What is the phenomenon of Marilyn Monroe's success? We beautiful women have to seem stupid so as not to bother men.

50 years ago, the movie "Some Like It Hot" was released. In the Soviet box office, it was called "There are only girls in jazz." In the USSR, the picture made a splash - not only men, but also women fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. Much has changed since then - tastes and fashion, standards and benchmarks. But the world still admires Monroe. But why, why exactly with her? What is its phenomenon? We decided to talk about the unknown Marilyn, about the one that we did not notice ...

WOMAN FOR MAN

Evil tongues say that she was flighty and capricious, not too smart (in any case, she lacked education, that's for sure). That she constantly listened to Frank Sinatra records. She chatted for hours on the phone and continually looked at her reflection in the mirror. She drank champagne in bed, ate the chocolate that was melting in her hands, and wiped her fingers on the sheets, which the maids often had to change because of this. She did not wear underwear, did not like to take a bath, considering the natural aroma of her body a means of seduction. She was always and everywhere late. She abused alcohol, was treated for depression in psychiatric hospitals (some doctors diagnosed her as schizophrenia).

But in the light of the spotlights, this woman was magically transformed. In front of the camera lens, her lips began to tremble with moisture, and her eyes began to exude love longing. It was as if an erotic glow appeared around her. And it seemed that the goddess of love herself descended from heaven. All films with the participation of Marilyn Monroe brought fabulous profits. In downtown Los Angeles, there was a giant four-story poster of her in a flowing dress. There was always a crowd here. The powerful of this world - billionaires, ministers, presidents and kings - became Marilyn's friends. The reports about Marilyn's visit to Buckingham Palace were not titled as usual: "The Queen of Great Britain took such and such", but on the contrary: "Marilyn Monroe at the Queen's reception." Whoever was elected "Miss America" ​​or "Miss World", all the years of her Hollywood celebration she was the first woman, and not only in America. Over the century of its existence, cinema has embodied several faces of absolute femininity. Greta Garbo, for example, is an inaccessible beauty. Her beautiful face and perfect figure are admired from afar, without encroaching on an icy heart. Audrey Hepburn - "of the purest charm, the purest sample", touching woman-child, joy mature man, who unexpectedly discovered in himself his fatherly feelings. As they say, to each his own. But Marilyn Monroe is a collective male dream. Dream about ideal woman for a man who knows that her place is at the feet of her master. And most importantly, she dreams of occupying him as soon as possible. She seduces and beckons not in order to reject or deprive oneself of peace. Marilyn is an image of a desired and (lo and behold!) Affordable beauty, ready to selflessly serve. This selflessness still drives men into ecstasy. Marilyn is a charming slave of love, embodied on the screen of a man's dream of an ideal world, where the war of the sexes ended amicably (an unconditional victory of the strong half).

The classic blonde who elevated naivety to a superlative degree. This image of Marilyn endlessly flatters the male ego. By her mere presence in this world, she seems to pour oil on her wounded pride. And most importantly, the plot of those lyrical comedies in which she shone, always boiled down to one thing: the dazzling blonde actually longs for ordinary, earthly love. The heroine Marilyn Monroe is a gift of fate for an ordinary middle-aged man, with average income and average appearance, but kind and pure in heart.

Want to hear an honest male opinion on the Marilyn Monroe phenomenon? Please! Here is what Marcello Mastroianni said about her: “My ideal has always been Marilyn Monroe - a beautiful blonde with a touch of vulgarity. I was never drawn to women like Greta Garbo. Garbo was the queen. And what does the queen want? Choose your own king to command. Will she be able to, say, boil a soft-boiled egg? "

SHAME ANGEL

"The poor thing had sex literally written on her face!" - Alfred Hitchcock once said about her. “I don’t wear anything at night except a few drops of Chanel No. 5,” she casually threw into the crowd one day and left millions of fans awake. This mixture of shamelessness and innocence knocked me off my feet. Only the Muslim paradise describes the houris, who combine the purity of an angel with the seductiveness of a temptress. For America and Europe in the sanctimonious forties and fifties, this new image became a sensation. Monroe, the holy harlot, became the object of adoration of millions long before the emergence of the liberated "flower children". In the era of double standards, it was completely open. During the years of puritanical morality, she behaved completely naturally. Although the circumstances dictated her to be careful, she was fearless. But here's another mystery - any attempts to repeat her angelic frankness, even in our age, when many "like it hot", look inevitably vulgar. This was given only to her - to stir up manic passions in quite normal men, while remaining innocent.

Once Marilyn Monroe told her friends that she was haunted by an obsessive dream: “I'm in a big cathedral full of people. I walk down the aisle, completely naked. Everyone turns around, looks at me. I don't feel the slightest embarrassment. On the contrary, I feel very good, completely natural. " How else should a goddess feel? In a temple created by her imagination.

Actor Ted Jordan, Monroe's longtime lover and friend, writes in his memoir: “This dream seemed very important to me, because every time I was amazed how at ease she took about such a thing as nudity. She loved to walk around naked, and I do not remember that this embarrassed her at least once. She was completely natural and the same way about everything sexy. If she wanted to do something, she just talked about it like an innocent child. And like a child, she needed constant love. By and large, sex was part of that need. She loved to watch me literally become exhausted from lust, worshiping the temple of her body. She admired the ease with which she could force someone to admire her. "Just think," she said, "the only thing I have to do is take off my dress."

SYNDROME MONROE

Meanwhile, one American psychoanalyst introduced the concept of "Marilyn Monroe syndrome" into professional use. He assured that behind the constant self-admiration of the Hollywood prima there was a painful lack of confidence in his own attractiveness. Despite the crowds of fans, she could not believe that she could be loved unselfishly. The same Ted Jordan believed that both a calculating bitch and a frightened child coexisted in Monroe's soul. Monroe's duality is also said by her friend Susan Strasberg: “She had two faces, and I loved the one that she did not show to the public - a face without makeup, like a little girl, is completely non-sexual, even, I would say, asexual ... She remained playful and charming, but without this need to wear a mask all the time. " It is said that one day before her tragic death, Monroe called the SOS helpline and, swallowing tears, asked: "Talk to me, I am very lonely." And it’s easy to believe, knowing from what everyday "litter" this amazing flower grew.

