A Letter

Sheila O'Malley put this link up today:

http://sunsetgun.typepad.com/sunsetgun/2015/06/happy-birthday-marilyn-monroe-a-letter.html

They asked me why I wasn’t happy there (everything was under lock and key; things like electric lights, dresser draws, bathrooms, closets, bars concealed on the windows – the doors have windows so patients can be visible all the time, also, the violence and marking still remain on the walls from former patients). I answered: “Well, I’d have to be nuts if I like it here” then there screaming women in their cells -- I mean they screamed out when life was unbearable I guess – at times like this I felt an unavailable psychiatrist should have talked to them. Perhaps to alleviate even temporarily their misery and pain. I think they (the doctors) might learn something even -- but all are only interested in something from the books they studied -- I was surprised because they already knew that! Maybe from some live suffering human being maybe they could discover more -- I had the feeling they looked more for discipline and they they let their patients go after the patients have “given up.” (from Monroe's letter, but read the whole thing! Monroe was hospitalized after completing The Misfits in 1961.)

The Misfits, by the way, is a remarkable film.

Famous Quotes from THE MISFITS

"'Did your husband act toward you with cruelty?'"
"'Yes.'"
"'In what way did this cruelty manifest itself?'"
"'He persistently' -- how does that go again?"
"'He persistently and cruelly ignored my personal wishes and my rights and resorted on several occasions to physical violence against me."
"'He persistently' -- oh, do I have to say that? Why can't I just say, 'He wasn't there?' -- I mean, you could touch him, but he wasn't there." -- Thelma Ritter, as Isabelle Steers, rehearsing Marilyn Monroe, as Roslyn Taber, for the latter's divorce trial.

\"One thing about this town, it's always full of interesting strangers." -- Ritter, as Isabelle Steers.

"Well, what do you do with yourself?"
"Just live."
"How does anyone 'just live?'"
"Well, you start by going to sleep. You get up when you feel like it. You scratch yourself. You fry yourself some eggs. You see what kind of a day it is; throw stones at a can, whistle." -- Monroe, as Rosalyn Taber, getting to know Clark Gable, as Gay Langland.

"You're a real beautiful woman. It's almost kind of an honor sittin' next to ya'. That's my true feelin's, Roslyn." -- Gable, as Gay Langland, to Monroe, as Roslyn.

(from http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/19301/The-Misfits/articles.html Several excellent articles on the film, finished just prior to Monroe's hospital commitment described in her letter.)

[photo Time.com; Marilyn Monroe, 1949]