 | |
List Price: $26.95 | | Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Salesrank: 926403
|
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
|
| Media: Hardcover |
|
Editorial Review:
What made Norma Jean special was the quality she discovered when, bored with being a teenage bride with a husband in the Merchant Marine during World War II, she took her first and most enduring lover, the camera. At the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe died a Hollywood movie star and an American legend. Her rise to fame, however, had very little to do with her limited talents. Monroe infiltrated Hollywood, swarming with fake names and idealized careers, and pressed herself into its mold. Monroe's personal confessions, along with interviews with friends and contemporaries, reveal the truth behind this Hollywood icon.
Marilyn Revealed: The Ambitious Life of an American Icon Reviews:
Do We Really Have To Know Quite This Much? 
2009-09-02 - Having read about Ms. Monroe from Norman Mailer through to Anthony Summers, it was clear that the eternal icon for the fifties world of movie star glamour was a very troubled person.
Any book that has been published about Marilyn Monroe is certain to focus upon: her time spent in an LA orphanage; the troubled state of her marriages to Jim Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller; her affair with Yves Montand; her problems when it came to filming her movies; her being blamed for the death of Clark Gable due to her extended illnesses while making THE MISFITS.
Mr. Schwarz details these as well. But whereas Anthony Summers (in GODDESS) was quite reverent about the woman (despite an unflattering post-mortem picture) and Norman Mailer was in love with the woman whose life he was chronicling so that he whitewashed (or fabricated depending upon who you listen to) much of his book MARILYN, in MARILYN REVEALED, the author shoots down every fantasy about Marilyn Monroe until she becomes nothing but a publicity-obsessed woman who will do anything to advance her career. In the same breath however, the author makes a valid case that Marilyn Monroe really did not want to be a star - in fact he details how she almost deliberately sabotaged it. Yet he never bothers to explain, or even question, the odd paradox.
Although well written, and quite knowledgeable about the public life of Marilyn Monroe, the author discredits almost every biography that has been written about her. In his version, Marilyn Monroe was a product of the short-minded star-making machine operators who pushed pills upon their stars not knowing the potential harm that would eventually ensue. We read about it with Judy Garland and MGM ad nauseum but Judy always managed to reclaim a sympathetic portion. Here, the author does not spare his subject anything. In fact, three quarters of the way through MARILYN REVEALED, Mr. Schwarz stops blaming the studio heads and states flat out that she was an alcoholic and addicted to drugs.
What he is saying might be so and perhaps it is a reluctance to stop believing in fairy tales, but there are still many who wish to remember Marilyn Monroe as the troubled soul who for a brief moment shone brightly. After reading this, one will never look at her in the same way again.
A Nice Idea, but... 
2009-07-19 - Mr. Schwarz had an interesting approach to Marilyn Monroe. He emphasized her ambition and drive. So often she is portrayed as a clueless young woman with unbelievable luck, or an innocent victim of the Hollywood system, or both. Building the case that she set out to be a movie star (and a good actress)is a nice corrective.
Over and beyond that, Schwarz was at his best when he discussed the technical side of making a motion picture. For the non-expert in this area, he is enlightening about subjects ranging from the general problems, such as filming in color as opposed to black and white, to specific problems with filming Marilyn Monroe to the best advantage and what she did about them. Had the book played to its strengths, it would have had 250 pages rather than 650, and it would have been a very nice addition to the Monroe bibliography. Unfortunately, it didn't do so.
To begin with the most obvious and annoying excess, back in the days when publishing houses had copy editors, repetitions were rare. Here they are endless. If I had a dollar for every time Schwarz used the phrase "dirty little secret", I could buy myself an expensive meal at a fine restaurant. Throughout the book Schwarz repeats the same statements (often word for word) every time certain topics are discussed: contracts with movie studios, Joe DiMaggio's personality, Marilyn Monroe's drug problems are but three of many. How many? Let's just say using that same dollar standard, I could treat a dozen of my best friends to a feast at that fine restaurant as well.