The future Hollywood diva Norma Jeane (Marilyn Monroe, as you know, the pseudonym of the actress) was born on June 1, 1926 in a modest hospital in the stellar Los Angeles. Her mother, Gladys Monroe Baker Mortensen, worked as an editor in Hollywood, and her father, Edward Mortensen, an American of Norwegian descent, quietly disappeared from the family shortly before Norma was born. Due to the mental disorder of the mother, the girl was assigned to foster parents at the age of two weeks, where she lived for six years. The mother rarely visited the baby. She was not up to her - poverty, unsettled personal life, periodic treatment in a psychiatric hospital. In total, Norma Jeane changed eleven foster families, and at the age of ten ended up in an orphanage, where she was called a "mouse." A quiet, stuttering, grayish girl and could not get another nickname. Later she will say: “Nobody told me that I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls need to be told every day that they are cute, even if it's not true! " At sixteen, after running away from her family and dropping out of school, Norma married a simple guy. But this life was not according to her. Norma loved going to morning movie shows. She imagined that her father looked like Clark Gable and dreamed of a luxurious life, in which there must certainly be exotic islands, yachts, palaces and a sea of ​​admirers.

IN BED WITH MARILYN

The first encounter with the world of men was too early and tragic. In her book, she wrote that an elderly Puritan gentleman, in whose family she lived, raped her by throwing a coin “on ice cream”. Norma Jeane was not even 10 years old then. When she was seventeen, her young husband set sail, leaving her without a livelihood, and she decided to try her luck as a fashion model. For the first photo shoot, a young aircraft worker, a future sex bomb, was paid five dollars an hour. For the famous shot for wall calendar she got 500 bucks.

Hollywood has become a bread place for an orphan. But she had to "work hard" for this. “I spent many years on my knees,” she later joked sadly. Young Monroe called Hollywood a “crowded brothel” and firmly believed that the path to the top of fame had nothing to do with acting: “The main thing is to sleep with the right person! " Later, she confessed to her governess that she did not refuse anyone who could help in her career.

The first patron of Marilyn was 70-year-old producer Joe Schenk, a playboy known throughout Hollywood. Gossip about their "romance" spread at the speed of light. What intimate details of their meetings were not discussed among colleagues in the shop! Schenck introduced Marilyn to Harry Cohn, the owner of the Columbia Pictures studio. Here she began filming, but was fired for allegedly refusing her boss's sexual claims.

However, comedian Milton Berle easily achieved success where Cohn was defeated: "She did not try to satisfy me just because I could help her ... She did it because she liked me." At that time, Marilyn really liked Fred Karger, he taught her vocal lessons. Fred enjoyed using Marilyn's sexual services, but did not reciprocate her feelings. When 22-year-old Marilyn was fired from the Columbia Pictures studio, she worked for a while in a small bar, where she did a striptease. There she had a two-week love affair with 18-year-old musician Anton LaVey. They had sex in motels, and when they had no money, then right in Marilyn's car.

LaVey later wrote that Monroe was sexually passive and received satisfaction not so much from sex itself as from the admiration that men expressed about the beauty of her body. Many of Marilyn's biographers tend to agree with him. Fred Giles wrote that she was "too self-absorbed most of her life to adequately respond to everything that concerned men, including even sex." Norman Mailer noted: "Marilyn was a pleasure to spend time in bed, but she loved to receive, not invent something new." Sometimes she climbed naked into bed to her next partner and asked him: "Do nothing, just hold me tight." “They were overwhelmed with self-confidence, and I didn't have it at all,” Marilyn explained innocently. "They helped me feel better and more confident."

After Schenk, Johnny Hyde, one of the most famous advertising agents in Hollywood, became Marilyn's patron. Hyde, 53, fell in love with Marilyn and asked her to marry him. She refused his offer. He gave her a sense of security, provided her with a new wardrobe, and paid for plastic surgery to correct some of the imperfections of her nose and chin. Most importantly, Hyde used his influence to make Marilyn appear in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and All About Eve (1950). Marilyn did not like having sex with Hyde too much, but she did not want to offend him and each time she pretended to be experiencing the peak of pleasure. When Marilyn signed her first contract, she exclaimed: "This is the last member that I have to kiss!" With her friend Shelley Winters, Marilyn once, as if as a joke, made a list of famous men whom she would like to seduce. Later, Shelley accidentally found a photograph of Einstein in Marilyn's house. On the reverse side of the photo, the hand of the famous scientist read: "With respect, love and gratitude." Monroe herself, it seems, remained frigid. “I didn't make a woman,” Marilyn said. - My men, because of my image of a sex symbol, created by them and myself, expect too much from me. There are so many that I cannot live up to their expectations. They expect bells to ring and whistles to blow, but my anatomy is no different from that of other women. ”

SEA OF SADNESS

1953 was a landmark year for Monroe. She starred in the classic comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Billy Wilder. In the same year, the comedy "How to Marry a Millionaire" was released. With superstars - Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, but Marilyn outplayed her partners. She also married Joe DiMaggio, a baseball player who, although retired from the big sport, enjoyed no less fame than the president.

Perhaps this is the only man in her life who really loved Norma Jeane. Specifically Norma, not Monroe's glossy look. He was 37 years old, he was in great shape and seemed to be the perfect complement to the actress, who by that time had become a real star of the screen. DiMaggio was strong, strong-willed, silent and proud. He despised Hollywood and was ashamed that sexual dignity his wives are on display.

The marriage with DiMaggio lasted 263 days. For three quarters of that time, they slept in different rooms. After the divorce, Joe sent flowers to Marilyn every week. He continued to send them to her grave until his death.

In 1956, America was again shaken by a sensation: "Marilyn is marrying the famous playwright Arthur Miller." And even converted to Judaism.

