| Marilyn, Grushenka And The Brothers Karamazov The Brothers Karamazov, the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, was published in 1880. It is a story of three brothers who become implicated in the murder of their corrupt father, also named Fyodor. Dmitri, his eldest son, is a soldier, mired in a life of debauched excess. Ivan is a student, much disturbed by the irrationality of the world, while Alexei, the youngest of the brothers, is an idealistic novice monk. Both Dmitri and his father, Fyodor, fight for the affections of Grushenka, a peasant girl who has risen to the dubious status of courtesan. And in a further twist, Ivan falls for Dmitri’s erstwhile fiancée, the proud and haughty Katerina. But the plot and characters are only one aspect of Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece, a vehicle for his own religious and philosophical odyssey. While sentenced to hard labour in Siberia for circulating his politically subversive writings, Dostoyevsky had befriended a young man convicted of killing his father to secure an inheritance. Years later, the man’s conviction was overturned. The incident inspired Dostoyevsky to write The Brothers Karamazov, but as the novel progressed a more personal tragedy took over. Dostoyevsky’s three year-old son, Alyosha, died of epilepsy. Alexei, hero of the novel, was affectionately named Alyosha. The Brothers Karamazov had already been filmed in Europe when it was first mooted in Hollywood during the late 1940s. Dore Schary, Chief of Production at MGM, bought the rights to the novel and began planning a lavish adaptation. At the same time, a little-known starlet was making the rounds of the studios, taking bit parts in forgettable ‘B’ movies. In late 1948, Marilyn Monroe met agent Johnny Hyde. He was 52 years old, and she was thirty years his junior. Nonetheless, Johnny was smitten. He left his wife and family, and soon he and Marilyn were the subject of gossip. A photograph of them dancing together shows Marilyn towering over the diminutive Hyde, and she later confessed that she often forgot her place, leading him in the dance. From the outset, Johnny was convinced that Marilyn had the potential to be a major star. ‘I discovered Lana Turner,’ he told her, ‘and you’re more than she ever was.’ Marilyn took a flashy walk-on role in a Marx Brothers film, Love Happy, and flew to the east coast on a promotional tour. Between public appearances, she secluded herself in hotel rooms, spending hours on the telephone to Johnny, and her acting coach, Natasha Lytess. Marilyn also liked to read. Sensitive about her lack of formal education (she had left high school early to embark on a short-lived marriage), she spent her spare cash on classic literature and art, and occasionally wrote poetry. Miller later recalled the incident in his memoir, Timebends. ‘Marilyn Monroe seemed almost ludicrously provocative, a strange bird in the aviary,’ he wrote breathlessly, ‘if only because her dress was so blatantly tight, declaring rather than insinuating that she had brought her body along and that it was the best one in the room.’ Despite his obvious lust for Marilyn, Miller returned to New York, and his marriage. Meanwhile, Marilyn signed a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox and worked steadily through 1951. She was generally given lightweight roles in mediocre comedies, playing a series of dim-witted secretaries and scheming gold-diggers. When the Korean war erupted, Marilyn was the army’s most popular pin-up. Off-screen, she took night-classes in literature and continued her acting lessons with Natasha Lytess. As Marilyn’s star rose, the gulf between her public image and private self grew ever wider. But her ambition to play Grushenka had not been forgotten. Marilyn became Hollywood’s most prominent sex symbol. Films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch were worldwide hits, and her handprints were immortalised in cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. In 1954, she married the legendary baseball hero, Joe DiMaggio. But just a few months later, the marriage was over and Marilyn walked out on her lucrative contract with Fox, moving to New York, where she frequented the Actor’s Studio and formed her own production company. She encountered Arthur Miller again, and their romance was rekindled. Miller’s life, like Marilyn’s, was at a crossroads. As red-baiting swept America, he was questioned by the House Un- American Activities Committee regarding his youthful membership of the Communist Party. It had been a fleeting dalliance, so his own past affiliations were disregarded. But when Miller refused to name other party members, he was charged with contempt of court. Page 2 |
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