The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn and Bobby

One of the biggest problems faced by Pat Kennedy Lawford in the early 1960s was her and Peter’s reputation. Peter and his Rat Pack friends had used her home so often for their sexual escapades with women that some wise guy renamed the place “High Anus Port.” Jeanne Martin, Pat’s good friend, said, “I truly don’t know what Peter was thinking. How could he put himself and Pat in that position? It was always a mystery to me. He was not a careless man, but to do that to his wife…” Indeed, when Pat heard about the nickname, she was embarrassed. However, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. Her brother, Jack, was president of the United States, and if he wanted to meet girls at her home when he came into town, she felt she had no choice but to allow it. “Obviously, Pat was not clueless,” said George Jacobs. “She was just resigned. [But] Pat must have hated that her house was being used as a brothel for JFK.” ^* The only thing she believed she could do to keep her place of residence dignified was the occasional classy dinner party—which she usually had when Bobby and Ethel were in town. No one seems to remember an occasion when she had such a party for JFK and Jackie, the reason being that when JFK came to the West Coast, he preferred leaving Jackie behind since her presence at his side usually cramped his style. The latest Kennedy gathering organized by Pat was to take place on February 1, 1962. Again, Pat was hosting for Bobby and Ethel since they were in Los Angeles on the first leg of a fourteen-country goodwill tour.

With the telling of events leading up to this party, one can also begin to understand one of the reasons behind all of the rumors about Marilyn and Bobby. Prior to this evening, Marilyn—always one to embellish an already interesting story—spent at least two weeks calling people such as Danny Greenson (the doctor’s son), Jeanne Martin, Henry Weinstein (producer of Something’s Got to Give), among others to tell them exciting news: “I have a date with Bobby Kennedy.”

Henry Weinstein recalled, “I get a call one day from her and she says, I have a very important date with a very important man. And I want to know from you what kinds of things I can say to him, what kinds of questions I may be able to ask him, that will be impressive. So I said, ‘Fine, but who’s the man, so I can think of topics for you.’ She said, ‘It’s Bobby Kennedy.’ I was a little floored. ‘Seriously?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I have a date with Bobby Kennedy.’ So, I said, ‘Okay, well, we’re right in the middle of the civil rights business, so ask him what he’s doing to calm down the riots, how he feels about Martin Luther King, that sort of thing.’ ”

In subsequent years, sources who have said Marilyn told them she was “dating” Bobby Kennedy weren’t fibbing. Apparently, she was fibbing. In this case, it most certainly wasn’t a date. It was a dinner party at Pat’s, and she was just one of the guests. However, people heard from her that it was “a date,” and then passed that information on to reporters many decades later. Each person has told the same story: She wrote down all of the questions she was given on a napkin, so that she could remember them. They were inquiries about civil rights, about the country’s support of the Diem regime in Vietnam, and also about the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Marilyn showed up at Pat’s that night dressed to kill. Years later, Joan Braden, who was present that night, recalled, “Bobby turned and I turned and there she was—blonde, beautiful, red lips at the ready, clad in a black-lace dress which barely concealed the tips of her perfectly formed breasts and tightly fitted every curve of the body unparalleled.” Joan whispered in Bobby’s ear, “Bobby, this is the Marilyn Monroe, the genuine article.” Then Pat came over and said, “Bobby, I’d like you to meet Marilyn.”

While Bobby was mildly interested in meeting the screen star, his wife, Ethel, was much more starstruck. Unlike many of the Kennedys, Ethel was down-to-earth, not at all pretentious. She enjoyed a good time, loved playing football with the men in the family, and was considered something of a tomboy. She was also the life of any party, pretty much like her sister-in-law Pat. She’d wanted to be a nun before meeting Bobby, but then of course went on to marry Kennedy and give birth to eleven children by him. She was well-liked within the family, though she and Jackie often butted heads. Ethel, always one to speak her mind, was devoted to the Kennedy family and was Bobby’s biggest supporter when it came to his political ambitions. Whereas the other women who’d married into the family—Jackie and Joan—had to apply themselves in order to be invested in their husband’s careers, Ethel absolutely loved politics and hoped to one day be First Lady.

Ethel had wanted to meet Marilyn ever since deciding a year earlier that the actress should play her in a screen version of Bobby’s book The Enemy Within, which was about his investigation into the illegal activities of Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters union. It was presently being developed into a movie by Marilyn’s studio, 20th Century-Fox. Budd Schulberg, who had written the screenplay for On the Waterfront, was adapting the Kennedy work. In the end, it would not see completion, but Ethel’s choice to have Marilyn play her in the movie is interesting just the same. On its face, it seems odd. The two were not at all alike, after all. Whereas Marilyn was a sex kitten, Ethel was earthy and a more motherly figure. However, Ethel had seen many of Marilyn’s films and was interested in her not for her looks but rather because she saw what a lot of people saw in Marilyn, a very good actress. “I think she’s underrated,” she told Joan Braden, a friend of the Kennedy family’s. “I think she’s done some very good work and I’d be honored to have her play me in the movie.” Ethel’s appreciation of Marilyn didn’t last long after she actually had a chance to meet her—and see her interact with Bobby.

