Authors: Michelle Morgan
Although she thought briefly about giving up her career, Marilyn soon picked herself up and auditioned for a part in the Twentieth Century Fox film,
Ticket to Tomahawk,
staring Dan Dailey and Anne Baxter. Marilyn was to play the small part of Clara, a showgirl in a troop who join Dan Dailey in a rendition of ‘Oh, What a Forward Young Man You Are.’ Actress Kathleen
Rubin had been up for the part herself, and remembered: ‘I couldn’t dance and even after spending all day with a dance instructor, I couldn’t remember a simple time step. Eventually, when it got to 6 p.m. the dance instructor told me to forget it! The studio then called for Marilyn because they knew she could dance. Although the film was mostly shot on location, one scene was a dance scene on the Fox lot. I went to see the shoot and thought Marilyn was terrific in it. Between takes Marilyn, Dan Dailey and the others would come and sit in a circle to chat; she was very nice during that time, and I really liked her a lot.’
The part Marilyn played wasn’t an important role, but it did give her a taste of location filming when the company travelled to Silverton, Colorado. The local newspapers were buzzing with the news that a film crew would be visiting the town, and on 29 July 1949, it was reported that the director, Richard Sale, had arrived. By 19 August, Empire Street had been remodelled and revamped to look like 1900s America, with saloons, business establishments, general stores and a jail; along with various extras, actors and actresses in attendance. The filming went on until mid-September, though it is likely that Marilyn did not stay on location the entire time, as her part was very small.
Around this time, Marilyn met and befriended a gentleman by the name of A.C. Lyles, who worked at Paramount Studios. Almost sixty years later, he remembered how they first met: ‘I was in St Louis opening a picture for Paramount when I read Erskine Johnson’s column in which he listed some young actors and actresses who he thought had a chance to make good. One was Marilyn Monroe. At that time, I didn’t know Marilyn. I sent the column to her care of the Screen Actors Guild. When I returned, there was a message at the studio for me to call her. She came to the studio to have lunch with me and that was the start of our friendship. My first impressions were the same as Erskine’s. She was most attractive, a saucy personality, and had all the qualities to be successful given opportunities. After that, we had lunches in the Paramount commissary, went to see
movies at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and sometimes dinners at the Brown Derby.’
Shortly after the shooting of
Ticket to Tomahawk,
Marilyn took the decision to cut her hair into a shoulder-length bob. This new cut gave her a whole new image and sophistication that was missing from the ‘girl-next-door’ look of long, wavy hair. Meanwhile, Johnny Hyde continued to squire Marilyn around town, showing her off and making sure influential people saw her. A.C. Lyles remembered: ‘It was very obvious he was extremely fond of Marilyn and wanted to do everything in his capacity as a highly respected agent to advise Marilyn’s career. She was extremely fond of Johnny. Her friends also liked him and were grateful for his friendship with Marilyn. I don’t know if he ever asked Marilyn to marry him. We all loved Johnny and I’m sure that included Marilyn.’
The first acting part she obtained after changing her image came towards the end of 1949, and was that of Angela, Louis Calhern’s mistress in the John Huston movie,
The Asphalt Jungle.
Lucille Ryman and Johnny Hyde had put Marilyn forward for the part, but it was her audition that secured her the role. She had rehearsed for three days with Natasha Lytess, and although extremely nervous, she was determined to do a good job. Marilyn performed the audition whilst sitting on the floor, and afterwards begged the director to let her do it again. It was unnecessary, however, as Huston was impressed enough to hire her for the part – the most important of her career so far.
By now Marilyn was extremely reliant on the support of Natasha Lytess, and as a result, the coach was a constant presence on the
Asphalt Jungle
set, even giving up her job at Columbia in order to give 100 per cent of her time. This was the beginning of what would become a director’s nightmare, where Marilyn would look to her coach for guidance instead of the director himself. In fact, in one particular scene, Marilyn can be seen quickly glancing off set in the direction of her coach, to see if her performance was OK. Still, in spite of that, Marilyn did a tremendous job with the four scenes she had, and when the film
was released on 23 May 1950, it gained favourable reviews not only for the main cast, but for her too.
On 28 October 1949, Louella Parsons reported in her syndicated column that Marilyn had called her with great excitement, to tell her about her part in
The Asphalt Jungle.
