Marilyn Monroe

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Denell Daddigan. Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate the centennial, the one hundredth birthday of one of the biggest icons of Hollywood. One of the most popular and recognized actresses in the world from the beginning of silent film so today the one, the Only, Marilyn Monroe. In honor of Marilyn Monroe's one hundredth birthday, the Hollywood Museum will unveil its newest blockbuster exhibition, a centennial Celebration Marylyn. The Exhibit from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe. The Girl, the guts, the glamour, the hometown icon. You didn't know you know. Up until the late nineteen forties, Norma Jean Mortensen was simply a model and an aspiring actress. But once she became Marilyn Monroe, transforming herself into the face of Hollywood glamour, a blonde bombshell with prominent brows, heavy eyelashes, and her trademark red lipstick, well, you know what they say, the restless history. Marilyn Monroe rose to fame after a series of small roles in important films of the era, playing either a gold digger or a mistress. Many film historians consider Maryland's character description as a dumb blonde an unfair stereotype, and believed this may have bothered her throughout her career. Did you know? Some highbrow critics even slammed Maryland for relying on her sexy physique and not performing as a great actress would. Yet everyone was drawn to her men and women. You know, Marilyn Monroe was considered the number one female star of the nineteen fifties. Today, Marilyn Monroe continues to have a strong, multi generational fan base thanks to cable and streaming services AMC, Turner, Movie Classics, Netflix Prime Video, including portrayals of Marilyn Monroe by today's actresses in biopics, live theater, and popular Hollywood history shows. You know, Marilyn is more popular and has more fans today than when she died at thirty six years old in nineteen sixty two. Can you believe it? Throughout our show, we'll hear from several well known, award winning actresses who knew her, an Academy Award winning actor who worked with her, a young boy whose babysitter was Marilyn Monroe in the nineteen fifties, and two popular actresses who have enjoyed bringing Marilyn Monroe back to life through theater, cable and TV shows that are so popular today. I know their stories and remembrances will be enlightening and certainly entertaining. To say the least. Joining us is the last living blonde bombshell, the critically acclaimed actress Mamie Van Doren. You know, Mami is one of the three Ms, the three actresses Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield and Mamie Van Dorn, who were all contemporaries. Mamie one of the leading sex symbols of the nineteen fifties when since it Universal Pictures contribution to the three Ms, and Mamie has written three very popular books and we were just talking about it before we came on air. She also has her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Well, hi, Mamy, welcome to Hollywood's Hidden Treasures.
00:03:16
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, thank you, thank you. You know what a wonderful introduction for Marylyn. I think you did a beautiful job.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: Mamie.
00:03:25
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I just want to ask you now I understand you knew Maryland. Tell us how did you meet Marilynd tell us the when and the where.
00:03:34
Speaker 2: I met her When I was twelve years old. Wow, at that time. It was in the forty nineteen forty two something like that, and back of the Ambassador Hotel. Oh, and I used to go swimming in there all the time. And I was swimming in there at a time, and they were having a beauty contest and all the girls were walking around the pool and it was called the Blue Book Modeling Agency.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, she belong to that.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: And I remember I was sort of twice show off in the pool. I was just a kid, and some guy hollered at me. He says, get the kid out of the pool. I was so embarrassed. And some lovely girls, this actually is one of the whole bunch, said that's not nice to talk to her like that. And you know who it was. It was Norma Jeane.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, oh my, oh, you.
00:04:26
Speaker 2: Know what type of a person she was right there. I was crying and then I got out of the pool and I ran over tour and I thanked her. I gave her a hug, and she told us her name was Jeema Jean, and I says, why is Joni? And I ran out and went home and I never forgot her. And then I watched her progressively become popular. As she became popular, I became more popular. And then I became the answer to Marilyn Monroe in nineteen fifty three at a Universal studio.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: Wow, that is just amazing. And to think Norma Jean became Marilyn and you, Joni became Maimie. I mean, it's quite interesting, very interesting. How did you pick your name your professional name or was it given to you?
00:05:10
Speaker 2: I didn't pick up myself. I would have liked to have kept my own name, but they didn't do things like that at the studio those days. So Mamie Eisenhower was the first lady.
00:05:21
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, So they.
00:05:23
Speaker 2: Named it after Maymy and then James Bacon, who was associated Chris, did a story on me and then he gave me the name of Maybe Van Dorn and then I found out about it in the college free the next day. I said, oh my god, my name is Maybe Van Door. It didn't seem to fit me, so I had to create an image to fit my name, or the name had of me either way.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. Oh that is a great story. Wow, James Bacon too, Oh my goodness, Well, Mami, did Marilyn ever give you any advice or ask advice from you?
00:06:03
Speaker 2: No, she didn't give me. Oh she told me not to fall in love with a politician.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: Well that's good advice, because.
00:06:12
Speaker 2: Because when they blank you, they blank you.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: Oh it's too bad you didn't follow her own advice, you know, when you think about it.
00:06:20
Speaker 2: Well she did afterwards. I met her in the Russian tea room about a week before she left us, and that's what she was telling me. Then.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, So you were in the Russian tea room in New York City and you two were chatting. My goodness. Oh if we could have been a fly on the wall for that, My my goodness.
00:06:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:06:40
Speaker 2: She was very depressed, and it was so many things, bad things that happened to her. I was wearing a show called Chilemen Preferred Balloons, and I was taking an aff and I always went over there to eat. I was staying at the kay Lord Hotel, Yes, and I ran right across the street and then I would eat. And then they said that she was sitting in the booth of us for and I. But I was ready to leave. I stopped and said, loo, and then I slid in and talked to her.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: Oh that's so kind of you, that's so nice. My goodness. Well, you know, you returned what she did for you once upon a time at the Biltimore Hotel at the swimming pool empteen years later, there you were. You slid into the booth and had a nice conversation with her and hopefully made her feel a little better.
00:07:22
Speaker 2: I know, I'd seen her so many times. I mean I knew her quite well. And we both went to Natasha and like Chance, who was heard formatic coach, and we got to know each other very very well. And then of course we go to the same parties. And Marylyn did not have very very little fun, so she would always wear the same black dress to every party we were at it, and she drove it old I think it was a nineteen thirty seven Ford Coup, and she kept all her clothes in it. Wow, I mean, she had so many old clothes they were probably all dirty. But I had a car and I MG, and I would recognize look and say, oh my god, she's got nothing. But that car just full of durty cold. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, she loved to wear a pair of black and white chick capri pants all the time.
00:08:13
Speaker 1: You know, yes, yes she did. There were so many photos of her in that when she was first starting out. My goodness. So let me ask you. You know, if you could have a conversation today with Marilyn Monroe, what would you say to her?
00:08:26
Speaker 2: Well, I'd tell her to stop taking drugs that did not help, And I said you were strong enough to be able to do it without having to take drugs. She couldn't stand rejection when someone rejected her. She had a very bad time with men. And I told her, men, aren't that important? Your career is important, or you're going to go have a family.
00:08:46
Speaker 4: Whatever.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: You tried that. Well, I'm telling you now I've already told her, but obviously she didn't listen to me.
00:08:55
Speaker 1: Well, I have to tell you. This segment has gone by so quick, Mamie. You know, it's been real pleasure having you, miss Mamie Van Dore and my goodness here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures in her final moments together. Please tell our listeners how can they follow you? Do you have a Facebook account or a website.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: No, I don't know. I used to have it. But you could go to Amazon and buy my book.
00:09:17
Speaker 1: Yes, they can, Yes, and I'm going to do the same. Absolutely, it sounds like a fantastic read. Well, Mamie, thank you so much for joining us today here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. Well, thank you for inviting me. Absolutely, well, you know, joining us throughout the show will be Morgan Fairchubb, the award winning actress starring on daytime dramas and the director and playwright Luke Yankee. His mother was the award winning actress Eileen Heckhart, who worked on the film Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe and of course Rudi Lee. One of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend in Icon and Alicia Soper. She's best known for playing Marilyn Monroe in several of Ryan Murray special mini series and with us in studio is Roger Neil, our Hollywood Museum's publicist.
00:10:06
Speaker 5: Hey, good evening.
00:10:08
Speaker 1: Well, hey Roger, why don't you tell everyone how they can learn more about the Hollywood Museum and visit our newest exhibit Marilyn Monroe.
00:10:14
Speaker 6: Oh, they have to come on down in person to sixteen sixteen North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, or follow us on Instagram at Hollywood Museum or the website Hollywood Museum dot com.
