*THREAD*

Marilyn Monroe

Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on 1 June 1926 in California.

Her mother, Gladys Baker struggled with paranoid schizophrenia.

For the first 8 years of her daughter's life, Gladys Baker played only a small role, helping a foster family raise her child

Gladys married Martin Edward Mortensen at the time of Norma's birth, though it is unknown if he was truly her father.

She was given his surname at birth but she also sometimes went by the surname Baker, the name of her mother's first husband, John Newton Baker.

In 1934, Gladys had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a psychiatric ward.

She never really knew her father.

Norma was moved from foster home to foster home. She was sexually abused in her first two homes and developed a stutter.

Finally she settled in at the home of a friend of her mother's, Grace Goddard, who became her legal guardian.

She was then molested by her foster father, Erwin "Doc" Goddard

The Goddards then decided to move to West Virginia and didn't want to take 15 year old Norma with them.

Her foster mother suggested if she wanted to stay out of an orphanage, she should marry her neighbour, 21-year-old James Dougherty. The two barely knew each other.

Their wedding was held 18 days after her 16th birthday.

She dropped out of school and dedicated herself to her husband.

James Dougherty said he felt like the luckiest man every.

Sadly Norma did not feel the same way about him. She commented that he never said a word to her

In 1943, James Dougherty became a Marine and was sent out to the Pacific.

Struggling to make ends meet, Norma started working in a factory building drone aircraft for the Army

She was spotted by a photographer called David Conover.

He offered her modelling work with the Blue Book Model Agency, but her sensual pin-up pics infuriated her husband

In 1946 they got divorced, she changed her named to Marilyn Monroe & she dyed her hair that trademark blonde

I never knew Marilyn Monroe," James Dougherty would say years later. "I knew and loved Norma Jeane."

The stage name Marilyn Monroe was actually decided on by a studio executive at 20th Century Fox, Ben Lyon.

He picked the name Marilyn because it reminded him of the Broadway star Marilyn Miller. And Norma picked Monroe because it was legitimately her mother's maiden name.

A "cheesecake" girl was slang to describe semi nude pin up girls, still considered taboo in the early 20th C.

By 1951, she appeared in supporting roles in many films, receiving thousands of fan letters & named "Miss Cheesecake of 1951" by the army newspaper Stars and Stripes

Marilyn was a trailblazer in fighting for women's rights in Hollywood.

Even though she was one of the biggest stars for 20th Century-Fox, she was still getting paid less than other stars, and her contract hadn't changed since 1950.

The network refused to put her in anything but comedies or musicals.

She fought back and eventually got a new contract, a $100,000 bonus, and a starring role in the film adaptation of The Seven Year Itch.

Marilyn Monroe had an image of being a ditzy blonde, but she was incredibly well read.

At the time of her death, she owned more than 400 books, including several first editions.

Of the thousands of photographs taken of her, she loved the ones showing her reading the most

Marilyn was a huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald, who was originally denied access to clubs due to her race.

Marilyn promised to be in the front row every night if Morrison booked her, guaranteeing massive amounts of press for the club.

He agreed.

Monroe was true to her word.

"After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again," Ella Fitzgerald said.

"She was an unusual woman—a little ahead of her times. And she didn't know it."

Back in 1952, Marilyn Monroe was the most glamorous blonde bombshell on the silver screen, and Joe DiMaggio was the most famous and beloved baseball player in the world.

DiMaggio asked her agent to set a blind date for the two.

Monroe was unenthusiastic, saying: “I don’t care to meet him. I don’t like men in loud clothes, with checkered suits, big muscles and pink ties. I get nervous.”

But she agreed to a first date, changed her opinion & on 14 January 1954 they got married at San Francisco City Hall.

But things went wrong straight away. Marilyn was curious about intellectual pursuits, constantly trying to improve herself. She took classes, loved art & culture

Joe wasn’t interested in culture, going out or meeting people. He would sit at home, drink, smoke & wait for his wife

He was also obsessively jealous of Marilyn and the image she represented.

Joe was on the set of The Seven Year Itch. He was observed getting angrier & angrier, and unlike the rest of the world, he hated the famous scene where Marilyn’s skirt blew up.

A month later Marilyn filed for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty.

After the divorce, Joe DiMaggio went into therapy, stopped drinking and started working on expanding his interests beyond baseball.

They remained close friends, but DiMaggio never let go of the idea of them reuniting as a couple.

He was planning to ask Marilyn to remarry him, but unfortunately, he was devastated on 5 August 1962 when Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Los Angeles.

According to the toxicology report & investigation, the cause of death was barbiturate poisoning. The media wrote that the star had taken her own life.

But DiMaggio believed that she was murdered

He had spoken with her on the phone on the night of her death & she sounded well

Joe DiMaggio arranged the funeral at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

He arranged for roses to be delivered to her grave twice a week for the next 20 years.