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I know the two of them have a very specific history, but I can’t look at a picture of Arthur and Marilyn without imagining that she actually got Einstein to agree to her fictitious proposal. Only the best for MM.
Thanks, Nick Roeg.
An even more fun ‘what if’ might be “what if Tennessee Williams had been straight, would he and Marilyn have gotten together?” Imagine the song Elton John and Bernie Taupin would have written about that!
A really bit “what if.”
“bit” = “big”
I’m quite glad that Tennessee Williams wasn’t straight – or her other gay male friends – they often appreciated her and loved her on a deeper and purer level than the straight guys. Truman Capote too, although he was certainly a “user” in his own way.
MM would have been a heartbreaking Blanche Dubois. I mean, think of it!!
She would have been an amazing Blanche, agreed. I’m sure the plays would have been very different if TW were straight. I don’t buy that there’s an extra sensitivity gifted to homosexuals, but the extra-sensitive process and create from their experiences and observations – which would have been different for him. Maybe ‘Streetcar’ and ‘Menagerie’ would have been largely unchanged, but “Cat?” Would it have even been written?
Enough with my silly riff.
I also wonder “was she happy at that moment? I hope so” when I see almost any non-studio picture of her. As you say below, she bring out the “savior” in one, even at such a distance. It must have been like Sauron’s One Ring for her in real life.
In “Blonde” by Joyce Carol Oates, “The Playwright” comes off as one of the more sympathetic characters in Norma Jeane’s life.
Arthur Miller certainly had a savior complex with MM – but I think she brought out the “savior” in pretty much everyone. What’s that line from Postcards from the Edge from Gene Hackman – he says something like, “You make a mother out of everyone.”
His play AFTER THE FALL is all about their relationship – and he really felt he could help “cure” her by making her take herself seriously. He wrote THE MISFITS for her!
I have some mixed feelings about him but I am sure that he loved her!
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates has haunted me pretty much every day since I read it. Amazing book.
Totally agree – that was a very intense book. Sheila, have you read it?
Very intense – I read it years ago but thought it was incredible!!
Like they say “a picture is worth a thousand words”.