Unfortunately the negatives don't end there. More serious than the repetitions are the unsupported assertions. In the early part of the book, Schwarz makes statements about the physical and mental health of various members of Marilyn Monroe's family. Although he makes them with great authority, the source(s) of these statements remain a mystery. Later in the book, JFK's heroics on PT109 are seriously questioned in a couple of lines. The brief comment that "documents are in the naval archives" [p. 568] is the only evidence offered. That statement may or may not be true, but Schwarz needs to do more than make an assertion to make his charge creditable. If he has any hope of being believed, he also needs to list "the naval archives" as one of the places where he looked for primary sources along with the Beverly Hills Public Library and YouTube.
Detailed Account of Unknown Facts 
2009-03-11 - Saw this in Barnes and Noble and wondered do we really need another Marilyn book. It was so thick it peaked my curiosity and so I bought it for entertainment value. Lots of previously unrevealed facts. Goes into detail. Puts Marilyn into historical connotation. Playwright Miller comes off as a jerk. Rightly so. Can't believe Mariln's hairline was given electrolysis, that was Rita Hayworth who had a beetle brow. Marilyn never had a beetle brow! She had a widow's peak. Reveals a lot of facts that were incorrect about her death and the people who supposedly knew her but didn't and made careers out of her death. The only troubling thing is how closely the Kennedy's were involved in her tragic end and how she was threatening to expose the brothers. The book kind of makes you wonder if they really didn't have a motive after all. Or if for them her death was a fortuitous accident. Entertaining. Many new facts.
STARTLINGLY DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT OF MARILYN!
2009-02-17 - Ted Schwarz's book will disturb, perhaps deeply, many a fan of Marilyn; his assessment of Monroe is much more harsh than most biographers; however, I think he is on to something!
Ted portrays Marilyn as a highly motivated woman who wanted movie stardom or at least recognition more than anything else in the world & wasted not a single trick in doing whatever she could to reach her end.
Early in the books first section you can tell that Schwartz did his homework very well; going so far as to research different versions of the same event in Marilyn's life coming to the most probable conclusion. In this vein he managed to tidy up her father's identity, childhood & all that tortured the young Norma Jean...or lack of many of the events she spoke of as happening to her, even how she conived & used people along the way to get what she wanted/where she wanted to be! Of course Studio publicity departments also get a lot of the credit for the many versions of her lifes trials & tribulations as Schwartz readily admits!
While seemly handling Marilyn's story quite heavy handed or brusquely, there are instances when Ted gives her credit where that credit is due! But this book definitely has a more a factual tone of someone that has a complete indifference to Marilyn rather than someone who admired her or was "trying to understand the poor gal!"
My problem with this book is that it seems slightly too familiar with Marilyn and all that went on in her life. Ted makes some assumptions that could be correct, but how does he know; was he there? At times he lapses into dialogue that was supposedly spoken, but was it? And although there is a perfectly adequate selected biography at the end; I was still left with some questions about where Mr. Schwarz garnered the detailed facts about certain times and/or events that he touches upon; was it general knowledge from his mind?
All in all I think this book is an absolutely sincere endeavor and definitely yet another view about how Marilyn Monroe's mind might have worked and her life played out. But as I said...a lot of fans might hate this book and maybe me now!
"Tabloid" biography
2009-01-31 - The title has promise. The "ambitious life of.." I thought this biography might actually focus on Monroe's courage, and her persistence to achieve the dreams she had for herself, despite what her world told her she should be satisfied with. Marilyn was a strong and brave woman. Many do not know that she was the first woman (at the age of 30) to form her own production company. She turned away money and an easier road to greater fame, to pursue her dream of being a great actress. That is just one example of many, that good biographers give balanced focus to when they tell her story. Ted Schwarz completely missed capturing even a glimpse of his subject's human sprit. Instead, he chooses to take half-truths and tragic events in Marilyn's life, and add a tabloid-like spin. If that is what you want, then changes are you have already heard all you need to know: pills, affairs, mysterious death. If you are looking to learn about who she really was, the truth of her life & relationships, and why her legend has endured for over four decades, this book does not even come close. Even in death, she continues to rise above the level that the author tries to pull her down to. "You had the grace to hold yourself, while those around you crawled..."
