Marilyn Monroe Essay, Research Paper
Many people said that Marilyn Monroe was a great
inspiration in their lives, but through my research, I found
out that she was everything but an inspiration. Throughout
my report, I will give you many facts about marilyn s rough
life and what she did to handle them.
Marilyn Monroe, AKA Norma Jean Mortenson/Baker,
was born at Los Angeles General Hospital at 9:39 am on
June 1st, 1926. The hospital in which she was born is
now the County University of Southern California Medical
Center. Marilyn was born an illegitimate child whose father
(Edward Mortenson) had deserted her mother (Gladys
Baker). However, her real father was Stanley Gifford who
left Gladys when he found out she was pregnant.
Her mother worked at the Consolidated Film Industries
lab as a cutter of negative film. She worked long hours, at
low pay, at a boring and tedious eyestraining job. Since she
was at her job most of the time, she had to pay others to
look after Marilyn. Sometimes she would only get to see her
mother only early in the morning or at night. It was enough
for any mom to have a nervous breakdown. All Marilyn
remembered was her mother being in and out of hospitals.
Marilyn s mother was working long hours at the film lab
just to make ends meet. She became very tired and nervous;
life became difficult for her. She had been sent to the
Norwalk State hospital for Mental Diseases for a rest when
Marilyn was only five years old. That was what caused her
to have a nervous breakdown and that is what caused
Marilyn to spend her childhood in and out of foster homes.
When Gladys first went to the hospital, Marilyn moved in
with her mother s best friend.
When her mom s best friend remarried, she told Marilyn that
her house was too small and someone had to go. Marilyn
was only nine years old then. So one day, she packed
Marilyn s clothes in a suitcase and they got in her car. They
drove and drove for a long time without telling Marilyn
where she was going. They finally arrived at a three-story
red-brick building. Marilyn looked up at the sign and it said
LOS ANGELES ORPHANS HOME. Marilyn told her, Please
don t let me stay here. I m not an orphan, my mother s not
dead. Her mom s friend had to drag her inside the
orphanage. Her mother s girlfriend had promised her that
she would take good care of her. She promised Marilyn that
she would come back often and visit her. She also promised
her that she would get her out of the orphanage as soon as
she was able to. Marilyn didn t believe her though. She
later found out that her mom s best friend was Grace
Goddard. She was her aunt Grace. While in the orphanage,
Marilyn was sexually abused. Two years later, her Aunt
Grace finally took her out of the orphanage. When they
returned from the orphanage, Aunt Grace took Marilyn to
live with her aunt. She lived in Van Nuys, a very poor
neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Her name
was Edith Ana Atchison Lower, a sixty-two-year-old spinster.
Her home was a rundown bungalow, and the people in the
neighborhood were mostly poor and on relief. Although she
was poor, Aunt Ana became the greatest influence in
Marilyn s life. She said she was such an influence because
she taught Marilyn to appreciate the simple things in life.
She taught Marilyn what was important in life.
Marilyn commented about her Aunt Ana, She didn t believe
in sickness, disease, or death. She didn t believe in a person
being a failure, either. She did believe the mind could
achieve anything it wished to achieve.
Marilyn had problems with her diction when she went
to High School. She also stuttered a lot. No one really
knew, but her mother bought her a piano that belonged to
the famous actor Fredric March.
Marilyn Monroe always looked older than her age.
When she was only ten, she shot up to her full height 5 5 ,
except she was skinny and looked boyish. At thirteen
everyone said that she looked eighteen, and the boys in their
twenties were trying to date her.
Just three weeks after her sixteenth birthday, she was
married to the boy next door, Jim Dougherty. He was
tweny-one going on twenty-two. They dated for several
months to get to know each other better. And just three
weeks after her birthday, they had their double-ring
ceremony. In those days, she would be considered a child
bride. Wouldn t she be considered a child bride now?
Marilyn s Aunt Ana designed her wedding gown. Marilyn
was listed as her niece on the marriage certificate. At this
wedding she had six mothers claim her and all wheeping
when she marched down the aisle. The mothers all
considered her their daughter because they were her foster
mother s at one time or another.
In 1944, during World War II, Jim listed in the U.S.
Merchant Marine. After his boot training he was stationed
at Catalina Island, not far from where we had been living in
Los Angeles. He was a physical training instructor there, and
Marilyn enjoyed the fact that she was able to join him there.
marilyn remembered it as being a world of men, all sailors
with their wives and families. She said that Jim became
jealous because all of the men would whistle at her as she
passed by. He would lecture her on the type of clothes she
would wear. Marilyn told him that he didn t have to worry
because she would always stay faithful to him. Not many
people believed her though- especially him.
