Latest / DISGRACELAND / Marilyn Monroe (Part 1): JFK, RFK, and a Conspiracy Theory that Won't Quit

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Marilyn Monroe (Part 1): JFK, RFK, and a Conspiracy Theory that Won't Quit · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Marilyn Monroe
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are insane. She was, without a doubt, the biggest female
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: star on the planet. She went from orphan to power
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: player at a time when actors, never mind female actors,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: controlled little in Hollywood. Yet she was ravaged by anxiety, depression, addiction,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and insecurity, but it didn't hold her back. She single
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: handedly changed America's attitudes on sex posed nude in nineteen
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: fifty two and didn't apologize for it. She betted, married,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and otherwise conquered America's most impressive men Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra, and President John F. Kennedy, to name a few,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and up until her untimely death, Marilyn Monroe made great films.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Unlike that loop. I played few at the top of
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the show that wasn't from a great film. That was
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: a preset loop from my melotron called the one that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: says some Pulp MK two. I played you that loop
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: because I can't afford the rights to Hey Baby by
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Bruce Chanel and why would I play you that specific
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: slice of dirty log dancing cheese? Could I afford it?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: May nineteenth, nineteen sixty two, And that was the day
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of Marilyn Monroe saying Happy Birthday to the President of
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the United States of America in front of the entire
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: world and firmly cemented the rumors that they were both
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: entangled in a scandalous affair, rumors that would prove to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: be at the center of a long running concernspiracy theory
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death three months later, on this episode Anxiety,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Female Power, Moves, Sex, scandal, conspiracy, and the all time
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: great Marilyn Monroe. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: The opulent home of the powerful Hollywood Agent was packed.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: It was New Year's Eve, after all, nineteen forty eight
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: was about to slide into nineteen forty nine, and the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: agent's famous party was not to be missed. None other
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: than the writer, director, and star of the greatest film
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: ever made to that point, Citizen Kane, had remarked that
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the agent's parties had the quote best Ktessen and the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: best whoes in town. Other famous directors Auto Premiger, John Houston,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and William Wyler mingled amongst the housegirls, a mix of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: call girls and young attractive female contract players on loan
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: from various studios. Tonight, the escorts were on loan from
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Daryl Zannak and Harry Cone's twentieth Century Fox in Columbia Pictures, respectively.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Errol Flynn, the world's most handsome and openly Rakish screen
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: star since Douglas Fairbanks, was leaning against the Great Room's piano,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: boring anyone in earshot with his tired story. They had
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: heard this one before, the one where W. C. Fields
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and some of the other Bundy Drive boys stole their friend,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: leading man John Barrymore's corpse from the Morgue a day
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: after his death, smuggled him into Flynn's home, propped him
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: up in a high backed chair with a drink in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: one hand and a cigarette in the other. Flynn, when
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: he came home to see John Barrymore way waiting for him,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: or John Barrymore's corpse rather waiting for him with a
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: drink in hand, Errol Flynn was so scared that he
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: sprinted out of the house and dove into the bushes
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: to hide. Yes, yes, yes, we've heard this one before, Errol.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: The drinks were hitting Errol Flynn hard. Not one to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: be embarrassed by the lack of response his story had generated,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Flynn decided to up the annie. If his famous stories
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: wouldn't entertain the guests, then his famous penis would. So
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: out came little Ero Flynn, right there in the great
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: room of the party for all to see. Flynn turned
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to the piano and plopped his significant manhood down onto
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the keyboard and began pecking out the keys to a
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: familiar tune. And the guests were not all that surprised.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: This was Errol Flynn after all, And though one of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the housegirls took note what men would do to avoid embarrassment,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: she thought her wonderment was soon disrupted by a call
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: from the host to do a sweep of the room
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and freshen up the men's drinks, and when that was done,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to empty the ashtrays, and of course, to remember to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: flash that smile at all times. She did was she
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: was told she knew the stakes the men in this room,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: not only the powerful agent who was hosting, but the directors,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the producers, and of course, the studio heads held her
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: future in the palms of their slick hands. They were
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Hollywood's power center and the only people in the world
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: who could deliver on the promise she made to herself
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: when she changed her name from Norma Jean Baker to
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe, a promise to become the most famous actress
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: in the land. There were consequences, though. It was a
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: given that you'd be called upon to enter into one
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: of the homes many bedrooms, with whichever guests desired you.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Marilyn knew this coming into it. It wasn't her first rodeo.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: She'd been filling her knights as a housegirl at various
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: parties for some time now. Transactional sex didn't bother. It
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: was how the game was played in Hollywood, especially in