00:10:23
Speaker 1: Well, I just have to say, it sounds like we're going to have another great show. We have to take a break, so stay tuned. I'm Denel Daddigan, and you're listening to Hollywood Hidden Treasures. When you return, we'll be speaking with a great friend of the Hollywood Museum, the critically acclaimed actress author with her own podcast, Morgan Fairchild. We've got lots to talk about. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Denel Daddigan. Tonight's show is all about celebrating the centennial the one hundredth birthday of one of the icons of film, Hollywood's one and only, Marilyn Monroe. Please welcome a great friend of Hollywood Museum, the award winning actress author with her own podcast, Morgan Fairchild. You know Morgan was starring on the daytime dramas and on big hits primetime TV shows in the seventies, eighties, and nineties. You know Dallas Flamingo Road Falcon Crest, with memorable recurring roles and guest appearances on Roseanne hought In, Cleveland, Friends, and so much more. Well, Hi Morgan, Welcome to Hollywood Hidden Treasures.
00:11:27
Speaker 7: Hi, thanks for having me.
00:11:29
Speaker 1: We're going to have such fun discussing. I think it's our favorite topics. You know, I got to ask you, tell us when did you first become aware of Marilyn Monroe. Were you like a teenager or before?
00:11:40
Speaker 7: Well, you know, I was a little kid when she died, and just like anybody who grew up in the fifties, she was kind of part of the wallpaper of your life, like Elvis, like Brigite Bardeaux. You know, people that you knew the names, and you kind of knew vaguely who they were, but you know, you didn't see them all the time. When I was a kid, the only film I remember seeing kind of of Maryland's was some Like It Hot. My parents took us to the drive in.
00:12:07
Speaker 1: If you remember driving it, Do you remember what was this? In Texas?
00:12:11
Speaker 5: Yeah?
00:12:11
Speaker 7: In Texas, and I think I fell asleep in the backseat of the station. Went So I was not real familiar with her work when she was alive, but you know, after she passed, I became aware of the movies. Of course, back in those days you had three channels, and a lot of times they would show old movies in the afternoon.
00:12:31
Speaker 4: Or late at night.
00:12:32
Speaker 7: You know, I discovered a lot of old movies that way, Fred and Ginger and Judy Garland and some things, and all kinds of things that I hadn't seen when I was a kid that I became familiar with. And one of the things that really just jumped out was Maryland's magic. I mean the magic that she created on screen. She always had that star power. Somebody defined it one time, I think is when they're on screen, that's all you can look at, even before she became truly famous later, even in her early roles, you know, you couldn't take your eyes off of her.
00:13:06
Speaker 1: Well, I think you're one thousand percent correct. In fact, I wanted to ask you, what do you think Marilyn's magic was. I mean, what do you think like set her apart from the other sexy stars of the fifties. I look back on it, and I think she had that certain it. What was it to you?
00:13:23
Speaker 7: You know, when you look back at the stars of the fifties, you had the Sultery Ones, the Geno Loo, La Brigides, and the Sophia Lorenz and then you had like a slew of blondes who were inevitably trying to become the new Gene Harlow. And for younger people who don't know gen Harlow, Gene Harlow was the original blonde bombshell and died very young, very tragically, at twenty six, and was a huge star back in those days. And Marilyn loved Gene Harlow, loved to go to the Gene Harlow movies. And I don't know how much she tried to model her blondness on Harlow, but that was someone that she idolized when she was young. But what's interesting when you start studying her and reading about her and watching the progression in each film is the creation of Marilyn Monroe. From the early films. You see her become a much more sophisticated, much more spelt version of the same thing. But I mean, certainly in gentleman preferred blonde. She really hit her stride and people don't realize she could actually sing and dance. When you see that diamonds are a girl's best friend number, those little moves that she does, the cute little thing, and that's what set her apart. The other blondes were trying to be sexy. Marilyn was adorable. Marilyn was funny. I mean, she's got lines, and gentlemen preferred blondes. Like there's one shot when Jane Rossell is talking about her and she's just across the room dancing with her new mark, you know, and how she does is say ooh, piggy, and it's so adorable you just melt, you know. It just sums everything up. And she seems so vulnerable. That was the thing, like even with a gold bigger character like and gentlemen prefer blogs.
00:15:12
Speaker 3: You don't hate her.
00:15:13
Speaker 7: You want her to have a millionaire yes, you know. It's so the vulnerability and the sweetness as opposed to the overt sexuality. It was the sweetness, the vulnerability that people wanted to protect her and that she was funny, I mean, and the little moves and her dance numbers and her things, the little squiggles and stuff like that, they're very they're very subtle. And if you see people try to do her now, they'll do a version but they're not nearly as subtle as she is. They're very subtle and very cute as opposed to WHOA. And so that I think was part of it. The only time that I really think, I'm trying to think if there were others, but the only time she really was like overtly sultry was in Niagara. And to know that one and when young people ask me, like what movie should I study? I always say, you know, when you want to learn about film. There's a scene in Niagara where she's walking across the bridge in Niagara, and you know, she's like an inch tall in frame. It's this huge long shot, but it established hers her wanton character, just the way she walks from behind across this bridge. And she would always find things that added to it. I mean, if she was going to do a scene, you know that do her hair beautifully, and then she'd make sure she flicked one thing so it's out of place, always finding that one thing, the strap that falls off, something vulnerable, something that makes her look defenseless, something that makes her look like she just walked in out of the breeze. You know, that added a freshness to scenes. And she would always find those things that vulnerability what I call kind of peeling the onion. I do it sometimes when I'm getting ready for scenes to try to imagine what she would do is peeling the onion, peeling away the layers so that what is raw and open and just there relating with the audience is what you see. She was a genius at at the comedy timing, the way she could deliver lines that if you delivered them in a heavier way, they'd be oh, well, you know, but she just made them adorable.
00:17:19
Speaker 1: And you know, she was such a natural. You're absolutely right about all of this, and always there was a little something that was askew or awrye And I think that helped to you talked about vulnerability. I think that really helped. You know, both men and women adored her. Men want to Russian and help her, and women wanted to protect her. It's so interesting to see that combination. And you mentioned Gene Harlow. Do you know that Max Factor where the Hollywood Museum is that you've been many times.
00:17:48
Speaker 7: I know very well the blonde room.
00:17:50
Speaker 1: Yes, you know, he gave Gene Harlow the hair color platinum blonde for the first time. She was the first woman to wear platinum blonde. He heightened her blondness because Geen Harlow was born in blonde and remained blonde, but he just wanted to give her a little bit more ofbove of a voom to it. And when Marilyn was brought by the studio to Max Factor, they parked her in the blonde's only room and Max Factor asked her, so, tell me who's your favorite actress? And she says, just what you were talking about, Morgan. My aunt and I love to go to the movies. She'd come and pick me up once a month on a Saturday, and we'd go sit in a dark in theater and look up at the flickering lights on the screen and we would see Geen Harlow. My aunt loved Geen Harlow and I wanted to be just like her because everybody liked her. And she said, I was telling this to Max Factor, and he said, I'm going to give you a new color. I am going to update the platinum blonde and it will be your hair color, so you know. Immediately he electrolised her hairline to give her a widow's peak and gave her that fabulous blonde hair color that we all love and see her as today.
00:19:02
Speaker 7: Well, that's always the fun thing about all of the old stars, which you know so well, all the books I've had of the way they found their look, and you know, you can see different movies, different tests. I mean, from Betty Davis to Joan Crawford to Marilyn to all of them, the way they eventually found their look, the right eyebrow, the right eyeliner, the right lip shape, and the right hair color. It's always interesting to study the old studio system and how they created a star. But Marilyn, with her spontaneity, with her vulnerability, elevated that even more. They created a look for her and lifted her eye.
00:19:41
Speaker 4: You know why.
00:19:42
Speaker 2: You did a great job on.
00:19:44
Speaker 7: Creating a makeup for her that opened up her eyes and everything. But you know what she had was she made you see bubbles. You think of the scenes in some like It Hot. You think of those songs you know that were playing just when you were introing me, I Want to be love by you. All these songs, even Diamonds are Girl's best friend. But all of these she made you see bubbles. She kept the bubbles in the air, and that was the magic.
00:20:12
Speaker 1: You know, I so appreciate you sharing this with us, and I just want to ask, would you mind staying on with us because we're going to have a nice chat with Luke Yankee in the next time.
