The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 19

Staunton, Sunday New Leader, August 2, 1967 C3 Marilyn Monroe A Today's image more alive than ever -v-r i V' A LJ about fame. "They'd all like sort of a chunk of you. They kind of like to take pieces of you." Tributes to the late star never stop at the hidden cemetery where she is buried. "They come from all over the world to see her. Some of them can barely pronounce her name," says Bill Pierce, whose family owns and operates West-wood Memorial Park.

On Aug. a fan club called "Marilyn Remembered" plans a ceremony in the small chapel on the cemetery grounds. Pierce expects some familiar faces who have come over the years to pay tribute and touch the marble slab of her crypt. "There's one guy who comes from Germany once a year," he says. "He comes and stands in front of the crypt for an hour or two every day that he's here." A young woman used to kiss the crypt, leaving lipstick prints.

But Pierce stopped the practice because the lipstick was being absorbed by the marble. Miss Monroe's former husband, Joe DiMaggio, daily sent roses for the first 20 years, then stopped. But the flowers didn't. "An order comes in once a month from a man in the Midwest for a dozen white roses," says Pierce. Others bring them in person.

"People leave flowers and plants. Sometimes they put a note on the crypt saying things like, 'Marilyn I love you. I'U always remember "You know, there are a lot of other top celebrities who have passed away, and they don't get the same notoriety." Looking for reasons for Marilyn Monroe's enduring legend is akin to searching for the real story behind her death. Everyone has a theory. "There's something deeply touching about her," says author Reise.

"There was this fragility about her that made people care. Here was this little or By LINDA DEUTSCH Associated Press Writer HOLLYWOOD (AP) On Crypt 33 at the tiny cemetery, a scribbled note tucked in a vase of flowers is scrutinized by, a passing tourist. The simple, anonymous message is read aloud: "Marilyn, we understand." Every day, flowers arrive and a caravan of cars glide past the last resting place of Hollywood's lost goddess, Marilyn Monroe, at Westwood Memorial Park. It is 25 years this summer since her breathy half-whisper was hushed forever by what was termed a probable suicide. The story of the tragic beauty with the porcelain skin who became one of Hollywood's biggest legends ended at the age of 36 on Aug.

5, 1962. But today Marilyn's image is more vibrantly alive than ever. "Marilyn Monroe is bigger than she ever was in her lifetime," says Randall Reise, coauthor with Neal Hitchens of a new book, "The Unabridged Marilyn: Her Life from A to "Marilyn is not just a person anymore. She's a legend. She's not just part of Hollywood.

She is part of American culture," Reise said. After her death, she became one of the most talked about and imitated stars the rock singer Madonna has copied Marilyn's blond, sex kitten look. A musical biography even hit Broadway in 1983, but flopped. But nowhere is her impact more evident than in this fabled town where she chased fame as young Norma Jeane Mortenson and found her dreams lined with heartbreak. Amid the bright neon and garish billboards of Hollywood Boulevard, her face and form decorate storefronts, theater facades and brochures advertising the wonders of movieland.

Bookstore shelves overflow with new volumes analyzing the Monroe legend, and souvenir shops offer cologne, pillows, sheets, towels and even toothpicks. Hundreds of fans recently flocked to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where an exhibition of Marilyn memorabilia and photos drew some who knew her and many who wished they had. In the courtyard of Mann's Chinese Theater, with its famed celebrity handprints and footprints, visitors head directly for the spot where Marilyn made her concrete impressions. It was 1953, right after "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" solidified her standing as an authentic star. She appeared in 30 movies.

But by the time she was fired from her last, "Something's Got to Give," right before her death, her career had plunged. Miss Monroe's beginnings were humble. She was born out of wedlock in Los Angeles County General Hospital to Gladys Baker, a movie cutter. Her father was a Danish immigrant named Edward Mortenson. Her mother had a nervous breakdown shortly after she was born and remained in and out of institutions.

Marilyn was shunted from one foster home to another, occasionally the victim of child abuse. She married an aircraft worker named James Dougherty at the age of 16 and they divorced after the war. She was an extremely attractive and sexy young woman. A photographer spotted her at the war plant where she worked and took pictures which led to a modeling career and eventually her first movie, "Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay." The Monroe hype became one of the greatest in Hollywood history. But with childlessness, failed love affairs and marriages to baseball great Joe DiMaggio and the playwright Arthur Miller fame did not bring happiness.

"Everybody is always tugging at you," she once said phan girl who had nothing and proved that in Hollywood anything can happen." "There's just something about her," says Janice Ogata, a clerk at Hollywood Book City who sells and collects Marilyn books. "She died one year and three months before I was born. But I find her fascinating. She strikes me as a woman caught up in circumstances she couldn't control." In her book, "Marilyn," Gloria Steinem writes: "One simple reason for her life story's endurance is the premature end of it. When the past dies, there is mourning, but when the future dies our imaginations are compelled to carry it on." But there is something else the mystery surrounding her untimely death from a barbitu-ate overdose.

