THE GIRL by MICHELLE MORGAN : MARILYN MONROE, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, and the BIRTH OF AN UNLIKELY FEMINIST

As this summer in early August, it will be 60 years since the actress Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose - or perhaps was murdered - a resurgence of film, documentaries, and books has occurred. This book by Michelle Morgan, published in 2018, is one of the first to look at the icon as something other than a victim.  Rather, Morgan points out the attempts to control her career that Monroe had taken in an era when she went against the norms by having a career, and not being the married, stay-at-home wife and mother. In many ways Monroe was born too soon.

Morgan starts out strong with this statement on page 10.

Excerpt: The Girl, titled after her character in the 1955 comedy The Seven Year Itch, tells the story of how that film transformed Marilyn Monroe from another Hollywood star into "The Girl" of modern times - a true icon - and sent her on an unparalleled adventure of self-discovery and reflection.  The years 1954-1956 were Marilyn's most powerful and inspirational, and it was during this time that her most substantial decisions were made. Before Itch, she had been known for her mostly fluffy, dumb-blonde roles, and she was unhappily married to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.  By the time the film opened Marilyn was the president of her own film company, a student at New York Actor's Studio, and embroiled in a battle with Twentieth Century Fox that would eventually gain independence not only for herself, but others working under the constraints of the studio system too. Shortly after the release, she legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, thereby divorcing herself from the troubled past of Norma Jeane once and for all. Her rebellion was remarkable and exceptionally rare during a time when women were expected to strive to be fantastic homemakers and actresses had to accept every kind of behavior imposed upon them by their male bosses.

While Monroe had her detractors, I was surprised to learn that two of the women profiled here, Faith Domergue and Marilyn Maxwell, had nice things to say about Marilyn. 

Excerpt page 127 : Still, Marilyn did have her fair share of powerful female admirers who were always willing to come out in support of her.  One of these women was actress Faith Domergue. She took her complaints about ' clubwomen or jealous movie queens" straight to columnist Erskine Johnson, who published her views. "Nobody can hurt (Marilyn)," she said. "If she stays as she is, holding her ground, being herself, she will be on of the great stars of all time. Women may not approve of an actress, but as long as they're curious, they'll come to see her films and bring their men along too."  (The club she refers to s the Women's Club of Hollywood which apparently thought of themselves as moral arbitrators.)

Excerpt page 128 : One actress shared a name with her. though not by choice.  Marilyn Maxwell had become famous in the 1940's, and when she met the second Marilyn in 1948, she was stunned to hear of her desire to become a successful actress.  Maxwell suggested that she should change her name to something else so that the two of them did not get mistaken for each other. However,  Monroe had no intention of doing so, and for many years Maxwell was bombarded with fans who thought they were the one and the same. In the end, Maxwell gave a standard reply : "No, I'm not the Marilyn with clothes on." though no offense was meant and she actually did greatly admire Monroe. "I think she has done a great deal of good for the movie industry." she said. "She is just what this business needed -- someone to put some glamour and magic back into Hollywood."

If interested in FAITH DOMERGUE:  FAITH DOMERGUE :  HOWARD HUGHES FIFTEEN YEAR OLD MISTRESS : MISTRESS OF THE MONTH  May 2014, which you can find in my archives.  Or click on her name in the labels below.

If interested in MARILYN MAXWELL she is one of the women profiled in my month on comedic actor, Bob Hope.

MARILYN MAXWELL - FOUR YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH BOB HOPE - CALLED "MRS. BOB HOPE"  August 2015

C 2022 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

HONG KONG BOAC and A MESSAGE FROM MISSY ON COMMENTS

 Missy here! 

I was just looking through COMMENTS today and found some Spam as well as a few very nice posts that I could not post because they contained personal information such as e-mail addresses.  Generally, I may post a good comment that appears under a related post that has a link to your own Noncommercial Blog or Website, but if you put an e-mail address I won't.  I have no way of knowing for sure that you're the actual owner of that e-mail but even if you are, it doesn't seem safe or smart to. To expose an e-mail like that is a great way for you to be badly spammed yourself.

I heard from one of the authors of a book I posted who thanked me but also wanted my review to be used on Amazon. Thanks for the compliment but Amazon ownership is incredibly wealthy. In fact Jeff B. is one of the richest men in the world. And I'm not at all.  Why should my hard work at  buying or borrowing books, reading, writing a review, and posting, be used or owned by anyone but me? If you want to link from  your official author blog to my review, that's respectful. Sometimes I spend many hours on my subject. So no I am not giving my Copyright over to one of the riches men in the world. And don't you either!

