Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming Read Free Book Online Page A

her contract was about to come up for renewal. Within seconds, Marilyn was seated to Skouras’s right at the main table. Within minutes, Skouras announced that her option was to be picked up. Within hours, he was dining with her at Uncle Joe’s. Within days, he ordered studio executives to find new projects for her.
    Her first assignment was a small part in
Love Nest
, to be directed by Joseph Newman. As Marilyn knew only too well, it was hardly comparable to the assignments Johnny had secured on her behalf. And it was hardly the sort of film that would get her attention. But at least she had a role, and at least her contract was going to be renewed. With no one looking out for Marilyn at William Morris, Twentieth managed to get away without giving her the yearly raise Johnny had negotiated. She received no credit for the year she had worked and, in effect, she began a new seven-year contract all over again.
    Still, Marilyn had cause to rejoice. She had found an important protector at Twentieth. She had bought another year before her option came up again. She had provided herself with another chance to realize her dream. This time, she intended to make full use of the opportunity. During the next twelve months, Marilyn would do everything necessary to transform herself into a star.

    Kazan’s resolve to be faithful to his wife proved short-lived. When he returned to Los Angeles after two months, he began to see Marilyn again. Marilyn was thrilled. Though he had failed to cast her in
Viva Zapata!
, perhaps there would be a role for her in some future Kazan picture. Marilyn had not forgotten Johnny’s plan. She was aware that she could be given a great many assignments like
Love Nest
and still not get the attention she needed to become a star. So while it was certainly a triumph to have had her option picked up, Marilyn did not allow herself to be complacent. Either in a Kazan film or by some other means, Marilyn was determined to get herself noticed. The question was, how?
    On May 7, Marilyn accompanied Kazan to dinner at Charlie Feldman’s. A great deal had changed since the agent had seen her last.
    Feldman had certainly never been known to take a professional interest in Marilyn. As far as he’d been concerned, Marilyn had simply been Joe Schenck’s girl or Johnny Hyde’s girl or Gadg Kazan’s girl. She’d been the girl Charlie and his friends had briefly been competing for. But tonight, when she appeared at the house with Kazan, Feldman looked at her with new eyes.
    Feldman had heard about Marilyn’s new studio contract which, as it happened, was to be finalized in four days. He had heard about her triumph at the sales conference. Most importantly, he had heard about Spyros Skouras’s decree that assignments must be found for her. Marilyn was just completing her first such assignment and was already set to begin another,
Let’s Make It Legal
, in June. Skouras, as Feldman knew well, was a powerful ally.
    Skouras’s professional interest in Marilyn intrigued Feldman, as Johnny’s sexual obsession had once made Charlie and his pals want to go to bed with her. For the first time, Feldman regarded Marilyn as someone he would be interested in signing up for Famous Artists, Inc. He made a mental note to send one of his agents to visit Marilyn on the set at Twentieth in order to remind her that she was being poorly served by William Morris.
    Feldman’s new attitude was a measure of the astonishing degree to which Marilyn had turned her circumstances around. She was flattered by his attentions, but she was also wary. From the first, Feldman had two strikes against him. He was one of the men who’d hounded Marilyn in the weeks after Johnny’s death, and he was a close personal friend of Darryl Zanuck’s. As far as Marilyn was concerned, Feldman’s relationship with the production chief meant that he wasn’t to be trusted. For the moment, however, Marilyn carefully kept her reservations to herself. She smiled