Marilyn by Lois Banner

Author:Lois Banner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2012-05-25T12:00:00+00:00

Part IV

New York, 1955–1960

I saw the amazing phenomenon of Hollywood being out-smarted by a girl whom it itself characterized as a dumb blonde.

Philippe Halsman

She was endlessly fascinating, full of original observations and there wasn’t a conventional bone in her body.

Arthur Miller, quoted by James Kaplan in “Miller’s Crossing,” Vanity Fair, November 1991

Chapter 9

New York, 1955–1956

In December 1954 Marilyn left Hollywood for New York with Milton Greene, telling only close associates where she was going. News about her sudden departure and the mystery of her destination soon hit the front pages of newspapers nationwide. According to Screen Life, Hollywoodites couldn’t believe that someone they considered to be a dumb blonde had been so bold, or that she would desert Hollywood for New York, especially after the dinner at Romanoff’s in November 1954 honoring her for her brilliant success in The Seven Year Itch, with elite Hollywood attending the dinner.1

Marilyn’s ability to steep her life in drama and mystery and stoke the public’s interest had worked again. Using the pseudonym Zelda Zonk on her ticket, she and Milton took a night flight to New York. Amy Greene picked them up at LaGuardia Airport. No reporters were there: the deception had worked so far. They drove to the Greenes’ converted barn in Weston, Connecticut. Learning that journalists and photographers were camping outside the house, Marilyn opted to hide out until the press went away. She stayed at the nearby home of Fleur Cowles, Milton’s editor at Look and the founder of Flair.

Fleur had another houseguest: Bertha Spafford Vester, who ran a hospital for abandoned Arab children in Jerusalem. She was in the United States soliciting funds for her project. Marilyn was impressed by her, and Vester was enthralled by Marilyn, the great movie star, who wore a baggy pullover, wrinkled slacks, and sneakers and was happy and relaxed.

Vester was surprised that a movie star could be so approachable. Fleur Cowles spoke about Vester’s courage in the midst of the gunfire of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Marilyn vowed, “I must do good for the world in some way. I promise you I will never waste my life again!” Writing about the episode long after it occurred, Cowles wondered if Marilyn ever remembered it in the years ahead.2

During her early years in New York, Marilyn would reshape her life. Studying at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, dating Marlon Brando and Arthur Miller, and making many friends, she was in the mecca of her dreams. Sometimes she felt like a character out of the pages of Flair magazine. She formed her own production company with Milton Greene; and in the culmination of her dreams, she married Arthur Miller. She was, as Eli Wallach put it, reborn in New York.3 It was a halcyon period for her, although she continued to take prescription drugs, a portent of problems that lay ahead.

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