00:20:23
Speaker 7: Yes, I love Luke, Yes, of course.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: All right, Well, stay tuned to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Danell Daddigan. And when we return, Morgan Fairchild will join us once again with Luke Yankee, who has a special relationship with Marylyn And what do you think it could be? I know their stories and remembrances about all things Maryland will be enlightening and certainly entertaining, to say the least. You're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. Stay tuned, We've got lots to talk about. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Danel Daddigan. Tonight's show is all about celebrating this centennial, the one hundredth birth of one of the icons of film, Hollywood's one and only, Marilyn Monroe. And please welcome a great friend once again of the Hollywood Museum, the award winning actress author with her own podcast, Morgan Fairchild. You know she starred on daytime dramas and on big hit primetime TV shows in the seventies, eighties, and nineties Dallas, Flamingo Road, Falcon Crest, and you know, Morgan, I just got to say before I introduce our next guest, I can see you singing We're having a heat wave. I can just see that.
00:21:32
Speaker 7: Oh I think I could.
00:21:34
Speaker 1: I know you Coch.
00:21:34
Speaker 7: What's interesting too is Marilyn was such a good singer and answer you know.
00:21:39
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. And let's introduce the gentleman who's going to join us on this segment, Luke Yankee. You know Luke's mother, the award winning actress Eileen Heckhart, worked with Marilyn Monroe on the film Bus Stop. Luke has directed regional theater, produced and directed and written award shows and special events, and he has authored his memoir Are Just Outside the Spotlight. And he has written a fascinating play. Now he's written several award winning plays, including Marilyn Mom and Me. We're going to have to hear more about this. Well, Hi Morgan, and Hi Luke. Welcome to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures.
00:22:14
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: Well, I got to start off, Luke, let me just ask you know your mother, Eileen Heckgart had a unique relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Tell us about that. I mean, how did they meet?
00:22:25
Speaker 5: Thank you, Deanelle. So, my mom had done a film called The Bad Seed, which got a lot of attention, and she was very much the flavor of the moment in Hollywood, and she was cast as Marilyn's best friend in the film A Bus Stop. And because Marilyn had taken the year off the year before to study at the Actors Studio, she was now the poster child for method acting, where one has to feel everything organically, and since my mother was playing her best friend, Marylyn was determined to make my mother her best friend.
00:22:54
Speaker 4: Wow.
00:22:56
Speaker 5: At first, that made my mother very uncomfortable because she was she was a kind of a very tough customer, and she was like, Okay, who's this starlet who is glomming onto me? But then ultimately, Danelle, the two of them really sort of bonded. And I tend to think they bonded through their wounds because both of them were adopted, and as a result of that, for all they both achieved. Marylyn in films and my mother in the theater primarily neither of them truly felt they ever deserved a place at the table. So to the game. My mother died. She could never talk about Marilyn Monroe without bursting into tears. And she lived to be almost eighty three, and so clearly that relationship no one else impacted her that way, and clearly that relationship had a huge effect on her. And that's what my play Marilyn, Mom and Me is largely about.
00:23:41
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Well, let me just say, I mean, you have a special story about time with Marilyn Monroe. And looking back, I think about it, you and your family, your brothers, you must have all been the envy of your friends and their mothers and fathers. I mean, spill you got to tell us everything? What was that special.
00:23:58
Speaker 7: Story their fathers?
00:24:02
Speaker 5: Indeed, indeed, well I have far too many Maryland stories to tell them in this short period of time. But one of the things with my brothers was Marilyn Adore children. One of the things that Arthur Miller said about her is if you want to see the real Marilyn Monroe, watch her with children. And so I wasn't born yet, but my brothers, Mark and Philip, my toolser brothers were on the set of Bus Stop, and one of the nightly rituals that they would have, she just doted over those boys Donell. And one of their nightly rituals is that Marylyn had the top floor suite at the hotel in Phoenix when they were on location, and my mother's sweet was one floor below. So Marilyn was constantly being sent these elaborate gift baskets by studio types who are trying to gain favor, and she would go into the fruit baskets and she would take out the grapefruits and the oranges, and she would call down to my brothers on the balcony below, and she would play catch with.
00:24:52
Speaker 1: My brother, Oh my goodness, with.
00:24:54
Speaker 5: These grapefruits and oranges. But of course at two and four they couldn't catch anything. So my mother would be on the phone with my father back in Connecticut and she'd say, oh boy, Marylynd's playing catch with the boys again, And guess who's going to have to have a raggedy ass down at the pool at two am picking up all those great bruit and orange.
00:25:13
Speaker 1: What a fabulous story, Luke, Oh my goodness, I feel like I've heard it here first on Hollywoods Hidden Treasures Wow.
00:25:21
Speaker 5: As a matter of fact, Janelle, in addition to the play, and I want to talk about how brilliant Morgan was in the play at a recent benefit in Palm Springs. But I've taken these stories about Marilyn and my mother largely from the play and from these recollections I heard over my entire life, and I put them into a short book, a memoir that is coming out next week on June first, Maryland's one hundredth anniversary, and it's called Playing Catch with Marilyn Monroe. There's a lot of interest in Marilyn mom and me from Broadway producers. And I recently did a benefit out here in Palm Springs for the Palm Springs Art Museum and Morgan played Eileen Heckert.
00:25:58
Speaker 1: Morgan, you played Luke's mom. So did you two become best friends? Are you a method actress? Or how did this work?
00:26:06
Speaker 7: Luke already directed me like twenty sixty years ago in a play in New York, and so we were already great friends. And actually his mother came to opening night, so I had actually met Wow, and since I looked nothing like her, I was sort of surprised when he asked me to do it, but it was really a great show and a fun character who could be volatile at times, and so it was a little different kind of character for me to play. So I was thrilled to do it. And also Luke played himself in the play. And we have a wonderful actress, Alicia Soper who played Marilyn, who was just wonderful, realiant, and he's.
00:26:45
Speaker 5: Coming on your show later on today, Yes she is.
00:26:48
Speaker 1: She's going to be in a later segment. Let me ask this question because Luke, if I understand correctly, you had a complex relationship with your mom, Yes.
00:26:57
Speaker 5: I did. I mean it was a very loving relationship, but as I mentioned earlier, because the fact that she was adopted and came from a broken home, there was a really tough shell there. And again I never doubted that she loved me, but a lot of times, Janelle, it was very much tough love. For instance, when I started doing children's theater in the basement of the YMCA at AH twelve, she would come and watch my performances and critique them as if I were Laurence Olivier at the Old Bit, and it was naughty needless to say, it certainly toughened me up for the business. But you know, getting back to something that Morgan said, because this isn't the type of role she normally plays. Several people in the audience were like, Morgan Fairchild as Eileen Heckert, and then afterwards they were like, oh my gosh, she was brilliant.
00:27:45
Speaker 3: Yes, I cannot.
00:27:46
Speaker 5: Tell you how many people. I mean, her timing, she grasped, the toughness. I mean, she really gave a beautiful performance And thank you so Morgan really true dying.
00:27:58
Speaker 1: What was this experience of reading the stage play like for you? I'm listening to what Lucas saying, how was it for you?
00:28:04
Speaker 7: Well, I've played a lot of bitches in my day, but not usually mothers. But to have the love come through, but also to have the toughness when I read the script, you know, I had met Eileen and I've known Luke for a long time, but I did not know some of the inside stories of how tough she was on him growing up, and you know her background of being adopted and always feelings you know that she didn't have a place at the table or she didn't deserve it, and of course she did. She was britanch Oscar winning actress, but that may have been where she kind of bonded with Marilyn. That they were both so vulnerable in Cain in their own ways, but dealt with it in different ways. And so it was an interesting part to explore in the play, which I thought Luke did just a beautiful job of of how they formed this relationship Marilyn and Eileen kind of through their own pain and recognizing that in each other.
00:29:02
Speaker 1: I find this so interesting. Now, if you could have a conversation today with Marilyn Monroe, Morgan and Luke, what would you say to Marilyn?
00:29:11
Speaker 2: Wow, you go worse.
00:29:12
Speaker 7: You've got one inside track.
00:29:16
Speaker 5: But you know, one of the things to know that my mother used to say about her is that she was constantly looking over her shoulder for the next starlink who was going to come along and be thrown her Wow. And my mom used to think, you know, wouldn't she be amazed and thrilled that all these years later, I mean, she's still an icon.
00:29:35
Speaker 8: I mean it's just incredible, and I mean just the combination of I'm sure you've had a lot of other people talking about this. The vulnerability and the sexuality and the childlike innocence. And my mother said, she had a way of making you feel that you were solely responsible for her life because she was so fragile and delicate, and it was just so fascinating to me. As I started to this play, Marilyn mom ANDed me that I realized that these two women were so similar, and yet on the surface they seemed so different. I mean, if someone looked sideways at Maryland, she burst into tears. If somebody looked sideways at my mother, she lit another cigarette and told them to.
00:30:16
Speaker 5: Go to hell. We'll both have the same sort of insecurity. It just manifested itself in opposite ways.
