessons before each audition.
Thursay, March 18, Marilyn learned through Grace McKee-Goddard the death of Ana Lower, occurred on Sunday, March 14, of a severe cardiac faillure. The old lady was aged 68 and her health, since 2 years, hadn't stopped to deteriorate.
She was cremated on March 18 and her ashes buried at the Westwood Memorial Park :
.
Marilyn didn't attend the funeral.
APRIL :
Wednesday, April 14l : release of the movie "Scudda Hoo ! Scudda Hey !" : 
;
,
,
),
but Marilyn's name wasn't credited, the scenes where she appeared had been cut duting the film-editing.
End of Spring :
As the actors under contract, Marilyn was regularly paid by the Columbia.
The Carrolls however continued to pay her a small private income, so that she could take private lessons with Natasha Lytess.
Her salary, to which was added the Carroll's contribution, allowed her to purchase a convertible Ford, payable by monthly payments. She also bought a professional blow-dryer, bulky as very expensive, a large supply of beauty products, books, a phonograph and classical music records.
MAY
Wednesday, May 26 : she attended the premiere of the movie "The Emperor Waltz" of Billy Wilder, with actor Mickey Rooney
: 
,
.
Natasha
Lytess contacted one of her friends, Harry Romm, who was about to make the production of a musical called
"Ladies of the Chorus", of which one of the part hadn't been yet attributed.
JUNE:
Beginning of June :
Marilyn auditionned for "Ladies of the Chorus", sang one of the songs and got the part (
, 
,
,
).
Harry
Romm sent her to Fred Karger, singing teacher and arranger (
), so that she took diction and singing lessons.
She also took dancing lessons (
,
,
).
Marilyn didn't need a long time to fall in love with him, and become attached to this large family.
,
,
) located 1215 North Lodi Place.
She stayed there in room 334 until March 13th1949.
Like the YWCA (Young Women Christian Association), there were strict schedules and the masculine visits were forbidden.
The first rents were paid by Lucille Ryman.
Fred
Karger suggested her to take an appointment with Dr Walter Taylor, the stars orthodontist.
He installed her corrective braces bound to correct a light overhang of her upper teeth, before bleaching them.
Fred Karger paid the treatment.
Overcome with gratitude, Marilyn wanted to thank him by giving him her body and soul. He gladly agreed her embraces but turned down her matrimonial proposals.
JULY :
In "Ladies of the Chorus", she embodied the character of Peggy Martin, a cabaret singer (
) who fell in love with an
attractive young man from the high society (
,
).
The young lady's mother disagreed about this wedding. Of course,
everythings ended well, according to the pure Hollywood tradition, and
after many events, love triumphed over obstacles.
Despite her too sophisticated diction, her mechanical gesture by dint of being repeated and her lack of experience, Marilyn seemed to glow.
Her 2 songs, "Everybody Needs a Da-da-daddy" and "Anyone Can See I LoveYou" revealed her mellow voice and lightly veiled, stunning fusion of childish innocence and feminine charm.
The shooting was very short : it lasted only 10 days.
It was during this shooting that she met the wardrobe head Jean-Louis, who dressed her on the set and who designed her many dresses throughout her life.
,
) and beside the pool (
,
).
AUGUST:
Harry
Cohn (head of the Columbia) and Max Arnow (casting director) weren't
convinced by Marilyn's acting, and the Columbia didn't renew her
contract.
It's said that beforehand, she had been summoned in Harry Cohn's office, and she would have refused his advances.
Despite Joe Schenck's intervention who spoke in her favor, her contract wasn't renewd.
She auditionned, unsuccessfully, to join the Benny Goodman Band (conductor and clarinettist, one of the most popular jazzmen).
As she had done it with the Carrolls by regaining a surrogate family, she hung on the Kargers.
Dominated by the passionate desire to belong to a family, Marilyn took up with those she cherished with a fervor which often scared. Fred Karger's mother and sister immediately adopted her.
.
SEPTEMBER :
Thursday, September 9:
She made the last link shots of "Ladies of the Chorus".
OCTOBER :
While
she was going to a screen-test, driving her car, she crashed into
another car in the middle of Sunset Boulevard. A crowd
immediately built up, eager for sensations. Fortunately, nobody was
injured but with her white dotted red beach dress and stiletto heels,
she almost caused a riot. In the crowd of onlookers wasTom Kelley, a former cameraman of the Associated Press.
He worked form then on as independent photographer and had already memoralized the most photogenic models of Hollywood.
When Marilyn declared she had an important appointment, and not a coin to take a cab, Kelley gave him in hand 5 $ and his professional card.
The screen-test she shot didn't led to a contract.
Friday, October 22 : release of "Ladies of the Chorus" (
;
,
,
). Her name was first mentionned by reporter Tibor Krekes in a review of the Motion Picture Herald :
"One of the best scene is Miss Marilyn Monroe's one. She's pretty and with her pleasant voice and her style, she promised...".
NOVEMBER
Tuesday, November 16,
Marilyn signed a contract with photographer Earl Moran (
), who took her in picture several times(
,
,
,
,
,
,
).
Marilyn's affective claims exceeded by far Fred Karger's ability to answer them. He confined to the refusal of marriage, putting forward the argument that she wasn't good enough to raise his daughter, and their love affair ended at the end of the year.
Fred Karger had never given Marilyn lots of hope : to him, it was a physical harmony and nothing more. Their affair was characterized by the sad constant found in Norma Jeane/Marilyn's story. She entrusted to Natasha Lytess that Fred Karger openely made fun of her way of dressing, her diction and pretended that she was only talented in bed. And as Karger's bad opinion about her perfectly corresponded to the mediocre image she had on herself, Marilyn wanted to prove to him (and to herself) the opposite. And while she exerted herself with the obsession of winning this man's respect, to his eyes, she only shamed herself more. Through her overwhelming lust for approval, she bonded to all the whims of her beloved and was sexually available, each time he wanted. The more he dominated her with a hardly veiled contempt, the more she tried to win him back. Father figure, lover and mentor, he represented for her the ideal man.
Christams :
She offered him a watch engraved on its back "25/12/48", she purchased 500$ ; she paid it off for 2 years.
Friday, December 31 :
Producter Sam Spiegel, organized a party for the New Year's Eve, in Beverly Hills.
Spiegel's New Year's Eve parties were prestigious and many people in Hollywood dreamt of being invited there.
This year, the guests were Otto
Preminger (
), William
Wyler, John Huston (
), Henry Hathaway, Jean Negulesco (
), Anatole Litvak and other directors.
During this party she attended, Marilyn was introduced to Johnny Hyde (
), one of the heads of the famous William Morris Agency and one of the most prominent people in Hollywood.
At the end of the party, the famous agent had succumbed to Marilyn's charm.
From the day after, he invited her at his home in Palm
Springs.
Through the year, she received the title of "Miss
Press Club" by the Los Angeles Press Club :
.
She made a picture session with photographer Douglas White (
,
,
,
).
She attended the premiere of "Lend an Ear" at the Las Palmas Theater in Hollywood :
.
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