Another item in “The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe” is a reproduced letter from Walter Winchell written
to Slatzer confirming that Slatzer and Marilyn were close. Will Fowler also covers this in this book. He states that
during his first association with Slatzer it came to his attention that a personal letter from Walter Winchell had gone
missing from his press books, this and the production of Slatzer’s paid witness to his marriage made up Fowler’s mind
to pull out of any involvement with him. It is his conclusion that Slatzer used this original letter to somehow fabricate
the one that appears in his book.
Fowler goes on to say that he did see the book when Slatzer got it published, he found it to be filled with fantasies and
he was thankful that he had not got involved. He concludes by saying that Slatzer has made a living by presenting these
fantasies to gullible talk show hosts as well as the public. He asserts that Slatzer and Marilyn were never married, they
only met that one time during the filming of Niagara and that Slatzer never met either Walter Winchell or Joe
Dimaggio.
Many people are confused about Marilyn’s make up man Whitey Snyder’s forward to Slatzer’s book. It is something
that has puzzled me for a long while. I found the best explanation as to why Whitey may have done this in ‘The DD
Group – On Online Investigation into the Death of Marilyn Monroe’ by David Marshall and it comes from a TV
Producer called Claudio Masenza, so I will quote that here:
“I made a TV documentary about Marilyn’s last months in 1980 and I interviewed many of the people who had been
connected with her death, among them Slatzer. I never found him convincing and definitely didn’t like the fact that he
showed me pictures of Marilyn that he claimed he had taken during the tests for ‘Something’s Got to Give’ and that
were in fact taken by a Fox set photographer. The only thing that almost convinced me of his friendship with MM was
the Snyder introduction to his book. A few days later I met Allan Snyder and, after the interview, I asked him how well
he knew Slatzer when Marilyn was alive. His reply came as a surprise: he didn’t know him at all and never even heard of
him until the day Slatzer asked him to write the introduction. Then he also said that he always trusts people and Slatzer
had told him that he had been close to Marilyn for many years and since he didn’t know all of her friends, he had
believed it, plus he had been paid for writing that little thing (or maybe just for signing it?)”
Mr Masenza also goes on to say that he met Norman Rosten a few days after his meeting with Whitey and Norman told
him that he was sure Slatzer was never a part of Marilyn’s life and that he found the whole story of the murder cover up
a cynical fantasy just to sell books. Ralph Roberts was also interviewed by Masenza and he too agreed completely with
Rosten. Masenza then went on to find out that Rosten had been approached by Slatzer with reference to his book, as
well as Lena Pepitone, who also did not remember Slatzer at all.
Slatzer also claimed to have interviewed Pat Newcomb, but she told Donald Spoto that she had neither met him, nor
heard of him.
Slatzer was a writer, he would have had contacts in the world of showbusiness, he must have know many other writers,
reporters and media people who did know Marilyn and did have contact with her, so knowing about many of her
activities, likes, dislikes, habits etc. could have come from other sources. If he and Marilyn really were as close as he
claimed they were, there would be solid proof, more photographs, letters, call records, reminiscences from her friends.
There is just no evidence at all to back up his claims of marriage and friendship.
Whatever you think or feel about Slatzer he made a very good living off his Marilyn stories for many years and has
certainly made sure that his name will be remembered next to hers for years to come.
Jeanne Carmen was a B movie actress of the 1950s and later a professional trick shot golfer. In her latter years she
made a living from her associations with Elvis, Sinatra, the Kennedys, the Mob and most notably Marilyn, beginning to
tell her story around the early 80s. She claims to have been Marilyn’s best friend and a constant in the last years of her
life. Privy to Marilyn’s personal secrets, her affairs with the Kennedy brothers, and of course, one of the last people to
speak to with her on the night she died.
She has made two claims as to how she met Marilyn, the first is that they were neighbours at Marilyn’s Doheny Drive
apartment complex, before Marilyn moved to 5th Helena Drive, the second is that they met in a bar around the corner
from the Actor’s Studio whilst both waiting to perform a scene. There is no evidence that Jeanne was a member of the
Actor’s Studio and it seems highly unlikely that she ever would have been. If any association was forged at Doheny it is
more likely to be a passing in the hall or occasional hello. Author Donald Spoto discovered that Monroe’s neighbours at
Doheny Drive had no knowledge of Carmen and it has never been confirmed for sure if she did in fact reside there.
Jeanne Carmen has kept the Kennedy conspiracy theorists in business for years, she is another proponent of the red
diary and Kenndy murder stories and she was always ready with her salacious reminiscences of Marilyn and Bobby
Kennedy. How she, Bobby and Marilyn would visit nude beaches together disguising themselves by wearing wigs, or
the time when the three visited a sauna where Errol Flynn showed them a peephole he used to spy on guests. She
seemed to have an endless stream of fables, always involving someone famous who was no longer around to defend
themselves.