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the nineteen forties. But the thought of rape sent fear
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: down her spine. It wasn't long ago that three men
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: at one of the parties held her down and tried
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: to assault her. She escaped barely. She hid the trauma,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: but the memories came flooding back. As a child, Marilyn
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: had been a victim of rape and sexual assault, going
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: back to the age of twelve when she was first
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: attacked at a foster home and subsequently kicked out of
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the foster home as if it was somehow her fault.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Her mother blamed her. Of course, her mother blamed her
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: for everything. Marilyn was born out of wedlock, and Marilyn's mom, Gladys,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who was in and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: out of mental institutions, and the thought of said mental
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: institutions would terrify future Normangy aka Marilyn Monroe throughout the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: rest of her life. When her mom Gladys was in
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the picture, which wasn't often, she let young Normigene know
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that she was born of sin and thus filled with sin.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Of course, Normigene sexually assaulted her mother thought she was
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: a very bad girl. A Norma Jean Baker was married
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: off by her foster mother at the young age of
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: sixteen to an older neighborhood boy, a twenty one year old.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: In order to make the nuptial's work, Norma Jean had
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a drop out of high school to take care of
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the home. Her newlywed husband soon after shipped off to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: World War II, and Norma Jean needed to work. She
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: founded at the Radio Plane Company near their home in
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: San Fernando Valley, and it was there, working on the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: assembly line that she was found by a US Army
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: photographer for the first Motion Picture Unit, who made the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: scene to document the women of the war. The photo
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: session led to a modeling opportunity, which led to some
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of Norma Jean's pictures being published in Yank Magazine, which
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: led to a screen test with the film studio twentieth
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Century Fox, which led to a gig as a contract
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: girl that spelled doom for her marriage, which led to
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the changing of her name to Marilyn Monroe, which led
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to her here now on the eve of nineteen forty nine,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: contemplating her assent through the ranks of Hollywood to make
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: do on that promise to herself to become the most
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: famous actress in the land. Joe DiMaggio hated crowds. In fact,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the verdict was out on whether or not the retired
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: New York Yankee slugger even liked people, and that's what
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: they said anyway. Joe Dee retired with a lifetime batting
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: average of three twenty five and a famed hit streak
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: of six straight games. A record that still stands, a
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: streak that accounted for roughly a third of the season,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: that captivated the country and had everyone talking a true deform,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Joe said little. It was just his way. He liked people.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: He was just quiet, stoic. He reserved his affection for
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: those he truly loved and for moments when it really mattered.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: In these days, Joe DiMaggio really loved his wife, Marilyn Monroe.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: But now wasn't one of those moments. This moment, right
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: now that he was navigating through, fighting his way through
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: a massive bunched up New Yorkers on Lexington over By
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: fifty second was troublesome, to say the least. Joe, with
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: syndicated and ruthless newspaper calumnist friend Walter Winchell at his side,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: was trying to get to see his wife, but so
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: too were a thousand strangers jam tight under movie set
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: cleag lights trying to catch a glimpse of Hollywood's new
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Girl nineteen fifty. Marilyn and Rose Star have been in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: near constant ascent since her days in the late forties
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: as a Hollywood house girl, and this was no ordinary
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Star turn. Marylyn seemed to be not only blazing a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: lucrative and exciting career for herself, but to also be
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: changing America's attitude on sex in the process. In the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: early fifties, while Marilyn was just starting to break through
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: in the film business due in part to her small
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: role in John Houston's expertly made crime drama The Asphalt Jungle,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: nude photos of her from her modeling days had gone public.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: The studio heads at twentieth Century Fox begged Marylyn to
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: deny that the photos were of her, which was ridiculous.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, they were photographs. The studio was nervous that
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: all they had invested in this contract girl was about
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to go up and smoke just as she was breaking
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: through because of the scandal, and they weren't wrong to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: be nervous. This was zeroly nineteen fifties, after all, attitudes
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: on sex were light years from where they are today.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: To say it was an ultra conservative mainstream culture as
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: an understatement, but Marilyn refused to be shamed into denying
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the photos were hers. Instead, she leveled with the American people,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: explaining that she took the photos back in the forties
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: at a time before she was a star a time
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: when she was behind on rent. It was on the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: verge of being evicted. Marilyn was asked by a reporter
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: if the rumor about the nude photos was true and
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: if she had anything at all on. She replied that
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: she had the radio on. Copping to the photos had