When Jim was shipped to Shanghai, Marilyn went back
to Van Nuys to live with his family. She got a job at the
Radio Plane plant in Burbank {a defense plant}. They
started her there as a parachute inspector, and later she was
promoted to the dope room, where she would spray this
liquid dope, which is made by mixing banana oil and glue, on
the planes fuselages. These were miniature planes used for
target practice. The dope was sprayed on to give it strength.
She worked in overalls and kept her head covered most of
the time so that the dope wouldn t get into her hair, since it
was messy and difficult to wash out.
One day and army photographer came to the plant. He
was from the army s pictorial center in Hollywood. His
assignment was to take pictures for the army newspapers
and magazines of people working in defense plants, showing
them doing their share in the war effort. He called them
morale-booster photos. Marilyn was later told that these
were photos of pretty girls at work.
So when this army photographer, David Conover,
passed by where Marilyn was working, he told her that she
was a real morale booster and told her that he wanted to
take a picture of her for the boys in the army to keep their
morale high.
Those pictures that he took were the first that ever
appeared in a publication. They appeared in hundreds of
army camp newspapers, including the army s famous Yank
magazine and Stars and Stripes.
When David phoned Marilyn a few weeks later, he said
he had shown her pictures to a commercial photographer
friend in Los Angeles and told her that if she was interested
in modeling he would like to see her. She soon called the
photographer, Potter Hueth, and made an appointment to see
him. At his studio he explained to Marilyn that he couldn t
pay for modeling right now, but if she wanted to speculate
with him he would take pictures of her and when he sold
them to the magazines he would pay her. He told her that
the fee was usually five to ten dollars an hour, which was a
lot of money in those days. She agreed to model for him,
but only at night because she did not want to put her other
job in jeopardy.
Marilyn s modeling career started when Potter Hueth
showed the pictures he took of her to Miss Snively, who
then ran the largest model agency in Los Angeles. Marilyn
was quite excited when she agreed to see her. When her
appointment was made, she couldn t sleep that night. If she
didn t like her, that would be the end of her modeling
career-before it started.
Marilyn, calling in sick, took the day off to go see Miss
Snively. She was then nineteen, her marriage was strained,
and she was thinking of divorce. When she wrote to her
husband, she explained that she didn t love him anymore,
that she had a chance for a career as a model, and that she
wanted freedom to pursue her career. She wanted a divorce.
When Jim received the letter, he asked her if she would
wait until he returned from overseas to see if they could
patch things up and make a go for their marriage. But
Marilyn knew the marriage was over. A career was more
important to her. She wanted to become an actress more
than ever. She figured that modeling would give her a
break.
At the appointed hour-11:00 am-Marilyn entered Miss
Snively s office. In there, she told Marilyn that she would
need to go through some modeling classes and that the
tuition was $100.00. Marilyn told her that she didn t
have any money and Miss Snively told her that she could
just pay her with the money she makes working for her.
Marilyn s first modeling job was being a hostess at an
aluminum exhibit at the Los Angeles Home Show in the Pan
Pacific Auditorium. She received $10.00 a day for ten
days, which all went to paying for her modeling lessons.
Marilyn s second modeling job didn t go so well. She
was fired because she wasn t sexy enough. Right after they
told her that, she quit her job at the plant and devoted all
her time to modeling. She wasn t going to let anything or
anyone else stand in her way. They then started putting her
in bathing suits, and all of the sudden she became popular.
In those days, she was a brunette. Miss Snively kept
insisting that she become a blonde. But, Marilyn refused to
bleach her hair. Miss Snively then told her. Norma Jean, if
you expect to go places, you ve got to be a blonde. She
finally agreed to bleach her hair. Photographer Raphael
Wolff agreed to pay for the bleaching. Marilyn had long
hair and they cut it short and styled it in an upsweep. She
didn t really like the look at first-but she knew it got the
attention she needed.
Her first screen test at Fox was a silent test. There
was no dialogue. Mr. Leon Shamroy was the motion picture
cameraman who they said was the best in the business. He
would photograph her screen test.
Secretly one morning around 5:30, Mr. Shamroy and
Marilyn sneaked on the set. She made up in a portable
dressing room that Mr. Lyon sneaked out of wardrobe. The
dress was lovely, a sequined evening gown for her wear for
her big scene. They rehearsed Marilyn s first big scene and
then she began the scene and prayed silently that this was
her big start, the beginning of becoming a motion picture
actress.
Mr. Zanuck saw her screening and loved it! Mr. Lyon
gave her a contract to take home for her legal guardian
Aunt Grace to sign. Mr. Lyon suggested that her first name
be Marilyn and her Aunt Grace told her to use her mother s
maiden name-Monroe. So that is how she got her name.