It was the longest marriage in her life - six years. Marilyn, who loved to read, was drawn to smart men. Or perhaps she was deceived by the warmth of Miller's plays. But in life he turned out to be a coldish and indifferent person. On the other hand, you can imagine what it was like for the disciplined intellectual Miller to watch his "half" sleep until lunchtime, then wander aimlessly naked around the house, look at himself in mirrors for hours, drink champagne in bed, eat sticky chocolate and wipe it on the sheets smeared lips and hands.

There were days when Miller left his office just to take the dog for a walk.

When they were visiting Yves Montand, who starred with Marilyn in the same film, even the servant noticed that Miller spoke to his wife for so long and so seriously as he had never spoken to his wife in all six years. The same one, as if in revenge, instantly "started" a whirlwind romance with Montana.

They appeared in public and made no secret of their relationship. Only a child could save the marriage with Miller. But Marilyn had several miscarriages. Due to childlessness, she developed depression and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. From there she came out already with a broken psyche, knowing that she would never have children. She was saved by alcohol, sedatives, and then drugs.

Miller saw that something was wrong with his wife. He felt that in her heart and in her bed he constantly had rivals. But he did not want to delve into her mental problems, or compete with anyone there!

They separated in 1961. When Miller came to pick up his papers from the office, Marilyn did not come out to him. When he was later informed of death ex-wife, he said dryly: "I don't know this!" But, of course, he was lying. With the playwright's instinct, he understood who fate brought him to: "A seething foam, under which a sea of ​​sorrow rose up ... Her dream was not like a dream, but was the pulsation of an exhausted creature that was fighting a demon."

WEB IN THE WIND

Much is known about her affair with the Kennedy brothers. As well as the fact that they did not make her happy. In the summer of 1962, Monroe's mental health was completely shaken, her mood tossed from joy to despair. She again began to abuse all kinds of medications and visit a psychiatrist every day. She was even removed from her last film for absenteeism. In the early days of August 1962, Marilyn learned that Robert and his family were vacationing at a villa in Palm Springs. She calls there and demands that he come to her immediately. Marilyn threateningly tells him that she has been keeping a diary for a long time, where she wrote down everything that both high-ranking brothers told her in moments of "relaxation". Robert is furious, but realizes that he has to go. He gets on a plane and flies to Los Angeles. The woman was already "on edge." She shouted that on Monday (August 6) in the morning she would convene a press conference, tell the journalists the whole truth and give them her diary. Robert tried to reason with her, but she was carried away. Furious with rage, she grabbed a kitchen knife and threw it at Robert. Robert and his partner twisted her arms, trying to silence her. What happened next, was it suicide or murder, now, probably, no one will ever know. The next day she was found dead. The diagnosis is an overdose of sleeping pills. But the questions remained unanswered. Did Marilyn take the pills herself? For some reason, the examination did not find traces of sleeping pills in the stomach of the deceased woman, but, meanwhile, a fresh trace of an unknown injection was found. And why did the official authorities so long and diligently hide that last visit of Robert to the Marilyn villa? Where did her diary - the famous "red book" go? It is believed to contain the revelations of the Kennedy brothers "relaxing" with her, recorded by Monroe, state secrets, right up to the story of the CIA's conspiracy with the mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. The "red book" disappeared, and it was not possible to find it. But Marilyn's poems remained - sad, piercing. They amaze with touching and defenselessness. They perfectly reflect the soul of Marilyn, fragile and strong at the same time. These are the verses of a man who understood everything about himself ...

Life, you push me in different directions.
I come alive from the cold, strong as a spider web in the wind
I am reaching down, but still holding on ...
These beads of rays -
I saw their light in pictures.
Oh life, they deceive you -
Thinner than a cobweb stretching downward.
She keeps, not yielding to the wind and the tongues of fire.
Life, you keep pushing me in different directions
But I can still hold on
Bye…
While you push me.

BEAUTY NOT SAVING THE WORLD

But is it important that it was the last straw that outweighed the cup? A tragic paradox - a woman who delighted millions, the "bride of America", herself perished from a lack of such a simple but vital element as Love. And, of course, she was knocked down by the failed attempts to prove that the "beauty Marilyn" is capable of something more on the screen than showing her charms. “I'm really burning with the desire to do something different. I would like to play such roles as Gretchen in Faust or Teresa in Lullaby, ”she told reporters. “I want to be an actress, not erotic fun. I do not want to be sold as an aphrodisiac ... "- tried to shout Marilyn to the Hollywood bosses. But the money was brought to its owners by the "charms", and the stigma of the "dummy" did not allow to look at it with an open mind. Meanwhile, Mikhail Chekhov, from whom she took lessons, and the famous theater teacher Constance Collier, respected her. The latter saw in her the embodiment of poetry: “If anyone thinks that this girl is just a whore, or something else, then he is crazy. She can become the most exquisite Ophelia. " Laurence Olivier confessed: “Miss Monroe is a genius comedian and, therefore, an extremely good actress. Yes, she could play Shakespeare. " Another famous educator Lee Strasberg admitted: “Marilyn Monroe is a talented actress with a deep personality. I have worked with hundreds of actors and actresses, but among them only two stood out: Marlon Brando is number one. Marilyn Monroe is number two. " Shortly before her death, Lee Strasberg engaged Monroe to the role of Blanche Dubois in his play "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Actors' Studio. And Monroe's dream was Grushenka in The Brothers Karamazov. She dreamed of reading her famous monologue. Imagine a close-up, where a replicated wet smile transforms into a suffering grimace and sensual lips do not whisper, but shout: "Don't beat me with an outfit, Rakitka, you don't know my whole heart yet!" After the monologue, according to Dostoevsky's text, Grushenka had to scream hysterically, cover her face with her hands, throw herself into the pillow and shake with sobs. This is what Monroe dreamed of.

And finally: a world-renowned photographer, Bert Stern, one of the last to take pictures of the actress, wrote in his memoirs “Energy of Contemplation”: “If Marilyn had stood still for one minute, her beauty would have immediately evaporated. Photographing her was the same as photographing the light itself.

