The Unpublished Marilyn (Hardcover)

Mr. Haspiel met Ms. Marilyn Monroe on the street one day in New York while he was 16. While most might have been tempted to ask for an autograph, or just stare, Mr. Haspiel asked her for a kiss. She obliged him, and he began to follow her around. Pretty soon, she was calling him "Jimmy" and they became friendly. Based on his sense of what she was like, Mr. Haspiel has published two earlier books (Marilyn, The Ultimate Look at the Legend and Young Marilyn) which develop his sense of what she was like and how people responded to her. This impact continues even after her death. For example, many people have arranged to have their final resting place be near hers, including Mr. Hugh Hefner and the author. ". . . I have devoted much of these past thirty-seven years in keeping Marilyn's true story free of the excesses set down by many of her biographers." In this book, he hopes to help you "to recall her with dignity and a genuine sense of kindness." I think he has succeeded in this respectful and interesting book.

Many people who knew Ms. Monroe described her as being much different in person than when in her glamour persona as a movie star. "Off screen, you would more likely encounter Norma Jeane." The book is filled with mostly unpublished photographs and quotes from people who knew her which make that point. Three quotes in particular captured that sense for me. Her first husband commented that he knew Norma Jeane, but never met Marilyn Monroe. Ms. Monroe was famous for making everyone wait for her to arrive and perform. Billy Wilder commented that this was because "she's scared and unsure of herself." Ella Fitzgerald tells a story about how Ms. Monroe got Ms. Fitzgerald an important booking by telling the owner that she, Ms. Monroe, would take a front table every night of the engagement. That's clearly the sort of thing that a friend does, not a movie star.

The photographs in this book capture that same sense. In the early images, the private person and the actress look pretty similar. Gradually, the two images diverge. The private one is natural and relaxed, and the public person is creating an atmosphere for the viewer. The cover image of this book (a candid shot on a New York City street) helps make this point. Even better for this purpose is a photograph of her walking without makeup in New York City around April 1955.

You also get a flavor of the way that her talent gave her advantages in performing. At the sort of distance that is used in a close-up for films, a remarkable presence appears in even the earliest images that you cannot see from further away. The earliest example of this is a close-up from a 16 mm. film around 1945.

The awkwardness of being this dual self is neatly captured in the occasion when she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in 1956. Ms. Monroe is behaving in a perfectly natural way, and wearing a horribly inappropriate dress.

Many of the images come from tests of costumes for the films she appeared in. I was astonished to see how much she emoted for the camera in these pedestrian pictures. Some of these images exceed publicity stills for the same films for emotion and power.

Mr. Haspiel's sincere devotion to her memory allow us to see a nice woman, rather than a screen goddess, and for that we should all be grateful.