Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters (21 page)

BOOK: Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters

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Carson McCullers met Marilyn through Arthur Miller in New York in 1954 and afterward saw her regularly. She described her memories of these meetings in her unfinished autobiography, Illumination and Night Glare.

Norman Mailer (1923–2007)

Norman Mailer lived in the same brownstone in Brooklyn as Arthur Miller and had a house not far from Marilyn and Arthur’s in Roxbury, but despite his many sollicitations, he never met Marilyn. After her death, Mailer devoted two biographical essays to her, the first, Marilyn, in 1973, and the second, Of Women and Their Elegance, in 1980.

Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

Maugham wrote to Marilyn to express his delight at the news that she was to play the part of Sadie Thompson in an adaptation of his short story “Rain,” which Lee Strasberg hoped to direct for NBC, but the movie was never made.

Arthur Miller (1915–2005)

Marilyn met her future husband, along with Elia Kazan, in Hollywood in 1952. She was photographed by Ben Ross that same year, reading a book by Miller. When she moved to New York, he helped her move toward a more intellectual and cultured way of life. In spite of the disapproval of both the studios and her own circle, Marilyn courageously stood by Miller’s side during his House Un-American Activities Committee hearing. Marilyn also met Saul Bellow through Arthur Miller.

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975)

He never met Marilyn Monroe, but a year after her death in 1963, he wrote an elegy to her, which was recited as a voice-over during a montage sequence in his film La Rabbia, with Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor as background music. He wrote, “You, little sister, had that beauty humbly bestowed on you, and your soul born from modest people never knew how to own it, for it would not be beauty otherwise. The world first taught it to you, and so took your beauty as its own.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)

Marilyn and the American poet met on the film set of Some Like It Hot in 1959. She was a great fan of his biography of Abraham Lincoln. They communicated mostly by phone, but there are photos of their joyous meeting at Irena and Henry Weinstein’s home in January 1962. He wrote about her, “She was not the usual movie idol. There was something democratic about her. She was the type who would join in and wash up the supper dishes even if you didn’t ask her.”

Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)

Edith Sitwell and Marilyn Monroe first met and had tea together at the end of 1954, in Hollywood. Marilyn, with her golden hair and green dress, reminded the eccentric English poet of a daffodil. They got on well and discussed poetry, in particular The Course of Life by Rudolph Steiner. They met again in London in 1956.

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)

When the Welsh poet was on a reading tour of the United States in February 1950, he expressed the wish to meet Charlie Chaplin; however, before his dinner engagement he had a great time drinking martinis with Shelley Winters and Marilyn Monroe. He arrived dead drunk at Chaplin’s home and was turned away by the great comedian himself.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to:

Sarah Churchwell

Ségolène Dargnies

Marion Duvert

Abby Haywood

Courtney Hodell

Karen Hope

Mark Krotov

Annie Ohayon

Flore Roumens

Ivana Ruzak