00:30:25
Speaker 1: Oh, I heard you, well, Morgan, very quickly before we have to take a station break. What would you say to Marilyn if you had a chance to speak with her today.
00:30:34
Speaker 7: I would say, you hung in there, honey, Because if she had not passed away, I think she would have made a great transition into the movies of the sixties and seventies as a character actress, as her old roommate Shelley Winters did. When you look at those pictures in the early sixties, she had already made a transition out of the fifties Maryland into the sixties with the bufont hairdo and the more spelt look and the pooci dresses. And I think she would have gone right into the hippie movements. And you know, she loved all of the method acting. I think she would have loved getting into more realistic movies and parts that required more of her like.
00:31:13
Speaker 4: Bus Stop did I got it.
00:31:15
Speaker 7: She would have made a great transition.
00:31:17
Speaker 1: Well, I've got to just jump in here. It's time to take a station break. It has been a pleasure having both Morgan Fairchild and Luke Yankee here on Hollywood Hidden Treasures and her final Moments. Please tell our listeners how they can follow you.
00:31:30
Speaker 7: I'm on Twitter, I'm at mord fair on Instagram. I'm Morgan Fairchild one and my sister and I do have a podcast called two Bitches from Texas that you can find on Yes you do by Anywhere you Go where we interview a lot of fun people and get a lot of fun stories and history out of them.
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Wonderful.
00:31:51
Speaker 5: Yes, thank you. My website is Luke Yankee dot com just the way it sounds, l u k e ya and k Ee dot com. And my books and plays are available.
00:32:01
Speaker 1: On Amazon Fabulous. Well, thank you both for joining us here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. And when we return, we'll be speaking with the Academy Award winning actor George shakiras edishing stories about his time spent early in his career with Marilyn Monroe. Well, stay tuned to hear more of Hollywood's Hidden treasures. I'm Denell Daddigan, and We've got lots to talk about. Welcome back here listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Danell Daddigan. Tonight's show is all about celebrating the centennial the one hundredth birthday of one of the biggest icons of film, Hollywood's one and only, Marilyn Monroe. And with us is the Academy Award winning actor, dancer, and singer George Shakiras you know, George earned an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his dynamic role as Bernardo in the film classic West Side Story, and early in his career, George appeared in not one, but two Marilyn Monroe movies, Gentlemen Prefer Blonde and There's no Business Like Show Business. Hi George, welcome to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures.
00:33:06
Speaker 3: Thank you very much for that. Very happy to talk about Maryland.
00:33:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, George, tell us, what was your first memory of seeing Marilyn Monroe.
00:33:17
Speaker 3: You know, my first memory when we were rehearsing Diamonds are Girls best Friends? That wonderful number that called stage it's for Maryland. Yes, your first thought about Maryland's not while you're working as earl too new to the project. But as days go on and then you see less of her, you can't help but remember the wonderful things about her. For example, in shooting Diamonds a girl's best Friend, she was very, very quiet, very beautifully concentrated on her work. That was the most important thing to her. And if they yelled cut for any reason, she is go to look in a mirror. She didn't go to her dressing room. She nothing like that. Right back to her starting position to work again. I think work was the most important thing in her career for her, and her work was superb.
00:34:17
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, that's really a great impression. That tells all of our listeners, you know, they can see it in their mind's eye what you're talking about. That's fabulous. Yes, you know, I remember the story about Maryland's reaction when a friend asked Maryland to give you a kiss. Oh, don't laugh. Well, you have to share the story, tell us, tell us, well.
00:34:41
Speaker 3: One of the female dances in the chorus of Gentlemen for Bloso's My good friend Chrisella Davis. Oh, we would, you know, talk to each other between takes and things like that, And of course during takes, everybody who was standing around waiting to start again, And Drusilla said, and she I had kind of a crush on Marilyn. Who wouldn't And she said, and Marylyn was talking to friends within hearing distance, so she could basically hear what we said. And Gizilla said to me, why don't I ask her to give you a kiss on the cheek? And Marilyn very sweetly looked in my direction and said, but I don't know him. And I thought that was a beautiful and honest answer.
00:35:35
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, I mean, and that was so early. That was in the early fifties, my goodness, Yes, it was. Yeah, And she already had that ability to speak like that. That's quite something.
00:35:46
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think one of the things we don't give Marylyn credited for is her intelligence and her incredible dedication to her work. I think o'harnan was a perfectionist. I think that shows in her work. But she was absolutely dedicated to work and doing with her work what she thought was best, and she certainly succeeded.
00:36:12
Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right. And you know, there have been rumors to the effect of really how intelligent Merilyn Monroe really was. I mean, she played the dumb blonde, but she had to be intelligent enough to be able to play the dumb blonde, so well, you know, it was quite something. But I understand that that really was not her. She was someone who was a voracious reader. I think she had more, yes, four hundred books in her library at her home, and she loved what was it, American literature, French literature, Russian literature, Doskoyevsky, Chekhov, you know, Flobert, She even loved f. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, she really, it seems, was very well read.
00:36:57
Speaker 3: Yes, And I'm so glad that out there, because who tend, unfortunately to think of blondes as not very smart, which is such a stupid thing to think. She was incredibly smart and gifts is very intuitive in her work, very intuitive.
00:37:15
Speaker 1: Yes, and you know, I mean this is all leading up to that. Our guest today, George Shakiras, gave an interview on E Entertainment a few years ago, and George, you commented you wish that they in quotes wouldn't always focus on the negative aspects of Marilyn Monroe's life because you felt there were so many positive attributes to Marilyn that can be focused on instead. I really appreciate you saying that. And we've been talking about some but what did you especially like about Marylyn Well?
00:37:50
Speaker 3: I loved the fact that she was so beautifully concentrated and quiet when she was working. She didn't waste time socializing. If there was any had of a social gathering after work one day, she would appear very nicely, very sweetly, and very quietly. She was I think, a quiet, super kind of force of a woman who was well listen by. Now we all know how extraordinary she was. That's not an accident, that's work.
00:38:21
Speaker 1: I agree with you one hundred percent. I mean, it's just so extraordinary. Because we've heard so many stories about Marilyn Monroe, but you're giving us an insight that most of us will never be privy to unless we actually sit and listen to what you have to tell us. You know, it's really amazing, amazing, George.
00:38:39
Speaker 3: Well, it gives me so much personal pleasure to speak positively about this incredible woman, because first of all, all I have to do is see her work on the screen. That should be enough to convince this so that we can see what she actually was doing, which as viewers of her work, we should be able to see and know that what she was doing was beauty of stalled out, very intelligence and always hit her characters on the mark. She hit a home run every time. You know, she was quite a story, not just an actress, but a presence. I'm sure when she arrived on the set everybody was quite pleased to see her. I know we were when we worked on Gentlemen, and again she was quiet and very, very seriously working on what she was supposed to do.
00:39:40
Speaker 1: Well, I have to thank you for sharing that insight. Now, George, if you could have a conversation today with Marilyn Monroe, what would you say to her?
00:39:49
Speaker 3: Wow? Well, a great question, thanks, George. I'd say, how did it feel to be Marilyn Monroe. I must have been very, very difficult, you know, because there's too many preconceived ideas about who she was and what she looks like and all of that. She was an intelligent, strong I'll live and say force who is dedicated. I keep repeating myself to her work Diamonds. Her girl's best friend was choreograph by Jack Cole, who is Maryland's the favorite choreographer, And of course she was absolutely right to have him as a favorite. He was phenomenal and he was especially especially so beautifully on the note was working with her. But again I just applaud people who are quiet but are actually delivering so much more. What she actually delivers on the screen is it really is quite phenomenal. And The Prince and the Showgirl with Lawns, she's an expert, she's an ace. She's phenomenal as an actress. As the way she listens to him. I don't think I've ever seen another actor or actress listens quite as beautifully and perfectly as Marilyn did in The Prince and the Show Girl. She really was an extraordinary talent and presence on the screen, and she deserves all the wonderful things we can possibly say about her.
00:41:30
Speaker 1: Oh well, George, I have to thank you so much for sharing your insights on Marilyn Monroe with us and our listeners today. George, it has been a pleasure having you here on Hollywoods Hidden Treasures in our final moments together. Please tell our listeners how they can follow you. Do you have a website or Facebook?
00:41:47
Speaker 4: Well?
00:41:48
Speaker 3: I do have a website, George Sacuse, Like everybody George Seacuse dot com. I don't pay that much attention to it, but I reasonably keep people up the data to my activities and things because I feel that's what I'm should do, and I really appreciate people who pay attention to my website. You know, we all love, all of us, including Well, love to be appreciated, and that's big in our say and show business. So it certainly was big with Maryland. It's big with me because it's a very big personal aspect of who you are.
