The British intelligentsia are suckers for the Cinderella myth. Show them a pin-up girl turned movie star and they will rush to recognise her as a “natural actress,” “a born comedienne,” or “artlessly touching.” One can think of at least three beautiful women, with no acting capabilities whatsoever, who have been acclaimed as actresses by the serious British critics. The same critics had very probably jeered at these same girls when they were merely “ѕех symbols.”
Marilyn Monroe is an extreme instance of this because it has always been known that she had a real Cinderella background. Brought up in foster homes, raped as a small girl, forced to skimp and fret for years before winning recognition, Marilyn Monroe has an instant claim on our gallantry. We feel protective to her as she blunders through the dialogue in her films, we want to prompt her along although we know that she must have got the words right in the end or the film would never have been released. Only at the risk of intellectual ostracism can one hazard the view that Miss Monroe is not a good actress. But she is a marvellous phenomenon of our times and I recommend Maurice Zolotow’s biography of her (Marilyn Monroe: W. H. Allen, 25s).
Mr Zolotow is objective but scarcely cool. In the first interview with Miss Monroe he writes that “a combination of literary curiosity and lust sorely tempted me to fling myself on the bed and make love to her.” The same two emotions inspire his absorbing book. He writes feelingly of the ѕехսаւ aura that surrounds Miss Monroe and disturbs all her male colleagues. But he does not fully explain why no director spotted this aura before Miss Monroe was a nationally famous pin-up girl.
Miss Monroe cannot be fun to film with. She is habitually hours late, given to tantrums, and sometimes cannot remember lines as simple as “Where’s the Bourbon?” The deprivations of childhood manifest themselves in a forceful aggressiveness against the rest of the world. Yet the cynical Mr Zolntow seems to like her for all her faults – as do her countless million fans.
