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Walter also became a hotelier, western style. A brochure touted "Walter Brennan's Indian Lodge Motel. The Motel of Distinction. Enjoy Your Vacation In The Switzerland of America. Fishing--Hunting--Swimming--Water Sports--Rainbow Theater--Horse Back Riding, Joseph, Oregon."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 20: Orphanage report on Norma Jeane: "Sometimes she seems anxious and then she begins to stutter. Norma Jean [sic] is also prone to coughing fits and frequent colds . . . if she's not treated with much patience and constantly reassured, she is prey to panic attacks. I would recommend for her a strong and good family."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 5: The Los Angeles Herald and Express publishes "Studios Push Beauties in Glamor Derby," subtitled "All Want Queen Marilyn's Crown." Marilyn is called Fox's "M-bomb." --
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 5: Marilyn visits the Tokyo Army Hospital.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 5: Laurence Olivier, his agent Cecil Tennant, and playwright Terence Rattigan arrive in New York to discuss with Marilyn a film of The Sleeping Prince, to be produced in London with Olivier and Marilyn in the starring roles.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 5: Marilyn is photographed in a two-shot with Carson McCullers, kissing her at McCullers's home in Nyack, New York, and later with McCullers and Isak Dinesen, with the threesome seated and looking over a manuscript in Dinesen's hands. In another shot, Miller is at the table with Marilyn and McCullers. He toasts Dinesen. They dine on oysters, white grapes, champagne, and a souffle. Marilyn attends a screening of Some Like It Hot at ..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 5: Following her psychiatrist's advice, a depressed Marilyn checks into the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic and is upset when she is treated as a mentally ill patient who might do harm to herself. Epoca (Italy) features a 1955 photograph of Marilyn, dressed in a terry cloth robe, bending her head to her knee and extending her left leg, while her right is tucked under her derriere.
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Carl Rollyson |
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The general unacceptability of this story is emphasized by its overall low tone and by the suggestion that your sympathetic lead, Morgan, is a murderer, who is permitted to go off unpunished. The characters of Morgan, Eddy [sic], Marie, Helen and Amelia should be softened in order to get away from the present "scummy" flavor which their activities throw forth. The scene of the battle between Renardo, Coyo, Morgan and Eddy [sic] should be sh..
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Carl Rollyson |
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Obviously fond of Jill, Paul remembered a time they were all together in a car arguing, and Jill whispered in Paul's ear, "Michael thinks he can win an argument by how loud he shouts."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 22: Pat Newcomb arranges a Mexico City press conference. Wearing a green Pucci dress and green mull (cotton) scarf, she provides a witty performance while sipping champagne.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 22: Marilyn is photographed giving an interview to Elsa Maxwell, gossip columnist and professional hostess, at the Ambassador Hotel. Cecil Beaton photographs Marilyn in front of a Japanese wall hanging.
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Carl Rollyson |
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We spoke of other innovations--the fax machine, for example. Michael listened politely and though I offered to buy him one, emphasising how easy they were to operate, he could not be convinced. The wiring in the house had not been upgraded--God knows how old it was. Of course, he had plenty of people to help him and he had no interest in speeding up his existence.
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Carl Rollyson |
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But the Butler-Brennan collaboration splendidly informs The Prince and the Pirate, a Samuel Goldwyn million-dollar Technicolor production that spoofs the swashbuckling pictures of the 1930s that made Errol Flynn a star. Butler seems to have given Brennan free rein in bringing to life one of his most exuberant and ribald roles. As Featherhead, a scuzzy pirate, he convinces the malicious Captain Barrett, "the Hook" (Victor McLaglen) to spare ..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: In a four-hour afternoon shoot, Rizzo captures Marilyn in close-up and in various positions on a lounger and at the edge of her Brentwood home pool. He later said she seemed "immensely sad . . . and that sadness was very visible in the pictures."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: Norma Jeane sells her white piano to Ana Lower.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 27: Marlon Brando sends Marilyn an encouraging telegram, saying, in part, "[D]on't be afraid of being afraid. It can only help. Relax and enjoy it. I send you my thoughts and my warmest affections. Marlon."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 27: Pre-production work begins on Bus Stop.
