Marilyn Monroe was a nomad who moved to dozens of houses trying to find something she never found.
The houses that have been part of Marilyn Monroe's life of her Among the hundreds of iconic phrases (and houses) that Marilyn Monroe gave us, there are three that to highlight especially: "I don't want to be a millionaire, I want to be wonderful", "Give a woman the right shoes and she will conquer the world" and, the last one, which he told his friend Truman Capote in New York: “I have never had a real home. I'd like to own a house on Third Avenue and fill it with crazy stuff. I would buy wall clocks and have them all tick at the same time.
Marilyn Monroe's Childhood was too unstructured
The concept of "disorganized childhood" falls short to describe Marilyn's. She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 in Los Angeles and her mother, Gladys Baker (who was by then separated from her… father?), left her as a baby in the care of some austere and religious friends who lived outside of Los Angeles, in Hawthorne. Their names were Albert and Ida Bolender, and until she was 7 years old they provided her with a minimally stable home. But suddenly, for that moment, Gladys reappeared, and together with the girl she hardly knew, they began the pilgrimage.
Marilyn Monroe never had a permanent home
Monroe lived in houses all over California, sometimes with her mother (who at times had to be hospitalized for psychiatric problems), sometimes with her best friend, the bohemian Grace McKee, who infected her with her obsession with show business, as well. in orphanages, in foster families, again with Gladys, again with Grace and her husband. It is known for certain that she lived at 6012 Afton Place in Hollywood, near the movie studios where Norma's mother worked as an editor and also at the Rayfield Apartments. “I never knew my mother but I always tried to help her financially when I could. We have not had a normal mother-daughter relationship, just as I have never known what a permanent home is," the actress said on one occasion.
Marilyn Monroe had no choice, she was too young
In 1942, faced with the threat of returning to the orphanage, she decided to marry James Dougherty, a handsome 21-year-old neighbor, pronouncing the sentence above and adding: "There is not much to tell, it was like a dream that never happened." They said 'I do' at 432 South Bentley Avenue in West Los Angeles, the idea of Grace McKee, who also convinced her that she could be the new Jean Harlow. The couple moved to a one-room bungalow in Sherman Oaks, in the same city, but he soon had to go to Asia to fight in World War II. "I'm alone, I'm always alone, no matter what."
She moved with her mother-in-law to North Hollywood and worked in a factory, the Radioplane Company in Burbank, a photo of her changed her life. The one who shot her, a professional army photographer, encouraged her to become a model. He did so during 1945 until, inevitably, came the cinema, Fox, his first divorce, his first supporting roles in films as wonderful as Eve or The Asphalt Jungle, and many other moves and apartments, including one in the Beverly Carlton Hotel on Olympic Boulevard.
Marilyn Monroe learned to make spaghetti for Joe
Between 1951 and 1952, the actress lived at 882 North Doheny Drive, corner of Cynthia Street, in Hollywood. She had several films about to be released, they had received very good reviews and she began a romance with none other than Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous baseball players of the moment, something that doubled her popularity. And there, in her modest Californian apartment, she tried, for the second time, to be a little more homey. “Anywhere would do me, but I wanted to make it more endearing to Joe.” So she framed her art reproduction, which fascinated her, instead of taping them together, she learned to cook pasta and bought some furniture. They honeymooned in a mansion in Hollywood Hills, which was sold a few years ago for $2.7 million and they moved into a Tudor house at 508 North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, which lasted as short as the marriage. too much for DiMaggio's ego.
Tired of the old stereotypes
Fed up with not being taken seriously and determined to become a good actress beyond the roles of the day, Monroe moved to New York and enrolled in classes at the Actors Studio. She lived in a beautiful penthouse on the 27th floor of the Waldorf Tower, which she decorated almost entirely in white because she thought that was the favorite color of Jean Harlow, her muse. It was at that time that she recorded one of her great roles, that of Bus Stop, and it was also in this immaculate apartment that she met the great Arthur Miller, her third and last husband, in 1956, with whom she shared one of her great passions: read.
In search of the silent life in the countryside
It was what she told Miller when they got married, a short time later, that she wanted to go live in the country and she got it in England while filming The Prince and the Showgirl. There they moved to Tibbs Farm in Windsor Great Park, which was the home of Patrick Cotes-Preedy and Eileen Idare. Surrounded by a forest, it was the actress's dream until she suffered her first miscarriage, which she is aware of. That destabilized her and it was the beginning of a stage in which she gradually became more and more addicted to sleeping pills, anxiolytics, and alcohol, with the invaluable help of her disturbing psychiatrist, Dr. Greenson. "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring", another of her phrases for the story.
It downhill without brakes
Back in New York, she and Arthur rented an apartment at 444 East Fifty-Seventh Street, and Marilyn got to play interior designer with the help of decorator John Moore. The actress filled the walls with mirrors and painted most of them white, just like the ceilings, the sofa, the tubular chairs, and the tables, although she was never satisfied and changed everything constantly. In addition, she bought a joint property with Miller for the first time, a house in Connecticut, in the country. Unfortunately, further miscarriages and the failure of her marriage and her business further deteriorated her physical and mental health. The filming of Some Like It Skirts was hell for Marilyn's director, Billy Wilder, who confessed: "There were days I would have strangled her, but then there were wonderful days where we all knew Marilyn was brilliant."
