Marilyn Monroe Read Online Free PDF Page A

famous eye for beauty. In a room crowded with directors and producers, he looked at Marilyn and saw what not one of them had even remotely perceived: the makings of a great star.
    Johnny Hyde was the first person, aside from Grace McKee, who saw Marilyn as she saw herself. But Johnny, unlike Grace, had the power to make Marilyn’s dream a reality. And, despite his poor health, he had the will to keep pushing until others saw her as he did. Johnny’s close friendships with many of the most important men in the film industry made it inevitable that eventually he would be able to force one of them to give Marilyn a chance.
    The week after Spiegel’s party, Hyde invited Marilyn to Palm Springs for a few days. By the time they came back, the little fellow with a taste for tall blondes had fallen hopelessly in love. That was another thing that made Johnny different from anyone Marilyn had ever known in Hollywood. He sincerely cared for her. Certain of his friends and associates laughed that he was obsessed.
    Soon, Johnny was taking Marilyn everywhere, in an effort to becertain people saw her. If he had lunch with a client at Romanoff’s, more often than not Marilyn would be at his side. If he played poker with the boys, Marilyn would be nearby reading a book. At the card table, he used every opportunity to hint to friends like John Huston and William Wyler that they ought to give the kid a chance. On visits to film studios, Hyde carried a silver film tin containing Marilyn Monroe footage under his arm. “You’ll see! They’ll all see!” he declared. “This kid has really got it. It’s not just her looks, although everybody admits she’s a knockout, but she’s got the spirit. And she’s funny. And a hell of an actress. And what’s more important, she wants to do it. She wants to get there and be somebody.” Still, no matter how powerful or well-connected Johnny might be, for some time none of his friends was willing to listen.
    For her part, Marilyn listened very carefully when Johnny explained his strategy to her. She absorbed all he said. He didn’t want to put her in just any film. The kind of “nothing” pictures she had already done would never make her a star. She could appear in a great many such films and still go nowhere. Johnny believed that for Marilyn to realize her dream, she needed a part that would get her noticed. It didn’t have to be a large role, just an interesting one, in a picture by an important director.
    Finally, Hyde’s persistence paid off. With Sam Spiegel’s help, he persuaded John Huston to let Marilyn read for a role in his new film. That was the break they had been waiting for.
The Asphalt Jungle
proved Johnny correct. In due course, some of the very men who had overlooked Marilyn at Hollywood parties were interested in using her. At Johnny’s urging, Joseph Mankiewicz viewed a rough cut of Huston’s film in early 1950; he promptly offered Marilyn a tiny role in
All About Eve.
Howard Hawks, once so scornful of Marilyn, fired off a telegram congratulating Huston on his discovery of “the girl.” As Johnny never tired of reminding Marilyn,
The Asphalt Jungle
was the first of her films that mattered.
    All About Eve
was the second. On the basis of the rushes, Darryl Zanuck agreed to take her back at Twentieth Century–Fox. Hyde negotiated a new seven-year contract that went into effect on May 11, 1950. That same month, the release of
The Asphalt Jungle
signaled that Marilyn’s career had taken off. From here on, Johnny assured her, everything was going to be very different.
    But there was a problem. Johnny wanted something in exchange for all that he had done. He wanted Marilyn to be his wife. Marilynrefused. She was perfectly willing to sleep with little Johnny, but she wouldn’t consider marriage to a man she did not love. He pleaded; he threatened; he cajoled. He warned that without his help, Marilyn would soon be right back on her ass with all the other girls. Again and