{"id":959,"date":"2026-06-01T09:37:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T09:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=959"},"modified":"2026-06-01T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T09:37:35","slug":"remembering-marilyn-monroe-on-her-100th-birthday-she-was-just-norma-jeane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=959","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Marilyn Monroe on her 100th birthday: ‘She was just Norma Jeane’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Honoring Marilyn\u2019s big 100<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today would have been Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 100th birthday. Before The New York Post, I wrote such books as the as-told-to-me autobio of Lee Strasberg, who created the Actors Studio. His pupil and friend: Marilyn. So I knew her. So did her friend James Haspiel<\/strong>, who has written several books about her.<\/p>\n

Read more Sydney Sweeney mocks critics, ditches top to celebrate \u2018Euphoria\u2019 finale in racy behind-the-scenes photos<\/a><\/p>\n

James Haspiel: \u201cHere to film \u2018The Seven Year Itch,\u2019 she was at the St. Regis. Hundreds waited to see her. Outside, in front of me, signing autographs, posing for pictures, she got herself toward a taxi cab. At 9, back at the hotel. So was this young fan \u2014 me \u2014 who, throughout her success, became her go-to, close, devoted friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got to know me. One day, she opened the taxi door and said, \u2018Jimmy, like to drive with me?\u2019 That began our eight years. I discovered Marilyn Monroe didn\u2019t exist. Like a costume on Halloween, it was turn it on, turn it off. Basically she was just Norma Jeane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Itch\u2019 to leave<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cindy: Did she ever talk to you, which, I mean, in my view it\u2019s not possible, but did she ever talk about wanting a different kind of life away from Hollywood?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was aware of how famous she was. She used that in fights with the studio. Determined to get what she wanted, she would not give in, and so she spent a year in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cindy: What was her house like? I know she lived on 57th Street.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was white. It was one of those living rooms where you stepped down three steps, and everything, the rug, the furniture, everything was white. Small. Living room, tiny kitchenette, bedroom, and a bathroom, of course. In those years, if a repairman came into your house, they could take your number off the telephone \u2019cause it was right on the surface of the phone. So she put a number on hers so that if they took it and called it, it was the city morgue. And an Abraham Lincoln painting was over her bed.<\/p>\n

Read more US launches self-defense strikes on Iran radar sites as Tehran claims it retaliated by attacking air base<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne night, flat shoes, a neighbor stopped, then somebody else stopped. Within minutes, there were four. Suddenly her upward smile became downward, eyes lidded, voice changed, and she transformed into Marilyn Monroe. She became that person for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political put-down<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cindy: What about the Bobby Kennedy story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe she had an affair with Robert Kennedy. She told Ralph Roberts, her masseur, that not only was Robert Kennedy not her type, she called him puny. She actually said, \u2018I would never be involved with him.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n

Ready to take flight<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n<\/div>\n

Lee Strasberg said: \u201cShe lacked stability. Success took a toll. \u2018I\u2019m nervous,\u2019 she\u2019d whisper constantly. Marilyn went for psychiatric treatments five days a week. The anxiety tormented her. A long struggle for too long. The maligning, denigrating left an instability to cope. Her films grossed $200 million yet she stayed scared. Petrified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haspiel: \u201cThere was a tiny park. She stood there as two boys with long poles, netting on the end, were catching flying pigeons. Then put them in a cage. They explained a butcher paid 25 cents for each and those pigeons became food. So, she said, \u2018Will you sell me the pigeons? I\u2019ll pay for them and free them.\u2019 She paid for them. Flooded with tears, she sat, sobbed and set them free.\u201d<\/p>\n

LISTEN, nobody is Marilyn, OK? But all who achieve a small amount of success get tired periodically a little bit, and we\u2019d like, once in a while, one day every six months, to not be bothered. She never had that.<\/p>\n

Read more One decision could help lower dementia risk and improve long-term brain health<\/a><\/p>\n

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marilyn Monroe would be 100 today, and her friend James Haspiel shares intimate memories of the star with The Post’s Cindy Adams. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cindy-adams","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering Marilyn Monroe on her 100th birthday: 'She was just Norma Jeane' - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering Marilyn Monroe on her 100th birthday: 'She was just Norma Jeane' - 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