Celebrate Marilyn’s 90th birthday
June 1st marks the 90th birth anniversary of Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson (Baker), on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles. During her brief life, Marilyn overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world’s biggest stars and most enduring sex symbols, making 29 films that grossed more than $200 million. She died at age 36 of a drug overdose on Aug. 5, 1962.
Find fiction and nonfiction books by and about Marilyn Monroe, as well as many of her films, at your local Manatee County Public Library.
“My Sister Marilyn,” by Berniece Baker Miracle, and her daughter, Mona Rae Miracle, is really a biography of Norma Jeane Baker. Berniece and Norma Jeane were half-sisters, born seven years apart. Berniece lived with her father, while their mother’s health necessitated that Norma Jeane stay with several foster families. The sisters did not learn of each other until Berniece was 19 and Norma Jeane was 12. Once they discovered each other, they stayed in close contact. Through the use of Marilyn’s letters and her own reminiscences and photographs, Berniece’s deeply intimate book reveals Monroe as a warm and vulnerable woman eager to maintain a relationship with her family and those who cared about her.
“Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love,” by C. David Heymann, is a richly detailed look at the famous romance of two of America’s biggest stars. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe’s elopement in 1954 caused a sensation unlike any the American public had ever seen. Though their marriage lasted only nine months, they remained devoted to each other. Even after Marilyn’s death, DiMaggio had roses delivered three times a week to her crypt for 20 years.
“The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy,” by Wendy Leigh, is a compelling page turner with a unique premise. Set against the glittering backdrop of Hollywood and Washington, D.C., during the 1950s and ’60s, the two most iconic women of our time meet and begin a secret correspondence.
A real treat for movie buffs, “The Elvis and Marilyn Affair,” is a funny, sexy novel written by Robert S. Levinson, a friend of Elvis. When actress Stevie Marriner, “sex queen of the soaps,” becomes the prime suspect in a movie director’s murder, her ex-husband, former crime reporter Neil Gulliver discovers that he can prove Stevie’s innocence and expose the real killer by untangling the truth surrounding the rumor that Elvis and Marilyn had a torrid love affair in the mid-’50s.
“Bye Bye, Baby,” by Max Allan Collins, is historical fiction that pairs fictional private investigator Nate Heller with real life persons like Marilyn Monroe, Peter Lawford, Bobby Kennedy and Frank Sinatra. After Twentieth Century Fox threatens to cancel her contract, Monroe hires “PI to the stars” Nathan Heller to record her phone calls. Less than three months later, she’s dead from an overdose and officially a suicide. But Heller isn’t buying it. It’s a good read and so well written you might think it’s a true story.
Speaking Volumes, written by Manatee County Public Library System staff members, is published each Sunday. Access the library via mymanatee.org/library. Cathy Habora is a staff member at the Braden River Branch Library.
This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Celebrate Marilyn’s 90th birthday."