Thanks to the film that captured the arrival of Beauty in this world, which, unfortunately, never saved anyone. However, maybe we just didn’t notice it?

Yes, all the posters and posters for the film "Niagara" adorned the curves of Marilyn Monroe's sensual body. And of course, she got the role of a seductress - but not a silly blonde, but a real fatal woman, a femme fatale, who not only hugs somewhere in the corners with a random passer-by, but quite prudently plans the murder of her own husband. However, this is not even the point. The film for its time was quite transitory, and the special effects used in it now seem at least frivolous, but it still makes you think.

Niagara

Of course, this is not "War and Peace", but after watching you will surely spend some time thinking about love and passion. Not least of all, this is facilitated by the play of Marilyn, for whom this role, in general, has become not the most characteristic. Yes, she knew how to surprise - and the audience as well.

Be gentle and elegant at the same time

Marilyn in the movie "How to Marry a Millionaire" both makes you laugh and moves you to tears. This is an amazing combination that will help to conquer any man. Moreover, most of the absurdities with the heroine Monroe are due to her poor eyesight. The girl does not wear glasses, ashamed of her lack. However, even with all these ridiculous steps that Marilyn performs on the screen, the film star remains the standard of elegance. A gentle look from myopia is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent. No, we do not suggest putting your glasses on the shelf and stumbling over everything, but you can practice in front of the mirror.

"How to Marry a Millionaire"

Do not be shy about defining "lovely, how silly"

The film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", as well as the song "Diamonds are the best friends of girls", is considered a classic of the genre.

Marilyn in this film is a classic blonde who shows intelligence in exclusively feminine matters. However, it is precisely such women who are classified as "lovely, how silly." Sometimes it works better than any other strategy. Especially if you understand about yourself what Monroe herself understood: "I am not offended when they say that I am a fool - I know that this is not so."

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"

Be charmingly sexy

“The Seven Year Itch” was probably a rather typical film for that time. It is almost about the forbidden fruit that everyone always wants. Sorry Puritans, this is about sex, of course.

Seven Year Itch

But Marilyn turned a rather vulgar text into an acceptable sight, because her sexuality is absolutely charming. She does everything casually, completely not realizing that she tortures a man in the most sophisticated way: "In this heat, I keep my clothes in the refrigerator ..." would be accidental. The secret of this turned out to be quite simple: “Women's charms cannot be produced industrially. Femininity gives rise to true beauty. " This is definitely worth learning from the famous actress.

Seven Year Itch

Falling in love like the first time

Marilyn Monroe is a little funny, a little rustic, naive, silly. But we have seen this Marilyn in other films. The main thing that distinguishes her in the film "Some Like It Hot" (in our country it is known as "There are only girls in jazz") is the state of falling in love, into which a young girl gradually but firmly sinks.

In the December 2005 issue of Playboy magazine, the materials of the journalistic investigation of Lisa De Paulo and the texts of the statements of Marilyn recorded by her doctor on a tape recorder shortly before her death were presented as a cover-story. An abridged translation of these materials was published in the second issue of the Russian edition of Playboy in 2006. Under the cut - the text of this translation

PLAYBOY: THE DEATH OF THE GODDESS
Rumors of the violent death of Marilyn Monroe never stopped: no one wants to believe that the stars are tired of living. Now the name Monroe is again on the front pages of newspapers. And this time he is accompanied not only by other people's memories, but also by her own words.

HOW IT LOOKED
The fact that Marilyn Monroe, a woman whose fame in the twentieth century knows few rivals, was killed, they started talking almost the day after her death. There were many reasons for this: more than her close relationship with the presidential family, the well-known dislike of FBI chief Edgar Hoover for the Kennedy brothers and their lover, overly intimate friendship with Frank Sinatra and his gang, the frenzied temper of Marilyn's ex-husband, baseball player Joe DiMaggio, into his the turn of those who hated Sinatra and also had a decent number of thugs on their side - all this could cast doubt on the safety of the most careful person on Earth; but what Marilyn Monroe was never famous for was her caution.
Then testimonies more serious than mere rumors came in time: it is extremely strange, if not outright negligent investigation, the testimony of witnesses - close friends of Marilyn, from which it followed that the day before her death, the actress spent in a good mood, in which life does not end by suicide, and the mysterious behavior of inanimate objects at the scene, now appearing and then disappearing in photographs. The Monroe case was closed quickly, and this haste was also suspicious.
Officially, on August 5, 1962, the public was presented with a photograph that went around all the newspapers - a naked woman lies on a bed on her stomach, barely covered with a sheet, with a telephone receiver hanging from her hand. The police photo showed a nightstand, all cluttered and littered with empty pill vials; in the immediate reach of the deceased - a glass of water: all this clearly indicated suicide. Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who performed the autopsy, found the presence of two sleeping pills, the dose of one of which - nembutal - was fatal. In the court report, the dose was specified - 30-40 tablets. Marilyn's addiction to barbiturates and drinking was known to many, as well as her unbalanced temperament, which once led her to a psychiatric clinic (from which DiMaggio rescued her, simply promising to break the whole institution to pieces), and then to a psychotherapist - Dr. Greenson. He was the first to call the housekeeper Marilyn Eunice Murray, when in the middle of the night, noticing the light in the hostess's room and the telephone cord stretching there, she went outside, looked through Monroe's window and saw her in the described pose. Greenson called his fellow therapist, Dr. Engelbert, and then called the police upon his arrival.

