The Coltons Point Times: Hollywood

Marilyn Monroe born Norma Jeane Mortenson
June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962

It has been 93 years since the most beautiful woman in the world was born, and 57 years since her life was cut short at much to early an age, just 36 years old. Today she remains nearly as popular as when she was in her prime, and in nations like China she remains the number one Hollywood icon. She was a breath of fresh air in a time the world needed to recover from World War II.

Candle in the Wind

Goodbye Norma Jean

Goodbye Norma Jean

Though I never knew you at all

You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled

They crawled out of the woodwork

And they whispered into your brain

They set you on the treadmill

And they made you change your name

chorus:

And it seems to me you lived your life

Like a candle in the wind

Never knowing who to cling to

When the rain set in

And I would have liked to have known you

But I was just a kid

Your candle burned out long before

Your legend ever did

Loneliness was tough

The toughest role you ever played

Hollywood created a superstar

And pain was the price you paid

Even when you died

Oh, the press still hounded you

All the papers had to say

Was that Marilyn was found in the nude

Goodbye Norma Jean

Though I never knew you at all

You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled

Goodbye Norma Jean

From the young man in the 22nd row

Who sees you as something more than sexual

More than just our Marilyn Monroe

(repeat chorus)

Music: Elton JohnLyrics: Bernie TaupinPiano and Vocals: Elton John

Who done it? You Solve the Mysterious murder of Marilyn Monroe

You help solve the mystery of who killed the most famous Hollywood icon of the 20th Century. When the world awakened on August 5, 1962, the most celebrated actress in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, was found dead in her home in California at the young age of 36.

It was the end of a tumultuous and meteoric rise from rags to riches for America's sweetheart and Hollywood icon whose name crossed paths with the rich, the powerful, the revered and the most sinister characters in the world.

The medical examiner quickly concluded she died of an overdose of prescription medicine but forensic evidence was insufficient to declare it a suicide so her death was labeled as "probable suicide".

The mishandling of the crime scene, the manipulation of evidence, the inconsistency or her actions prior to the death and the onslaught of media hype pushing the suicide theory by powerful forces triggered a firestorm of suspicion and doubt.

But a series of national and international events the next 15 months would bury her story in the avalanche of media coverage of the Cold War with the Soviets, the Kennedy administration war with the La Casa Nostra, the evolving Vietnam war and the Kennedy assassination.

For the past 56 years the American public has been brainwashed with stories of the addictions and depression of film legend Marilyn Monroe that led to her death by suicide. She has been pictured as an insecure and fragile girl whose mother was sent to an insane asylum as Marilyn was bounced from foster home to foster home to orphanage.

In fact, according to Marilyn she was sent to ten total places, foster homes and the orphanage, before she married a merchant marine when she turned 16 to avoid being sent back to the orphanage. Because of her shuffling between homes she attended 6 different elementary schools in seven years.

But the vast majority of her experiences were good, she got along well with other children and often created games for her friends to play. It was during this period she developed her desire to be a star and began to create the persona she believed she needed to be successful.

Her first marriage lasted about 4 years, 1942-1946, although her husband was away during most of World War II. She was working in an armament factory toward the end of the war when she was discovered at an assembly line by a photographer searching for the next pin up queen for the soldiers.

By 1946 Norma Jean first began using the name Marilyn Monroe when her popularity as a pin up queen got the notice of movie studios. Marilyn had already begun singing and dancing lessons and had developed exceptional fitness and diet routines on her own, routines that would result in her being known as the most beautiful woman in the world.

At first it was her voice that got recognized although she did not get along with the movie tyrant Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, her studio most of her short career. Many of her early film roles were uncredited, even when performing songs, a way the studio could avoid paying performance fees to actors.

Marilyn seemed to know what was expected of Hollywood stars in the golden age of film and she gave the studio what it wanted. She quickly grew from a $125.00 a week extra to singing and then acting roles as she became more popular but as did most studios at the time, she was treated as a commodity.

In 1952 and 1953 her film roles pushed her to the top of the list in popularity but her studio handlers still insisted she play the dumb blond in comedies and though her films made more money than those of Elizabeth Taylor, Monroe was paid $100,000 per film compared to Taylor at $1 million per film.

From this point on the supposedly dumb blond pulled turned the movie industry upside down and eventually would force the studios to give her challenging dramatic roles like she wanted along with a salary equal to Elizabeth Taylor.

While she would be known as Marilyn Monroe from the late 1940's on she did not have her name legally changed from Norma Jean Mortensen to Marilyn Monroe until 1956.

As for the mystery of her death, by 1953 she was already acquainted with several people on the list of suspects or collaborators whose connections to others on the list in the immediate future would result in her becoming a serious threat to their careers and would endanger her life.