00:42:28
Speaker 1: Well, I have to say to enter interview with such important words, thank you, George, Thank you for joining us today here on Hollywood's Idden Treasures. Thank you, George.
00:42:38
Speaker 3: Thank you have a great show. Thank you, thank you.
00:42:41
Speaker 1: Okay, well it's time to take a break. When we return. Our next guest, one of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend and icon Rutallee. She'll share some fun personal stories about Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Stay tuned to hear more of hollywood Hidden Treasure. I'm Deanell Daddigan and We've got lots to talk about. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. I'm Denel Dadigan. Tonight's show is all about celebrating the centennial, the one hundredth birthday of one of the biggest icons Hollywood's own, Marilyn Monroe, and joining us is a great friend of the Hollywood Museum. One of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend and icon, with starring roles in the great film classics Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Witness for the Prosecution, and Funny Face. She is the award winning actress of stage, film and television, and she's a philanthropist in her own right. With her own star on the world famous Walk of Fame, Please welcome Miss rud A Lee Hey Ruda.
00:43:46
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm so happy to hear all that. Would you save it for my obituary?
00:43:52
Speaker 1: Well, let me just add that rude of Lee's memoir, Consider Your Ass Kiss is on the Amazon bestseller list and it is must read. Okay, now we can go on.
00:44:04
Speaker 4: Well, one of the things that I talk about in the book is this gorgeous creature that we know as Marilyn Monroe, without a doubt, the most visible human being on the face of this earth when it comes to females. I mean, she was the movie star of the entire age. There has been nobody before her or after her that could even begin to compare. And I just am still dazzled. She's gone a lot of years now and I'm still dazzled by Marilyn Monroe. So's the world?
00:44:39
Speaker 2: Oh?
00:44:39
Speaker 1: I think so? And I know you have met Marilyn Monroe. You've got to give us the four one one, the what, the when, where, how and how did you meet?
00:44:51
Speaker 4: Well, this is kind of a wonderful story. I unfortunately only met her once, and that was because I was at that time the leading lady to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Peter Law for Joey Bishop and all the Crosby Boys in a picture called Sergeant's Three. And we were shooting Sergeant's Three up in kanab Utah, which is called the Little Hollywood because so many Westerns were shot there, and Sergeant's Three was indeed a Western. However, Frank had worked it out so that he could play a week at the Sands, and then Dean would play a week, and then Sammy would play a week, and therefore the director had to shoot around those people for that week. But we went down and Frank had a fleet of planes that he had to fly us back and forth for Las Vegas. Well, I of course never knew that we were going to be doing all of that good stuff in Las Vegas, and movie stars would be coming in their glitzy gowns. And I've got a little cotton dress so that i can have a dairy queen on Friday night.
00:46:01
Speaker 1: Oh this is so not you.
00:46:05
Speaker 4: So anyway, Frank decided to have a birthday party honoring.
00:46:11
Speaker 2: Dean Martin, Oh Wow, at.
00:46:13
Speaker 4: The Sands Hotel, and I was invited, and there I went in my little cotton dress, and there sat opposite me Elizabeth Taylor, then married to Eddie Fisher and John Wayne was sitting next to me. Milton Burle was sitting next to me. It was the most dazzling evening. And there I was with my mouth hanging open about how gorgeous it was. And all of this is taking place in the main room of the Sands Hotel. But Frank has a table for oh, I don't know, twenty five people or whatever. Wow, And in he walks to the Sands Hotel from the back of the room the way you would normally enter, with Marilyn Monroe on his arm.
00:46:59
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
00:47:00
Speaker 4: She was in a glittering, shiny beaded dress, skin tight white fox wrap around her shoulders, dragging behind her that platinum hair, and a spotlight did not go on her, but she didn't need it, because the woman had this innate talent of taking all the light in the room to her. It was just amazing deity that when she walked in, the room came to a hush. Nobody said a word, it was silent, and in they came, and they came over to the table and Elizabeth Taylor, in her gorgeousness at that time, and her absolute beauty faded in the light of Marilyn Monroe. Now I never thought that day would come. And she sat at the table and was the sweetest, nicest girl, kind of and reticent about talking, loved to laugh. But I just could never get over that this gorgeous, gorgeous creature far out shon the beauty of Elizabeth Taylor.
00:48:12
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. So it was a whole evening. It was just a wild star studied evening.
00:48:17
Speaker 4: It was gorgeous, and of course everybody got up to perform the rat pack. Of course Dean was working. That was his week to work, and so therefore Frank just got up and gave him a wonderfully bad time, and Sammy got up and did the same, as did the entire cast of our movie. And I just never got past how this girl had this innate quality to shine whatever room she was in. And you know who else had that? The Gabor girls, both Jaja and Ava and their mother had that wonderful, innate quality of glowing, of making the room far more exciting when they were in it.
00:49:01
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Well, I just want to say, you know, the evening sounds spectacular. It really must have been quite the evening. What was the reaction of the guests, you know, the celebrities and the VIPs. I know they saw Marylyn, But did they interact with her?
00:49:16
Speaker 4: Oh of course, I mean, and she and interacted with everybody that was there. But she was at one end of the table, and I was further up at the other end. It was a big, long table for twenty some odd people, you know, so we weren't hip to hip or elbow to elbow. She was at one end. But nevertheless we chatted and talked and threw lines back and forth a little bit. But the entire audience was of course quiet and looking not at the stage, well they were, of course when the boys were up there working, but looking at this divine creature, Marilyn Monroe. And I do have to say she was divine in a way. It was like almost like God gave her a halo, you know, to make her stand out and shine. I just never got over it. Look, I met all kinds of wonderful stars in my time. Hell, John Wayne was sitting next to me. You know, that should have dazzled the hell out of me, and it did. But when you got to see Marylyn, she just made the world stop. And as you know, Donelle her statue, the big one now that has traveled all around America is back in Palm Springs where it belongs, and the people that come to see that every day is really quite awesome. And isn't it amazing that she would have been one hundred years old in two weeks? And my birthday is May the thirtieth, Yes, Clint Eastwoods is May the thirty first. Oh wow, Marylyn's was June first. So I sort of feel like I put myself into that trio, whether they like it or not. I love being in that grouping, which is quite wonderful.
00:51:06
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you. She just made the comment. You know, we talked about Marilyn's magic. I mean it really was. I know, she lit up the room without a spotlight being on her. But as a result, tell us, why did every studio want to find their own Marilyn Monroe? I mean, what were they looking for? What did they think Marilyn had?
00:51:25
Speaker 4: You're right, every studio had their version of a Marilyn Monroe, as she obviously was good box office. And I stop and think about how at the very beginning of her career, when she had uncredited roles in movies at twentieth Century Fox. I was put under contract for five minutes when I was either thirteen or fourteen years old, and Marilyn was under contract at more or less that time. You know, she was struggling too, and I wish I had known her then. I mean, I knew the coach that worked with her there. Everybody got to work with her somewhere down the long line, and she was appreciated. But she was very shy. Do you know that Shelley Winters was a roommate of hers.
00:52:16
Speaker 1: Yes, I had heard that. Oh my goodness, tell us, well.
00:52:20
Speaker 4: I wish I could tell you more. I listened to Shelley tell a little bit she told me one time. It was a short conversation about it because we were in the middle of something. But I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that they were roommates, because Shelley was so very, very different. Marilyn was very shy, and she appeared shy and reticent. She obviously wasn't terribly shy, because she managed to push her way into a lot of things.
00:52:49
Speaker 1: But she knew how to do it.
00:52:51
Speaker 4: She obviously knew how to do it, and she was so feminine and she seemed so helpless that I think that played beautifully on the screen with men, and I think women loved her too, because she had that innocent quality about her even though she was a sexpot and a gorgeous blonde.
00:53:13
Speaker 1: Well, I think you're right. Both men and women were attracted to Marilyn Monroe up on the big screen. Men always want to rush in and save her and help her, and women always wanted to come to her rescue and befriend her. It's so interesting. It's very rare that you find that combination. But we have to take a quick station break. But Ruda, I hope that we have a chance to chat again with you during the show.
00:53:37
Speaker 4: Yes, oh please, Yes, I still have some other things to discuss with you about Marilyn absolutely and what it meant to us and men to the world.
