they were drawn to him in the battalions, by the brigades.…” (Gloria Emerson to Seymour Hersh in The Dark Side of Camelot [Boston: Little, Brown, 1997])
† “My brother and Jackie knew everything about the Civil War,” Teddy Kennedy recalled. “She had a fantastic desire for historical knowledge, and she was a sponge once she learned it. She caught every nuance.” (Sarah Bradford, Americas Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis [New York: Viking Press, 2000])
M RS . J OE D I M AGGIO
2150 Beach Street
San Francisco, California
Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C.
April 25, 1954
Dear Jackie,
I am so excited that you and the Senator are coming to California. I know that once you get here you won’t want to leave, at least that’s what most people say. I’ve missed L.A. so much that I’ve convinced Joe to let us move back next month and I’m so glad. Because although it is pretty here, and close to the Manna, there is nothing like L.A. I know that you will love it.
I feel as if we know each other so well already and are so similar. Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite books, and I am not great at cooking either. * I do try and cook for Joe—Italian, of course, he insists—but sometimes I long for the days when I was broke, living in a rooming house andjust eating yogurt mixed with raisins, fresh fruit, and peanuts and not having to cook at all. But men do seem to like us cooking for them, and they get so mad if it doesn’t work out exactly the way they want. It doesn’t always go well. I tried homemade noodles and the book said wait till they dry, but they didn’t. By then the dinner guests arrived, but they still hadn’t dried, I gave the guests drink after drink, and in the end dried the noodles with a hair dryer. Never told anyone, because when I did tell people that I washed lettuce leaves with Brillo, they thought I was a weirdo or something. I didn’t want them to say that about the noodles because I knew I was right.
Maybe when you come out, you would like to take a tour of the studio, and I can arrange it, though there isn’t much to see. Washington must be so much more exciting. History was always one of my favorite subjects at school, and there is so much of it in Washington, but I’ve never been there, or to Europe either. My movies don’t do badly over there, so maybe one day they’ll send me for publicity.
Please let me know the dates of your trip so I can look forward to it.
Love to you and the Senator,
Marilyn
__________________________
* The fact that Marilyn and Jackie both adored Gone With the Wind (see Chris Anderson, Jack and Jackie [New York: Morrow, 1996], and Colin Clark, The Prince, the Showgirl and Me [New York: St. Martin’s, 1996]) is indicative of their underlying similarities. Like Scarlett, Marilyn and Jackie were both wilful, self-centered, narcissistic, iron-willed, intensely ambitious, accomplished actresses—in Jackie’s case, off-screen.
S ENATOR AND M RS . J OHN F. K ENNEDY
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Joe DiMaggio
508 North Palm Drive
Beverly Hills, California
May 15, 1954
Dear Marilyn,
I must apologize for the delay in writing, but we have only recently firmed up the plans for our Californian trip. This will be my first visit since our brief stay there during our honeymoon, and I am wild with excitement and anticipation.
Jack has been so dear and says that as the trip falls during my birthday—at the end of July—he wants to make it one, big gigantic birthday surprise. He has even enlisted his brother-in-law Peter Lawford—perhaps you know him?—as co-conspirator. * He insists that you contact Peter directly—via the studio—and co-ordinate our meeting with him, as I am to be kept in the dark! How very mysterious it all is, and very unlike Jack, too, which makes it all the more intriguing!
A studio tour would be delightful, thank you for suggesting it. I hope you