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The American playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner William Motter Inge, wrote Bus Stop. His works are known for solitary protagonists and strained sexual relationships, which is no surprise as he was mentored by Tennessee Williams.
Bus Stop was Marilyn’s first starring role in a dramatic film and her first movie made after studying at the Actor’s Studio in New York with Lee Strasberg. Her role in the movie transported her from bombshell to serious actress.
Her performance got the best reviews of her career and brought her an Oscar nomination for best actress.
While filming Bus Stop Marilyn stayed at the San Carlos Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.
– a hotel which attracted such stars as Clark Gable, Mae West, Carole Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracey, Humphrey Bogart and Jean Harlow.
Marilyn insisted on staying in the suite on the third floor next to the pool so that she could tan while not working.
I recently stayed at this hotel and visited her suite.
As I did so, I imagined her sitting here writing some of her poetry.
O, Time
Be Kind
Help this weary being
To forget what is sad to remember
Loose my loneliness,
Ease my mind,
While you eat my flesh.
(Marilyn Monroe)
For more of Marilyn Monroe’s poetry click here.
Profound words in the poem, Carol – quite suited to the memory of Marilyn, which I love to possess and revisit even if it does cause sadness and pain for her.
Ina- I put in a link to her other poetry. Yes, she was a sad person but I think a lot had to do with the psychological damage of her early childhood.Thanks for reading. Have a Happy Weekend.
How wonderful for you:)))
Beautiful poem, Carol! Marilyn will always remain enigmatic and legendary. My fave movie of hers are “The Prince and the Showgirl” and “The Misfits” Clark Gable. I thought she did an amazing job in “The Misfits”. I have always thought that her beauty (or rather sensuality) over-shadowed her amazing talent.
Thanks for reading, Shirley and commenting. I put in a link to her other poems. I think you’re quite right about her sensuality over-shadowing her talent and I think she struggled with this much of her life. Of all the actresses of her generation and beyond she still remains at the top and it is enigmatic as to why we are so still, after all these years, still attracted to her.
Thanks for the link! 🙂
Really enjoyed this. I doubt anyone has ever written about Bus Stop and Marilyn together in this way. I have never seen the film but I heard she was wonderful.
Thanks for reading, Diahann. When she did Bus Stop she really wanted to prove to the world that she was more than a sex symbol. I think she fits in well with the themes you write about – how she had to struggle with directors who wanted to typecast her into the brainless, untalented beauty. In this role she applied the techniques she’d learned while studying at The Actors’ Studio, giving one of her best performances.She was finally in touch with her own voice.
Very cool post. I love the poem!
Thanks, Frank…I’ve posted a link to her other poems if you care to read more of what she wrote. 🙂
good, great memories.
They normally rent her suite, do they? How wonderful that it was vacant and you could visit it!
I was just lucky. Someone had been staying in the suite but they were checking out that morning. I also got to visit Mae West and Clark Gable’s suites. It was fun.
‘Just lucky’ – three times! This wast your best vacation ever, apparently.
Will you be posting about the other suites as well?
I wasn’t thinking of doing so because I categorized it under writers’ desks and since Marilyn wrote poetry well, I figured she qualified. But maybe i’ll put them on some other category. Thanks for your comment.
What an interesting background, Carol, on such an iconic person. And lucky you to have seen the sight, so to speak.
Yes, I was lucky. I happened to be going to the pool when I noticed the Marilyn Monroe Suite on the door next to the pool. I asked at the desk if I could visit it and they said yes. Simple as that. 🙂
Indeed, she did have an interesting background and her love of literature always stayed with her. She was always reading, kept a diary and wrote poems. She had great admiration for intellectuals and I think she might have felt inferior next to them. She was a complex woman and perhaps that is one of the reasons she still remains so popular.
That does sound like fun. I’d like to see that too. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, there’s an inn called The Game Lodge. Famous people have stayed there too, mostly US presidents. When I was there with my brother and parents, my brother and I stayed in Calvin Coolidge’s suite. My parents stayed in Franklin Roosevelt’s suite just 2 doors down from ours.
How cool! Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a Happy Weekend, Glynis. 🙂
I’ve never been too enamored with Marilyn Monroe, but it was interesting to learn these tidbits, especially about the serious-actress part. I wasn’t aware of that.
I loved this article Carol. I have always been fascinated with the life of Marilyn. She is an icon and an enigma for so many. Although she was beautiful, she was tagged a ‘dumb blonde’ by many who didn’t understand her life. I think she was very clever and played her roles in real life and the screen with much calculation. She was also noted as well-read and loved to write poetry. When I think of her, I don’t think about her fame and stardom, rather a sad woman who was conflicted with herself and perhaps how she was viewed and misunderstood. She is truly an icon! Thanks for posting. 🙂
My feelings are the same as yours about her. She was really a victim of Hollywood stereotyping, which must have confused her…the glamour and fame must have been attractive but in the end sucked her soul.
