cover image Marilyn's Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn's Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe

Jane Ellen Wayne. St. Martin's Press, $18.95 (241pp) ISBN 978-0-312-07633-7

With its tacky style--Howard Hughes is said to be ``obsessed with big breasts,'' Arthur Miller is Monroe's ``knight in shining armor,'' Jacqueline Kennedy was ``livid'' upon learning about JFK's affair with Monroe--this is by far the most titillating Marilyn Monroe biography to date. In its exhaustive catalogue of Monroe lore--much of it unsubstantiated gossip--we're told that Monroe is rumored to have been a call girl in her early days, possibly had 14 abortions and several lesbian affairs, and may have had sex with every male on the planet except Harry S. Truman. Wayne ( Ava's Men ) contends that ``baseball hero Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller were the dullest chapters in Marilyn's life story.'' Most of the material here derives from the author's interviews with Robert Slatzer, who was briefly married to Monroe in 1952. Photos. (Aug.)