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Carl Rollyson |
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Character actor Ernest Borgnine told a story about Walter Brennan that is typical of the man and his professionalism. Relatively new to motion pictures, but with a burgeoning reputation as an actor, Borgnine was surprised when Brennan approached him on the set of Bad Day at Black Rock and asked if Borgnine would mind if Brennan watched him do a scene. Not at all, Borgnine said, rightly taking Brennan's request as a compliment. After Brennan..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 26: Marilyn begins work on Monkey Business with director Howard Hawks. As usual, she is late to the set, but Ginger Rogers, in a starring role, said Marilyn always knew her lines. Billy Travilla, her dress designer, admitted she hated the beige jersey wool dress with pleated full skirt that is her ensemble in the picture's opening scenes. She writes a check to the Carlton Hotel for $150.
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Carl Rollyson |
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By 1950, Brennan was settling into a schedule that saw him making three films a year, giving him more time on his ranch and with a new business he started in Joseph, a 487-seat movie theater that opened on July 27, 1950. It was housed in a Quonset hut made out of surplus war materials also used to build the civic center. "The reason he got the theater built," Mike recalled, "was because the civic center was the same size, and they [Frank Mc..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 25: Marilyn returns to Hollywood to star in Bus Stop. Hundreds of reporters meet her at the airport, and she conducts a press conference. She is photographed in a dark business suit, wearing a tie and dark gloves, seated next to Milton Greene. She seems more at ease, more comfortable in Greene's company, than in the press conference with Olivier.
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Carl Rollyson |
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Recently Michael had encountered Salman Rushdie at a party given by Geoffrey Robertson, the lawyer who had secured Michael's libel judgment against Rupert Murdoch's Times. Jill and Michael had installed a new kitchen with the damages. Spotting Rushdie, Michael approached and said, "Salman, let's have a meeting sometime soon without any kind of reference to Elizabeth [Rushdie's estranged wife who remained Michael's friend]." Rushdie agreed. ..
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Carl Rollyson |
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devotion that drove other actors out of the tent. Although Brennan's political convictions were decidedly conservative, he remained outside the political arena, which perhaps accounts for why he played no part in the controversy over blacklisting and the House Committee on Un-American Activities that would heat up Hollywood in the late 1940s and 1950s. In "Actors Split Over Right to Campaign," Oakland (CA) Tribune (April 6, 1948), Bob Thoma..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 16: The Asphalt Jungle is previewed at the Picwood Theatre in West Los Angeles. Audience appraisal cards refer to the "hot blonde" and request, "Let's see more of the blonde."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 16: Marilyn flies to Seoul, South Korea, to begin entertaining the troops at ten different sites. Her outfit for her performances includes a skin-tight, low-cut, plum-colored crepe cocktail dress, with bugle beads and thin spaghetti straps, and high heeled sandals, with a matching long-sleeved bolero jacket she only wears when not on stage. Other than hoop earrings and a diamond brooch and bracelet, she wears no jewelry. Between pe..
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Carl Rollyson |
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Brennan seems to have met his match in director John Ford. Scott Eyman, a Ford biographer, reports that the usually easygoing Brennan allowed the irascible director to get on his nerves. "Can't you even mount a horse?" Ford shouted at Brennan, when the actor had trouble saddling up. "No, but I got three Oscars for acting," Brennan shot back. Eyman speculates that perhaps Brennan, who was unusually solemn on the set, transferred his hatred o..
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Carl Rollyson |
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If Sam Goldwyn read the reviews of Dakota, he might have taken some satisfaction in Walter Brennan's critical drubbing. Walter had decided not to renew his contract with the producer. The actor, mimicking Goldwyn's accent, later joked that while under contract to the producer, he would be met with "Valter, you are the greatest actor in the vorld." But fifteen minutes after the contract expired, he heard Goldwyn on a studio street talking to..