She is always present in Marilyn documentaries made after a certain time, in crocodile tears because she did not go
over to Marilyn’s house on the night she died to take her the ‘bag of pills’ that she asked for and if only she had been
there, she might have saved her. This, according to Carmen is how she knows Marilyn was murdered, because she did
not have any pills of her own.
Not one piece of evidence exists to back up any of Carmen’s stories, as least Slatzer had proof that he did meet Marilyn
once, there is nothing to prove that Jeanne ever did. There are no photographs and no letters, which is extremely
strange considering her claims of their close and long friendship. Again she does not appear in any of Marilyn’s
telephone books and none of Marilyn’s associates, circle of friends or employees had heard of her. Carmen herself has
never been able to provide any evidence, she did say that Marilyn had sent her a birthday card shortly before her death
in 1962, but it was never produced. If they were as close as Carmen maintains and this was the last thing Marilyn ever
sent to her, would you not expect it to have been treasured? Or at least easy enough to find and produce at any rate.
The author Donald Wolfe supposedly found someone who could testify to the fact that Carmen had known Marilyn, a
man named Brad Dexter, an actor and friend of Frank Sinatra, but he could go no further than to say that Carmen and
Monroe did know each other. There is no indication in Wolfe’s book that he thought them any more than
acquaintances.
By the late 1990s it seems that Carmen was running out of revelations, she told author David C Heymann that she
herself had also had a relationship with JFK, although this it seems had slipped her mind previously. She went on to
publish a book about her life which was full of even more sensationalist (and unauthenticated) stories.
The one thing that really makes me dislike Carmen, apart from the fact that I don’t believe a word she ever said, is how
she would loiter at Marilyn’s crypt after the memorial services waiting for any fans who didn’t yet know any better. The
sight of her grinning, posing for photographs and signing autographs in front of the crypt of her ‘best friend’ was just
too much to bear. I would find it extremely difficult for a woman who had the friendship with Marilyn that she claimed
to have to do this. She was not interested in Marilyn, whose memory she damaged beyond repair, she was only
interested in self promotion.
I really do find her story hard to believe, why would Marilyn befriend her? They were not even the same sort of
people. I can’t imagine that they would get along or have anything to talk about. They had nothing in common. She was
just not the sort of person whom Marilyn would have chosen for a close girlfriend.
Many of the conspiracy theories and stories of Bobby Kennedy’s relationship with Marilyn centre on the testimony and
accounts of only a handful people, Slatzer and Carmen being the main contributors. Sadly, most of these will now be
forever associated with Marilyn and are even crazily accepted by some to be fact.
As the years have passed, Slatzer and Carmen have added to their tall tales, come up with new claims and fantasies, all
an insult to Marilyn’s memory. Slatzer would claim that Marilyn was murdered because she knew the truth about aliens
crash landing at Roswell and Carmen would tell of Bobby Kennedy finding Marilyn’s tell all red diary and threatening to
have her shut up for good.
The difficult thing when you are creating your version of the truth as you go along is that your story changes and you
can easily be caught out, as can be said of both Carmen and Slatzer, but when the person you are speaking about is no
longer there to put their side of the story forward, it makes it a lot easier. Marilyn was an easy target and someone that
everyone would want to be associated with. She gave them both a kudos they had never had before, and would not
have had without her.
Maybe the saddest thing of all is that Marilyn is no longer here to decry these claims, but now neither are Slatzer and
Carmen, I wonder if they have at last had to explain to her why they made her their meal ticket all these years?
to Slatzer confirming that Slatzer and Marilyn were close. Will Fowler also covers this in this book. He states that
during his first association with Slatzer it came to his attention that a personal letter from Walter Winchell had gone
missing from his press books, this and the production of Slatzer’s paid witness to his marriage made up Fowler’s mind
to pull out of any involvement with him. It is his conclusion that Slatzer used this original letter to somehow fabricate
the one that appears in his book.
Fowler goes on to say that he did see the book when Slatzer got it published, he found it to be filled with fantasies and
he was thankful that he had not got involved. He concludes by saying that Slatzer has made a living by presenting these
fantasies to gullible talk show hosts as well as the public. He asserts that Slatzer and Marilyn were never married, they
only met that one time during the filming of Niagara and that Slatzer never met either Walter Winchell or Joe
Dimaggio.
Many people are confused about Marilyn’s make up man Whitey Snyder’s forward to Slatzer’s book. It is something
that has puzzled me for a long while. I found the best explanation as to why Whitey may have done this in ‘The DD
Group – On Online Investigation into the Death of Marilyn Monroe’ by David Marshall and it comes from a TV
Producer called Claudio Masenza, so I will quote that here:
“I made a TV documentary about Marilyn’s last months in 1980 and I interviewed many of the people who had been
connected with her death, among them Slatzer. I never found him convincing and definitely didn’t like the fact that he
showed me pictures of Marilyn that he claimed he had taken during the tests for ‘Something’s Got to Give’ and that
were in fact taken by a Fox set photographer. The only thing that almost convinced me of his friendship with MM was
the Snyder introduction to his book. A few days later I met Allan Snyder and, after the interview, I asked him how well
he knew Slatzer when Marilyn was alive. His reply came as a surprise: he didn’t know him at all and never even heard of
him until the day Slatzer asked him to write the introduction. Then he also said that he always trusts people and Slatzer
had told him that he had been close to Marilyn for many years and since he didn’t know all of her friends, he had
believed it, plus he had been paid for writing that little thing (or maybe just for signing it?)”