TRANSPARENT HOUSE
This is where discrepancies begin. In the first place, it seemed strange that a woman on the phone was taking a lethal dose of medication at the same time; in addition, the announced number of pills itself could not be pushed into the mouth in one or two doses. The whole house of Marilyn was literally stuffed with eavesdropping devices: it was known for certain that they were put by the FBI; regardless of the feds, they were installed by the notorious Hollywood private detective Fred Otesh, a specialist in this kind of cases, who made no secret of the fact that he was hired by actor Peter Lawford, who was part of the close circle of Frank Sinatra, known as the "Rat Pack". Thus, it seems almost improbable that with the complete transparency of the actress's home, no one would know absolutely nothing about how she spent her last hours.
The testimony of witnesses also worked against the version of suicide: first of all, Joe DiMaggio, his niece June, with whom Marilyn had been friends since her marriage to her uncle, as well as DiMaggio's friends. All of them unanimously argued that the second wedding of Marilyn and DiMaggio was to take place on August 8 - their first nine-month marriage went to dust when DiMaggio was whipped up by the scene that is now the most famous film image - namely, the one where Marilyn stands on the ventilation grill with a swollen dress hem. DiMaggio, however, never stopped loving Marilyn. He survived her for 37 years - and, according to an old friend of his, his last words were "I'll see Marilyn again." Then, after the funeral of Marilyn, he said: "On this day I hoped to kiss her in front of the altar, but I kissed her in the coffin." According to June's assurances, as well as her mother, who loved Marilyn almost more than her own daughter, Monroe was happy that she and Jo would live together again, and in this state, again, they do not commit suicide.
But the most difficult mine under the version of suicide was still Marilyn's night calls. And, meanwhile, she called a lot that night - at least three people: and if her conversation with Robert Kennedy is a speculative question, then the conversation with Lee DiMaggio, June's mother, is an indisputable fact. So, this conversation, the content of which, it seems, was not difficult to recognize, is not known to anyone - for Lee DiMaggio refused to pass it on to June and Jo with a simple motivation: "I want you all to be alive." It is only known that Lee heard how and who interrupted their conversation with Marilyn.

THE MAN WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHING
However, about all of the above - and about a hundred other questions - books have long been written: what again made the topic of the violent death of Marilyn Monroe relevant? This time, a man appeared on the stage, completely unfamiliar with the living actress - but he had an excellent idea of ​​what was done with her and her house after her death. Former Los Angeles County attorney who at the time of the actress's death was the head of the forensic bureau at the county attorney's office, 87-year-old John Miner broke his more than forty years of silence on the anniversary of the actress's death. The reason why he kept his secrets for so long is respectable - in fact, he promised not to give out the secrets entrusted to him never, however, as a former minister of justice, he could no longer endure the "injustice", as he put it, posthumously revealed to Marilyn Monroe. which, by the way, he was not a big fan: when asked by a PLAYBOY reporter how many films he saw with Marilyn, he confidently named only two and doubted about the third.
So what is the secret, so carefully guarded by him and those who entrusted it to him, all these years? Well, here we are dealing with a truly exceptional case. Miner was well acquainted with the already mentioned psychiatrist Marilyn, Dr. Ralph Greenson, to whom the actress herself showed exceptional affection and even, due to the impossibility of becoming his mistress, offered him to adopt her. Miner claims that shortly after the death of Marilyn Greenson, he invited him to his place and gave him a listen to the tape recordings, which his patient spoke in the last few months of her life, addressing the doctor as a kind of game. Unfortunately, it is easy to question his further testimonies: Greenson played the tapes to Miner only once, Miner did not make any notes during the listening process, but wrote everything down from memory a day later. He himself assures that his transcriptions are "almost literal", because, they say, when he did them, Marilyn's voice sounded distinctly in his head. Believe it or not - everyone decides for himself; however, if Miner really had a phenomenal memory and recorded on paper what he heard close to the original, then his records are unique evidence: as you know, after Marilyn there were no personal notes left. There is even testimony from the same DiMaggio, who claimed that he once advised Marilyn to take daily notes; the notebook with them in the press was called "The Red Diary". DiMaggio claimed that on the day of the death of his ex-wife to her house in search of this notebook, but it disappeared.
Miner, however, is skeptical about the story with The Red Diary, as well as most other evidence, which distinguishes him from other voluntary defendants in the case of the death of the actress. His transcriptions of the tapes he played, however, show better than any other evidence that Marilyn Monroe was in good spirits all the last months before her death - thus, all official statements about her persistent depression, allegedly leading to suicide, are refuted by the ultimatum testimony.

RIGHT TO JUSTICE
However, Miner came into the world not only with transcriptions of suspicious origin: he also has evidence of more reliable-looking properties. The thing is that, as the head of the forensic medical examination bureau, he was often present at the autopsies; he was also at the autopsy of Marilyn Monroe. From his own observations, as well as a number of conclusions, Miner draws several conclusions: firstly, he claims that Marilyn physically could not commit suicide in the way indicated in the official reports, and secondly, he is sure that the actress was killed , and even offers a very original hypothesis - how; and, finally, thirdly, he positively assures that the investigation was hindered at all stages - including at the stage of medical examination.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS
Miner's arguments are as follows: to swallow 30-40 tablets of Nembutal is almost unrealistic, because they need to be taken in portions and washed down with water, and this process is long enough for the alleged suicide to turn off faster than to bring it to an end. For that, Miner has not only speculation: he operates with the results of the autopsy, or rather, their absence. He states that of the required three stages of autopsy, only two were passed: the stage of laboratory analysis could not be performed because the samples taken for its execution mysteriously disappeared. "It's like someone flushed them down the toilet," says Miner. Thus, the autopsy Noguchi could give a conclusion, having only the results of a study of Marilyn's blood and liver: this is enough to find traces of sleeping pills - and they were found in a very high concentration - but completely insufficient to assert that the sleeping pills were taken exactly by that the way that is recorded in the protocols. For such a statement, it was necessary to study the walls of the stomach - but it was their samples that were "flushed down the toilet", as if someone well knew that this analysis would show undesirable results.
Further, Miner rejects the theory that Nembutal was dissolved and injected by Marilyn herself with the help of an injection - he assures that he personally examined the body of the deceased with Noguchi, and both did not find a single microscopic trace of an injection on it.
Accordingly, the question arises - how did the sleeping pill get into the victim's body? Miner's answer may seem shocking at first glance: it was injected with an enema, he says, after Marilyn was put to sleep by another sleeping pill, the presence of which was also found in her blood. However, it should not be forgotten that at that time the whole world was literally obsessed with the healing, as well as rejuvenating and even sexually pleasing properties of the enema, and Marilyn herself has repeatedly confessed her love for this device. Of course, this fact has no direct relation to her death, but he could well suggest the train of thought to the murderers. Miner says that it would take about an hour to inject a sufficient amount of the drug in this way - and therefore, the whole picture of the scene, presented to reporters, is nothing more than falsification. And his words are confirmed by other people, all as one who showed that they did not see the objects that appeared in police reports as evidence of the version of suicide.
You can trust the miner, but you can not trust: the story with the audio recordings transferred to paper "from memory" looks very dubious. However, his other calculations deserve attention, especially if they are added to the numerous words of others somehow involved in this dark history of people. Why should Miner seek the truth now? “Because it can still be found,” Miner is sure. If Marilyn's remains were exhumed now and examined by gas chromatography, it would be possible to detect whether the colon was exposed to barbiturates; and if it turns out that this is really so, then one question can be answered with certainty - Marilyn was indeed killed.
“This, of course, will not give us an answer to the question of who killed her, - says Miner. - Most likely, we will never know. However, in my opinion, Marilyn was denied the right that anyone, living or dead, - in the right to justice. And our duty, as I see it, is to fulfill it. Let people no longer ask questions. Let people know: the same was done for her that will be done for everyone. I think she is deserved. "

