As Hollywood gets ready
for the 84th Academy Awards, it appears that Oscar has taken a step
back in time with the films and those nominated in their roles. The Artist
salutes Hollywood’s silent era. Martin Scorsese’s Hugo pays tribute to
turn-of-the century motion picture pioneer, George Melies, while The Help
takes us back to Mississippi during the 1960’s, whereupon a southern society
girl turns her friends’ lives upside down when she interviews the black maids
who spent their lives taking care of their prominent families. (I predict that
both Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis will walk home with gold statues.) Then,
there’s My Week With Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams and Kenneth
Branagh for their portrayals of Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the
1957 problem-plagued movie The Prince and the Showgirl.
My Week With Marilyn is an adaptation of late writer, Colin Clark’s
books “My Week With Marilyn” and “The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me,” which
chronicles Clarke’s supposed encounter with Marilyn during the filming of The
Prince and the Showgirl. Michelle Williams has received favorable reviews
as Marilyn, and is said to have captured her appearance, attitude and
mannerisms. I’m not sure any actress can capture the essence of Marilyn – just
saying – but that’s not what this post is about. I wanted to address the issue
of Clark’s books being a ‘supposed encounter’ with the renowned sex symbol.
Williams herself admitted to having hesitations that the movie was being
advertised as being “based on a true story.” And she wasn’t alone.
Amy Greene, widow of
Milton Greene, who was a photographer and vice president of Marilyn’s
production company was quoted as saying, “I was there every day, and I knew
what was happening. Clark was on the set, and he was a gopher. ‘Hey, I need a
cup of coffee,’ or whatever. No one regarded him as anything but a gopher.”
While Greene’s son, Joshua, was quoted as saying, “It’s a complete lie. It’s a
fantasy. He was a fourth-rate waterboy.”
Lighten up, guys. Gophers
and waterboys have feelings too, you know?
The fact is, people who
knew Marilyn are doubtful that there was ever a hint of a romantic relationship
between Marilyn and Clark, yet it’s been said that the filmmakers never
verified the authenticity of Clark’s memoirs. Clark died in 2002 and isn’t here
to defend himself. The same could be said for the woman (Jane), who is at the
center of my upcoming book, “Marilyn Monroe: My Little Secret.” But the
important thing I’d like to convey is that Jane was very much alive when I
initially started the project and optioned her life rights to tell her story
about Marilyn.
Without giving away too
much about my book, Jane was in ill health when we met and always wanted to
tell her story about Marilyn before she left this planet, only she wasn’t a writer.
Sadly, Jane passed away in 2007, however, while she was alive I played the
role of a journalist, recording her fondest memories of Marilyn. I also
have photos of her and Marilyn
together, along with other personal artifacts (i.e. Marilyn’s signature on pictures and notes to
Jane) that Christie’s auction house authenticated.
And I also contacted people in the industry who knew of Jane’s connection to
Marilyn. As I mentioned in my previous blog, it took me years to verify Jane’s
story, let alone wrap my mind
around it. Once I had, a few top literary agents in the publishing world and
industry professionals were eager to take the book on until they found out that
Jane had passed away. Keep in mind, a couple of them met Jane when she was still
alive and couldn’t wait until the book was completed.
With that said, it’s out
of any of our control when any of us are to leave this crazy planet. And I
pray… (pausing to make the sign-of-the-cross), that I’m still kicking
when the book finally is released. True, I put a lot of time and energy into
it, but beyond that, this story was important to Jane, and I’m her mouthpiece.
Once I really got to know her I understood, unequivocally, that the
possibility that she made things up or stretched the truth was zero. She had a
solid grasp on what happened, even forty years later. How many of us can say
the same? But to reiterate, should anyone question Jane's story with
Marilyn, I can state that having gotten as close as I did to her, it was not
within her make-up, at that point in her journey through life, to
fabricate anything.
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