00:53:48
Speaker 1: Fabulous. Well, it's time to take a quick station break. When we return, joining us Alicia Soper, the actress best known for playing Marilyn Monroe today. I look forward to hearing the secrets of how A prepared for her role as Marilyn in Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story on Netflix and in Ryan Murphy's Emmy Award winning mini series Feud. Betty and Joan, you're listening to Hollywood Hidden Treasures. I'm Denel Daddigan. Stay tune, We've got lots to talk about. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywood Hidden Treasures. I'm Denel Daddigan. And tonight's show is all about celebrating the centennial, the one hundredth birthday of one of the icons of film here in Hollywood, and it is with the one and only Marilyn Monroe and with us Alicia sober Now. She is best known for playing Marilyn Monroe on Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story on Netflix, and she can also be seen playing Marilyn Monroe on the award winning Ryan Murphy miniseriies Feud Betty and Joan on FX, as well as playing Maryland on the second season of Lethal Weapon. For Well, Hi, Alicia, you've been very busy. Welcome to Hollywood's Gidden Treasures.
00:55:04
Speaker 9: Hello, and thank you so much for having me.
00:55:07
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Alicia, you are the go to person to play Marilyn Monroe. How did this come about?
00:55:14
Speaker 9: Well, you know, I like to say there's a little sprinkling of Marilyn magic in any time that I've gotten the opportunity to portray her. I loved her my whole life, and as an actress of admired her work. So yeah, the first time that I played Marylyn on TV was with Feud, and that was a result of a friend of mine where I went to college with, had just come back from maternity leave and was the casting assistant at the office that was casting the first rendition of Feud.
00:55:42
Speaker 1: Betty and Joan, well, that was something we will never forget. That was just amazing. In fact, during the commercial we were chatting about what an impact that series had. That was amazing Betty and Joan. I mean, it was very realistic, almost frighteningly realistic, my goodness. And I have to say as Marilyn Monroe, I mean, all of our guests today chatted about how when Marilyn appeared on the screen, everyone's eyes were glued to her. Well, that's exactly what happened when you came on the screen.
00:56:11
Speaker 9: AESO, thank you, that's so very kind.
00:56:14
Speaker 3: I really appreciate that.
00:56:15
Speaker 2: And yeah, thank you.
00:56:16
Speaker 1: Oh well, it's very easy to tell the truth, you know. Well, tell us what do you think Marilyn's magic was? What set her apart from the other sexy stars of the nineteen fifties.
00:56:29
Speaker 9: You know, there's so many different answers that could be given. But I think and how I've approached her from an acting standpoint is she went through life with such curiosity. And I think the curiosity and the desire to learn and know things also lent itself to them be perceived and experienced by other people as sexual desire or sexiness. But she just had this real desire to want to know and understand everyone, and it almost radiated into her physicality, into her body.
00:56:57
Speaker 5: So when she was.
00:56:57
Speaker 9: Speaking to so much leaned forward, and I think you can feel that desire for connection and that real deep curiosity through still photographs and also you know on the screen as an actress, that just comes through.
00:57:09
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:57:10
Speaker 1: And do you think that maybe this was born out of her difficult childhood where maybe she did not make connections, or maybe she didn't have long term relationships, or she wasn't necessarily sure of her footing so to speak.
00:57:24
Speaker 9: Yeah, I thank you for all of us are childhood informed to really become as adult, And for her, certainly, I mean there's no way that it couldn't with the tumultuous upbringing that she had so that desire to feel wanted and that desire to feel chosen, I think permeated through her adult life. And then also she was so curious and wanted to continue learning, and she was very self conscious that she never graduated high school too, so there was always wanting to learn from anyone she met.
00:57:50
Speaker 1: Well, when you join us at the Hollywood Museum, I have her high school twelfth grade class photo. Oh my goodness, has taken it at Emerson High School here in Last Angelus, and there's quite something and you can't to miss her. Do you see her? You know it's Marilyn.
00:58:05
Speaker 9: Wow?
00:58:06
Speaker 7: Yeah?
00:58:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well you now you've played Marilyn in several of Ryan Murphy's shows. What was that like? I mean, did Ryan give you any advice about your character Marilyn Monroe how to play her in his shows Feud and American Horror Story.
00:58:22
Speaker 9: Well, yeah, so I worked with him. He directed the pilot episode of Feud, so I did work with him then, And that was sort of an interesting experience because the script that I was given and my trailer just said and Marilyn begins to speak and that's all it said. And I had a moment of oh my gosh, do I not actually have any lines?
00:58:41
Speaker 3: Is that? I thought this was?
00:58:43
Speaker 9: You know, you know, and your brain start spinning and get to set and Ryan shows me my blocking and then says, and then you'll just get up there at the podium and talk. You'll just talk for like a minute or so, just make some stuff up.
00:58:53
Speaker 1: Oh wow, how did you?
00:58:55
Speaker 9: And I turn to the assistant director and I said, does he mean literally a minute a monologue?
00:59:01
Speaker 2: What did you read? A couple of words?
00:59:03
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Oh my guess I don't think I could have done it. So what did you do?
00:59:08
Speaker 4: Yeah?
00:59:08
Speaker 9: So I went back in the makeup trailer and I just furiously just kind of started writing down some things that I had known that she said, and you know, I had studied her when she received awards, which there really wasn't much to award speeches back then, so it was just sort of a thank you so much and as they'd walk off the stage.
00:59:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, not like today.
00:59:29
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:59:29
Speaker 9: So I just kind of threw some things together and hoped that then i'd remember it. And there were about three hundred extras there. It was at the Hollywood Palladium that was supposed to be the Golden Globe, So, you know, three hundred background actors, all in period costumes. All of their phones had been confiscated. So this was a very expensive day of production that I was very nervous that I was then going to ruin if I.
00:59:50
Speaker 2: Couldn't do this right.
00:59:54
Speaker 9: And yeah, so I just tried to stay as close to the same thing every take as I could, and I didn't get any any feedback. And afterwards, Ryan Murphy walked behind me in the makeup trailers they were changing out of the wig, and stopped and squinted and looked at me and said, how did you get so good at playing Marylyn?
01:00:10
Speaker 3: Oh? Wow?
01:00:11
Speaker 9: And I was like, oh, well, I researched her and anyway, and then walked over and started talking to Jeffica Lang.
01:00:20
Speaker 1: And then you were cast again and again as Marilyn. Yes, what are we compliments? Well, teach you cultivate any special way to speak or walk or move or look at people, a way to sit like Marilyn. It sounds like you've really studied her.
01:00:36
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I since I've my very first time ever playing her, I've just sort of approached it as I would any other acting role, and as somebody who I considered to be the most misunderstood probably woman in the world in history. I just have really tried to do my best to respect her and understand her and the best way that I can and treat her with the care that I think she deserves. So I've you know, analyzed her speech with you know, my dialect training from Theater Conservatory, and really analyzed her her physicality and watched her And I just always keep going back and keep going back and trying to learn more and no more, as long as I have the privilege to play her, I want to keep learning more and doing my best. You know, as soon as you think you have something, then that's when you have to go back to the books and back to the source material and listen to her speech and watch her move. So yeah, it's an ongoing process, and I really have put a lot of work into it.
01:01:29
Speaker 1: Yes, you certainly have. You certainly have. Now you know, Marilyn Monroe died in nineteen sixty two. We all know this more than six decades ago. Why do you think Marilyn Monroe's legacy continues to live on? I mean, I think Marilynd is more popular today than when she was alive In the early sixties.
01:01:49
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think you're right. You know, that's the million dollar question, right. I think that there's always that curiosity with anyone who dies young. We can sort of imagine what if. But I think that that I think that that deep humanity in her and that deep desire for connection just really really shown through even her still photographs. It grabs people. There's something about her, and she just had a magic about her. She had that X factor. And I think because of the time that she was so famous, you know, there also was so much mystery around the stars as well, so then there's so much almost blank space that people can fill in things or see themselves in her story. And it's a very nuanced question, and I don't know that I have the right answer to it or anybody does, but she certainly persists. She had the combination of whatever her inner world was, and then also just this iconic exterior, this beauty, this iconic look that really has become synonymous with Hollywood clamor.
01:02:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm telling you, decade after decade, it is just amazing.
01:02:52
Speaker 7: And yeah, I.
01:02:53
Speaker 1: Mean Marilyn Monroe became a blonde in the Max factor building in the blondess only room, which is where the Hollywood music is today. Well, you know, I have just enjoyed our conversation together. I mean it's time we have to take a station break. Alicia, it has been such a pleasure having you here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. In our final moments, please tell our listeners how they can follow you.
01:03:15
Speaker 9: Oh yes, Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure, and you can find me on Instagram. My Instagram handle is acso p e Er and I have a website alishahspa dot com. And this has just been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
01:03:31
Speaker 4: Oh.