Intimate diary- shortly before the tragic death, Marilyn recorded several confessions on a tape recorder and sent the reel to her psychoanalyst, Dr. Ralph Greenson. In August 2005, this recording finally became public.

About this entry. The idea came to me - take a tape recorder, put the tape and speak into the microphone whatever I think. This is what I am doing right now. It's pretty easy. I’m lying on the bed, and I’m only wearing a bra. If I need to go to the kitchen or the restroom, I'll just hit the stop button and start over when I want to. It is so simple. Do you understand me, right? The patient cannot say everything in the doctor's office. But the patient can say absolutely everything to the tape recorder. He trusts him with his dreams and dreams - at the very moment when they come. Dr. Freud said that dreams are a pillar road to the subconscious, so I will show you my dreams on tape.

About the genitals. What I told you when I came to the reception for the first time is true. I had never had an orgasm until then. I remember well how you said that orgasm occurs in the head, not in the genitals. For me, it meant my p ... doo. Not that I particularly like the word. But it sounds like the word "fuck", which sounds better than "intercourse" or "intercourse." It is more honest and direct. I don't think about "intercourse" or "intercourse." I think about the best way to have sex.

Orgasm. You said that we would try a special approach to the problem of orgasm: Imagine that you told me to stimulate myself and that I was doing exactly what you said, and that way I would have an orgasm. I bless you, doctor: your words were a revelation to me. Now I have tons of orgasms when I fuck. Not one, but two or three with any man who has come to cum. I have never yelled as much as during the first orgasm. And all because I have fucked men and women in every conceivable position for years and have never experienced an orgasm. How much time is wasted!

About appearance. Yesterday I stood for a long time naked in front of the mirror, with my hair and makeup. What did I see? My breasts are starting to sag a little. I massaged my nipples and they tensed perfectly. My waist is not bad. My ass is what it should be - the best ass in the world. My legs, knees and ankles are still in great shape and my feet are not very big. OK, Marilyn, you have everything - it's time to make decisions.

About Shakespeare. I read all of Shakespeare and rehearsed many lines of his characters. Now I don't have to worry about scripting. I’ll have the greatest screenwriter of all time, and I don’t even have to pay him. Oh, Monroe knows what he's doing! I'm going to play Juliet first. Do not laugh. With what make-up, costumes and camera can do, my play will create Juliet, a fourteen-year-old innocent virgin whose femininity is nonetheless fantastically sexy. In a tasteful post-wedding night scene, Romeo and Juliet will really fuck and have a real orgasm so that the whole scene takes on the realism it deserves.

About John F. Kennedy. Marilyn Monroe is a soldier. Its commander is the greatest and most influential person in the world. The main duty of a soldier is to obey the commander in everything. He says "do it" and you do it. This man (John F. Kennedy) will change our country. No child will go hungry again. No one will sleep on the street and feed from garbage cans. Even the poorest will have the opportunity to receive good medical care. Industrial products will be the best in the world. No, I'm not inventing anything - he will change America today, just as Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in the thirties. And he will do the same with the whole world, change it for the better. Doctor, when he finishes his work, he will be on a par with Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt as one of our greatest presidents. I'm glad he has Bobby. He is like the captain's first mate - he will do absolutely anything for his brother. And I will do the same. I will never disappoint him. For as long as I can remember, I have John Fitzgerald Kennedy. You know, when I sang "Happy Birthday" for him, I was soaked with tension and desire. I was afraid that he would notice it.

Marilyn was named the "Goddess of the Nuclear Age" at the time of her popularity. It was during these years that her career flourished and more and more types of deadly nuclear weapons were born. And, apparently, it is no coincidence that her appearance was captured on a poster by a Japanese artist. No, this poster is not the kind that adorned cinemas advertising the films of a famous movie star. And the title of this poster has nothing to do with the films in which Marilyn played - "Hiroshima Calls." Having embodied his idea in a political poster, the artist combined two concept-symbols - the sex bomb of the American screen and the explosion nuclear bomb dropped by the Americans in August 1945 on Hiroshima. (Fatal coincidence: the death of the actress and the atomic bombing occur in August.)

At first glance, such a shift in events of a historical scale seems "drawn" and ridiculous, but there is some truth to it. Let us recall the film "Hiroshima, my love", in which the French filmmaker Alain Rene compared the death of only human love with the tragedy of Hiroshima - they are indissoluble and interconnected ...

On the one hand, death gave the fate of Marilyn true greatness, on the other, by showing the story of her life for everyone to see, and gave her a truly epic meaning. However, back to the poster. To some extent, he confirms what has been said. The very name Monroe continues to excite the world. The "Monroe Phenomenon", like a nuclear reaction, has penetrated the consciousness of people, into art, culture and even into criminal affairs ...

