Marilyn Monroe (10 page)

According to Catherine Larson, friend and neighbour of Enid Knebelkamp, the entire family – including Norma Jeane – talked endlessly about the subject of death in childbirth. ‘That whole family positively had a terror of – an obsession with – death in childbirth. I’ve never seen any other family like it!’ Catherine later said. Catherine’s friend, James Glaeg, recalled: ‘Enid Knebelkamp lived in constant fear of death in childbirth, and Catherine told me it was discussed on innumerable occasions with Marilyn/Norma Jeane.’

‘I don’t remember that fear was specifically discussed but rather sorrow,’ recalled Jo Olmstead. ‘I have no doubt that these things were discussed with Norma Jeane; my mother and grandma Enid discussed them with me when I was a young child. I can certainly understand why Norma Jeane would fear childbirth.’

This is reinforced by Jim Dougherty, who remembered that Norma Jeane was always lukewarm to the idea of having a baby, and at one point became hysterical when her period was late and she mistakenly thought she might be pregnant. However, when Jim was told he would have to leave Catalina in order to
fight for his country, Norma Jeane suddenly became scared of being alone, and uncharacteristically begged him to make her pregnant. This time, however, it was Jim who was against the idea, worried that if he didn’t return from war, she would be left with a child to raise on her own.

Concerned about leaving his young wife, Jim arranged for her to stay with his parents while he was away. On the day he left, Norma Jeane presented him with an expensive watch (which she had used their entire savings to buy), before going to visit her sister-in-law Elyda. As she walked up the path, an admirer in a convertible wolf-whistled, causing her to explode with fury: ‘Move on old man,’ she yelled. ‘Go pick on somebody nearer your own age.’

That night there was a family meeting between the Dougherty parents and siblings, and Norma Jeane asked if mother-in-law Ethel could get her a job at Radioplane, a company which made target planes for Air Corps gunnery practice. Ethel worked as a nurse there and agreed to try her best for her daughter-in-law, who couldn’t bear the idea of endless hours of inactivity.

True to her word, on 18 April 1944, Ethel got her a job at the factory, as a typist. It didn’t go quite to plan though, as Marilyn later recalled: ‘I only did 35 words a minute and didn’t do them very well, so they gave me a job inspecting parachutes.’ Unfortunately, that didn’t last long either: ‘They quit letting us girls do that and they had the parachutes inspected on the outside but I don’t think it was because of my inspecting.’

They moved her over to spraying parachutes, which her mother-in law-objected to immediately, as Elyda later recalled: ‘I remember Mom bawling her out for working in the paint shop. “Honey,” she said, “you’ll ruin your beautiful hair – and all those fumes – it’s just not good for your health.” But Norma Jeane persisted, even though she came home looking a wreck.’

Regardless of any health concerns she may have had, Norma Jeane worked ten hours a day and was on her feet the entire time. Still, she became a popular and trusted member of the team; she was rated above average by her managers, admired by
her male co-workers and, in July 1944, she was even crowned Queen of the Radioplane picnic, winning a $50 war bond and a mention in the 15 July edition of the
Radioplane Static.
Then on 31 August she was mentioned once again after winning a gold button for making a useful suggestion with respect to plant operations.

But despite her popularity with male colleagues, she remained faithful to her husband, as Elyda Nelson later wrote: ‘Naturally Norma Jeane was aware that other wives and sweethearts dated while their men were away, but she never did. Furthermore, she never gossiped about these situations nor would she listen to gossip.’

Although living with her in-laws couldn’t have been the easiest of situations, she seemed to accept life at the Hermitage Street house, and would often have morning coffee with her mother-in-law, before going shopping together later in the day. Still close to her new nephews, Norma Jeane was pleased when she heard that Paul Kanteman was coming for an extended visit, and over sixty years later he remembered the week with great affection: ‘We hadn’t seen each other for a while and I really did miss her. Grandma asked me if I would like to spend a week or so with them and Aunt Norma. Well my response obviously was “Yes”, and it was good to see her again as she was my buddy and I wanted to spend some time with her.