Which brings up the fact that though I do all that work, the profiles of Kept Men and Women and other topics here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO are not biographies.  I'm always open to your comments, including if you politely disagree with me, but please also provide some references, such as the name of the book or a link to an article that defies the stance I've decided to take.  I can't read them all but I just might.  Also, sometimes I will use more than one book and post and review the other book(s) later in the month.

I try to post images that are OK to use for NONPROFIT BLOGS and WEB SITES, some in the Public Domain, some not.  If you copy an image I have searched for and used here and are making bucks using it or making bucks on the site where you used it, let me remind you that's not the usual Copyright or Fair Use agreement and You may end up in trouble!

Finally, though I don't write for hits, I do look at stats and I do hope that those of you who are attracted to this site looking for the most scandalous stories will read more and come to understand that for every one mistress who was considered scandalous and so had a book or books written about her, or who wrote her own memoir, there were probably at least a thousand others who continued to live private lives.  The purpose of this blog is not to out people so much as to come to understand that there was no one way for a women (or man) to become or be a Mistresses (or Kept).  So, do me a favor and go further with your reading  about Dawn Shiller, and Faith Domergue to women like our Honorary Mistress of May 2017, Lindsay Mills, to Isadora Duncan or Georgia O'Keefe. Take a look in PAGES where I've been keeping a list of all the topics!  I guarantee your understanding will deepen, even your feminism may deepen, as has mine!  Missy

FAITH DOMERGUE : MOVIE LEGEND

She is  beeuuutiful !

FAITH'S COMPETITION? AVA GARDNER!

The following excerpts are from the book
HOWARD HUGHES THE UNTOLD STORY
by PETER HARRY BROWN and PAT H.BROESKE and are copyright 1996 by the authors.

Howard Hughes told Faith Domergue that she was the child he should have had but also that he wanted to marry her.  The huge emerald ring he gave her as an engagement ring was spotted on the Warner Brother's studio lot and by day's end Louella Parson's had printed it in her column. Hughes declined requests for interviews.  He also went through a lot of maneuvers to purchase her 7 year contract from Jack Warner who charged him $50,000.  Hughes himself also acquired her representation from Henry Willson, then at the Zeppo Marx agency.

"Suddenly my professional and emotional future were completely in his hands," Domergue recalled.  Sometimes I wasn't afraid.  I had complete confidence that my blue prince had arrived."

pages 151 - 152 -159

But then...

page 158

But then 21 year old Ava Gardner "blew into Howard's arms in January 1943."   She "kept his life in turmoil for more than a decade."  He told Ava he wanted to marry her and gave her four proposals, each with lavish gifts - diamonds, rubies, opals, Cartier, even a shoe box with $250,000 cash, and flew a plane to get her wish - orange ice cream.

page 160 - 163

"All that he had cruelly denied FAITH DOMERGUE, he showered on Gardner."  Weekends in Palm Springs Racket Club, formal dinners at Darryl Zanucks and Samuel Goldwyns (two Hollywood movie company heads), shopping in Mexico City and Manhattan.  He set Ava up in a lavish apartment just off Sunset where she lived with her sister. Then Howard put Ava under surveillance and discovered her ex husband Mickey Rooney was still sleeping with her.  When Ava confronted him and they had a fight that turned physically abusive, Howard disappeared on Faith and then he lied and claimed he'd been in a car accident.  He was addicted to psychodrama and danger.  Finally Faith overheard him making love with another woman and using the "Little Baby" endearment on this someone else!  She was 17 and had five more years on her contract with Hughes and no film rolls.