Marilyn herself constantly turned to the words from the Bible: "What is the use of a man if he conquers the whole world, but destroys his soul." To some extent, that's what happened to her. Metastases of myths and legends about Monroe continue to excite and, like a chain reaction, create new legends. But the main thing, I think, is that Marilyn was and will remain with her secrets and restless fate of one of the most sorrowful legends of the 20th century - "the great Monroe" ...

Every year on August 5 - the day of the death of the actress - night processions take place in the cities of the United States. With portraits of Marilyn, with burning candles in their hands, people pay tribute to their idol. They dress like Marilyn, millions of American women are churning out like Marilyn in hairdressers and beauty salons. On this day, her name is on the lips of many. As one critic said: "Marilyn lives in the next world extremely restlessly, because her soul is constantly disturbed from the earthly world." This is true. There is no actress in the world about whom it would be said as much as about Monroe.

She is imitated. And not only fans. The idol making industry abhors a vacuum. Hollywood began frantically looking for a replacement. Two years have passed since her death, but not a single actress has such charm, such childish naivety and beauty. The most likely competitors for the vacant seat were: Lee Remick, Sue Lyon, Jane Fonda ... However, each lacked something to become the new Monroe. Three years later - in 1965 - in the foreground was the young "Baby Doll" - Carol Baker; then - the Italian Virna Lisi ... And again the heiress Marilyn did not take place. Even the former Monroe stunt double, the English actress Margaret Lee, who played in Arthur Miller's drama After the Fall, reworked for the cinema, the role of Maggie, the prototype of Monroe, also remained only a stunt double ...

“Marilyn is alone! And a quarter of a century later, says Gloria Steinem in her book Marilyn, she remains a part of New York life. " Even during the demonstration of collections of summer clothes, the basis of the exposition are photographs in which life-size Marilyn is depicted in the famous white dress. By the way, about the dresses. Under the hammer of the Sotheby's auction, the movie stars' evening dress was grabbed, almost torn, for almost two thousand dollars, and more than 14 thousand dollars were paid for the dress in which Marilyn starred in the movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

The famous rock star Madonna, who imitated Monroe's platinum hair, clothes and style and became the idol of girls from 13 to 19 years old in the 80s, nevertheless failed to become a symbol of femininity, which was for many Marilyn. Madonna had to become a brunette ...

The days and hours of Monroe's life are painted by biographers and journalists with protocol scrupulousness. Not everyone is attracted by the idea of ​​artistic interpretation of the "legend", in which truth is mixed with lies, and the very personality of Marilyn has long ceased to be real. It is no coincidence that Norman Mailer invented the apt word "faktoid", describing almost everything that was written about Marilyn earlier ... He also owns the assertion that "by her ability to attract the attention of the whole world, she was Napoleon."

Playwright Arthur Miller ( ex-husband movie stars), answering the question why the long-gone Marilyn is still interested in the world, said: “If Marilyn were alive, she would now be about sixty years old, but it is impossible to imagine this. She is not perceived as a real person, this is a legend, and the legendary Monroe is amazing and incomprehensible, but she has nothing to do with the Marilyn I knew. " And this is true, because the Hollywood goddess combines the inaccessibility of a universal standard and imaginary accessibility for everyone, including the right to write about her in a sentimental, scandalous, frivolous way - as long as it is sensational.

S. Rener with his, to put it mildly, immodest novel “The Tragedy of Marilyn Monroe” can be attributed to the “eyewitnesses” and “friends” of the actress; but, perhaps, the actor Ted Jordan surpassed all, who released in 1989 a book written on the recollections of his ex-wife, stripper Lily Sir, - a book called "revolutionary" by critics only because she opened a "new page" in the love life of the famous movie star - her connections with women, as well as with the famous gangster Bugsy Siegel,

But, perhaps, according to N. Mailer, no one has let so much fog enveloping the legend as Ben Hecht, to whom most of the "stories" were allegedly broadcast by Marilyn herself, and he published them in endless "factoid" Sunday supplements in 1954 ...

More recently, American actor Robert Mitchum, known for his rude frankness, stated that Marilyn, who has become a cinematic sex symbol for an entire generation, in real life“... was not very attractive, not at all. There was no sexuality in her. No. She had many different physical disabilities. And besides, she was very shy. "

In 1930, the English critic C. Connolly proposed a test to determine the popularity tested by time: to calculate the popularity period in a segment of ten years. Since that time, the emphasis in the definition of values ​​has changed significantly, views, forms of culture have changed, the content of which has been transformed by education, taste, feminism and many other reasons ... Nevertheless, for more than a quarter of a century, the name Monroe continues to be among the most popular names in the world. She continues to be better known than many living movie stars, politicians and television celebrities.

Many consider her early departure from life as one of the factors in the duration of the actress's popularity. But, I think, the main thing is not in this, - not in the tangle of mysteries around her tragic death lies the clue of the unquenchable interest in her personality.

They return to the "Monroe phenomenon" again and again, because America has managed to discern Marilyn's real talent and touching human defenselessness behind the screen image of the sex bomb. Interest in Monroe is not a tribute to fashion, not nostalgia for the past, for long-cold "stars", not an idealization of the past. No wonder some stars are sifted through the sieve of time and nostalgia, while others remain. The phenomenon of Marilyn is most likely that she, as an actress and as a person, fits more into our time than into her own. Her place was, as is often the case in such cases, unoccupied.

Time cannot cope with either fans or talents. Myths are often more tenacious than truth, for they penetrate deeply into the minds of people, and they do not like to part with them. You don't have to be a prophet to assume that the "Marilyn Monroe" myth will live on for a long time to come.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, the Virgin Mary was considered the ideal of beauty. Remember the wonderful poem by A.S. Pushkin about the knight who fell in love with the mother of Christ once and for all:

Since then, having burned out in my soul,

He did not look at women,

And until the grave with not one

I didn't want to say a word.

In the twentieth century, cinemas took the place of churches, and film actors and film actresses took the place of icons. And it is not “Lumen coelum, sancta rosa” that captures the feelings of billions of men, but absolutely not the holy trinity of women: Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe.