‘She asked me a few days later if I would like to have lunch with her and I replied, “Yes, as long as you aren’t cooking.” She said, “There is a great hamburger place on the west end of the Valley called The Hangmans Tree.” I thought that sounded great as I certainly loved hamburgers, so off we went.’ When there was a mix up over the drinks order, ‘She stood her ground and they made the right coke, and it was a good lunch. Aunt Norma could be one tough lady if provoked.’

She could be extremely late too, which caused problems with her in-laws; as Paul witnessed during his holiday: ‘A couple of days after the coke incident, Grandma asked if we would like to go out for dinner and a movie that evening. We all thought it
would be a great idea and all we had to do was pick the movie. Well evening came and it was time for dinner but Aunt Norma wasn’t quite ready. We waited a little while and then decided to go to dinner without her. When we came back to pick her up for the movies, Grandma went in to see if she was ready yet and came back out of the house alone, telling Grandpa that Norma Jeane was still wandering around without a stitch on! Grandma sounded a little perturbed and we went to the movies without her.’

‘I just love that girl,’ Ethel later lamented, ‘I never knew anyone more unselfish, but she is so lost in her own world that she frightens me.’

In Autumn 1944, Norma Jeane decided she wanted to visit her sister, Berniece, in Detroit, along with Grace Goddard in Chicago. (Two postcards dated 28 October 1944 place the trip at least two months later than sometimes thought.) She cleared out her savings account, and despite suffering from travel sickness, she made the trip alone to reconnect with her foster family, and connect to her real family for the very first time.

When Norma Jeane arrived in Detroit, Berniece, her husband Paris Miracle, his sister Niobe and Berniece’s daughter Mona Rae met her at the station. They were immediately bowled over by the eighteen-year-old in cobalt blue suit and a heart-shaped brimmed hat, and drove her to Canada for a visit to a bird sanctuary, before taking her to the Miracles’ apartment, where she was to stay for most of her holiday.

The trip was a real confidence-booster for Norma Jeane, who had never spent any time with her blood family – the last time being the disastrous year or so she lived with her mother. Both girls only vaguely knew Gladys, and the trip enabled them to discuss their mother and their late brother, Robert.

The trip was cut short when Jim unexpectedly announced that he would be returning to California very soon on leave. Norma Jeane bid farewell to her sister, and travelled to Illinois to visit with the Goddards. During the short visit to Chicago and Huntington, she saw Grace’s new workplace and reacquainted
herself with Doc Goddard’s daughter, Bebe, spending time with her friends at the Goddard home, 322 Wilson Court, and Maully’s South Side Confectionary at 915 8th Street.

‘She didn’t look like Marilyn Monroe at the time,’ recalled Nelson Cohen, who married Bebe in 1950. ‘I only met her briefly but she was pleasant enough, perfectly normal.’

Another friend, Diane DePree Miller, describes Norma Jeane as, ‘An ordinary looking girl, with light brown hair. She was very shy and kept to herself.’

The visit was brief, but enjoyable, and in a letter to Grace dated 3 December 1944, Norma Jeane described just how much the trip meant to her and how much she missed her foster-mother. As well as yearning for Grace, however, the letter seems to indicate that Norma Jeane was helping her out financially too: ‘I shall send you more money a little later,’ she wrote. This generosity towards friends and loved ones was something that stayed with Norma Jeane throughout her life, and would often get her into financial trouble herself.

Once home it was back to work at Radioplane, and on the very day of her return, she was spotted by some photographers working in the plant. They liked the look of the fresh-faced brunette, and before she knew it, Norma Jeane had been whisked away from her duties in order to pose for photographer David Conover. Wearing her uniform of grey slacks and green blouse and with her Radioplane identity card clearly visible, the look on the young girl’s face says it all – this was far more exciting than inspecting or spraying parachutes.

The pictures taken that day at Radioplane changed Norma Jeane from a semi-content bride into an excited young woman, full of possibilities and ambition. Conover told her he would like to take more photos, and later returned to Radioplane, snapping her in a variety of different outfits. He told her that she could become a model; that he had a lot of contacts he wanted her to look into, but at first she believed he was only flirting with her.

However, after studying the photos he had taken, and discovering that she could earn $5 an hour modelling as opposed to working ten hours a day at the factory, she began to realize there might be a future there after all. She tried her hand at a few photo sessions and by 10 February 1945 had made enough money in order to buy back her mother’s Franklin grand piano from Aunt Ana. Unfortunately, the timing coincided with Jim returning home to California, so she decided to wait until his shore leave was over before taking on any more modelling jobs.