01:03:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we look forward to seeing you very soon. Well, thank you so much, Alicia for joining us here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. You know you're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. And I'm Daniel Datigan And when we return, we'll be speaking with well guess who, rude A Lee, one of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend and icon. And I wonder where our conversation will take us with Ruda. You know, I want to learn so much more about the personal Maryland that most of us never knew. I'm sure Ruda will give us some insight on that.
01:04:04
Speaker 2: Well.
01:04:05
Speaker 1: Stay tuned to hear more of Hollywood's hidden treasures. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. I'm Danielle Daigan, and tonight's show is all about celebrating the centennial, the one hundredth birthday of one of the biggest icons of film, the one, the only Marilyn Monroe. And joining us once again is Ruda Lee, one of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend and icon. And you know I have to tell you, in addition to all the great film classics that Ruda has started in, Rude has guest starred on more than fifteen hundred episodes of our favorite TV shows. Rude, I have to tell you. Our good friend, ABC's Emmy Award winning entertainment guru, George Pinocchio told us that, frankly, no matter what time zone we're in, you are on television one time a day, everywhere on this earth.
01:04:58
Speaker 4: Oh and I wish I were getting residuals for every time it played, but they're a long gone. But what fun. It was? Such fun hearing from Alicia what she had to say about playing Marilyn. I should think it's a very difficult job to fill the shoes of somebody as marvelous as she was. And you know, I remember when I was under contract at twentieth for about twenty minutes. There were coaches there that worked with the different young people that were brought in and put under contract. And I know that Marilyn worked for a very long time with a woman named Natasha Laitez.
01:05:44
Speaker 1: Yes, yes she did.
01:05:45
Speaker 4: She was one of the big names. Helena Sorella is the one that worked with me. Anyway, Natasha la test was very important, and you know, it's true that she wanted to improve herself tremendously, and after she had already been become a movie star, she moved on and decided that it was time to learn what the method acting career would be like and went to New York and worked in New York with wonderful people that helped her along the way. You had to admire her, and obviously she still was frightened of many, many things, which brought her to the use of pills to wake up in the morning, pills to go to sleep at night. All of that is so sad to me. And of course here we are celebrating what would have been her one hundredth birthday, and yet she died so young, and as far as I'm concerned, very mysteriously, which I think is strange. I know that my very good friend and the private investigator, Oh, yes, pretty o tesh. Yes, he has been a big muckamuck with the police department here in Los Angeles, who are pretty slick guys themselves, and he absolutely was convinced. And he was the private eye for Frank Sinatra, for Dean Martin, for Sammy, for everybody, and Marilyn was a very good friend of Frank's. They I'm sure had had an ongoing affair and then not a fair an affair and not a fair but he was very protective of her, and I think he had Freddie watching out as much as he could, for Freddie was absolutely convinced that she was murdered. Now, there have been tell us about the books written about it, and everybody has their version, but I know my version, and I sort of feel like I was part of that night because I was out for dinner with then Mayor Sam Yorty and his darling wife bets and at that time he had a telephone that was like a shoe box with an aeriel it. Remember how big they were way back when. Oh yes, yes, in the early sixties, and the mayor had to be informed whenever anybody came into town of note. Well of note came into town just at the beginning of our dinner as we were sitting down the wonderful Robert Kennedy and his entourage of people. And when we finished dinner and we're having desserts and getting ready to go on to something else, mister Kennedy and entourage left the airport La Airport, and that was the night that Marilyn died.
01:08:42
Speaker 1: Yes, you know, you're absolutely right. The honor Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, who you were very good friends with, Oh yeah, introduced me to a gentleman. His name was John Minor. He was the deputy District Attorney and worked under the corner doctor Thomas Nogucci for this and it was a maze to me, being young and inexperienced and new to all of this, that they had questions and they had doubt with what the actual coroner's report said. So I think you're spot on well, you.
01:09:15
Speaker 4: Know, when you stop, you asked Alicia about what made this girl live on and on and on. Well, how many beautiful leading ladies had big, important relationships with huge sports figure. I mean, Demaggio couldn't be a heck of a lot better. When you stop and think Sinatra and great stars like that, and the president and the president's brother. Wow, that's mixing and mingling. Whether it was just hello, how are you, or whether they were full blown affairs, that's going to keep you in the limelight for a very long time.
01:09:57
Speaker 1: You can say that again. This amazing when you think about it.
01:10:00
Speaker 4: Everybody wanted Marilyn.
01:10:02
Speaker 1: You know, I think you're right.
01:10:05
Speaker 4: It just it breaks my heart that she's gone from us. She died absolutely beautiful, didn't become an old bag.
01:10:13
Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to imagine you saying this, Ruda, because it's true. I mean, one hundred years old, she'd be a great grandmother or a great great grandmother.
01:10:22
Speaker 4: To exactly exactly.
01:10:24
Speaker 1: We can't imagine her as such.
01:10:26
Speaker 4: I know you had a nice conversation with Luke and his mother got to know Marilyn very well. Yes, yeah, great actress, and I envy her. I'm sorry that I didn't know Marilyn. Well, I'm sorry that she wasn't a roommate of mine like she was with Shelley Winters.
01:10:44
Speaker 1: You know, it's so interesting that you say all of that. So let me ask you the question. If you could have a conversation today with Marilyn, what would you say?
01:10:54
Speaker 4: Oh? Well, I would ask me obvious question, how was it with Jack Kennedy? I mean, what would be more important to the world. We can do all that other serious stuff, but the good dirt is what would fascinate me?
01:11:13
Speaker 3: Goodness.
01:11:13
Speaker 4: I admire Alicia because I think it's very difficult to play people that are so outstanding. I think anytime you have to portray someone that is beloved by the world, it is very difficult. And stop and think that nobody took this girl seriously at the beginning. Everybody said, well, she's a little bit dippy and a little crazy and just a sex pot. But she really did want to learn, She really did read, She really did want to improve herself, her style of acting, her performance level. She did want to do that. I think she had a hard time learning everything. I don't think it came easily to her, and I think that's why she needed bills to sleep and bills to wake up, and bills to stay thin.
01:12:07
Speaker 1: And oh well, you know that leads me to ask the question. So, you know, during Marilyn Monroe's time, the movie studios controlled their stars public persona. Do you think her fans ever got a glimpse of the real Marilyn Monroe? No, I mean, in her contract. You have been in the studios cast system. You understand all of this. I mean I think that they kind of choreographed and orchestrated from the time you got up in the morning till the time you went to bed.
01:12:38
Speaker 4: I think they attempted to with her. I think when she started becoming a little more famous, she started being late to the set, she started having to do retakes. I know that our darling friend George Shakiras worked with her. I've never asked him how many takes they did. Did you ever ask him?
01:13:05
Speaker 1: I wish I had. We should have done this together, Ruda, you and me, we could have asked.
01:13:09
Speaker 4: Diamond or our girl's best friend. You know that iconic number that he did with her. He was just a cute, adorable chorus boy, but by golly, he is right there with her. Dancing, and I would love to know how many takes it took to do that.
01:13:25
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we're all going to get together next week, so when we see him, let's ask him. Together. We'll say out, I can hardly wait. That's a great question, My goodness. Now, you know, if Marilyn did not die in the early sixties, do you think Marilyn would have been able to successfully make that transition to the more realistic style of the sixties and seventies films.
01:13:48
Speaker 4: I think that she worked so hard at becoming better in our own mind, you know, because what she was was naturally wonderful and beautiful. And why she had to improve it, I don't know, except she did, and she wanted to learn a great deal more. And she didn't have a wonderful education, so she was trying to get it on the job, so to speak, and on the job was in life. And I think she would have learned a great deal had she not been abusing herself with the drugs that she was into. And I don't mean that she was a hardcore user of drugs, except that she was using prescribed drugs, and I think that that would have kept her from really working and studying. She was studying God lover, but I would love to have seen her play an old lady role. Who knows, wouldn't that have been something I kind of wish that had happened, but it didn't.
01:14:53
Speaker 1: Well, I've got to just jump in and say it's time for a quick station break. When we return, we'll come to you our conversation with Ruda Lee, and make sure that you get a copy of Ruda's book. Her memoir is fabulous, Consider your ass kiss. You can find it on Amazon. It's a bestseller and I must read. Stay tuned to hear more of Hollywoods hidden treasures. O'mdyell Daddigan, and we've got lots to talk about. Welcome back. You're listening to Hollywoods Hidden Treasures. O'mdanell Daddigan. And with us once again is miss rude A Lee, one of Hollywood's most glamorous ladies, a bona fide Hollywood legend and icon. Well, Rudy, here we are once again.