During the call she lavished her thanks on Joseph Schenck, ‘who gave me my first job in the movies,’ Johnny Hyde for signing her, and John Huston for accepting her. ‘I am just grateful to everyone,’ sighed the woman described by Parsons as ‘One of the sweetest girls I know’. This was a far cry from the desperately unhappy girl who had phoned Bill Pursel just a few months before; for once she was enjoying her success and making the most of her newfound popularity.
By the beginning of 1950, Marilyn was auditioning for parts at the newly formed Players Ring Theater at 8351 Santa Monica Boulevard. She never won a part but by this time Twentieth Century Fox were becoming keen on her once again, and on 5 January 1950, she began shooting
The Fireball,
followed in April 1950 by the small but important role of Miss Caswell in
All about Eve.
The film was a vehicle for film legend Bette Davis, with co-stars Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Celeste Holm, making it the first film Marilyn had appeared in with such a hugely talented cast. ‘It was only a small part,’ she said, ‘but I was thrilled to be working with Sanders, Bette Davis and Anne Baxter.’ The experience was daunting, but she really held her own, and although only hired initially for one week’s work, she ended up spending a month on the set.
However, she made relatively few friends, particularly because every time she had a scene to play, shooting would be held up by her continual lateness. Celeste Holm later remembered that the actor Gregory Ratoff once declared, ‘That girl will be a big star!’ to which Holm retorted, ‘Why, because she keeps everyone waiting?’ The actor replied, ‘No, she has a quality.’ But someone who did not feel the same way was George Sander’s wife, Zsa Zsa Gabor, after rumours surfaced on the set that Marilyn had had an affair with the actor. True or not,
the episode was to come back to haunt her several months later, when she was invited to a party given by photographer Anthony Beauchamp. On realizing that Marilyn was not only at the party, but also speaking to her husband, Zsa Zsa is said to have stormed into a bedroom with her mother, staying there until her husband was ready to leave.
But Marilyn probably didn’t spend much time worrying about Zsa Zsa, as she was much too busy with her career. She was still in great demand from photographers, and on 17 May 1950, Earl Leaf travelled to Hyde’s North Palm Drive home and photographed her in the garden, playing with her new chihuahua Josefa, and posing among the trees and shrubbery. Shortly after, she took part in a screen test for a new gangster film called
Cold Shoulder,
which was to be produced by George Jessel. The screen test went well enough to draw the attention of the media, and on 18 July 1950 Louella Parsons announced that Marilyn had won the part and would be acting opposite Richard Conte and Victor Mature. The part was still being talked about in August, but it was all an illusion; under instructions from studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck,
Cold Shoulder
was shelved.
But it wasn’t all bad news. Because of her new ‘bobbed’ hair and the small parts in
The Asphalt Jungle
and
All about Eve
Marilyn started to draw attention from syndicated journalists such as Sheilah Graham, and the aforementioned Louella Parsons, who started to compare the starlet to Lana Turner. This comparison was flattering but she was eager to dispel any similarities: ‘I don’t think I’m another Lana Turner,’ she said. ‘I think I have a personality all of my own.’
Interestingly, during the summer of 1950, it was reported that Twentieth Century Fox had bought the rights to Anita Loo’s screenplay,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
On hearing about this, Louella Parsons wrote in her 2 September column that they should consider using Marilyn for the part of Lorelei Lee. Her wish came true some two years later, when Fox did choose her to play Lorelei in the film. But for now she had to content herself with playing small roles, and for most of 1950 Marilyn
worked hard and won parts in films such as
Right Cross
and
Hometown Story,
along with making a television commercial for Royal Triton Gasoline.
Determined to make it as a star in Hollywood, Marilyn spent a lot of time studying the actresses at Twentieth Century Fox, and in particular, Betty Grable. During an interview with film and theatre critic Michael Thornton eight years after Marilyn’s death, Celeste Holm recalled that the starlet had been obsessed with Betty Grable and would follow her around, sit through her films many times and try to emulate her position and success. ‘She wanted to be Betty Grable,’ Holm told Thornton.
Several years later Betty Grable told Thornton herself that it was true Marilyn used to follow her around, ‘to the point that it got a little bit scary’. However, she eventually understood her fascination and told Thornton that she thought Marilyn was a person with no clear identity of her own, and that everything she did was a desperate search for identity.
