REIS May
Born Mae Reiss.
Date of death : October 20, 1987, New York.
1937-1940, 245, 11th street, New York (with her mother Rose) ()
61 Perry Street, New York.
Story
Her parents were Philip Reiss and Rose LIPKOWITZ (or LIPKOWIG)(born circa 1887 in Austria).
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 was secretary at the Actors Studio for 5 years, from 1947 to 1952; she belonged to the staff that auditionned people who wanted to integrate the studio.
She resigned in Spring 1952 as a protest, because Elia Kazan, for who she was secretary, had betrayed the group by giving names at the House Un-American Activities Committee.
She had alos worked for Arthur Miller until 1955.
She started working as Marilyn's private secretary in 1957.
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 .
She was there during the shooting of "Some Like It Hot" in 1958 -
-
Check from the Marilyn Monroe Productions dated October 15, 1958 .
On February 26, 1959, she accompanied Marilyn when she received the
Letter from John C.Taylor, one of Arthur Miller's lawyer .
Invoice from Bergdorf Goodman dated June 28, 1960, May Reis signed for Marilyn .
In Marilyn's dressing-room, October 29, 1960 ,
She found her way around the emotional war Arthur Miller and Marilyn engaged in on the set of "The Misfits" (1961)
.
Letter to Aaron Frosch dated September 23, 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
.
Letter sent to Marilyn, dated May 10, 1961 .
On June 28, 1961, she accompanied Marilyn at the Polyclinic Hospital, when she had a gallbladder surgery
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.
Since September 1964, she became Barbra Streisand's private secretary.