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the opposite effect. The studio feared being honest, authentic. It
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: made Marilyn more relatable, and America opened their arms to
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the beautiful and now vulnerable blonde. Marilyn further cemented her
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: status in American consciousness with a bit part showcasing not
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: only her undeniable beauty, but also her effortless sense of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: humor in All About Eve, a film that won five
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Academy Awards, including the Best Picture. She smoldered in the
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: film Noir Niagara as the murderous Seductress. Yet after these
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: two films and a string of others in between, Marilyn
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: seemed to land on something crucial regarding her craft. She
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: could easily grab America's attention with sex appeal she put
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: front and center in Niagara, but she could get America,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: all of America, men and women, to fall in love
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: with her by using her sense of humor. Which she
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: definitely deployed and all about eve. Marilyn put it all
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: together in her next film, Gentlemen Prefer Blonde, starring alongside
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Jane Russell, another Hollywood sex symbol with brains, ambition, and
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: experience that would inspire Marilyn. In Gentlemen Preferred Blondes, all
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: of Marilyn Monroe is on display. She is a supernova
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: talent that is as attractive as she is hilarious as
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: she is talented. She sings, she dances, she entices, she
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: plays the ditch to get you to laugh. She's the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: most beautiful woman you've ever seen, but non threatening because
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: it's all a joke to her. How could it not be?
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: No blonde could be that dumb that Marilyn Monroe had
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: created a character to inhabit, the dumb blonde, a character
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: that was at odds with who she really was. Intellectually curious, ambitious,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: serious minded about her craft and career, but at the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: same time, she was uneducated, a high school dropout, deeply
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: insecure about her intelligence and talent, overly reliant on her
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: beauty and the power that came with her sex appeal.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Many men underestimated her, but regardless with this new character
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: on display and gentlemen preferred blondes, and later in How
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Laura Bacall,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: it was clear that whatever went into the character and
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: persona Marilyn Monroe had created, America couldn't get enough. Both
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: films were massive hits, and Marilyn was now one of
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the biggest stars on the planet.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back after.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: This, We're we're where. Judging by the crowd on Lexington
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Avenue on September fifteenth, nineteen fifty four, it was easy
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to tell just how famous Marilyn Monroe had become, and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: her newlywed husband, Joe DiMaggio was not happy as he
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: fought through the crowd that was jamming up traffic in
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: all directions there to catch a glimpse of his wife.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe was in town to film the new Billy
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Wilder comedy The Seven Year Itch. Her arrival in New
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: York and her on set appearances had dominated newspaper coverage.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio didn't sign up for this. This was something else.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: One thousand hard hats and pencil necks, wolf whistling at
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: his wife in public horny newspaper men documenting her every
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: move in their daily columns. Walt Winchell's eagerness to get
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: up in front of the crowd to catch a glimpse
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: of Joe's wife was fueling the Slugger's anchor. Joe knew
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: going into his marriage with Marylyn back in January that
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: their relationship would be fought her for the He was
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: arguably more famous than she was at the time, but
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Joe wanted a wife,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: not a supernova sex symbol whose fame had grown so
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: immense that American men felt entitled to a piece of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: whatever action she was laying out for the world to see.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Winchell grabbed the attention of two beat cops and pointed
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: out that he was with Joe d mister Marilyn Monroe,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: formerly the Yankee Clipper, and that the two of them
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: needed help getting up front to the set where Marilyn was.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: The cops cleared the way and escorted Joe and Winchell
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: to the set. When they finally got up close, Joe
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: couldn't believe what he was seeing his wife in a
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: thin white dress under a searing barrage of four to
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: ten two came Mole Richards in motion picture lights, standing
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: in heels over a subway grate with an industrial sized
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: prop fin, blowing her dress up above her thighs. Cameras,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: rolling photos, snapping, director barking, extras, gawking, and New Yorker's
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: as far as the eye could see, screaming in delight,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Do it again, Do it again, and Billy Wilder obliged.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: He kept calling for more shots. Marilyn's dress flapped over
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: her bare legs. Higher, the crowd demanded, cut action, higher, higher,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: and the fan roared, and so did the crowd. When
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the dress blew up to Marylyn's shoulders, her womanhood exposed.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Joe could see it, so can most of Lexington Avenue,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: including Winchell the Purf. Joe turned in disgust and headed
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: back to the couple suite at the Saint Regis, but
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: not before shouting out to Winchell in the earshot of
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: everyone else around him in the crowd, that he'd had it.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: He and Marylyn would remain married for another month, but
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: effectively their marriage ended that night. All in, it was
