Reality can be stranger than fiction
The last untold story in the life of Marilyn Monroe. Selected excerpts from André de Dienes's memoirs
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(Thinking back to all that, I find it a bizarre coincidence, or a premonition, that I told Norma Jeane in 1945 about wanting to start a new kind of magazine, the picture of the rabbit as the emblem of the magazine and pictures of her nude inside the magazine. Eight years later, Hugh Hefner, a genius businessman, made it a reality! Norma Jeane was going to be the cover star of the first issue of my magazine; correspondingly, the first issue of Playboy featured my darling Norma Jeane, but as Marilyn Monroe, on the cover and nude on the inside.)
I noticed Norma Jeane had a wedding ring on her finger. She informed me she was married, but separated from her husband and no longer in love with him. He was a merchant marine away at sea, and she was free and modeling was her new goal. She mentioned nothing about wanting to become an actress. The few words of explanation she gave me freed my mind from inhibition. The truth was that I wanted to photograph her very much, but I wanted her more than anything else in the world! I was completely love struck from the moment she appeared at the door.
While we were talking, Norma Jeane took a good look at one of several old engravings I had on the wall-a nude Indian girl sitting on a rock, surrounded by mountainous scenery and animals, sort of an allegorical representation of the vision of America, the way Europeans figured life was like in America a few centuries ago. Norma Jeane was very interested in the picture and I told her I brought the pictures with me all the way from Transylvania. I went into a long story, telling her that in Spain in the 16th century, it was believed that California was an island inhabited by beautiful and strong native women-who lived nude. And that the entire continent of the west was rumored to be rich with gold, so Cortes, the famous Spanish explorer, outfitted ships and came to explore and conquer California, driven by the lust for gold and women. She laughed like crazy when I told her that I had the same thing in mind coming here to Hollywood, and my intentions were to photograph beautiful girls in the nude all throughout the west, but at the same time to explore old forgotten gold mines and look for gold in the mountains too. I came straight to the point in our conversation, asking her whether she would like to come to travel with me. We would go by car to explore the vast west and take pictures everywhere-glamour photos for magazine covers, and nudes too!
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
(Thinking back to all that, I find it a bizarre coincidence, or a premonition, that I told Norma Jeane in 1945 about wanting to start a new kind of magazine, the picture of the rabbit as the emblem of the magazine and pictures of her nude inside the magazine. Eight years later, Hugh Hefner, a genius businessman, made it a reality! Norma Jeane was going to be the cover star of the first issue of my magazine; correspondingly, the first issue of Playboy featured my darling Norma Jeane, but as Marilyn Monroe, on the cover and nude on the inside.)
I noticed Norma Jeane had a wedding ring on her finger. She informed me she was married, but separated from her husband and no longer in love with him. He was a merchant marine away at sea, and she was free and modeling was her new goal. She mentioned nothing about wanting to become an actress. The few words of explanation she gave me freed my mind from inhibition. The truth was that I wanted to photograph her very much, but I wanted her more than anything else in the world! I was completely love struck from the moment she appeared at the door.
While we were talking, Norma Jeane took a good look at one of several old engravings I had on the wall-a nude Indian girl sitting on a rock, surrounded by mountainous scenery and animals, sort of an allegorical representation of the vision of America, the way Europeans figured life was like in America a few centuries ago. Norma Jeane was very interested in the picture and I told her I brought the pictures with me all the way from Transylvania. I went into a long story, telling her that in Spain in the 16th century, it was believed that California was an island inhabited by beautiful and strong native women-who lived nude. And that the entire continent of the west was rumored to be rich with gold, so Cortes, the famous Spanish explorer, outfitted ships and came to explore and conquer California, driven by the lust for gold and women. She laughed like crazy when I told her that I had the same thing in mind coming here to Hollywood, and my intentions were to photograph beautiful girls in the nude all throughout the west, but at the same time to explore old forgotten gold mines and look for gold in the mountains too. I came straight to the point in our conversation, asking her whether she would like to come to travel with me. We would go by car to explore the vast west and take pictures everywhere-glamour photos for magazine covers, and nudes too!
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
André de Dienes, Marilyn (80th Birthday Edition)
Hardcover, 24 x 30 cm (9.4 x 11.8 in.), 240 pages
$ 19.99
$ 19.99
The photos and secret memoirs of Marilyn Monroe's first photographer and lifelong friend
Photo: André de Dienes