The Rise & Fall of Marilyn Monroe

By Charles Nuetzel

An inside expose of what Norma Jean went through to become Marilyn Monroe, a famous movie sex symbol.
The author offers a sensitive picture of Marilyn’s climb to stardom, and the terrible price fame would ultimately demand. Marilyn wanted, most of all, to be loved, and spent a lifetime searching for that with many lovers who never totally fulfilled this desperate hunger.
Discover the facts behind her rise to fame and her ultimate fall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Haldolen
• Release date: May 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310138898

Charles Nuetzel

Charles Nuetzel was born in San Francisco in 1934, and writes: “As long as I can remember I wanted to be a writer. It was a dream I never thought would materialize. But with the help of Forrest J Ackerman, who became my agent, I managed to finally make it into print. “I was lucky enough not only in selling my work to publishers but also ending up packaging books for some of them, and finally becoming a ‘publisher’ much like those who had bought my first novels. From there it as a simple leap to editing not only a science-fiction anthology, but also a line of SF books for Powell Sci-Fi back in the 1960s. Throughout these active professional years I had the chance to design some covers and do graphic cover layouts for pocket books & magazines.” Much of his work in covers and graphics are a result of having had a father who was a professional commercial artist, and who did a number of covers for sci-fi magazines in the 1950s and later for pocket books—even for some of Mr. Nuetzel’s books. In retirement he has become involved in swing dancing, a long time lover of Big Band jazz. But more interestingly world travels have taken him (and his wife Brigitte) across the world, to Hawaii, Caribbean, Mexico, Kenya, Egypt, Peru, having a lifelong interest in ancient civilizations. His website is full of thousands of pictures taken during these trips. Check out his website: http://Haldolen.com

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Copyright © 2015 by Smashwords and Charles Nuetrzel

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form

without the expressed written consent of the author and publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

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I’ve always felt those articles somehow reveal more about the writers than they do about me.

The mystery of Marilyn Monroe’s death will never be truly solved. Even in life her story was so confused and distorted by writers as to lend a veil forever over her legend. Much of the mystery was partly Marilyn’s fault.

Louella Parsons felt that Marilyn had gotten to the point where she found it hard to tell the difference between fact and fantasy. It is almost understandable, considering the actress’ early, lonely life, living in foster homes, where only through her active imagination that she was able to find any form of escape.

Another reason for the confusion surrounding Marilyn Monroe is suggested in her own comment about the authors who wrote about her.

Nonetheless, it is a fact that in the twelve years Marilyn worked in films she appeared in twenty-four motion pictures, which reportedly made $200,000,000 at the box office. She was the sex symbol of the American public and was loved by the entire world, yet considering her own personal life, this was a cruel irony, which helped push her towards the edge of self-destruction.

From the promotions liberally handed out, and the image she projected on the screen, and for the public, Marilyn was a shallow sex-pot, unable to understand her full effect on the male animal. Yet nothing could have been further from the truth.

Such statements as the following were generously attributed to her image, helping to project this false impression.

I like to feel blonde all over.

When I sleep, I wear Chanel No. 5.

Attractive, sensual statements to intrigue and delight a male audience which adored her.

Marilyn, in her private life, was completely unpredictable, and seldom did anybody know exactly what to expect from her.

Hedda Hopper tells the story of when Marilyn arrived for an interview, wearing a beige fur collar on a beige coat, and a beige dress to match her beige hair. Hopper asked: Are you beige all over? And Marilyn, without thinking, started to lift her dress, and then embarrassed, exclaimed, "Oh, Hedda, that’s vulgar."

Many reports about Marilyn Monroe would suggest a far more sexually liberated woman who had, perhaps, slept her way to fame, using the Hollywood Casting Couch as a road to the top. Other reports suggest she simply had a lot of lovers. Some claimed she was over-sexed; others suggested she was really sexually frigid. The conflicting list of rumors and gossip was endless and continually fed on it until it really became quite difficult to be certain what might be the truth.

Over the years she was connected to a number of famous celebrities and power brokers. Supposedly her list of lovers included an amazing array of playboys including some in Washington, D.C.

Truth or legend is at times difficult to separate.

They say a beautiful woman can get away with a lot and Marilyn certainly did everything in her power to prove that. There was little doubt about her attractiveness to the male sex, with measurements of 37-23-37, and a personal magnetism, which could project itself not only on the screen but in person as well. Even those she worked with who were often pushed beyond their ability to control their tempers, felt the impact of her charm.

She was notorious for her chronic negligence to appear on the set on time her tardiness irritated more than one producer and director. She was quoted as saying, It’s not really me that’s late; it’s the others who are always in such a hurry.

Yet she admitted in a more sober and honest mood:

"When I have to be somewhere for dinner at 8 o’clock, I’ll lie in the bathtub for an hour or longer. Eight o’clock will come and go and I still remain in the tub. I keep pouring perfumes into the water and letting the water run out and filling the tub with fresh water. I forget about 8 o’clock and my dinner date. I keep thinking and feeling far away.

Sometimes I know the truth of what I’m doing. It isn’t Marilyn Monroe in the bath but Norma Jean (her real name). I’m giving Norma Jean a treat. She used to have to bathe in water used by six or eight other people. Now she can bathe in water as clean and transparent as a pane of glass.

With all her apparent innocence, Marilyn was a highly temperamental woman who could be extremely irritating to those who worked with her.

When I finally start putting my clothes on I move as slowly as I can. I begin to feel a little guilty because there seems to be an impulse in me to be as late as possible. It makes something in me happy—to be late. People are waiting for me. People are eager to see me. I feel a queer satisfaction punishing the people who are wanting me now. But it’s not them I’m really punishing. It’s the long-ago people who didn’t want Norma Jean.

And another time she said: I don’t know why people are so upset about my being late. Frankly, I’m surprised I get anywhere at all.

Such were some of the contrasts of Marilyn Monroe, and even in her own words she argued with herself.

Yet she wasn’t the only one who dealt with lack of consideration, for she was also victimized, not only in her youth but also in her career. And as some have said, even in her death.

The following annotate about her may have been some publicity story invented by a skilled writer. It was certainly cute and with a biting sense of humor. It sounds like a very intelligent woman playing a very smart game. It has the ring of truth and I like to think it was actually said by Marilyn.

When she was making Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the studio paid her a mere $500 a week, while Jane Russell was demanding and getting $200,000, plus extras. She didn’t even have a private dressing room. Marilyn later said that she complained to her bosses, saying: Look! After all, I am the blonde and it is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But still they always kept saying ‘Remember, you’re not a star.’ And I said, Well, whatever I am, I am the blonde!"

And not the dumb blonde the studio people would have liked to believe.

This kind of irritation