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: a nine month marriage. Marilyn Monroe, the most famous woman
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in the world, would once again be alone, an orphan,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: then a star, married to one of the most beloved
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: men in America, and then shockingly alone once again, but
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: not for long, and had rekindled a crush from some
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: years back with another one of America's most interesting men,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: this one with an intellect is accomplished as Joe DiMaggio's athleticism.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Arthur Miller arguably the country's greatest playwright, author of Death
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: of a Salesman, the nineteen forty nine play that won
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: both the Tony for Best Play and the Politzer Prize
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: for Drama, and made Miller a household name and the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: envy of writers from Broadway to Hollywood. Arthur Miller was
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: not an obvious choice for Marilyn Monroe, America's girl compared
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to Joe D. Miller was a nerd an egghead. But
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: for Marylynd he validated something in her, her need to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: be respected as a serious actor and as an artist herself.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: If she could capture the heart and therefore the approval
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: of none other than Arthur Miller, then it couldn't be
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: said that she was just another dumb blonde, or so
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: went her insecure thinking. The flip side was that the
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: two really loved one another. Arthur Miller bestowed upon Marilyn
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Monroe the type of emotional attention and affection that Joe
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Demaije was incapable of expressing, despite whatever sincere feelings he
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: had for her. But the relationship, like all of Marilyn's relationships,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: would be short lived. John Houston sat in the dusty Reno,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Nevada bar with Arthur Miller and told him straight up
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: his wife, the star of Houston's new film, The Misfits,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: was losing it. The Miller Monroe marriage had become a
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: braid of dueling destructive ironies. The Misfits was a screenplay
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: that Arthur Miller poured his heart and soul into in
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: an effort to satisfy his wife's desire to show off
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: for serious acting chops. She was training with legendary acting
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: coach Lee Strausburg, found and director of the Actors Studio,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: creator of the Method acting technique, and instructor to James
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Dean and a slew of other serious minded East Coast actors.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: In The Misfits was a vehicle created by Arthur Miller
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: to cast Marylyn opposite her childhood hero Clark Gable, to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: cheer her up after she missed carried for the third
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: time in nineteen fifty eight, losing another baby. While unable
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: to stop perspiraling use of barbituates and booze. In her
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: guilt ridden depression, Marilyn attempted suicide by overdose, and it
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: was not her first time. The fear among those who
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: cared about her was that her previous breakdowns in overdose
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: is one in forty four in another in nineteen fifty
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: were either outright suicide attempts or at the very least
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: cries for help. After the most recent overdose in nineteen sixty,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: with her marriage to Miller falling apart, she was eventually
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: committed to New York's Pain Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. It was
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: a nightmarish four day ordeal, locked in a literal padded cell,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: subjected to forced baths, living out her worst fear of
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: becoming her mother. The more Marilyn rejected this cruel form
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of quote unquote care, the more the doctors thought she
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: was in psychosis. It was her ex Joe DiMaggio, who
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: secured her release, But for Arthur Miller, the climax of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: this drama was still a few months away, and the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Reno Bar. With John Houston cutting through the bullshit, he
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: still couldn't get over the irony, the irony that he'd
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: written the screenplay out of a desire to help his
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: wife cope, and now the film was in danger of
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: falling apart due to his wife's inability to hold herself together.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: But for Marilyn, the irony was darker, more bitter. As
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Marilyn lost herself further in the hall of mirrors of
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: her own life, the reflection she saw looked more and
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: more like her cruel, unbalanced mother, who herself was an
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: institutionalized schizophrenic who rejected Marilyn over and over again, just
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: as Marilyn believed her body had rejected her babies. Marilyn's
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: deepest fear of turning out like her was coming dangerously
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: close to being reality. John Houston told Arthur Miller Marilyn
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: needed to get off the drugs and lighten up on
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the drinker. Not only would the film die on the vine,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: but so too would his wife. On some level, Arthur
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Miller knew this, but he was hapless to do anything
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: about it. He tried, but Marilyn her fame, her problems,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: they were all consuming. She was, as he said, devouring me,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and they separated. During the shooting of The Misfits. There
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: was no saving America's Girl. Arthur Miller found out what
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio knew. It was a fact. Frank Sinatra would
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: soon learn the same hard truth, and so too would
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: his buddies, the Attorney General and President of the United States,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Robert and John F.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Kennedy.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe wasn't alone in her Brentwood hacienda style home,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: but she felt like she was. Her housekeeper Eunus Marity
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: was somewhere else in the house. Marylyn's blackout bedroom curtains
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: were doing their best to keep the piercing California afternoon
