Crypt 33 by Adela Gregory Page A

Elliott Corday, had thought her symptoms serious enough for hospitalization at Cedars of Lebanon, where high doses of penicillin brought her temperature under control. While still recovering in the hospital, the costumers had brought in her dazzling wardrobe, which she relished. Back at the studio, director Howard Hawks had shot around her. Marilyn’s health had gradually improved, though she was advised to take it easy during the filming.
    Harry Brand, head of publicity at Twentieth, called to make an offer Marilyn could not refuse, though at first she tried. He had a friend in New York, a nice guy named Joe DiMaggio, who wanted to meet her. Marilyn had replied, “Joe who?” After it was explained to her that, next to Babe Ruth, Joe was only the greatest player to ever play the game of baseball, Marilyn vaguely recalled his name. Harry continued to rave about what a regular guy Joe was and how much he wanted to meet her and, after his strong pitch, lonely Marilyn acquiesced.
    Since both Joe and Marilyn preferred the privacy of an early dinner date, Harry and his escort arrived at the restaurant first. A few minutes later the shy DiMaggio appeared. Ever since seeing a publicity photo of Marilyn with another ballplayer, he had wanted to meet her. She had been posed in the batting position clad in white shorts and a tight blouse. Joe grew increasingly nervous as they waited. Brand assured him that Marilyn was always late but that she would definitely show up. An hour later, true to form, she did, dressed in a stunning blue evening suit with a seductively low-cut silk blouse. The color of her suit accentuated her blue-gray eyes.
    The actress had expected a tasteless jock in a loud checkered suit smoking a cigar and talking shop. Instead, meeting Joe DiMaggio was a pleasure. He was well groomed, elegant, and impeccably dressed in a gray flannel suit and a tie. Each was impressed with the other but spoke very little. Joe finally broke the ice as he demonstrated his proficiency at ordering at fine restaurants, especially southern Italian cuisine. Suddenly, actor Mickey Rooney came over to deliver a long-winded monologue complimenting Joe’s baseball and batting averages. Joe graciously handled the inconvenience. When it was time to leave, Monroe offered to drive DiMaggio home. Though she later confessed the two had made passionate love all night long, the Fox publicity department planted press releases that Joe had “struck out.” Whatever happened that evening, it became evident that the two were falling in love as they began to date regularly.
    In part because his family contrasted so sharply with hers, Marilyn was mesmerized by Joe’s background. The eighth of nine children, he loved telling stories. about his huge, close-knit clan. His mother had died in 1949. Joe’s father was a fisherman. The family lived a simple life-style that Marilyn began to romanticize might be her own some day. Part of her longed for a big family of her own, and in Joe’s she found the perfect role model. Their down-to-earth approach to life was refreshing and appealing.
    Marilyn enticed the ordinarily quiet man to talk about himself in detail. DiMaggio spoke of his glory days with the New York Yankees—his record-setting fifty-six-game hitting streak, the ten out of thirteen seasons his team had captured the American League pennant, and their four consecutive World Series championships. He had recently retired from the game and was involved with his family in the restaurant business in San Francisco.
    Though the reserved superstar loved talking baseball to Marilyn, he wanted her to experience the game firsthand. So he invited her to an All-Star warm-up game in which he hit a home run. From the box seats Marilyn was ecstatic, thrilled to take a seat in the shadows while the sports legend basked yet one more day in glory.
    As the two merged into an item, tabloids worked overtime to churn out the “truth”