Her search and perseverance were beginning to pay off, however, as she continued to win small mentions in the many gossip columns that crowded the Los Angeles newspapers. Her love life was also winning publicity when Sheila Graham reported on 12 October that Marilyn had been spotted at the beach with none other than Peter Lawford, the man who would be pivotal in introducing her to the Kennedy family some eleven years later. Marilyn denied the involvement, however, saying ‘as a matter of fact I’ve never had a date with Peter. We were at the same table at a night club and I may have danced with him, but that hardly constitutes a date and certainly not a romance.’
Lawford had apparently been pursuing Marilyn for several years. Bill Pursel remembers driving over to see Marilyn several years before, while she was still living with her late Aunt Ana: ‘When I drove up to Aunt Ana’s house, there she was standing alongside a convertible with Peter Lawford inside; his arm hanging out, talking to Norma Jeane. She saw me, and came dashing across the street and jumped into my car with a smiling. “Hi, Bill.” We took off leaving Lawford sitting in his convertible.
I asked Norma Jeane if I was interrupting something and she said, “No you aren’t . . . You just rescued me from a beach wolf.” She laughed, and said he’d been after her before.’
But while Bill may have ‘rescued’ her from Peter Lawford back in 1947, by the summer of 1950 their relationship was about to end. One of their last dates was at a drive-in movie, as Pursel remembered: ‘It was a double feature and Norma Jeane had been on a photo shoot at Catalina Island all day. We were as close to being in love that night as we ever were; she laid her head in my lap and went to sleep, and I could feel the warmth and closeness. Later, while we dined I looked into her eyes and told her I might be falling in love. She smiled and said, “That’s my line, even though you said it first.” We kissed across the table; the waiter appeared and asked us if we would like to order some dessert and we laughed.’
But while love may have been on the table just a few months before, by the time Bill graduated from college Marilyn had decided the relationship was over. It came as a shock to Bill, particularly as they had briefly talked about marriage and had recently looked around show houses during a day out in San Diego.
The last time he saw Norma Jeane was on the evening before he was due to travel to Las Vegas. He remembered: ‘I was packed to go home early the next morning; it was around 7.30 p.m. and I called her to say bye. She said she had a couple of pictures for me and could I come by in the morning; I said we are leaving at dawn, could I come by now? She said OK, so, I drove to her apartment, and she answered the door with a smiling “Hi.” She was in a white terrycloth bathrobe, did not invite me in and before I could say anything she said, “I’ll be with you in a minute,” then disappeared to her right, leaving me standing in the hall. She left the door wide open and just inside there stood two large suitcases; each of them had silver initials near the handles: the initials were RR.
‘Norma Jeane came back to the door and asked me if I had a pen; I didn’t; she said hers was about out of ink, but she
would try to make it write and she again disappeared for a few moments leaving me standing in the hall. When she reappeared she handed me two large photos; I said thank you, she smiled and said, “I hope you like them.” I told her they were very nice. She then moved behind the two suitcases and said, “I really do hope you like them Bill.” I said I liked them very much and we just stood there looking at each other. I was stunned by her look; it was the same look she had given Jim Dougherty when he came for the car keys back in 1946. Finally I said, “Good bye,” and she responded with “Bye” and sort of gave me a little wave. I turned and slowly walked away; so angry that I nearly tore the photos up. As I reached the stairs down I heard her door slowly close and this was the last time we ever saw each other. I walked away feeling like an intruder, which I guess I was.’
The friendship had been important to both of them, and had seen them through some exciting and difficult times, but now it was over and the two were destined never to see each other again. Still, it did not stop Pursel caring for the girl he always knew as Norma Jeane, and sixty years later, he still remembers their friendship with great fondness: ‘It was an exciting time of my life – I was settling down after twenty-two months of war in Europe, I was getting good grades in college, I was maturing, and I had a gorgeous blonde to squire around, but . . . I knew early on that this interlude in our lives wasn’t going to last: Norma Jeane was hell bent to make it in Hollywood, and I just kept encouraging her. I had a long way to go in college, and even though she wanted me to go to Actors Lab and pursue an acting career I had other ideas. I knew I had to let her go, but it was a great (and personal) ride while it lasted. I was saddened, but not surprised, when she crashed a few years after we lost contact with one another. There wouldn’t be anything to gain to embellish this connection between Norma Jeane and me – it’s best to just say we were close and had fun together.’