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: sun outside where it belonged. Marilyn couldn't sleep the night before,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: which wasn't unusual. The barbituates and librium worked until they didn't,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and then you were up all night biting your fingernails
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and staring at the ceiling, making plans for your next
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: picture to start in or to produce. Marylyn won her
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: freedom from twentieth Century Fox a few years back. Freedom
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: might be too strong a word, but compared to other stars,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: it wasn't nothing. The ability to choose your own director
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: and cinematographer, the right to story approval, and to star
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in your own films that you produce outside the studio
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: for your own production company that you founded, and to
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: command a competitive and respectable fee for the studio pictures
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: you did choose to do. It was a major victory
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: for her, Carolyn, but it didn't come without a fight.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: She'd been battling with Twentieth since her days with Joe.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Joe knew about contract negotiations, and he helped her out
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: tremendously throughout the process as a good partner should he
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: was like that still was. He'd never really disappeared from
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: her life completely. He still called in to check on her.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: It was clear he still loved her and was there
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: for her if she wanted him. She was the love
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of his life. She knew this, but she was interested
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: in another man at the moment. Man actually one for
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: his brain, one for well, his brain too, but also
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: everything else. A few weeks back, she'd been summoned by
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: none other than John F. Kennedy, the thirty fifth President
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: of the United States, to meet at Bing Crosby's house
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: in Palm Springs. The President made no pretenses about their meeting.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: They met in Bing's guest room, talked for a bit,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and then had sex. Then they talked some more, and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the President complained about his back. It was a constant problem.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: He could barely walk. He was able to hide it
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: from the public because the press was in no rush
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to let the public know about it. It was sort
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of the same situation with his girlfriends. The press knew
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: all about JFK's many, many women, but protected him. What
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: good would it do the country if the President woke
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: up one morning embroiled in a public scandal surrounding his
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: extramarital affairs and so on the thinking Jack Kennedy was
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: brazen about his adultery, so much so that he eagerly
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: jumped on the phone with Marilyn's doctor, Dr Greenson at
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: her insistence when she rang him up from bed. Upon
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: hearing about Jack's back problems, Doctor Greenson was shocked. It
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: was clear to him on the other end of the
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: line that the couple had just had sex. Jack didn't care,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and the doctor wouldn't say anything, just like the press,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: just like Bing, and just like all the guests milling
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: about Bing's property who were there to welcome the President
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and show him a good time. Nobody would say anything.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: The party at Bing Crosby's was supposed to be at
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the Palm Springs home with another recent flame of Maryland's,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra, but at the last minute, the President's brother,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Robert F. Kennedy, insisted that they moved the location. Frank
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: kept company with disreputable men, the type of men that
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Jack and Bobby's own father, Joe Kennedy Senior, made his
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: fortune with the generation prior qualified men, connected men, Italian men, gangsters.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Jaegar Hoover, director of Bobby Kennedy's FBI, knew all about it,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: and as of late, was delighted to let Bobby know
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that he knew. Hoover, that duplicitous scheming phony had a
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: heart on for the Kennedy's the size of Lyndon Johnson's ego,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: that is to say, the size of Texas. In private,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra made no secret about his friends. He was
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: who he was, and of Jaegarhoover. Bobby Kennedy didn't like it. They,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: along with the rest of the world, could go pound sand.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Frank gave marilynd a Maltese puppy during their time together.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: She named it mof short for mafia. Marilyn knew what
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: her flame was with the President. It was just that,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: a fling, nothing more, but still she was eager to
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: cozy up to him again, though it never happened. So
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: his brother R. FK, arguably the second most powerful man
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: in the United States given his role as Attorney General
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: in closeness with his brother the President, would have to do.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: She tried impressing him at a party for the Attorney
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: General in Santa Monica at his brother in law, Peter
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Lawford's house. She succeeded, but not in the way she wanted.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: It was hard for Marilyn not to impress, wearing a
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: strapless black dress with peekaboo fabric, but Marilyn drank too
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: much don Perion, nearly passed out and ultimately needed to
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: be driven home by Bobby himself, joined by his press
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: aide Edwin Guthlan, so that nobody would get the wrong idea.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: After all, despite her drunkenness, the Attorney General found Marilyn interesting,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: as most men did. While at the party, Marilyn pressed
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Bobby for information on his efforts to advance the civil
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: rights movement. She aimed to show him her pass for
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the same issue. It worked. Bobby gave her his office
