Who was Marilyn Monroe? The stories of her great friend that allow us to know her most intimate face
They were great friends. Several worlds came together: that of journalism, that of modeling, that of cinema… even, also the world of drugs, alcohol and show business. Truman is my "role model" in journalism and Marilyn, what to say? She was an icon of the time. She was and continues to be an important woman, a symbol of feminism, an example of not paying attention to social stereotypes.
Marilyn did not want to show the most intimate and weak side of her, but Truman, her great friend, decided to show it for her in A Beautiful Creature that was published in hers last book Music for Chameleons. His story about Monroe was one of the last he wrote and in it he mixed all the techniques he knew: storytelling, fiction, investigation ... it is, truly, an honor to prose - and also a sweet pampering to the souls who love letters. .
There was something exceptional about Marilyn Monroe. Sometimes she could be ethereal and sometimes she looked like a waitress in a coffee shop '- that's how Truman defines her; And that's how Marilyn was: a woman, a person who, like everyone else, had her moments of happiness and others of sadness.
Your friendship
They met in 1949 and have since become close friends. They adored show business and both were very popular in Hollywood. Companions of parties and happiness, but also of complex moments.
It was thus that in 1955 they had to attend a funeral: that of Constance Collier, an actress who was very close to both of them. Years later, in 1962, when Monroe died of an overdose, Capote was surprised by the headlines, but to tell the truth… he always waited for that outcome: "I was surprised, even though I knew I was the type of person this could happen to" .
At the time he was writing Cold Blood — the best non-fiction novel that, in my opinion, exists in this world full of novels, investigative journalism, and storytelling. But he already knew: someday he would have to write about his friend; someday he should tell the world who Marilyn was; someday he will need to explain that she was not a hero and that, like everyone else, she had a weak side to her. It was so in Music for Chameleons he decided to tell that intimate side and the result was, simply, incredible.
She was not just "a beautiful creature"
«Setting: The Universal Funeral Home Chapel on Lexington Avenue, corner of 52nd Street, New York. A brilliant assembly crowds into the benches: celebrities for the most part, from the fields of international theater, cinema, literature, as a tribute to Constance Collier, the English-born actress who had died the day before at the age of seventy-five. years »: this is how this story begins ...
Miss Collier, as they used to call her, believed that Monroe was "a beautiful creature." And she added, at the time, that “I don't think she's an actress at all, at least in the traditional sense. What she possesses, that presence, that luminosity, that brilliant intelligence, would never emerge on stage. She is so fragile and delicate that she can only capture it on a camera. It is like the flight of a hummingbird: only a camera can capture her poetry. But whoever thinks this girl is just another Harlow or a whore or whatever, he's crazy. "
Thus, with this different but beautiful definition, Truman began with his account of Monroe. What else happened that April 28, 1955? Many things ... but, given the sadness of her funeral, she decided to go without makeup, showing her dark circles from crying - and, of course, for her lifestyle -, revealing her weaknesses. But there was something she did not expect: the paparazzi.
Capote not only described her, he also developed the dialogue that they both engaged in: anger, smiles, sadness ...
"I put on all my makeup and then I thought maybe it would be better not to wear false eyelashes, or makeup or anything, so I had to get all that off me, and I couldn't think of what to wear…" Monroe said.
