My journey ends here...
KARGER Fred
Frederick Maxwell Karger.
Date of birth : February 13, 1916, New York.
Date of death : August 5, 1979, Santa Monica, California (
).
,
,
,
Profession musical director at the Columbia, composer and singing teacher.
Story
His parents were Maxwell Karger (
) and Anna Conley. His father had been one of the founders of the
Metro (which later would become the MGM).
With his first wife Patti Robin Sacks (March 21, 1918, Missouri-May 27, 1933, California), a model studying law, they had a daughter Terence "Terry" Meredith (July 29, 1941, Los Angeles). They divorced on November 29, 1948.
In 1948 Marilyn followed his diction and singing courses; she crazily fell in love with him. Although their love
affair had been
brief, she always claimed that he had been her first love (
).
- after a dinner invitation at his mother's home, he took Marilyn back not to the Studio Club where she lived at that time, but in a cheap housing she had borrowed to a friend in order to convince him about her poverty, arousing his sympathy and encouraging him to invite her at his home.
All the biographies are categorical : she was much in love with him; she confided to Natasha Lytess he was the man of her life and the one she wanted to marry.
He learned her how to improve her voice but also how to dress up. He introduced her to the manners, classical music, literature and took her out in town.
In 1948, before the shooting of "Ladies of the Chorus",
he took an appointment to an orthodontist, Dr Walter taylor, who
corrected a light blemish (her anterior teeth slightly advanced),
bleached her teeth and made her wear braces for the night.
Christmas 1948 : she offered him a 500$ watch, for which she took a 2 years credit.
They attended the New Year's Eve party on December 31, 1948, at the producer Sam Spiegel's home
.
Marilyn would have probably wanted to marry him, but, despite the fact that his mother and sister were very tied to Marilyn, he refused this possibility. He also thought that the young starlet, aged 21, wouldn't be a good mother for his daughter Terry.
He married Jane
Wyman 
on November 1, 1952.
May 27, 1954 
They would divorce on December 7, 1954, then, they would remarry on March 11, 1961, before divorcing again on March 9, 1965.
He married Elizabeth Ann Hill (October 17, 1933-July 22, 2007) on August 8, 1969 in Los Angeles; they lived together until his death in 1979.
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