Marilyn Monroe Read Online Free PDF Page B

York solely in order to finish
The Hook.
He had been unable to concentrate in Los Angeles. He worked best in a swivel chair at the cluttered desk in his cozy study in Brooklyn or in the ten-by-twelve-foot shack he had built with his own hands on his country property in Connecticut, where he had written
Death of a Salesman.
The moral crisis that, in reality, had sent Miller rushing back to New York would only have made him more attractive to Marilyn. She loved that he hadn’t tried to sleep with her, though heclearly wanted to. She was drawn to him precisely because he was a man of conscience. She longed to have someone to look up to. As a moral figure, he seemed capable of absolving her of all she was ashamed of in her past. If he could love her, perhaps she really was worthy of respect. Marilyn, pretending it came from Harry Cohn’s secretary, sent a telegram instructing Miller to finish his screenplay and return to Los Angeles.
    Meanwhile, she slept with Kazan, who remained in town during February to work on
A Streetcar Named Desire.
Their sexual relationship did not end now that she had become preoccupied with Arthur Miller. In a curious way, it actually seemed to have intensified. Kazan was precisely the kind of director Johnny had said Marilyn needed. But if she pushed too hard, she might lose him. Kazan had fled once before, when he passed her on to Miller. This time, she had to keep his interest. And in the light of the fact that he knew how much she cared for Miller, she had to prevent his ego from being twisted out of joint; it certainly wouldn’t do for a man to think the only reason she was sleeping with him was to get a film role.
    Instead of hiding how she felt about Kazan’s friend, however, Marilyn talked about it openly and at length. She and Kazan endlessly discussed Miller. She created the impression that in Arthur’s absence, Kazan provided a vital link to his world. In a way, of course, he did. She told him what Arthur had said about being unhappy at home, and asked Kazan to help him. On at least one occasion, she even talked about Miller as Kazan made love to her. Miller, evidently, was in both their minds as they tangled on that bed. Afterward, Kazan found himself looking into Miller’s eyes on the bookshelf over Marilyn’s pillow. It may be that, perceiving the intensity of the men’s relationship, Marilyn talked on about Miller because she knew that was the sort of thing Kazan wanted to hear. But why, if she loved Miller, did she leave his photograph in view? Making love under Miller’s watchful eyes was every bit as much a gesture on her part as it was on Kazan’s. For all of her calculation, perhaps Marilyn, too, was turned on by the idea of the triangle.
    Back in New York, Kazan had a wife and children whom he had no intention of leaving. Studio publicity described him as “an ardent family man.” Nonetheless, in Los Angeles he went about openly with Marilyn. He told himself that their relationship was not serious. He told himself that he took a European attitude to such matters. Marilyn was great fun, Kazan believed, but she wasn’t cut out to be anybody’s wife.
    Usually, she played a happy girl for him. Yet there were times when she just couldn’t bring off the act anymore. There were times when, he sensed, she clung to him as if he were all she had. Kazan, for his part, certainly didn’t want any trouble. His marriage had nearly broken up over an affair with the actress Constance Dowling. Though he carried on with many girls, he did not want anything like that to happen again. He made a point of never telling a girl he loved her. Still, Marilyn discovered that Kazan could be tender and compassionate. He was a man of powerful silences. He might say nothing, yet he made his presence strongly felt. One night when she was in despair, Kazan held her in his arms, gently rocking her to sleep.
    For the most part, however, the relationship was keyed to Kazan’s needs. Marilyn accompanied