The story of the red roses left three times a week at Marilyn Monroe's grave
They were only married nine months, but the mark Marilyn Monroe left on her second husband's life was so profound that Joe DiMaggio, who helped her through her emotional relapse as she went through her third divorce, was the one who paid for her funeral expenses and the man who spent 27 years after her death remembering her every week. At least three times a week.
When we talk about Norma Jean's love affairs, we usually remember Arthur Miller first. And it is understandable, on the one hand because it was the longest marriage of the three he had and because the relationship filled the tabloids of the era by forming one of the most uneven but interesting couples in Hollywood. And it is that in a time when feminism was conspicuous by the absence of her in the film industry, Monroe was nothing more than a sexual icon of celluloid and the world saw her relationship with curiosity of her because she was formed by an intellectual and a sex symbol.
But before the writer, Marilyn only had eyes for Joe DiMaggio. They met in 1952 when the former professional baseball player - a true hero of the New York Yankees - asked a mutual friend to make a date with her after seeing her movies. Marilyn was in the throes of career advancement and she reluctantly agreed to dine with him as she was convinced the man would be an arrogant athlete. But the date was a success and they continued their romance by hiding from the press for more than a year until on January 14, 1954 they secretly married. Or not so secret. The idea was to do it behind the back of the paparazzi, but apparently Monroe mentioned her plans to someone in the study, who leaked it to the press. Therefore, when they arrived at the San Francisco city hall, they ran into the photographers who were waiting for them.
DiMaggio had already retired as a professional athlete and according to different biographies, he was looking for a calm and stable life. He did not like the sexual image that the industry showed of his wife and according to the bad tongues they had reached a mutual agreement so that Marilyn did not exploit that facet so much. Whereas she had spent her entire life searching for a father figure and the man who would never abandon her like her father did. And it is likely that she mistook Joe's possessive attitude as protective of hers. However, neither of them ended up finding what she was looking for. When they began their life together as husband and wife, the actress's career was rising like foam and the problems began immediately. Even on the same honeymoon when Monroe decided to leave her husband in Japan to travel to Korea to visit the American troops (History). They would meet again in the US where things only got worse.
"Joe didn't understand Monroe," said a friend of the man named Robert Solotaire according to the book Joe and Marilyn: Legends of Love (via New York Post). "There was that beautiful young woman about to become one of the most successful and famous actresses in the world and was she going to drop everything to make lasagna and spend her days changing diapers?" He said. "She had gotten used to the parental guidance and protective side of her personality," adds the actress's friend, Lotte Goslar.
In 1954, and after several months of tug of war with Fox executives, Marilyn had managed to get her contract renewed with a salary more commensurate with her star status and more interesting projects for her. One of them was the Billy Wilder comedy, Temptation Lives Upstairs. It was during that filming that they experienced the fight of the century. As the Palm Springs Desert Sun journalist wrote at the time, Wilder himself had summoned the press on the day of the recording of the subway scene when Marilyn stands on top of the New York sewers to let the air lift the skirt of her dress. white of her. It was the ideal time to promote the shoot and it certainly worked. The images went around the world and even today it remains one of the most iconic of the actress. But seeing dozens of men staring at his wife's legs, taking pictures and applauding the moment, DiMaggio erupted into a rage. The couple had a strong argument at the entrance of the theater that appears in the sequence and a couple of weeks later, upon returning to Hollywood, Marilyn filed for divorce, citing suffering "mental cruelty" on her part.
274 days is the length of the marriage, and although Marilyn found comfort in the arms of Marlon Brando and later Arthur Miller, Joe underwent therapy, gave up alcohol, and pursued other career interests to occupy his time. But he was never very far from her.
Marilyn married again in 1956 to the writer and playwright, Arthur Miller, living one of the most criticized and publicized romances of him. But the troubled relationship came to an end in 1961, leaving the actress in such a fragile emotional state that she was admitted to a Manhattan psychiatric clinic. It was DiMaggio himself who took her out of there to take her with him to Florida, where she worked as a coach, so that she could rest and relax.
While DiMaggio was not short of women and there were many rumors pointing to her possible conquests, he only had eyes for his ex-wife. Rumors of reconciliation haunted them until Marilyn's death on August 5, 1962, although they claimed they were just good friends.
According to the biography written by Maury Allen, DiMaggio had left his current position on August 1, 1962 because he was going to propose to her again. Four days later, Marilyn's body was discovered lifeless as a result of an overdose of barbiturates. Few remember him but it was Joe who took over her funeral and organized a private ceremony banning various celebrities and the Kennedy family from entering, including President John F. Kennedy.
Joe never remarried and for the next 27 years, until his own death at age 84 on March 8, 1999, he sent half a dozen red roses three times a week to his grave. It was the promise he had made to the actress, who asked him that if she died before he did, she wanted flowers in her crypt every week like William Powell did for Jean Harlow. Only Joe multiplied his desire by three.
Some see this anecdote as a true love story, while others suspect the limits that Joe DiMaggio's obsession with Marilyn would have exceeded. Only the two of them knew what they really experienced, although the athlete's jealousy has been documented in various biographies and reports since then. There are rumors that point to Joe's obsession, assuring that after her divorce he spent time chasing the actress, wearing a fake beard and waiting to see her in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria hotel. There is even a story that includes Frank Sinatra, who would have accompanied DiMaggio in an attempt to catch the actress red-handed with her vocal coach, a boy named Hal Schaefer. According to the New York Post, they entered another apartment by mistake, scaring a 50-year-old woman who immediately called the police (no matter how much Sinatra it was). The singer ended up paying the woman $ 7,500 in a settlement out of court, and although the story made it to the media, DiMaggio denied his entire life was involved.
Even his attorney, Morris Engelberg, said Joe's last words before he died were "I'll finally see Marilyn." Unconditional love or obsession? Perhaps not even he knew for sure.
