A Few Observations to Begin With
According to Carl Rollyson’s accounting of Marilyn’s daily life, Marilyn Monroe Day by Day, on October the 3rd, Lydia Lane interviewed Marilyn for The Oakland Tribune. Even though Rollyson did not stipulate a time when the interview occurred, or the length of time the interview consumed, I believe we can safely assume the interview transpired during working hours; and for the inquiring minds who want to know, Marilyn and Lydia discussed yoga, body shaping and breast lifting exercise routines. Additionally, according to April VeVea’s accounting of Marilyn’s daily activities, Marilyn Monroe: A Day in the Life, on October the 3rd, Marilyn attended a Photoplay magazine party in Hollywood, during which she received an award, an event and an accolade Slatzer failed to mention.1
Although Ms. VeVea did not indicate a time when the Photoplay party transpired, I believe we can safely assume the party transpired at night. So, it is doubtful that Robert Slatzer was with Marilyn Monroe all day on Friday, October the 3rd in 1952, and most certainly not that Friday night. Additionally, according to Will Fowler’s Papers, a woman named Sandra Peace advised him that Marilyn attended the opening of Johnny Ray’s show at Ciro’s nightclub in Hollywood on October the 3rd in 1952. Fowler noted: Sandra Peace, Ontario, had available Oct. 3, Variety news clip placing MM at Johnny Ray’s opening night at Ciro’s on Hollywood Strip. This is night before supposed Tijuana wedding. Despite my ardent efforts, however, I could not confirm that Johnny Ray performed at Ciro’s Nightclub on October the 3rd in 1952. I found references to a large tent party thrown by Marion Davies in honor of Ray and his bride, Marilyn Morrison, either on the 2nd or the 3rd of October in 1952. I could not locate a guest list or the Variety article mentioned by Fowler. Also, I could not find any biographical information on Sandra Peace. Mentioned by Fowler several times, Ms. Peace apparently had been writing a book about Marilyn for sixteen years; she planned to entitle her work The Complete Marilyn Monroe Anthology. I did not find any evidence that a book with that title ever achieved publication.2
I suppose if two persons who have recently fallen in love, upon impetuously deciding one day to get married on the day following, might find themselves, on the day of their wedding, caught without wedding rings to exchange; however, according to Slatzer’s narrative, he and Norma started discussing marriage not long after they met during the early summer of 1946; and according to Slatzer, they intended to marry in 1949. Slatzer suggested that connubial stitching of him to her was, in fact, a foregone conclusion. A fellow might expect them to be more prepared for the inevitable; and also, why was the soon to be Mr. Marilyn Monroe compelled to buy both gold bands from that Mexican jeweler. Certainly by late 1952, Marilyn was financially able to purchase a simple $15 golden token of everlasting love. At that time in 1952, Marilyn earned $750 per week or $39K per year. In today’s money, that yearly sum equals slightly more than $445K or slightly more than $8.5K per week. A gold band that cost $15 in 1952 would sell today for slightly more than $150; and now that I think about it, what happened to those golden tokens? As far as I know, neither Marilyn nor her alleged second husband ever mentioned them. Perhaps the newly divorced couple found a peón tienda mexicana near the abagado‘s office.
When describing the road trip to Tijuana, Slatzer included a detail about his oil-burning 1948 Packard, a rather expensive car, by the way, a pit stop to buy a 30¢ quart of oil; but then, he never mentioned that automotive peculiarity on the newlywed’s trip back to Los Angeles. He did not mention a need for a pit stop or a 30¢ quart of oil during the return trip to Tijuana or the second trip back to Los Angeles, both on the 6th. I wonder, was his oil-burning 1948 Packard a polluting smoker?
Marilyn was certainly forgetful, I must comment. Although she was bound for a beach side community to be married, she did not remember to pack her swimsuit; and yet, according to Slatzer, they both sun dried themselves, after swimming, while reclining on a beach towel. From where did that beach towel come? Did Marilyn pack a beach towel while forgetting to pack her swimsuit? Did Slatzer produce it from some beach gear that he had packed? Did they rent the beach towel from a nearby beach gear vendor, suggesting that the beach was not deserted. Besides, how often are the beaches around a beachside community so deserted that a woman can swim naked, particularly at midday and particularly Marilyn Monroe? The Pacific coastline was probably less developed in October of 1952; but I suggest: finding a stretch of completely deserted beach even then would have been difficult.
