When I ordered this book I wasn’t expecting it to be anything more than the type of book that’s already been written by say, Milo Speriglio or Ted Jordan. I did not have any high expectations at all but as a collector of Marilyn books I had to have it to keep my collection up to date and complete.
So as it arrived by post I opened it without any notion that I would want to read it properly, just examine it and put it away…As I looked through it, reading passages randomly, I was drawn into what was written on the pages not only about Marilyn but her ancestors and those around her and those who claimed to be around her. This book just exposes them and the myths that have grown with the Monroe legend.
And he delves into the backgrounds of the star players in the story giving you a fuller picture of the individuals and what shaped them as people, their influences, what made them great (some not so great) and their weaknesses, that made them all too human.
At first I was a bit baffled by the authors use of Norma Jean, basically he never uses the “e” at the end, but eventually he does state that this was usually only used on official documents by Gladys and then later by Marilyn herself because she thought it looked sexier with the “e.” I think 1985’s Goddess book was the first to use the Norma Jeane spelling and since then most books have picked up on this, the correct spelling. I guess he’s used this spelling because it was the most common during Marilyn’s lifetime and for the first twenty-three years after she died.
I think he’s trying to make a point here and once you see where he’s coming from you can get on with the rest of his book. There’s also confusion over her father, he names Edward Mortenson as opposed to C. Stanley Gifford. So you’re left wondering, how did he not pick up on that?What it was that gripped me was that he says MM never at any time had any abortions, she had been pregnant three times, losing the baby the first two times and the third time it was an ectopic pregnancy that required an emergency termination, a very different situation from an abortion.
This information came from Marilyn’s gynaecologist, Dr Leon Krohn.He claims alot of the stories MM told about her childhood were fabricated and that they were more than likely experiences endured by Bebe Goddard, and he claims MM was a virgin when she married Dougherty and still very much craved the needs of a teenager, often playing in the street with the other kids in the neighbourhood & having dolls on the bedroom unit! These stories about abuse were for publicity reasons as they told a better tale for the magazines to sell. But he also exposes Bebe as a liar who sold personal belongings of Marilyn that had been manufactured after her death and so proved to be nothing whatsoever to do with Marilyn in the first place! But there’s a few things that you question.
I would take Marilyn’s claims more seriously, I don’t think her being a virgin on her wedding night means she hadn’t been molested in some way.He doesn’t dismiss the Kennedy relationships, but he doesn’t make them sensational either and the night of her death he presents (and dismisses) what’s been written in the past but really points the finger at Peter Lawford, who was last person to speak on phone with MM but was not willing to go to help her as this was a regular occurrence during those last months and that he didn’t take it serious at first… “it’s phone dangling time” he would jest with his guests, but eventually, that night he sensed something wasn’t right, became a quivering wreck and as precious minutes passed, called others for advice and help during which time MM died… he should have went straight to Marilyn’s house and acted more like the friend he was.
It was a mistake that would haunt Peter for the rest of his life.
He also dismisses any intimate relationship with Lawford although he writes about a time very early on when they went out for dinner with another couple but was horrified at the state of Marilyn’s apartment when he went to pick her up as it was covered in dog pooh! As Marilyn dressed and applied her make-up he looked for cleaning items and cleaned the mess up. Marilyn never house trained her pet pooch. He never went to any of her houses after that night, although they remained friends, he preferred her to visit at his.Schwarz writes alot about MM’s addiction to sleeping pills and alcohol abuse, and says that Joe wasn’t so much involved with her during those final weeks as has been written, but he should have made more attempts to help her in withdrawing from prescription pills, no one seemed to help her.
The studio heads did not care about her illness’ – they only cared that she was in front of the camera and working. They had no concerns for her well being.He also claims that the Pucci dress Marilyn was buried in wasn’t actually one she had but one they ordered & flown in from Florence and it was too small!He denounces Carmen, Slatzer and June DiMaggio (who he claims is June E. Elpine) and that girl who claims so be MM reincarnated, Sherri Lee Laird & many others including people who were involved in the inquest into her death in 1982 and how their stories had changed from 1962 to 1982 and why and how they gave themselves away, no stone is left unturned.
He doesn’t mince his words and he’s not a sympathetic writer. Even about Marilyn. There is a lot of good background information and some insightful opinions, but I find his attitude towards Marilyn quite harsh and even downright nasty at times. I think he makes too much of her fabrications – we know she exaggerated things about her childhood, but clearly it was a hard, lonely time for her. He seems to accept a lot of the gossip about her sleeping around as well. I’m open-minded about this and don’t think we’ll ever really know the whole truth, but some of Schwarz’s sources are a bit dubious. For every person who says Marilyn was promiscuous, there seems to be someone else who says she wasn’t at all. But he doesn’t really show the other side. I also think he is rather dismissive of her intelligence, talent and good character.
Many people liked Marilyn, some found her exasperating but very few people seemed to hate her. But Schwarz seems to focus on her most negative traits to the exclusion of others, and that seems unfair. I get the feeling he doesn’t like Marilyn very much, but is somewhat obsessed by her and so it makes for a strange read. Interesting, but hard to warm to and lacking in empathy.There’s so much in this book, much more than I could possibly mention here and believe me this is just a taste of what it’s like, he writes how he expected the book to be half the size it has turned out to be and admits he has had to either omit or gloss over important people and incidents due to lack of space.
He has tried to ensure that the most important individuals and events are at least mentioned and has tried to present stories from her life that have not been discussed elsewhere. I was disappointed he didn’t rate her as an actress, it spoiled alot of the book for me. If you take only Don’t Bother to Knock, Bus Stop & The Prince and The Showgirl, I think you get three diverse performances that show how wonderful she could be when she had a great role to work with.
He trys to fathom why Norma Jean(e)’s creation fascinates us so much and never really reaches a satisfactory answer but concludes that, “Marilyn Monroe, the woman who excited the world yet never really existed, is like one of the goddesses of ancient times, a cursed seductress who died an accidental death by her own hand, aided and abetted by friends, minions, lovers, employers, doctors and fools…”At 650 pages, it’s good to read a full-scale biography, even though I don’t care for all of it.
By Fraser Penney