Joan Braden recalled, “Bobby ended up sitting right next to her at dinner, with Kim Novak, Angie Dickinson and me at the table. Who the men between us were, I can’t remember. I can only remember the women and the dresses, which showed off their bosoms.”

Of Marilyn and Bobby, Braden continues, “They had an instant rapport, not surprising in that they were both charismatic, smart people. Bobby enjoyed talking to intelligent, beautiful women, and Marilyn certainly fit the bill. She was also inquisitive in a childlike way, which I think he found refreshing. I found her to be delightful, and everyone at the party was completely enthralled by her and rather dazzled by her presence.”

After dinner, Marilyn pulled out her little napkin of questions and started asking them to Bobby. She really didn’t need the crib sheet, though. She certainly knew how to engage in an intellectual conversation with someone like Bobby Kennedy. Soon, the two retired to the bar to discuss J. Edgar Hoover. Marilyn said she felt he was out of control. “Spying on this one and that one. He even spies on me, and what do I ever do?” she asked, according to Jeanne Martin, who was also at the party and overheard the conversation. “All I ever do is shop and make movies, yet he has his goons following me!” Marilyn had long felt she was being stalked. There was the incident where she called her pseudo-manager Lucille Carrol to tell her that someone was peeping in on her in her bedroom, even though no available ladder would have reached the third floor. There were many other times, as well. In fact, there’s a very good adage that applies here: Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone’s not following you. The fact that Marilyn actually was being followed, and by Hoover’s “goons,” had to have fed into her sense of paranoia. Bobby said that he and his brother Jack felt the same way about Hoover—and they should have because he had agents tailing their every move as well!—but there was nothing they could do about it yet.

It should be noted that there have been many different accounts of Marilyn’s first meeting with Bobby, going all the way back to dates in 1960. However, on the basis of information assembled for this book, February 1, 1962, marked the first meeting. Immediately afterward, on February 2, Marilyn wrote a letter to Isadore Miller, Arthur’s father. She began it, “Dear Dad,” and wrote of meeting Kennedy, “he seems rather mature and brilliant for his thirty-six years, but what I liked best about him, besides his Civil Rights program, is he’s got such a wonderful sense of humor.” She also wrote to Arthur’s son, Bobby, to whom she was close. “When they asked him who he wanted to meet, he wanted to meet me,” she wrote. “So I went to the dinner and sat next to him, and he isn’t a bad dancer either.” Based on Marilyn’s words (“he wanted to meet me”), the two had not met before this evening. She wrote that she’d asked Bobby questions about the civil rights movement and that she was impressed with his answers. She further stated that Bobby had promised to send her a letter that would summarize their conversation. She promised to send Miller a copy of it, “because there will be some very interesting things in it because I really asked many questions that I said the youth of America want answers to and want things done about.”

“Afterwards, we all started dancing and I remember Marilyn teaching Bobby how to do the twist,” recalled Joan Braden. “The two were laughing and having a very good time together. That, I think, was really pushing it as far as Ethel was concerned. I remember wondering how Bobby could be so blatantly flirtatious with another woman knowing that Ethel was watching, and I was also worried about Ethel’s feelings. People always thought Ethel Kennedy could take care of herself, more so than the other Kennedy women. But I always thought that underneath Ethel’s bravado was a very sensitive, and often very hurt, woman.”

It’s been reported countless times over the years that Marilyn Monroe became so inebriated on this night that she could not drive herself home. Therefore, Bobby and his press aide Ed Guthman supposedly did so. Guthman has even been quoted as saying that this was true. Perhaps that happened on some other night—it’s never been proven, though—but definitely it did not occur on this night.

Fresh research now establishes that Marilyn did not drive to the Lawford home. She was picked up at 8 p.m. by the Carey Cadillac Renting Company of California from her apartment on Doheny Drive and then taken to the Lawfords’. She stayed until three in the morning and then was driven back to her home. A receipt exists from the Carey Cadillac Renting Company proving as much.

Edward Barnes, who now owns his own valet service, was a young parking attendant at the Lawfords’ that evening. He says that while Marilyn was waiting for her driver, there was a bit of chaos in front of the Lawford home. “One of the other valets broke a cardinal rule and asked Miss Monroe if he could take a picture of her,” says Barnes. “She said, ‘Of course.’ And that very second, a Secret Service agent appeared from nowhere and grabbed the guy’s camera. It stunned everyone. Marilyn was surprised, too, and she said, ‘Wait a second. Who the hell are you?’ He said, ‘Secret Service, ma’am.’ Just then, a Kennedy aide who I later learned was Ed Guthman said, ‘We have agents here, Marilyn. It’s okay.’ And she said, ‘Well, it is not okay to steal someone’s camera.’ She then turned to the agent and said, ‘You give back that camera right now.’ And he did! Then she posed for the picture. Everyone stood there with their mouths open, it was such a moment. I will never forget it. I thought to myself, Holy Christ, I can’t believe that Marilyn Monroe just went up against the Secret Service… and won!”

“The next day, I asked her how the date with Bobby Kennedy went,” recalled Henry Weinstein, “and she said it went great, and ‘Guess what? I have another date with him.’ So I thought, wow, that’s very nice. A few days went by and I didn’t hear from her. I called her and said, ‘So? How is it going with Bobby Kennedy?’ She said, ‘Well… let’s put it this way. I don’t need any more questions.’ ”