Page 29 of The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe

Another good possibility.

“Now the third one,” Cowan says. “You walk across.”

Just before the audition, Marilyn had cut a quarter of an inch off the bottom of one of her heels, to give herself a betterwiggle, a sharper swing of the hips, a more prominent tilt to her backside.

“Which one did you like the best?” Cowan asks the brothers after the auditions.

“You’re kidding, aren’t you? How could you take anyone except the last girl? The whole room revolved when she walked,” Groucho Marx replies.

Marilyn gets the part.

“You’re like Mae West, Theda Bara, and Bo Peep all rolled into one,” Marx proclaims.

The scene is shot the very next day. She’s paid $100 for one day’s work, plus $25 for posing for some promotional stills at a couple of gas stations with product placement in the film.

Though Marilyn ends up appearing inLove Happy(which Groucho admits is a “terrible picture”) for only a few minutes, when the film is released producer Cowan builds the nationwide publicity tour around her.

“All you have to do is be Marilyn Monroe,” Cowan says when Marilyn hesitates, adding, “You will have a chance to see the world, and it will broaden your horizons.”

He introduces her as the “Mmmm Girl.” Some people can’t whistle, the marketing concept goes, so when they see Marilyn, all they can do is say, “Mmmm.”

The tour delivers her first taste of fame. And a new wardrobe. Cowan gives her $75, which Marilyn spends on three wool suits.

By the time the train reaches New York, the weather is unbearably hot.

“I feel like I’m wearing an oven!” Marilyn exclaims of her new suit.

“We must make capital out of what we have,” the press agent says. He arranges ice cream cones in her hands like a sweet bouquet. “Marilyn Monroe, the hottest thing in pictures, cooling off,” the photo caption reads.

One day’s work turns into five months of touring.

CHAPTER 21

DIRECTOR JOHN HUSTON is casting forThe Asphalt Jungle,a gritty crime drama about an aging criminal mastermind’s doomed bid to pull off one last jewel heist.

Huston is fresh off a pair of 1948 Oscar-winning films for Warner Bros.—the western adventureThe Treasure of the Sierra Madreand the crime noirKey Largo.This new picture is with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where Marilyn’s friend Lucille Ryman Carroll is head talent scout.

The director’s first choice for the supporting role of Angela Phinlay is Lola Albright. But now that she’s appeared alongside Kirk Douglas in 1949’s boxing filmChampion,Albright’s rate is $1,500 a week, which is more than Huston is willing to pay.

Ryman Carroll lobbies Huston, who’d refused to audition Marilyn for one of his earlier films, to give her a chance at the role. The talent scout has a unique influence over the director, who’s boarding twenty-three horses at the ranch Ryman Carroll and her husband, actor John Carroll, own in Grenada Hills outside Los Angeles.

Huston, the son of actor Walter Huston (whom he’d directed to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar inThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and a former actor himself, is known to be particular about pairing actors with roles. “When I cast a picture,” he describes the process, “I do most of my directing in finding the right person.”

Known as one of “the wild men of Hollywood” for living as fast and hard as the scenes from his adrenaline-fueled pictures, Huston is a US Army veteran and devoted horseman who’s already been married three times. He’s also carrying significant debt—including gambling losses and an $18,000 bill at the Carrolls’ ranch. Lucille Ryman Carroll has a soft spot for Marilyn, and makes a deal with the director that she’s willing to accept a payment plan for the ranch bill, provided Huston agrees to audition the girl.

“Tell your agent to get in touch with Mr. Huston,” the casting director instructs Marilyn. “I’ve already discussed you with him. It’s not a big part, but you’re bound to make a big hit in it.”

Marilyn arrives for her first meeting with Huston dressed as she imagines the fictional Angela—a young woman kept by an older man—might be. She’s wearing a low-cut, clingy red dress over a bra padded to the point of absurdity. The producer, Arthur Hornblow, laughs and asks her to remove all the tissues. She’s given a script to look over.

“Do you think you can do it?” her agent Johnny Hyde asks. “You have to break up in it and cry and sob.”

“I thought you thought I was a star, and I could do anything,” Marilyn replies.

“You can,” he assures her. “But I can’t help worrying.”

Drama coach Natasha Lytess rehearses Marilyn continuously for three days, returning her suitably dressed and styled.

Ryman Carroll consults with studio hairdresser Sydney Guilaroff, who creates “an original style, much shorter than the standard length at that time and structured to follow the contours of her face.” The new look accentuates Marilyn’s natural beauty, though she’s still lacking confidence.

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