Are You Marilyn or Norma?
Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1, 1926; she died on August 4, 1962 at age 36. She never had a chance at a normal life, but she will be forever young, forever a symbol of female sexuality, and forever a tragedy. Some may say that is the legacy she would have chosen. I think she just wanted to be happy. I knew a newsman who had once lived in the same neighborhood as Norma Jeane in New York City. She was well known as Marilyn Monroe by then and was married to playwrite Arthur Miller. This newsman crossed paths with her in a small grocery store squeezed in among the brownstone houses. She was wearing jeans and a sweat shirt, her hair was under a scarf and she had on no make-up. He said she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. I believe him. Always a child of Hollywood, Norma Jeane was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Gladys, was emotionally unstable and eventually institutionalized. To s