Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It's the birthday of actress Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles, California (1926). Growing up, she was passed around between her mother and a series of foster parents. Eventually, she wound up with her mother's friend Grace McKee, who worked in the movie industry. Grace worshiped movie stars and told Monroe that she would be a movie star herself one day. She taught Monroe to act like the women she saw in movies; took her to beauty parlors, dressed her up in fancy clothes, and had her practice smiles and pouts in the mirror. They went to lots of movies together. After Grace McKee got married, Monroe had to live for a while in an orphanage, and at night she would stare out the window at the water tower of RKO Studios.
During World War II, Monroe got a job at an aircraft factory called Radioplane, where she sprayed glue on fabrics and inspected and folded parachutes. She was working at the factory when a group of photographers showed up to take pictures of women working for the war effort. The photographers noticed her right away, and they persuaded her to become a model. She bleached her hair and began to appear on the covers of magazines.
Monroe wanted to be an actress, but she had trouble finding the right part. For a while, directors just cast her in any movie that called for a dumb blond. Her first big success was the comic musical Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (1953). Everyone had been trying to sell her as a "love goddess," but it turned out that she had a gift for comedy. She died just nine years after that first big success.
Marilyn Monroe said, "I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."
Feel free to post your favorite photo of MM.
Doc
During World War II, Monroe got a job at an aircraft factory called Radioplane, where she sprayed glue on fabrics and inspected and folded parachutes. She was working at the factory when a group of photographers showed up to take pictures of women working for the war effort. The photographers noticed her right away, and they persuaded her to become a model. She bleached her hair and began to appear on the covers of magazines.
Monroe wanted to be an actress, but she had trouble finding the right part. For a while, directors just cast her in any movie that called for a dumb blond. Her first big success was the comic musical Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (1953). Everyone had been trying to sell her as a "love goddess," but it turned out that she had a gift for comedy. She died just nine years after that first big success.
Marilyn Monroe said, "I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."
Feel free to post your favorite photo of MM.
Doc
