BEING MARILYN MONROE (15) 'Wolves I have known' extract, preface by Alan Ewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEING MARILYN MONROE 'Wolves I have known' extract by Marilyn Monroe

with preface by Alan Ewing MSc, BA Hons, Cert HE 

 

 

 

The following is an extract from an article in January 1953 issue of Motion Picture and Television Magazine. The title is: Wolves I Have Known. The wolves are lecherous men, full of misogamy, who seek to prey upon the dreams and aspirations of young women.  In this article, Miss Monroe lays out clearly how the film industry operates. It is essentially, 'Me Too', way ahead of its time. Marilyn was a feminist who never lost her femininity. She is a symbol and example of how women can be themselves in a man's world while preserving their own sexuality at the same time. Marilyn was a pioneer in that. A link to the full article is here  US internet archives

 

Wolves I have known 1/1/53


By MARILYN MONROE as told to  - - - Florabell Muir


 - they say l’m whistle bait. 


Could be, but I’m forever meeting guys who dont stop at a whistle. 
l’ve learned to handle them all 


First I want to say that this would be a very uninteresting 
world if there weren't any wolves, but a girl has to learn 
how to handle them or she'll run into a bushel of 
trouble. There are many types of wolves. Some are sinister,others are just good-time Charlies trying to get some thing 
for something for nothing and others make a game of it. This last 
type is the most interesting.

The first real wolf I encountered should have been 
ashamed of himself because he was trying to take advantage 
of a mere kid. That’s all I was and I wasn’t suspicious of 
him at all when he stopped his car at a corner and started 
to talk to me. 

He looked at me all over and then came up with that 
famous line: “You ought to be in pictures.” That was the 
first time I'd ever heard it, so it didn’t sound corny to me. 

He told me he had an office at the Goldwyn studio and 
said why didn’t I come and see him and he would get me a 
screen test. It sounded pretty good to me because I was 
crazy to get into the movies. 

I was modelling at that time and I asked the people who 
ran the agency where I got my jobs what they thought of his 
offer. The manager called the studio but never was able to 
get in touch with my would-be benefactor. However, the 
wolf called the agency and I made an appointment to go to 
his office on Saturday afternoon. 

I didn’t know then that the producers and other movie 
officials don’t make Saturday afternoon appointments. I 
found that out later. I also found out that he didn’t really 
have any connection with the Goldwyn studio but had borrowed 
a friend’s office. 

He was fat and jovial and, of course, drove a Cadillac. 
He gave me a script to read and told me how to pose while 
reading it. All the poses had to be reclining, although the 
words I was reading didn't seem to call for that position. 

Even as naive as I was then, I soon figured out that this 
wasn’t the way to get a job in the movies. He was getting 
sillier by the minute and I manoeuvred over toward the 
door and made a hasty exit.