When Norma Jeane briefly discussed the idea of modelling with her husband, he seemed to like the idea: ‘I thought it was easier than working at Radioplane,’ he later said, but he did make it clear that when the war was over, he wanted to start a family and settle down. The pair went to Big Bear Lake for a week’s holiday, but although she later described it as ‘a grand time’, there were a variety of problems: Jim hated the discovery that his wife had started drinking alcohol; she became jealous when he played blackjack with some college girls; and they had an argument about Jim’s plans to have children.

Shortly after their return home, Jim rejoined his ship and Norma Jeane put her plans for modelling into action. When she wrote to Grace on 4 June 1945, she revealed that she hadn’t worked at Radioplane since January. What she forgot to say, however, was that she was still actually employed until 15 March, when the management finally grew tired of her phoning in sick and terminated her employment. She was relieved; life at the factory had exhausted her, she said; ‘I just don’t care about anything when I’m that tired.’

Thanks to David Conover, she was introduced to Potter Heuth, who agreed to take some photos of her on the condition that she worked ‘on spec’ – she would be paid if and when he found a buyer for the prints. Norma Jeane eagerly agreed and she discovered just how easy modelling came to her: it was fun, the photographers seemed to like her and she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Unfortunately her new-found career did not have the same affect on Ethel Dougherty, who was worried about Norma Jeane’s marriage to Jim. She felt threatened by her daughter-in-law spending so much time working with other men; a feeling that wasn’t helped when she witnessed frequent arguments between the couple during Jim’s trips home.

Another thing causing friction was that Norma Jeane no longer had time to look after her dog, Muggsie. Before she had begun modelling, she had loved bathing, walking and brushing the dog, but when time grew short, Muggsie became somewhat
neglected. ‘The last time I saw Muggsie she was tied to a tree and very dirty. She died soon after,’ remembered Jim Dougherty.

Finally, Norma Jeane couldn’t stand the frictions at the Dougherty home any longer, and decided to move back to the warmth of Aunt Ana’s home in West Los Angeles. This did not prevent problems, however, and Paul Kanteman remembered a particularly stressful episode: ‘Uncle Jim was on leave and called to see if I could go fishing in a couple of days’ time. He picked me up the next day, but Aunt Norma couldn’t be with us as she was modelling for a magazine cover that day. We had to get our fishing tackle together anyway, and we could kill most of the day doing that without any problem. The next morning Aunt Norma announced she couldn’t go with us that day either as they hadn’t finished shooting yet. Uncle Jim didn’t seem too thrilled as he really wanted to spend more time with her. Up the coast we went, to just south of the Malibu pier. She dropped us off with our tackle and a lunch with the promise to be back no later than mid-afternoon. Well afternoon came and went, evening came and went and no Aunt Norma . . . It was about eleven that night when we saw the little Ford Coupe pull up and stop. We scrambled into the car and off we went. Not a lot was said on our way back to Aunt Ana’s home in West Los Angeles. I do remember going upstairs to my room and passing by Aunt Norma’s room and hearing her crying. I went downstairs and told Uncle Jim what was going on. He immediately went to see what the problem was, as not much had been discussed about the day at that point. She told him she was shooting a cover for a magazine depicting the Thanksgiving Turkey, the set was an actual barn in the country with a large pile of hay, which is where they worked. Before they could begin, she had to remove her wedding rings as they certainly didn’t want a married woman posing for this cover shot, but in removing or putting the rings away, they became lost in about ten tonnes of hay. The afternoon had been spent trying to find them, but they were, however, found the next day – to everyone’s relief.’

Norma Jeane’s relationship with Jim became worse and worse, to the point that every time Jim saw her he could almost
guarantee an argument. When Lee Bush from the Schwarz Studio photographed her on 18 May 1945, she posed in a bikini, although Jim had previously begged her not to wear such a revealing outfit. Her response was typical: she had to do the shoot as the money would come in useful to fix their car. Jim let that slide, but made it clear that he intended to start a family very soon; an idea that still didn’t interest Norma Jeane in the least.