The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy (4 page)

Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy

1095 North Ocean Boulevard

Palm Beach, Florida

Miss Marilyn Monroe

Apartment 3

882 North Doheny Drive

Beverly Hills, California

October 9, 1953

Dear Miss Monroe,

Thank you for your charming letter and enchanting wedding gift. The Senator and I were extremely touched by your kindness and generosity.

Naturally, we were crushed that you were unable to attend our wedding, but quite understand that your moviemaking commitments must take priority and look forward with eagerness to seeing
River of No Return
as soon as it is released.

With kind regards and many thanks,

Jacqueline Kennedy

__________________________

In her 1964 memoir of Marilyn, Forever Blonde (Düsseldorf: Muller Books, 1981), her voice coach, Vera Romanoff, recalled the events of October 15, 1953, when Marilyn received Jackie’s letter: “Marilyn was in the middle of reciting Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, and kept getting the line ‘Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines’ wrong, and saying, ‘Sometimes too oft the eye of heaven shines,’ when the mailman arrived. She ran to the door, as if she had been waiting for a
special letter all morning long, and when she saw ‘return address, 1095 North Ocean Boulevard,’ her eyes lit up and a dreamy look came over her face. Then she tore it open, read it, and went ashen. ‘I never thought SHE would reply,’ she said, her voice shaking. I looked at her questioningly, and she shook her head.”

Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy

1095 North Ocean Boulevard

Palm Beach, Florida

Mr. and Mrs. Joe DiMaggio
*

The Beverly Hills Hotel

9641 Sunset Boulevard

Beverly Hills, California

January 15, 1954

Dear Mr. and Mrs. DiMaggio,

Please accept our sincere congratulations on the occasion of your marriage. This gift
^†
is a small token of our esteem and brings with it our best wishes for your future happiness.

With warm regards,

Senator Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy

__________________________

*
After Jack failed to respond to Marilyn’s letter—with its veiled declaration that she was devastated by his wedding (“When I saw your beautiful wedding photographs in the newspaper this morning, they brought tears to my eyes” and “Marilyn Monroe is thinking of you with love”)—she finally accepted Joe DiMaggio’s proposal and married him.

^†
Jackie sent Marilyn the gift of a picture frame, a gift she would select for friends and acquaintances with alarming regularity during her White House years. (See Tish Baldrige,
A Lady, First
[New York: Viking, 2001].)

M
RS.
J
OE
D
IMAGGIO

2150 Beach Street

San Francisco, California

Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy

1095 north Ocean Boulevard

Palm Beach, Florida

February 24, 1954

Dear Senator Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy,

Joe and I were thrilled with the beautiful silver Cartier picture frame. We would love it if you would send us a photograph of yourselves—as neither of us can think of anyone else’s picture we would rather have in such a beautiful frame.

Joe had to go to Japan on some baseball business, so we decided to make the trip our honeymoon and go to Korea, where I entertained the troops
^*
It
was such a privilege for me and, for the first time in my life, I felt like I was accepted and doing work that mattered. Much better than making movies. I have just finished
No Business Like Show Business
, and the studio wants to rush me right into a real stinker called
Girl in Pink Tights
.

But all I really want now is to be plain Mrs. Joe DiMaggio because Joe is the only man now for me, and to he a good wife. In the end, I’m just another pretty girl, while Joe is immortal—a legend. We want to have six children—at least I do, Joe says he will be happy with one.

Thank you again for the picture frame.

Love,

Marilyn

P.S. Please call me Marilyn, as I feel I already know you.

__________________________

*
In Korea, “Marilyn performed ten shows in snow flurries and sub-zero temperatures, wowing the troops in a skin tight, low-cut purple sequined gown and no underwear—husband Joe was furious when he saw the newsreels. … Marilyn recalled what it felt like:

‘There were 17,000 soldiers in front of me, and they were all yelling at me at the top of their lungs. I stood smiling at them …, Standing in the snowfall facing these yelling soldiers, I felt for the first time in my life no fear of anything. I felt only happy.’” (See Adam Victor,
The Marilyn Encyclopedia
[Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1999].)

Jackie recorded her reaction to Marilyn’s letter in her diary: “Another endearing note from Miss—sorry, Mrs.—Marilyn Monroe. Confidences from Mount Olympus! Is the blush fading from marriage to Mr. D so soon? Or do things run deeper with Joe K than we all thought …? Then again, maybe I’m being a touch too cynical? Perhaps she really is sincere, although I do tend to doubt it.”

S
ENATOR AND
M
RS
. J
OHN
F. K
ENNEDY

3321 Dent Place

Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Joe DiMaggio

2150 Beach Street

San Francisco, California

March 6, 1954

Dear Marilyn,

Thank you for your charming letter. It is most kind of you to ask for a photograph of both of us. Here is one taken outside the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach, which I hope you will like.

Your last letter was so enchantingly informal. Consequently, I should like to reply in the same vein; you might find it amusing to learn that when I worked as “Inquiring Fotographer,” for the
Washington Times-Herald,
*
I regularly asked celebrated Washingtonians the question “If you had a date with Marilyn Monroe, what would you talk about?”

How life has changed since then for both of us! Being married is so much better than dating, isn’t it? Especially given that we are both married to such exceptional men.

You will see from our new address that although the Senator and I do not yet have our own home, we are now renting a sweet little
house in Georgetown. It may be small, but at least it is our own private domain at last.

The Senator and I saw
How to Marry a Millionaire
last week, which we both absolutely adored. He has asked me to convey our congratulations to you upon winning the Most Popular Actress Award and to reiterate that we both think that it would be exceedingly sad were marriage to keep you away from the screen for too long.
*

Warm regards,

Jackie

__________________________

*
On March 26, 1952, Jackie was given the title of Inquiring Fotographer by the
Washington Times-Herald.
In that role, she asked prominent Washingtonians a brief series of questions and then photographed them.

*
At this point, six months into his marriage to Jackie, Jack may have been feeling restless and, as a result, used the unwitting Jackie to signal to Marilyn. The subtext of the letter—one that he knew Marilyn would divine—is that he wants her to use her career as a means of momentarily escaping from Joe DiMaggio and making it easier for him—Jack—to see her once more.

M
RS
. J
OE
D
I
M
AGGIO

2150 Beach Street

San Francisco, California

Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy

3321 Dent Place

Washington, D
.
C.

March 28, 1954

Dear Jackie,

The photograph is lovely. I shall always treasure it. How cute that you ashed all those men about me. I’d love to know what they answered, if you have the time to write and tell me.
*

Love to you and to the Senator,

Marilyn

__________________________

*
In her diary, Jackie wrote, “Letter from MM wanting to know what my interviewees answered when I asked them, ‘What would you say to Marilyn Monroe if you went on a date with her?’ I am utterly amazed that she would care about something so trivial, given the current magnitude of her career. And to show it. … I could never be so open-hearted, nor would I ever wish to be.”