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: number and told Marilyn he'd be happy to discuss the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: matter further whenever she had the time. So here she
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: was lying in her bed on a sunny afternoon, wearing
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: nothing but an untied bathroom butting her nails on one hand,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: pressing the phone to her head, with the other hanging
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: on the Attorney General's every word. He was entertaining her
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and himself. It was an indulgence he hardly had time
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: for about when he relished. Nonetheless, she was, after all,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe, and next to his brother's wife, First Lady
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline Kennedy, Marilyn was arguably the most famous and most
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: beautiful woman in the world. In that voice, breathy, eager,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: always on the verge of excitement. Sure, he'd let her
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: ramble on for a few minutes about Martin Luther King
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Junior or Thurgood Marshall. The women in the office snickered.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: They knew about Marilyn's calls. Bobby didn't hide them. It
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: was completely innocent when it came to politics or any
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: else rather that didn't involve acting her sex. None of
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: them took Marilyn Monroe seriously. Marilyn was an entertainer and
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: should stick to that entertaining. So it was that she
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: was invited, along with other entertainers Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darren,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Maria Kallis, and host Peter Lawford to the President's birthday
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: party on May nineteenth, nineteen sixty two, at Madison Square Garden.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: The first Lady wouldn't be attending. It was a big
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: bash a listers. The President's availability would be limited. Marylyn
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: would need to make an impression. Intimate political discussion wasn't
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: going to be an option. She'd need a weapon. She
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: was more familiar with sex, and she had two bullets.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: One the song she was singing, the innocuous Happy Birthday,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: but she would work it up into a steamy, sultry
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: ballot all breath and whisper in your ear innuendo. The
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: second bullet was the dress. She'd use that for the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: kill shot bank, shoot him down, the President of the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: United States, right there in public, and she'd knocked the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: rest of them dead too. With her sequin Jean Louis
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: skin and bead's gown she was being sewn into it
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: at the moment hours before the event, and practicing her
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: version of the song, everyone she knew begged her not
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to go through with it. With this particular rendition of
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the song, hyper sexualized in the dress address that gave
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the impression that she was actually nude, accenting her curves
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: and nearly see through, she would wear no wonderwear to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: further drive home the point she was Marilyn Monroe. She
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: may no longer be missus Arthur Miller or missus Jo Deimaggio,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and she may never be missus Bobby Kennedy or missus JFK.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: But she'd make them all feel the pain of not
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: being with her that loneliness. Even if they felt a
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: small fraction of the longing, she felt it would be
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: worth it. She wasn't a vindictive woman, but life's injustices
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: had been adding up.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: As of late.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: She was thirty five years old, three failed marriages, a
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: tumultuous relationship with the movie studio she felt perpetually at
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: war with, having been suspended for turning down the comedy
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: The Girl in the Pink Tights, dragged through contract fights
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in the press, and even now fighting with Twentieth to
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: take the days off to visit New York for this performance,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: and as of late, she'd grown increasingly dependent on the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: pills prescribed by doctor Greason in the psychoanalysis he was
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: providing for her. It was all adding up to an
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: insurmountable tangle of anxiety, like a net closing in on her.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: That resulted at the end of the day when she
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: drew the blackout curtains and tried to escape into hard
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: to find sleep, into a feeling of being utterly alone.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: So tonight, in front of the world, she'd make them
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: all feel the pain of what they were missing her.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: She took the stage and killed with one of the
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: most iconic public performances of all time. Marilyn Monroe made
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Happy Birthdays sound like a poem by one of Caligula's chambermaids,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden. Couldn't believe it. America couldn't believe it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: The President couldn't believe it. After the performance, Jack Kennedy
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: took the stage and his first words into the mic were,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: thank you. I can now retire from politics having happy
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Birthdays sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome manner.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: If only that were true. But this story Marilyn Monroe's story,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: It's ending is anything but sweet and wholesome. In our
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: next episode, why everything you think you know about Marilyn
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Monroe's deaths is probably wrong and a shocking answer to
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the question that's haunted true crime fans for decades, Who
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: really killed Marilyn Monroe? I'm Jake Brennan in this episode
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: of Disgraceland is to be continued. Disgracelam was created by
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.
• 32:16
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• 32:19
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• 32:22
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• 32:27
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• 32:31
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• 32:40
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• 32:43
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• 32:52
  Speaker 1: rock a roll
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Man,