Fragments_ Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters - Marilyn Monroe [20]
June 19, 1942
At only sixteen years old, Norma Jeane married Jim Dougherty, who was five years her senior.
1945
First meeting and first photo shoot with André de Dienes.
August 1946
First contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Ben Lyon persuaded her to change her name to Marilyn, after the musical star Marilyn Miller, and Monroe, which was her mother’s maiden name.
June 1950
First screening of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle. Marilyn received rave reviews in spite of her relatively small part.
March 13, 1952
The nude calendar scandal. Marilyn’s career was jeopardized, but her confession, “I was hungry,” drew public support.
1953
Henry Hathaway’s Niagara, in which she had a dramatic role, was a big hit, as was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, directed by Howard Hawks, which came out the same year.
October 1953
Marilyn met the photographer Milton H. Greene at a reception given in honor of Gene Kelly.
November 4, 1953
Premiere of How to Marry a Millionaire, a brilliantly successful comedy.
January 14, 1954
Marilyn married baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio.
February 1954
Marilyn entertained American troops engaged in the Korean War while on her way to Japan. She considered this one of the most important events in her life.
August 10, 1954
The filming of The Seven Year Itch began in New York. The famous scene with Marilyn standing over an air vent trying to hold down her billowing skirt was filmed on September 15 in front of a flabbergasted crowd and to DiMaggio’s great displeasure.
October 5, 1954
Official separation from Joe DiMaggio.
November 1954
Supported the appearance of Ella Fitzgerald at the Mocambo club, where it was unusual for African Americans to be booked. Marilyn kept her promise of sitting at a front-row table every night.
Christmas 1954
Marilyn decided to leave Hollywood and move to New York, even though a magnificent dinner had just been given in her honor. She traveled under the name of Zelda Zonk, wearing a black wig and sunglasses.
December 31, 1954
Marilyn and Milton H. Greene founded their own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc.
January 15, 1955
At a press conference for the new production company, Marilyn said that henceforth she wished to handpick her parts and included Grushenka in Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov as an example. The press seized on this comment to hold her up to ridicule.
April 8, 1955
From Greene’s house in Connecticut, Marilyn appeared on a popular morning TV talk show, Person to Person, hosted by Edward R. Murrow. More than fifty million people watched the program.
Spring of 1955
Living in New York, Marilyn studied at the Actors Studio as well as taking private classes with Lee Strasberg. She had sessions with her psychoanalyst, Dr. Margaret Hohenberg, up to five times a week.
February 25 to June 2, 1956
Marilyn returned to live in Hollywood to work on Bus Stop, directed by Joshua Logan. The terms negotiated with Fox were much more advantageous after the enormous success of The Seven Year Itch.
June 29, 1956
Marilyn and Arthur Miller were married in a civil ceremony; the religious ceremony took place on July 1 after Marilyn’s conversion to Judaism.
June 14 to November 6, 1956
Marilyn and her husband went to London for the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, and produced by Marilyn’s company. The couple lived at Parkside House in Surrey.
Spring of 1957
Marilyn fired Milton H. Greene from her production company. In May she went to Washington to support Arthur Miller during his House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearing.
August 4 to November 6, 1958
The filming of Some Like It Hot. Relations with Billy Wilder and actors Jack Lemmon (cast despite competition from her friend Frank Sinatra) and Tony Curtis were tense.