Ten years after her nude body was found sprawled on a bed in her Brentwood home, Milo Speriglio, a private detective, was hired to look into the case. The colorful director of the Nick Harris Detective Agency, accepted the mission from Robert Slatser, who claims to have been briefly married to Miss Monroe. "The first thing I noticed was the autopsy," Speriglio said. "It didn't look like a suicide to me." In succeeding years, Sperl-glio's probe led to the opening of police files on the death and calls for a grand jury investigation. The FBI had kept a file on Miss Monroe because she had been friendly with President John F.

Kennedy and his brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. A censored version of the file was turned over to the district attorney's office, which concluded her death was either a suicide or accidental and there was no need for further investigation. "I know she was murdered," said Speriglio.

"She was murdered by organized crime. She was put away by people in the government and organized crime." REMEMBERING MARILYN Marilyn Monroe poses daring the filming of her last movie, "The Misfits," in this photo included in Eve Arnold's new book, "Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation." Monroe, who died 25 years ago on Aug. 5, 1982, longed to be taken seriously as an actress. (AP Laserphoto) America's ultimate movie goddess a publishing bonanza Frothy filly longed to be taken seriously "An actor is not a machine, no matter how much they want to say you are," Miss Monroe once said. "Creativity has got to start with humanity, and when you're a humeri being you feel, you suffer, you're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever." For the most part, though, Hollywood preferred to keep her smil-.

ing and sexy, pert and pouty and dumb and demure. She was, after-all, the biggest sex goddess they had. Still, she managed to strut her dramatic stuff with such films as Otto Preminger's "River of No Return" with Robert Mitchum, and "The Misfits" with Clark Gable. By DOLORES BARCLAY Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) A muted trumpet heralds with a honky-tonk riff the arrival of the bouncy, beautiful blonde. "Look at that! Look how she moves! That's just like JeU-O on springs," says a ga-ga Jack Lem-mon to an equally palpitating Tony Curtis as they watch Marilyn Monroe wiggle her way to a train in the 1959 film, "Some Like It Hot." It was the usual role for the late movie goddess, that of a frothy filly with enough air between her ears to inflate a circus tent and a body that wouldn't quit in backless gowns that plunged all the way to China.

In the hands of another actress Sugar Cane probably would have been nothing more than a footnote in film comedy. In the hands of Marilyn Monroe, and with Billy Wilder' magical directorial wand, she emerged as one of the most memorable sex kittens in movie history. Sugar had some classic lines and Marilyn pulled them off. A singer with an all-girls band, she Her movie career began In 1948 with a part in "Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay" that lasted almost as long as a sneeze. She spoke one line, "Hello," which landed on the cutting room floor.

She did a handful of unmemorable films before taking on the role of Angela Phin-lay in 1950'a "The Asphalt Jungle." She considered it her best acting role. Miss Monroe, who died 25 years ago on Aug. 5, 1962, of a barbiturate overdose, longed to be taken seriously as an actress and moved to New York in 1955 to study at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, whose students included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris and Paul Newman. 5 A30, FABRICS FURNITURE m-ft CFF Regular Retail 43Cff All Special Orders WALLPAPER In Slock ('Hand Vrtuat I AC IWO Sctd CLEARANCES SiortwM UU Kami I And Up FLOOR COVERINGS 10 CFF Carpet Oriental Dhurrie Rugs Bruce Hardwood Flooring explains her bad luck with men to Curtis: "It's the story of my life," she sighs. "I always get stuck with the fuzzy end of the lollipop." It was slightly more philosophical dialogue than the lines the actress purrs in such previous movies as "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How to Marry a Millionaire." In Howard Hawks' 1953 "Gentlemen," she portrays a classic dumb blonde who goes to Paris on an ocean liner with a showgirl (Jane Russell) so they can find rich husbands.

Typical of her idiot patter is this wide-eyed inquiry: "Does this boat go to Europe, France?" But she also speaks almost nonsensical lines that few would be able to pull off. "I won't let myself fall in love with a man who won't trust me no matter what I might do," she tells her boyfriend (Tommy Noonan) In the movie. Tom Ewell lusts for her Wilder's 1956 "The Seven Year Itch." "You know, when it's hot like this you know what I do? I keep my undies in the icebox," she says to her neighbor, Ewell. 12. "Love Nest," 1951.

13. "Let's Make It Legal," 1951. 14. "Clash By Night," 1952. 15.

"We're Not Married." 1952. 16. "Don't Bother to Knock," 1952. 17. "Monkey Business," 1952.

18. Henry's Full House," 1952. 19. "Niagara." 1953. 20.

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953. 21. "How to Marry a Millionaire," 1953. 22. "River of No Return," 1954.

23. "There's No Business Like Show Business," 1954. 24. "The Seven Year Itch," 1955. 25.

"Bus Stop," 1956. 26. "The Prince and the Showgirl," 1957. 27. "Some like It Hot," 1959.

28. "Let's Make Love," 1960. 29. "The Misfits," 1961. By LINDA DEUTSCH Associated Press Writer HOLLYWOOD (AP) At the Pickwick-B.