Slatzer never mentioned Marilyn’s bare feet after the wedding ceremony, an omission that I find odd. I imagine the soles of her feet became rather dirty and possibly even sore after she strolled through Tijuana and danced with her new husband at The Foreign Club during their after wedding celebration with Carlos Arruza. Perhaps her new husband found a Mexican Payless ShoeSource and replaced her stolen shoes in order to protect her feet; but he never mentioned visiting a shoe store. Perhaps she had two pairs of shoes with her; but according to Slatzer’s narrative, the newlyweds only returned to their hotel after the Foreign Club celebration ended. Additionally, a fellow might wonder if Marilyn showered that night after dancing, or at least washed her dirty feet, before climbing into her wedding bed; but Slatzer did not provide those specifics; and last but not least, Slatzer never produced or even mentioned one photograph the newlyweds snapped, or paid to have snapped, of their weekend wedding, his weekend fantasy fulfillment and honeymoon with the one and only, Marilyn Monroe. Incredibly strange to say the least.
Omissions and oddities such as the few preceding might seem like insignificant or minor details; but it is in the details of a narrative where the validity and the truth can be found. More significant issues follow hereafter, like this Slatzer assertion: he was so close to and so intimate with Marilyn that he knew how her mind actually worked.
Slatzer must have realized that his attribution of direct quotations to Marilyn could be problematic, considering the lapse of many years from his initial encounter with her until his book’s publication; therefore, his 1974 narrative began with a preemptive strike: he announced that he had reconstructed the dialogue and conversations thereafter presented from his substantial notes, his tape recorded interviews with Marilyn and also from his memory. Still, he admitted that he experienced some difficulty remembering verbatim all the conversations in which they engaged during their lengthy sixteen year friendship and love affair; but since he was a Marilyn expert and knew her better than just well, according to him, and was more than familiar with not only her manner of speaking but also her thought processes, according to him, his readers could comfortably rely on the accuracy and the verity of his direct quotations. Keep in mind, however, Slatzer reconstructed his conversations with Marilyn at least ten years after her death, twenty-six years after they allegedly met at Fox Studios.
I have been involved in two lengthy marriages, the second of which ended several years ago. During that relationship, my then wife and I were together almost continually, traveled together, often worked together and talked to each other at length, daily. Even so, I could possibly reconstruct a brief conversation or two or recall a memorable line she spoke; but even if I tried, I could not quote verbatim even one lengthy conversation we shared during our marriage. Not one. And I do not have a faulty memory. In fact, I cannot recount verbatim any recent conversation that I have had with another person; but before presenting several additional problems and monumental discrepancies discovered in Slatzer’s memoir, allow me to conclude these opening observations as follows.
Robert Slatzer’s assertion about his acute familiarity with Marilyn’s speech patterns and her thought processes, a familiarity which allowed him to recreate verbatim their many and lengthy conversations, was, and is, at least in my opinion, absolutely absurd on its face. I acknowledge that Slatzer used notes and tapes, or more precisely stated, I acknowledge that he so alleged; but as far as I know and have been able to determine, Slatzer never revealed those notes and tapes to the public or released them to experts for evaluation and analysis, something I find more than revealing. And too, if those tapes included actual conversations and interviews with Marilyn, during which she discussed her childhood, then those interviews would have been historically valuable, not to even mention their potential monetary value. Additionally, the tape recordings would have answered the many lingering questions surrounding Slatzer’s narrative. But then again, a person is justified to conclude, that those tape recordings simply never existed, a reality confirmed later when I present some additional documents and information revealed by the Fowler Papers. Those Papers clearly indicate that Slatzer, and possibly several others, invented and continuously edited the dialogue attributed to Norma Jeane and Marilyn.