I think that is an appropriate term, “sucked her soul.” So sad.
I had no idea. I went and read her others, they are startlingly honest and she has a clear personal voice. I would have read more.
The image people hold of Marilyn is sex pot, bombshell, dumb blonde. She was a ferocious reader. Read Ulysses to the end. Also being married to Arthur Miller, who wrote The Misfits for her. So, she was surrounded by literary people.
I don’t know much about her background other than she married very young and was not happy. I think I will investigate a little on her life. I remember when she died. It was quite a mind-boggling event even to a young girl. I hadn’t any idea that she wrote poetry. I’d love to read her diary or journal.
Not many think of Marilyn as intellectual…she was a sad victim always searching to be loved or even to love. She had many relationships but none of them really fulfilled her. As an abandoned and abused child, the scars must have been too deep.
THE BEST COMMENT POSSIBLE RENDERED TO MARYLIN IS NOT MINE BUT ELTON’S !!
HERE IT IS !
“Candle In The Wind”
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hollywood created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude
Goodbye Norma Jean
From the young man in the 22nd row
Who sees you as something as more than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe
HOPE YOU AGREE, AND DO LET ME KNOW….
Oh, I completely forgot that. This is a great tribute to a lonely person. What touching lyrics.
Thank you, Laurent for posting this and thanks for following. I truly appreciate it. 🙂
If you’re interested in Marilyn, you might enjoy “My Week With Marilyn” . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Week_with_Marilyn
“Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Marilyn Monroe (Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Branagh). The film focuses on the week in which Monroe spent time being escorted around London by Clark (Redmayne), after her husband, Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), had left the country.”
I saw the film and thought it was great. Michelle Williams did a super job portraying Marilyn. Thanks for reading.
Beautiful poem. I really wish a film would come along and dig into the life of Marilyn (personality wise) a little bit more. She was really smart and an activist too, something that hasn’t really been highlighted and much more than a breathy pretty lady.
I actually found out some of this from another blogger on here and was stunned. Great person, and I wish she would have died better. Hopefully she’s at peace now? Anyway, the suite looks quite cozy…
Yes, apparently her activism is what kept her from winning the Oscar as best actress.
There’s something about her that still intrigues. She not only had beauty and charisma but was misunderstood and often not taken seriously.
She was a person who carried too much pain.
Thanks for reading and commenting. I much appreciate it. 🙂
I watched a documentary of her life onYou Tube. Her mother abandoned her and she lived with her aunt until the aunt married. And then she was placed in an orphanage at the age of eleven. You had mentioned abuse. Could you tell us a bit about that, or where to look for that info? Thanks Carol. People who are used and abused dwell in a pocket of my heart. Hugs, and have a wonderful weekend.
Drew, You might want to read this post on regarding Marilyn’s sexual abuse:
http://ordinaryevil.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/too-long-a-silence-marilyn-monroe%E2%80%99s-history-of-sexual-abuse/
Thanks for reading and have a great week. xx
That is so sad, Carol. I think the worst thing was her mother not loving her at all. The rest falls into place when the one that brought you into the world has disgust for you. How insane is that?
The early years really have an important impact on the rest of our lives. I think she was always searching to be loved but could never fill that emptiness left from parental abandonment.
Such a sad story. I worked with kids who abandoned their children through neglect, and abandonment by going and not returning for days. It’s heartbreaking.
She definitely had some depth to her thoughts and I am so in awe of your visit and way you presented Marilyn in this post. I feel for those who are taken advantage of, who choose to escape problems in various addictions and wish for their inner peace. I wish we could have ‘known’ her better! I enjoyed Elton John’s portrayal of her in the song, “A Candle in the Wind.” Lovely post, Carol!
Thanks…Yes, Elton John really portrayed her nicely. Hugs. 🙂
I love Marilyn. I didn’t know she wrote poetry. Thanks for sharing, Carol!
I’m glad you liked the post, Elke, and discovered something new about Marilyn.She loved literature and was an intellectual at heart. Thanks for reading.
I love this post Carol.. showing me a side of MM that I was never aware of – thank you for sharing!
Thanks for reading, Easter. I’m glad that you enjoyed the post. Have a Happy day. 🙂
🙂 Thank you Carol, you too!
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Lovely post for Marilyn Monroe. Loved her and wish she could have been happier.
Well said. 🙂