01:15:32
Speaker 4: Ah, yes, and we're talking about a real icon, the beautiful, wonderful Marilyn Monroe. You know, Danelle, I mentioned the statue, the big beautiful what is it fifteen foot or whatever?
01:15:46
Speaker 1: Else, it's it's huge fifty foot notes I think thirty feet I'm not sure.
01:15:51
Speaker 2: Very very very low.
01:15:52
Speaker 4: Yes, And as gorgeous is in Palm Springs. I discovered last week that right around the corner my little house in Palm Springs is a house that is for sale that was once lived in by Marilyn Monroe.
01:16:08
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
01:16:10
Speaker 4: And it is on the market for approximately three million dollars, which means that my house will go up in value. Where you go, there you go, which is kind of wonderful. And it's a pretty little house in the still lost Palmas. And if anybody is interested, I'm sure they can look it up on their website. But I don't know that she owned it or whether she rented it. But it's called the Marilyn Monroe House.
01:16:40
Speaker 1: Oh yes, absolutely, all world very small now, Ruda. You mentioned earlier about Shelley Winters, the actress. I keep thinking about it. She had this famous quote about Marilyn Monroe. It's like she'd come out of our apartment because they were roommates, as you said, in a schleppie old coat, looking like my maid, and all the people would push her aside to get my autograph and she loved it. I mean, Rudy, what do you think about this? I mean, tell us how upcoming stars dressed when they went out in public to dinner, to the grocery store. Is this how it was in the nineteen fifties and sixties, she got dressed up to look.
01:17:18
Speaker 4: Frankly, I'm very surprised to hear that, because it seemed to me that she made an effort to kind of please her audience, you know, but Shelley is so wonderfully outspoken all of her life. She sort of said it and did it like it is, you know. And I know that they lived in West Hollywood somewhere. I know that Marilyn had an apartment on Doheeny, just south of Sunset, between Sunset and Santa Monica, and I don't know if that's where Shelley lived with her. I never did ask exactly what the address was, but I know she lived there. And then of course the house that she bought, but that was much later in the game. And I'd love to know whether she owned the house in Palm Springs. She didn't seem to care much about property. Maybe being a movie star and living up to the legend was something else. But let's face it, when Marilyn became the Marilyn Monroe, she could borrow clothes from anybody to put on that gorgeous frame of hers, you know for sure. And she didn't have to buy all those clothes. She did have the publicity department at twentieth Century Fox working day and night for her. So there were a lot of benefits by being under contract, as well as hassles and problems being under contract and being told what to do and how to do it.
01:18:55
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean this is extraordinary.
01:18:57
Speaker 2: You know.
01:18:57
Speaker 1: While we're talking about this, and you mentioned the apartment on doheany you know the Hollywood's on Mayor. My buddy Johnny Grant used to tell a great story about he would visit Marilyn Monroe after he finished disc jocking on the radio. And I giggled because the calendar had just come out and Johnny wanted to have it autographed.
01:19:17
Speaker 4: And he said he and.
01:19:18
Speaker 1: He said he went to Maryland's door and he knocked, and she opened the door, and she was wearing a towel on her head. She had no inhibitions, it seemed. She autographed the calendar and told him come back in a half an hour and let's have coffee.
01:19:39
Speaker 4: Well, good for her. Obviously she was not shy. She had a great body. She didn't have augmentation of the boobetts or anything else, and so I imagine that she wasn't shy about showing it. Clearly she did a lot of photography, modeling, and even when she was under track, she was doing a lot of stuff that was very provocative and worth it with her body. How much are those calendars going for now?
01:20:09
Speaker 1: I wonder, Oh, they're going for quite a lot, and we have several of them on display at the Hollywood Museum, along with the original photoshoot that the photographer Tom Kelly took of Maryland for those calendars. Can you believe she was paid fifty dollars for that as she signed away all of her rights, And think how many millions of dollars everybody has made off of them. And in fact, one of the photographs from that photoshoot was sold to Hugh Hefner for his first edition of Playboy as the center. Really yes, yes, yes.
01:20:46
Speaker 4: Oh my well, I just stop and think about how my darling best friend, and I hope she's amusing God right now. Debbie Reynolds was a great collector of Hollywood clothing especially.
01:21:00
Speaker 1: Yes, she had, oh she had.
01:21:04
Speaker 4: She had several costumes of Barlins, one of them from the song that you played earlier, the River of No Return, Yes, and that went for less money. But the pleated subway dress that everybody knows about, Debbie was smart enough to buy and it sold for something like what five million?
01:21:26
Speaker 1: It wouldn't surprise me at all. It's just extraordinary what these costumes are valued for.
01:21:33
Speaker 4: The River of No Return went for a million something.
01:21:36
Speaker 1: Oh, that sounds very reasonable, doesn't it.
01:21:38
Speaker 4: It does when you say, well, well, Audrey Hepburn's racetrack up some downs race dress went for a million something too.
01:21:49
Speaker 1: Yes, and my fair lady, yes, yes, and that was yes.
01:21:52
Speaker 4: You you just have to have the smarts and the cash. And Debbie put herself into debt and everything else to buy a lot of stuff. When MGM was having a big sale, yes, getting rid of stuff in their vaults that they had. She just begged, borrowed, sold stuff of her own to be able to buy a lot of stuff, which she did, and of course it all paid back many years later. But you know, the sad part was, and you think about sad things involving Maryland. The sad part was that our fabulous intelligentsia in Hollywood didn't support any kind of museum for Debbie where she could have done all of that stuff. Thank god, you've got it all at the Hollywood Museum. Thank god you have Marilyn Monroe's stuff. Well, thank god you have my stuff.
01:22:44
Speaker 1: That's so true, that's so true, and we should share with everyone that you're going to be putting on loan at the Hollywood Museum a personal haulture top of Marilyn Monroe's. It's extraordinary.
01:22:56
Speaker 4: I'm going to give that to you today and.
01:22:58
Speaker 1: I love it.
01:22:59
Speaker 5: I love it.
01:23:00
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I can't get over how quickly the time has passed. So please tell us how can our listeners follow you?
01:23:08
Speaker 4: Oh, very easily. Just go to rutally dot com and you'll find out about me. You'll find out about the Saliens, which, of course I support and hope that everybody who's listening and has an extra two dollars, five dollars, five hundred thousand dollars that they want to give to help our returning veterans, yes worthy, cause I would really appreciate that. So that's the Saliens th H A L I A N S dot org. And my book, of Course is available on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. And I thank you so much for letting me visit and talk about that gorgeous brand that I wish I had known much better than I did. I only met her that once, but boy, that once never left me.
01:23:58
Speaker 1: Well, it's so exciting to hear these insights. I just want to thank you so much, Rudah for joining us and reminiscing and sharing your insights on Marilyn Monroe. I mean, this show has gone by with a lightning speed. It's really been a pleasure having you once again here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. I think we have to have you come in and co host with us.
01:24:18
Speaker 4: Thank you for all the information that you provide and that all your guests provide. Because I love hearing the show. I learned something new every time.
01:24:27
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, it's been our honor and pleasure having you here on Hollywood's Hidden Treasures. Thank you, Ruda. You know I've loved tonight's stories. I enjoyed hearing from our friends Morgan Fairchild, Luke Yankee, George Shakiras Ruda Lee, Alicia Soper, and Mamie Van Doren. You know their personal and professional stories and remembrances about Marilyn Monroe. We're enlightening and certainly entertaining, to say the least. Well, Roger, what was your favorite story?
01:24:54
Speaker 3: You know?
01:24:55
Speaker 6: I love the story that Ruda told about being at a hotel in Vegas and walked to Maril Monroe, they said at the same table, which is just amazing.
01:25:03
Speaker 1: I know, really quite something. Well, before we sign off, let's just tell our listeners how they can visit the Hollywood Museum.
01:25:09
Speaker 6: Will just come on down in person to sixteen sixteen North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, or you could check us out on Instagram at Hollywood Museum or on our website, the Hollywood Museum dot com.
01:25:18
Speaker 1: Well, there's something for everyone at the Hollywood Museum in the historic Max Factor Building, and make sure to check out our newest exhibit, Marilyn Monroe the Centennial. Oh my goodness, and thank you to our listeners for joining us this evening. All of us here on Hollywoods Hidden Treasures certainly have enjoyed hearings tonight's show, filled with fascinating and entertaining stories Our guest award winning actors, industry professionals shared with us about the woman of the Hour, Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, and tell us what was your favorite story? I know what mine was. Well remember stay safe, stay strong, and stay well. I've enjoyed my time with you. Be sure to tune in next week to discover more of Hollywood's idden treasures with me, Danelle Dadigan and some of Hollywood's finest right here on talk radio seven ninety KABC