Marilyn Monroe was born
Norma Jeane Mortenson
on June 1, 1926 in Los
Angeles, California. Her
mother was a film-cutter
at RKO Studios who,
widowed and mentally ill,
abandoned her to
sequence of foster homes.
She was almost smothered
to death at two, nearly
raped at six. At nine, the
LA Orphans' Home paid
her a nickel a month for
kitchen work while taking
back a penny every
Sunday for church. At
sixteen, she worked in an
aircraft plant and married
a man she called Daddy;
he went into the military,
she modeled, they
divorced in 1946. She
owned 200 books
(including Tolstoy,
Whitman, Milton),
listened to Beethoven
records, studied acting at
the Actors' lab in
Hollywood, and took
literature courses at
UCLA downtown. 20th
Century Fox gave her a
contract but let it lapse a
year later. In 1948,
Columbia gave her a sixmonth contract, turned her
over to coach Natasha
Lytess and featured her in
the B movie Ladies of the
Chorus (1948) in which
she sang three numbers :
"Every Baby Needs a Da
Da Daddy", "Anyone Can
Tell I Love You" and "The
Ladies of the Chorus" with
Adele Jergens (dubbed by
Virginia Rees) and others.