•          HOME PAGE
• BIOGRAPHY
• FILES
• BOOKS
• LINKS
• COMMENTS
• S

REIS May

 

Date of birth : November 8, 1904.

Date of death : October 20, 1987, New York.

 

Practise: private secretary.

Place of living : 61 Perry Street, New York.

Story

Fatherless at the age of 9; she had to take care of her mother and her sick grand-mother.

From the adolescence, she had worked to meet her needs and her brother Irving's ones (he later became director, among others, of the movie version of "All my Sons" of Arthur Miller).

She began to work as Marilyn's private secretary in 1955 or 1957.

In charge of the screenplays sent to Marilyn, of the researches needed by her business, she became a main character in Marilyn's life, her friend, her confidante and, as some biographers notices it, a maternal figure.

She was dealing with Marilyn's New York secreterial work : she answered to the admirers, she managed her schedule, she screened the phone calls and co-operated with artists agents and publicists :.

Letter to Inez Melson dated May 5, 1958 :.

Letter from John C.Taylor, one of Arthur Miller's lawyer :.

She is described as a slight and restrained woman, she had good references since she had worked for Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan.

 
She found her way around the emotional war Arthur Miller and Marilyn engaged in on the set of "The Misfits" (1961) 

,

On February 26, 1959, she accompanied Marilyn when she received the Crystal Star Award for the "Best Foreign Actress" for "The Prince and The Showgirl", given to her at the French Institute :

,

Invoice for the rent of a typewriter for a month, dated April 13, 1960 :.

After their break-up, she couldn't bear her work demands any more and resigned from Marilyn: but the two women remained linked until Marilyn's death. 

At the beginning of 1961 she made Marilyn getting out of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after her nervous breakdown. Biographers differ from knowing if she still worked for Marilyn or if she helped her, out of friendship, because she worried about her.

On March 8, 1961, she accompanied Marilyn at Augusta Miller's funeral, in Brooklyn, New York :

,,

 

On June 28, 1961, she accompanied Marilyn at the Polyclinic Hospital, when she had a gallbladder surgery : 

Telegram she sent to Marilyn "Marge Stengel" when she lived in Doheny Drive, dated December 25, 1961 :

.

On May 18, 1962, she attended Marilyn's rehearsals for John Kennedy's birthday at the Madison Square Garden

She attended Marilyn's funeral on August 8, 1962 :

,

 

Marilyn requited her for her loyalty towards her in her will, but she had to wait 10 years before receiveing her 10 000$ legacy.

At that time, she was Barbra Streisand's secretary.

 

                                                                                                                                              BACK TO ALPHABETICAL INDEX                                                                                                                                                                  NEXT FILE