Much has been made of Marilyn’s
desperate personal history – the abusive foster homes and
the predatory Hollywood scum that accompanied her struggle to
stardom. Her marriages with baseball
great Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, were much publicized.
Her relationships with Sinatra and the Kennedy
were scandalized. The media highlighted her tell-alls –
miscarriages, abortions, rest cures and frenzied press conferences
announcing her desire to be left alone. Her death has been variously
attributed to an accidental overdose, political necessity and
a Mafia killing. Her life-style has provided fodder for everything
from a failed Broadway musical to Jackie Susann’s trash
classic to a fictionalized portrait in Miller’s play After
The Fall. Marilyn’s media-drenched image as a tragic
dumb blonde has become an American archetype. Yet biographers
cannot account for Marilyn’s enduring stature as the goddess
of glamour. Jacqueline Onassis will be remembered for her timeline,
for her participation in events and marriages that mesmerized
the planet. Marilyn seems far less factual, more Cinderella
for Circe than mortal. There have been other megablonds of varying
skills, including Jean Harlow, Carloe Lombard, Jayne Mansfield,
Mamie Van Doren and Madonna –Marilyn still seems to have
symbolized the classic Hollywood Blonde.
ball
great Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, were much publicized.
Her relationships with Sinatra and the