She caught sight of Howard driving Ava Gardner in a Cadillac.  Driving her red roadster, Faith gave chase.  When Hughes stopped the Cadillac, faith bumped into it with her car.

page 164

"Faith deliberately backed up her roadster and floored the gas pedal, crashing repeatedly into the passenger's door.  Gardner screamed.  Poor Ava bounced up and down in her seat."  The front of the roadster crumbled and steamed."  Howard took Faith by the hand and took her home where he made more promises, apologies, swore he'd give her father a business and make her a star.  Someone else drove Ava home."  By this time Faith noticed Howard's germ phobias and rituals and that he periodically went into a fog.

page 180

October 1944, still with Faith, he made a demonstration of burning some of his past away by tossing letters from his parents , especially his mother, into the roaring fireplace as well as the legal documents of his fight for his father's company.

page 209

In 1946 Faith finally got the courage to leave Howard and then married another playboy, Teddy Stauffer.  She later starred in Hughes produced film "Vendetta."  Ava married Artie Shaw.

page 210

Hughes continued to romance stars like Lana Turner, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Linda Darnell, and eventually Jean Peters, who eventually became Mrs. Howard Hughes Jr., his second wife.  Peters would stick by him for years even though he was rarely with her.

MISTRESS FAITH DOMERGUE by PETER HARRY BROWN and PAT H. BROESKE

"She was the most beautiful of a pack of Warner Brothers starlets invited to decorate an industry cruise on the "Southern Cross."  Hughes singled her out, instantly curious about this graceful teenager with raven hair, hypnotic dark eyes, and a shyness that matched Hughes own... As the party broke up, Hughes insisted upon driving her home in a battered Buick, in which Faith immediately fell asleep."

page 150 of
HOWARD HUGES THE UNTOLD STORY
by PETER HARRY BROWN and PAT H.BROESKE

After permission from her parents...

"... He then swept her off to a sprawling ranch in the desert, initiating a dazzling courtship and mutual obsession that would stretch five turbulent years in which Hughes would exert iron-fisted control of both Faith Domergue's personal and professional existence... Their first days together were giddy with romance.  They flew to the Salton Sea, where they floated in the primeval brine and feasted on cold chicken and champagne.  They cruised the commercial "millionaires row" in Palm Springs, where she left the boutiques with towering boxes of clothes. ... "By the end of October, all strain of shyness were gone and we were falling in love, "Domergue later recalled.  "It seemed as if danger or unhappiness couldn't get close to me when I was with this man."

Then, because she wanted to know everything there was to know about Howard, Faith, bored with homework and magazines, discovered a treasure chest of Howard's mementos from past (and present?) romances.  These were postcards, cancelled checks, jewelry, letters involving Billie Dove, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and many others.

She put everything away just so but "Howard cornered her in the upstairs bedroom and accused her of investigating him "like a Pinkerton detective."  Then he claimed he would show her anything if she just asked first.

By now the columnist Louella Parsons knew about their romance and put out an article asking if they had a "secret marriage." 

In 1941 Hughes was "still operating under a set of mutually agreeable ground rules" with her parents.  But he had also started employing her relatives.

"Every morning, a Hughes limousine collected Domergue and delivered her to a series of teachers and tutors at Romaine Street (a property he rented that mostly served as one of his head quarters).  She would finish high school and begin drama lessons in a sterile, lonely building in the city's industrial neighborhood.  She was furnished with a chauffeur, provided with golf lessons at the Wilshire Country Club, and sent to fashion consultants at Bullocks and Robinsons's department stores, where she was outfitted with a chic, understated wardrobe.

page 151-152
HOWARD HUGHES THE UNTOLD STORY
by PETER HARRY BROWN and PAT H. BROESKE

FAITH DOMERGUE PAGE FROM "GLAMOUR GIRLS OF THE SILVER SCREEN" SITE!

GLAMOUR GIRLS OF THE SILVER SCREEN  link to the blow by blow account of her acting career and liaison with Howard Hughes! 

This is a really well done and interesting web site where you can find other glamour girls as well!  Let's face it - these women had the best people - costumers - beauticians - speech coaches - working with and for them to make the best of their presentation. 

FAITH DOMERGUE on being HOWARD HUGHES' MISTRESS

"I felt like a butterfly on a pin - beautiful, vibrant, and utterly trapped." - Faith Domergue


quote from page 163 of
HOWARD HUGES THE UNTOLD STORY
by PETER HARRY BROWN and PAT H.BROESKE

COMING UP : FAITH DOMERGUE - MISTRESS OF HOWARD HUGHES! : MISTRESS OF THE MONTH !

 

She was called Faith Dawn and Faith Dorn in articles by studio promotions writers

but in the end she starred under her real name, FAITH DOMERGUE!  Howard Hughes called her "Little Baby."

 

She was and is frequently mentioned as Howard Hughes mistress

when he had so very many!

WONDER WHY?