Later that year, Jim and Marilyn finally divorced in
Reno, Nevada. This occurred just six weeks before she
signed her movie contracts with one of the largest motion
picture studios, Twentieth Century-Fox. And she was only
twenty years old.
After this, Marilyn s life would only just begin to get
better-or so she thought. The money kept pouring in, but
her marriages weren t lasting. Marilyn began to throw
herself to men. She slept with every producer she had ever
had. She starred in thirty movies (one uncompleted). She
married Joe DiMaggio in 1953 and they divorced in 1954.
Then, she married Arthur Miller in 1956 then later
divorced. This is what made her further prey to alcohol and
pills.
Marilyn then moved to 12305 Fifth Elena Drive,
Brentwood. The house is in a cul-de-sac. Frank Sinatra gave
marilyn Monroe a white poodle. His name was Maf. From
this point on, Marilyn downsided. She became very
depressed. She wanted children or a man to live with.
When she would go on her photo shoots, she would become
very down on herself. She had thirteen abortions. Marilyn
had affairs with John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Marlon
Brando, Jose Bolanos, and Frank Sinatra are just some of
the men.
In 1961, she received a Golden Globe Award for Some Like
It Hot. She sang Happy Birthday to John F. Kennedy in
1962.
Marilyn Monroe loved posing on the Santa Monica
beach. She was late for one of her last photo shoots, but
George Barris rescheduled for the next day. That next day,
around 7:30 PM on July 13, 1962, was the day that the
last picture of her on Santa Monica beach was taken, and
was to be her last. Her good friend and photographer
George Barris, lost his shoe on the beach right before their
departure from there, so Marilyn told him that the ocean
apparently needed it more than he did, so they both threw
their shoes in the ocean and left Santa Monica beach forever.
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Brentwood
home, on August 5, 1962 officially a victim of barbiturate
overdose. Marilyn was 36. At 36, she made a statement-
I m thirty-six and I m just getting started. She overdosed
on sleeping pills. Marilyn was in the process of making a
movie Something s Got to Give , but was dropped from the
movie because of chronic lateness and drug dependency. She
died four months after she was fired.
Marilyn s funeral was on Wednesday, August 8,1962.
Marilyn s coffin is in a marble wall-crypt to which a bronze
plaque is attached: Marilyn Monroe
1926-1962
May she rest in peace. She should have turned to God
rather than drugs. Popularity is no excuse to throw your life
away. What was the priority in Marilyn Monroe s life?
How could she even begin to inspire a living person???
Many people said that Marilyn Monroe was a great
inspiration in their lives, but through my research, I found
out that she was everything but an inspiration. Throughout
my report, I will give you many facts about marilyn s rough
life and what she did to handle them.
Marilyn Monroe, AKA Norma Jean Mortenson/Baker,
was born at Los Angeles General Hospital at 9:39 am on
June 1st, 1926. The hospital in which she was born is
now the County University of Southern California Medical
Center. Marilyn was born an illegitimate child whose father
(Edward Mortenson) had deserted her mother (Gladys
Baker). However, her real father was Stanley Gifford who
left Gladys when he found out she was pregnant.
Her mother worked at the Consolidated Film Industries
lab as a cutter of negative film. She worked long hours, at
low pay, at a boring and tedious eyestraining job. Since she
was at her job most of the time, she had to pay others to
look after Marilyn. Sometimes she would only get to see her
mother only early in the morning or at night. It was enough
for any mom to have a nervous breakdown. All Marilyn
remembered was her mother being in and out of hospitals.
Marilyn s mother was working long hours at the film lab
just to make ends meet. She became very tired and nervous;
life became difficult for her. She had been sent to the
Norwalk State hospital for Mental Diseases for a rest when
Marilyn was only five years old. That was what caused her
to have a nervous breakdown and that is what caused
Marilyn to spend her childhood in and out of foster homes.
When Gladys first went to the hospital, Marilyn moved in
with her mother s best friend.
When her mom s best friend remarried, she told Marilyn that
her house was too small and someone had to go. Marilyn
was only nine years old then. So one day, she packed
Marilyn s clothes in a suitcase and they got in her car. They
drove and drove for a long time without telling Marilyn
where she was going. They finally arrived at a three-story
red-brick building. Marilyn looked up at the sign and it said
LOS ANGELES ORPHANS HOME. Marilyn told her, Please
don t let me stay here. I m not an orphan, my mother s not
dead. Her mom s friend had to drag her inside the
orphanage. Her mother s girlfriend had promised her that
she would take good care of her. She promised Marilyn that
she would come back often and visit her. She also promised
her that she would get her out of the orphanage as soon as