marilyn monroe, blonde bombshell. get out the fire hose. hollywood super star. the late marilyn monroe. tragic victim. the story of marilyn monroe is an authentic tragedy. when we talk about marilyn poor marilyn, this vulnerable passive woman who is being destroyed by hollywood. that s the way the story frames her. after a reckoning in hollywood, it s time to reframe her story. now it can hit pause and roll it back a bit and ask ourselves, okay, what is it that we think we know? she was quite ahead of her time. and she was very much an architect of her own fame. you must think i was born yesterday. her performances are layered. they re funny. they re tender. they re human. they feel modern. bingo. she had a deep inner life. she was an artist. she was a poet. she was a businesswoman. what a power broker she was, renegotiating her contract, creating her own production company, getting films made. it s actually rather frustrating that people can t
this is a moment that doesn t get much attention in the story of marilyn but it s revealing. i wanted my mother s maiden name because i felt that rightfully was my name and true things rarely get into circulation. the fact she chose monroe showed she wanted agency and control over her image right from the very beginning. it s not only her name that gets the hollywood treatment. every studio had a series of publicity men that we d called flacks, who were out promoting the star. they made up stories about them, they created opportunities to get their names in the papers. they were getting them publicized. and the flacks will create a rags to riches story of marilyn,
honey. to begin with, zanuck sees marilyn as i believe he said that her talent was all below her navel and above her waist. basically, that she was tits and ass, and that was it. if marilyn wants to keep her contract, she will have to fight for it. she kind of had a sort of whatever means necessary, i will find my way to this. that meant doing the right photo shoots or taking acting classes. she wasn t just sitting idly by waiting for the studio to tell her what to do. she was going to fox every single day. i said, why do you work so hard? the other kids that are on the contract sometimes i call at 11:00, 12:00, they are still sleeping from being out the night before. she said, mr. lyon, i work so hard because maybe one day opportunity will knock, and i want to be prepared.
and a fan and photographers captured her peeking out of the train. on the tour, she knows exactly how to present herself and when to be funny. she s extraordinary. she s very, very smart about publicity and very funny. marilyn always seemed to know what publicists wanted, what photographers wanted. so whenever she was presented with an opportunity, she made the most of it. she s just slowly walking up the ladder of success. before leaving new york, marilyn finds time to meet with an old friend, photographer andre de dienes. they happened to be in the same place at the same time, so
they slept together during the trip. and i think that that shows that she was really looking beyond her marriage by that point. she was actually clearly seeing, the doors were opening in front of her. you kind of see that in these pictures, the vistas opening in front of her. six months later, marilyn serves her husband with divorce papers and sets her sights on a new, exciting future. 14 pro. e you the e (scrooge) amazing phone! (vo) this holiday season verizon gives you the new iphone 14 pro. plus an apple gift, like apple watch se, ipad and beats fit pro. all on us. that s a value of up to $1900. (scrooge) wow! (vo) and there are unlimited plans for everyone starting at just $35 a line. it s our best deal of the year. get the network you deserve and the savings you want. only on verizon. tech: when you get a chip in your windshield. trust safelite. this couple was headed to the farmers market.