In 1960
Lawrence Schiller was just twenty three years old when he got the chance of a
lifetime. He had a new assignment for LOOK magazine and his subject wasn't just
another 'subject'. It was Marilyn Monroe.
My mother in-law is a big estate sale guru. Living in
southern Georgia there's plenty around and she's always finding me neat vintage
items. This time she surprised me with New York Times bestselling author
Lawrence Schiller's memoirs Marilyn &
Me.
To start, this book is a lot shorter than most of
the books I’ve read about Marilyn ending at only 114 pages. Schiller has a
short professional relationship with Mrs. Monroe that lasted the last two years
of her life. He met her on the set of Let’s
Make Love and the first thing she said to him was “Hi, Larry from Look. I’m Marilyn.”
Schiller’s assignment was to come to the set and
photograph Marilyn but what he got out of it was so much more. “For me, she was
an assignment that changed the course of my life. I had been a photographer when
I met Marilyn and I was a photographer when she died, but during the days that
I was around her, something changed inside me. She used to tease me about my entrepreneurial
spirit, but in fact she ignited it.”
 |
| Schiller also snapped this familiar picture of Marilyn's 36th birthday on set. |
He was however able to take some of the most
familiar photos of Marilyn including her pool shots from the unfinished Something’s Got to Give. Schiller was
also able to experience the Marilyn Monroe we’ve all heard about. The sexy,
forgetful star who was always showing up late to work but he never let that change the
way he felt about her or the assignment. Schiller uses a light tone throughout
the book and has nothing but positive things to say. Its delight compared to
all of the other Marilyn Monroe books out there that focus mostly on the gossip.
There is one part interesting enough to mention though on Pg 86.
Schiller arrives
unannounced at Marilyn’s house to go over some shots and is met at the door by
her housekeeper, Eunice Murray. “She suggested that I wait in the backyard, by
the pool. After about fifteen minutes I heard Murray talking to someone inside.
From the pool area I could see into the house through a window. She was talking
to two men, one of whom I thought I recognized: Bobby Kennedy, the attorney
general of the United States, brother of the president."
Schiller, L. (2012). Marilyn & me: A photographer's memories. New York: Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday.