Not holiness at all, but sinful sex appeal began to be appreciated by men who went through two of the most terrible world wars.

By that time, thanks to the development of photography and pornography, it was no longer necessary to talk about any riddles and secrets of the female body. Even fourteen-year-old high school students knew that both an aristocrat and a prostitute could offer virtually the same product, except perhaps in a different wrapper.

And suddenly it turned out that the wrapper mattered. The way a woman looks at you, how she smiles mysteriously or touchingly, how many centimeters she lifts an already short skirt, as if by chance, bending over, demonstrates her luxurious breasts ... It turns out that this is exactly what you can go crazy with.

And if someone thinks that no special talent is required for this, then he is mistaken. Just as the one who believes that only thin women, one might say, aristocratic, are capable of such a game, is also mistaken. With a fine mental organization ...

Be at Norma Jean Baker-Mortenson (1926 - 1962)(namely, this is the real name Marilyn Monroe) fine mental organization, it would have died, probably in early childhood. Because her childhood was not joyful. Frankly, she had a dysfunctional childhood.

Mother's name was Gladys Monroe-Baker. She worked in a "dream factory" in Hollywood as a film editor. Norma was already the third child, and her mother considered Martin Edward Mortenson to be her biological parent. But she baptized her daughter under her last name, left over from her former husband, Baker. Although by that time Gladys was no longer married. All in all, a complicated story. Which was further complicated by the fact that Gladys Baker had problems with both mental health and money.

Thanks to all this, Norma Jeane spent her childhood in orphanages and foster families. When Gladys was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in December 1934, her mother's friend, Grace McKee, took custody of the girl. A year later, Grace got married, and the girl lived in an orphanage for two years, and then Grace took her to her family.

But again, no peace, no serenity. The girl was beautiful, red-haired, curly. And she already began to turn into a pretty girl. There and then there were hunters "to pluck a flower". First, Norma was attempted to be raped by her stepfather, Grace's husband. She was sent to her aunt, where she was abused by one of her stepbrothers. In early 1938, Norma Jeane settled in the family of her other aunt, Annie Lowe. Marilyn Monroe later called her four years at Lowe's house the quietest in her life.

In June 1942, sixteen-year-old Norma Jeane married a classmate, after which she dropped out of school. Soon she gets a job at an aircraft plant that produced drones. June 1945 is the date of the first public photograph of the future Marilyn. Photographer David Conover came to the plant. He was tasked with taking pictures of women who worked in military factories, taking the place of men who had gone to the front. The leader of this propaganda program, by the way, was Ronald Reagan.

This photo shows that Norma Jeane was an attractive and sweet girl. That is, the initial data necessary for any film actress were available. Well, photography is photography, but even better evidence for this is that Conover invited the girl to become a model and pose for him for $ 5 an hour. At the prices of the time, when a hot dog was 20 cents and a hamburger was 50 cents, the offer was attractive.

So, in the summer of 1945, Norma Jeane Baker began her journey to worldwide fame.

A year later, Norma Jean Baker was gone. In August 1946, she was contracted to be a statistician with 20th Century Fox. Then she changed her name to a more euphonic one - Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn - beautiful name and Monroe is her mother's surname. In September of the same 1946, Marilyn divorced her first (but not last) husband, Jim Doggerty.

Marilyn's film career was very successful. Since 1948, she has not had a single downtime. Every year there was a film, or even several! Marilyn played and sang in these films, and most importantly, charmed all the men of America.

What was her secret? First (and this has already been said), in personal attractiveness. In order to look more sexy, Marilyn changed her hair color, became a blonde. Gentlemen prefer blondes! It is difficult to say whether she caught the “blondes are sexy” trend, or whether she herself created this trend.

Secondly, she liked to play in films, and she did it, although Marilyn had never studied specifically for an actress. Apparently, the ability to act was innate in her. But besides this innate talent, she did not hesitate to learn acting from all the surrounding actors and learned it willingly. The girl also had considerable abilities for this.

Thirdly, Marilyn knew that men liked her, and was not shy about it. Moreover, she learned to use the sympathy of men to her advantage and constantly improved this skill. This was not prostitution (you - me, I - you), it was, in fact, the high art of manipulation, in which - let's face it - women are great masters.

Perhaps this manipulation would not have had such success if Marilyn had not been completely ingenuous at the same time. Even after becoming a famous actress, she continued to be a simple and honest American girl. For this, the men were also "caught", and for this they forgave Marilyn a lot. This is the fourth reason for her tremendous success as a film actress. First of all - success with the male half of the cinema.

It is hard for us to imagine that in the 1950s the United States was a very conservative country with very high moral standards. Despite this, Marilyn Monroe had enough husbands and lovers. Among them are very famous faces: the writer Arthur Miller (have you read The Tropic of Cancer? And two more Kennedy brothers, John and Robert. All this created additional excitement around the name Marilyn, which, of course, contributed to popularity. But that, on the other hand, put a lot of pressure on Marilyn Monroe's nerves. She was no more depraved than her contemporaries. And she lived in the same country with rather conservative views on how a "decent" woman should behave. And, by the way, in a country where the sexual revolution has not yet begun. Contraceptives were just being developed, and in the vocabulary of many respectable American women there was no word "orgasm" or - God forbid - the clitoris.

By the way, the laws prohibiting segregation in the United States had not yet been adopted at that time. Therefore, the position of black Americans was unenviable. But Marilyn Monroe was free from racist prejudice. Perhaps because she was born in one of the most free American states, California. It was Marilyn Monroe who "launched into orbit" the famous black singer Ella Fitzgerald.

On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of sleeping pills. The police suspected suicide, although this was not proven. But such an end to the famous film actress was obvious to many. It is possible that the "trigger" was the emotional discord that Marilyn experienced more and more for the above reasons. Some do not exclude the intervention of the special services, which, quite possibly, were tasked with eliminating the factor that compromises the US president.

A star named Marilyn Monroe went out, apparently never reaching the high point in its flight across the sky.