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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The man, part seriously and part joking, said to Norma Jeane that if she cared to stay there for the night he would not make us pay the fine. I paid twenty dollars and we continued the trip. That was only the first proposal she got on that trip. Amazingly, at various places we stopped, people began proposing something to her. A garage mechanic said he would give his left arm if she would stay and become his wife. A miner in the mountains said he wanted her and would give her everything he had. A young farmer said he was looking for a woman of her beauty! The owner of a motel proposed to her! And the haberdasher where I stopped to buy her jeans went nearly out of his mind wanting to see Norma Jeane try on various garments in the little dressing closet. Like a magnet, she attracted all men! I became reluctant, even cautious, stopping wherever there were men around. She goodhumoredly laughed every time and gently apologized to the men that she was unable to stay.... She did not tell me so, but I knew she was very pleased. So that's how the legend of Marilyn Monroe began right away-every man was crazy about her!
After we left the police station, I asked her to stand on the highway, barefoot, fixing her hair in pigtails. While taking her picture like that, in a sudden, strange, psychic revelation, I began pointing at the small white stars on her red skirt, prognosticating that those stars meant that some day she would become a very famous movie star! For a while I was talking, babbling about a future fabulous life, foretelling almost incoherently that the road behind her symbolized life, and that those were the first photos of her future successes to come!
Marry me!
It was raining while we drove to Mount Hood, Oregon, and the rain turned into snow when we got to the Timberline Lodge. I went to inquire for accommodations and there was only one room available, with a double bed. I went out to the car where Norma Jeane was waiting; she was in a rather serious mood. She said she could prefer it if we would drive on and find cabins somewhere in the woods... separate cabins. I felt disappointed, because I liked that hotel and wanted the comfort there. The opportunity would have been extraordinary to take pictures of Mount Hood-a beautiful, extinct volcano -and it's a fantastic place for good skiing. But I obeyed Norma Jeane and drove down on the narrow, curving road while it was snowing really hard and dusk was coming. At the junction of that narrow road and the main highway, there was a place called Government Lodge. The snow was already too deep and my car could not go any further. We got stuck right in front of the hotel, as if fate's hand had guided us there purposefully.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
The man, part seriously and part joking, said to Norma Jeane that if she cared to stay there for the night he would not make us pay the fine. I paid twenty dollars and we continued the trip. That was only the first proposal she got on that trip. Amazingly, at various places we stopped, people began proposing something to her. A garage mechanic said he would give his left arm if she would stay and become his wife. A miner in the mountains said he wanted her and would give her everything he had. A young farmer said he was looking for a woman of her beauty! The owner of a motel proposed to her! And the haberdasher where I stopped to buy her jeans went nearly out of his mind wanting to see Norma Jeane try on various garments in the little dressing closet. Like a magnet, she attracted all men! I became reluctant, even cautious, stopping wherever there were men around. She goodhumoredly laughed every time and gently apologized to the men that she was unable to stay.... She did not tell me so, but I knew she was very pleased. So that's how the legend of Marilyn Monroe began right away-every man was crazy about her!
After we left the police station, I asked her to stand on the highway, barefoot, fixing her hair in pigtails. While taking her picture like that, in a sudden, strange, psychic revelation, I began pointing at the small white stars on her red skirt, prognosticating that those stars meant that some day she would become a very famous movie star! For a while I was talking, babbling about a future fabulous life, foretelling almost incoherently that the road behind her symbolized life, and that those were the first photos of her future successes to come!
Marry me!
It was raining while we drove to Mount Hood, Oregon, and the rain turned into snow when we got to the Timberline Lodge. I went to inquire for accommodations and there was only one room available, with a double bed. I went out to the car where Norma Jeane was waiting; she was in a rather serious mood. She said she could prefer it if we would drive on and find cabins somewhere in the woods... separate cabins. I felt disappointed, because I liked that hotel and wanted the comfort there. The opportunity would have been extraordinary to take pictures of Mount Hood-a beautiful, extinct volcano -and it's a fantastic place for good skiing. But I obeyed Norma Jeane and drove down on the narrow, curving road while it was snowing really hard and dusk was coming. At the junction of that narrow road and the main highway, there was a place called Government Lodge. The snow was already too deep and my car could not go any further. We got stuck right in front of the hotel, as if fate's hand had guided us there purposefully.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Photo: André de Dienes