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Carl Rollyson |
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Michael, by his own admission, was a hero-worshipper, and even when he admitted his hero's faults, he could not seem to then re-factor his hero worship.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: Ladies of the Chorus is released. Tibor Krekes in the Motion Picture Herald gives Marilyn her first review: "One of the brightest spots is Miss Monroe's singing. She is pretty, and with her pleasing voice and style, shows promise."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: The press quotes Wilder's vow never to do a film with Marilyn again. Marilyn and Miller attend a performance of Macbeth at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She is photographed autographing one of the programs.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: After several days of steady work, Marilyn calls in sick just after Miller leaves for Ireland to consult with John Huston about The Misfits
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 10: With Joe DiMaggio's help, Marilyn is released from Payne Whitney. Ralph Roberts picks Marilyn up. She sits in the backseat with Dr. Kris, and Marilyn berates Kris for betraying her trust. Marilyn is admitted to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for three weeks of recuperation. Roberts remembers Dr. Kris saying, "I did a terrible thing, a terrible, terrible thing. Oh God, I didn't mean to, but I did." Marilyn's friend, the ph..
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Carl Rollyson |
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Michael's career as a government minister made him a target of the tabloids. The Daily Mail ran a series of articles claiming that during a hospital stay Michael had received special treatment. But Michael accepted only the care available to other NHS patients. "I didn't like taking libel actions because I'm a journalist," he noted. Indeed, he had had to defend himself in libel actions that resulted from his articles. But when the tabloid c..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 23: Marilyn applies to legally change her name to Marilyn Monroe.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 23: Marilyn and Joe fly to Hawaii on the first leg of their trip home to Hollywood.
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Carl Rollyson |
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Brennan stayed in character, even when the cameras were not rolling on My Darling Clementine. "Don't whip me, Pappy, please!" the actors pleaded. John Ireland, who appears as one of Clanton's sons, said that off-screen Brennan was like the character he played. Walter Brennan, on-screen and off, almost always knew his own mind, an attribute that sometimes resulted in an inability to appreciate other points of view. He simply shut them out, l..
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 14: Chuck Moran sends Norma Jeane a Valentine's Day card.
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 14: Tempo features Marilyn in a swimsuit she wore in We're Not Married. Here she stands with her arms resting on a heart (almost as large as she is) with a cupid's arrow running downward and diagonally across the page. "Marilyn's New Career" is the headline for an article reporting her refusal to do the dumb blonde role in How To Be Very, Very Popular."
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Carl Rollyson |
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February 14: Marilyn and Miller send Steffi Sidney (Sidney Skolsky's daughter) a wedding present: a sterling silver cigarette box with the inscription "For this wonderful day--affectionately, Marilyn and Arthur." Epoca (Italy) shows Marilyn in a white halter-top in a photo taken during a party for Let's Make Love."
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Carl Rollyson |
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On the question of the bomb," said Michael, returning to the issue that trumped just about any other in his mind, "people say you should have done more when you were in the bloody government. I'm not saying they haven't any case at all, although we were so interested in other things and getting on with them. I knew if we raised the question of, you know, unilateral disarmament in the Callaghan government, there was no hope. And so we didn't..
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Carl Rollyson |
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In a memo dated April 22, 1942, concerning a script conference about Maryland, Darryl Zanuck rejected the idea of making a radical change in Brennan's screen persona. Brennan simply could not be presented as "a prospective bridegroom--even though in real life he is a man about 38." Such a persona would be "completely wrong since Brennan is a most unromantic character . . . the audience would never swallow him in any romantic complication be..
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Carl Rollyson |
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We spent the morning discussing Michael's role at Tribune, guiding the journal's policy toward endorsing the creation of NATO and establishing an anti-Communist stance earlier than most other leftwing publications. George Orwell had become a welcome figure to the staff at Tribune, even though readers protested: "Why do you take after the Russians all the time? We're still allies with them." Part of Michael's friendship with Ernest Bevin was..
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Carl Rollyson |
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To say that Ruth Brennan was at the center of her husband's life is no understatement. He never disparaged her supporting role, never spoke like some men do of "the wife," as if referring to a possession, even an encumbrance. Marriage was not a joking matter to Walter, ever. His son Andy remembers his father's response to a dirty joke about an actress. Walter didn't laugh, but instead paused and said, "My wife is the most wonderful woman in..
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Carl Rollyson |
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Talk turned to current affairs. When the Bush-Gore election came up, Michael noted, "We discovered that to the credit of Gore he said his favourite book was Le Rouge et Le Noir." Stendhal was one of Michael's all-time favourites. "That settled things for Michael," I said. "Yes," he quickly agreed. "How's Plymouth Argyle doing Michael?" Peter asked. "It's dreadful. We've had the worst beginning of a season for years," Michael replied, droppi..
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Carl Rollyson |