Dalton bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard, where Marilyn Monroe once browsed for books to improve her mind, an entire display window is dedicated to the growing number of books on the life and death of America's ultimate movie queen. On the 25th anniversary of her death from an overdose of barbitu-ates, some 50 books have been written about Marilyn Monroe and more are in the planning stages. That doesn't include such oddities as a Marilyn paper doll book and a Marilyn poster book. -Some of the more famous volumes such as Norman Mailer's 1973 "Marilyn" and the star's unfinished autobiography are out of print and available only at collectors' inflated prices. But the recent publishing is enough to keep any Marilyn fan reading for some time.

In 4986 alone five major volumes Srere published: "Marilyn Mon 'Amour," photographer Andre de -Dienes collection of early photos 'and a reminiscence of his own 3rief love affair with the actress; "Marilyn," by Gloria Steinem 'with photos by George Barris, is perhaps the most sympathetic view yet of the actress' tormented life and the first on the Subject by a major woman author; "The Marilyn Conspiracy," by private detective Milo Speriglio "who claims the star was murdered; "Joe and Marilyn: A mem-pry of Love," by Roger Kahn who writes of her marriage to baseball star Joe DiMaggio; and "Marilyn Monroe: a Life of the Actress," by Carl E. Rollyson Jr. i The most recent book is photographer Eve Arnold's "Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation." The most extraordinary addition to the Marilyn library is the 578-page tome, "The Unabridged Marilyn: Her Life From A to by Randall Reise and Neal Hitchens. The book, a combination of lists and short essays about aspects of Miss Monroe's life, begins at with the A-l Lock and Safe Company which once changed the locks on Marilyn's home, and ends at with Maurice Zolotow, one of her first biographers. fn between, there are such items as "abortions," an admittedly speculative area of the star's Prinlad) Per Roll life; "homes," listing 57 addresses and the dates she lived there in her 36 years; "hospitals" where she was treated; and "husbands." There are lists of producers, publicists and directors with whom Marilyn worked, hairdressers who coiffed her, restaurants she favored and her favorite foods (caviar for snacks) and drinks (champagne was her trademark).

The book includes comments about hundreds of people involved in her life from the doctor who delivered her to relatives, agents, actual and alleged lovers (42 on the list) and the coroners who conducted her autopsy. Reise, 30, and Hitchens, 29, are too young to remember Miss Monroe when she was alive. "We represent the new generation of Marilyn fans," says Reise. "And there are some a lot younger than we are. We did a book signing recently, and a 10-year-old girl came up and started telling us everything about Marilyn.

It's amazing the impact Marilyn has had and will continue to have." Hitchens became a Marilyn admirer "almost by osmosis from my mother." "When my mother was pregnant she was a Marilyn fan and even bleached her hair blond and tried to look like Marilyn," he said. As movie fans, the authors separately became interested in the Monroe legend, then decided to pool their talents and find out "everything there was to find out about her." They spent two years poring through material in libraries and repositories of official records and interviewing those who knew her. They pride themselves on some unique discoveries such as confirming that the star's mother, Gladys Baker, died in Florida in 1984. "We found out where Marilyn had her first date with Joe DiMaggio and what she ate," says Hitchens. They also found the doctor who delivered Marilyn, then named Norma Jeane Mortenson.

"Now we want to campaign for Hollywood to recognize Marilyn with an honorary Oscar," says Reise. "She's done so much for Hollywood. It's been 25 years and Hollywood has never officially recognized her talent. We think it's overdue." List of Marilyn's movios $econdlarL 307 Market St Charlottesville, Va. 804-295-6054 By The Associated Press Marilyn Monroe's first movie was "Sudda-Hoo! Scudda-Hay!" She had one line, "Hello," which was sliced from the final version.

She had been fired from her last movie, "Something's Got to Give," at the time of her death on Aug. 5, 1962. Here is a list of films in which Marilyn Monroe appeared: 1. "Scudda-Hoo! 1948. 2.

"Dangerous Years," 1948. 3. "Ladies of the Chorus," 1948. 4. "Love Happy," 1950.

5 "A Ticket to Tomahawk," 1950. 6. "The Asphalt Jungle," 1950. 7. "All About Eve," 1950.

8. "Right Cross," 1950. 9. "The Fireball," 1960. 10.

"Hometown Story," 1950. 11. "As Young As You Feel." 1951. Charlottesville Falls Church Virginia Beach -11 aM I i OSICTIUOS BOYS AND GIRLS AGES BIRTH-TWELVE YEARS OLD ENTER THE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN PAGEANT Shosljoii T-Shirta fcu Lzrzi ten this xrcch foci Carlo's Hallmark Saturday. August 15th, 10 a.m.

at the Fountain Court For more information and registration form call East Coast Pageants 1-804-379-3384 or 1-804-320-7239 or stop by Staunton Mall Office for a registration form. FAMILIAR RITUAL One of the thousands of fans who arrive to pay their respects photographs the crypt of Marilyn Monroe. (AP Laserphoto) oumeraq. snapping uenierftoZtf jjAMM 1987 Haftnafk Cards. Inc.

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