Mr Masenza also goes on to say that he met Norman Rosten a few days after his meeting with Whitey and Norman told
him that he was sure Slatzer was never a part of Marilyn’s life and that he found the whole story of the murder cover up
a cynical fantasy just to sell books. Ralph Roberts was also interviewed by Masenza and he too agreed completely with
Rosten. Masenza then went on to find out that Rosten had been approached by Slatzer with reference to his book, as
well as Lena Pepitone, who also did not remember Slatzer at all.
Slatzer also claimed to have interviewed Pat Newcomb, but she told Donald Spoto that she had neither met him, nor
heard of him.
Slatzer was a writer, he would have had contacts in the world of showbusiness, he must have know many other writers,
reporters and media people who did know Marilyn and did have contact with her, so knowing about many of her
activities, likes, dislikes, habits etc. could have come from other sources. If he and Marilyn really were as close as he
claimed they were, there would be solid proof, more photographs, letters, call records, reminiscences from her friends.
There is just no evidence at all to back up his claims of marriage and friendship.
Whatever you think or feel about Slatzer he made a very good living off his Marilyn stories for many years and has
certainly made sure that his name will be remembered next to hers for years to come.
Jeanne Carmen was a B movie actress of the 1950s and later a professional trick shot golfer. In her latter years she
made a living from her associations with Elvis, Sinatra, the Kennedys, the Mob and most notably Marilyn, beginning to
tell her story around the early 80s. She claims to have been Marilyn’s best friend and a constant in the last years of her
life. Privy to Marilyn’s personal secrets, her affairs with the Kennedy brothers, and of course, one of the last people to
speak to with her on the night she died.
She has made two claims as to how she met Marilyn, the first is that they were neighbours at Marilyn’s Doheny Drive
apartment complex, before Marilyn moved to 5th Helena Drive, the second is that they met in a bar around the corner
from the Actor’s Studio whilst both waiting to perform a scene. There is no evidence that Jeanne was a member of the
Actor’s Studio and it seems highly unlikely that she ever would have been. If any association was forged at Doheny it is
more likely to be a passing in the hall or occasional hello. Author Donald Spoto discovered that Monroe’s neighbours at
Doheny Drive had no knowledge of Carmen and it has never been confirmed for sure if she did in fact reside there.
Jeanne Carmen has kept the Kennedy conspiracy theorists in business for years, she is another proponent of the red
diary and Kenndy murder stories and she was always ready with her salacious reminiscences of Marilyn and Bobby
Kennedy. How she, Bobby and Marilyn would visit nude beaches together disguising themselves by wearing wigs, or
the time when the three visited a sauna where Errol Flynn showed them a peephole he used to spy on guests. She
seemed to have an endless stream of fables, always involving someone famous who was no longer around to defend
themselves.
She is always present in Marilyn documentaries made after a certain time, in crocodile tears because she did not go
over to Marilyn’s house on the night she died to take her the ‘bag of pills’ that she asked for and if only she had been
there, she might have saved her. This, according to Carmen is how she knows Marilyn was murdered, because she did
not have any pills of her own.
Not one piece of evidence exists to back up any of Carmen’s stories, as least Slatzer had proof that he did meet Marilyn
once, there is nothing to prove that Jeanne ever did. There are no photographs and no letters, which is extremely
strange considering her claims of their close and long friendship. Again she does not appear in any of Marilyn’s
telephone books and none of Marilyn’s associates, circle of friends or employees had heard of her. Carmen herself has
never been able to provide any evidence, she did say that Marilyn had sent her a birthday card shortly before her death
in 1962, but it was never produced. If they were as close as Carmen maintains and this was the last thing Marilyn ever
sent to her, would you not expect it to have been treasured? Or at least easy enough to find and produce at any rate.
The author Donald Wolfe supposedly found someone who could testify to the fact that Carmen had known Marilyn, a
man named Brad Dexter, an actor and friend of Frank Sinatra, but he could go no further than to say that Carmen and
Monroe did know each other. There is no indication in Wolfe’s book that he thought them any more than
acquaintances.
By the late 1990s it seems that Carmen was running out of revelations, she told author David C Heymann that she
herself had also had a relationship with JFK, although this it seems had slipped her mind previously. She went on to
publish a book about her life which was full of even more sensationalist (and unauthenticated) stories.
The one thing that really makes me dislike Carmen, apart from the fact that I don’t believe a word she ever said, is how
she would loiter at Marilyn’s crypt after the memorial services waiting for any fans who didn’t yet know any better. The
sight of her grinning, posing for photographs and signing autographs in front of the crypt of her ‘best friend’ was just
too much to bear. I would find it extremely difficult for a woman who had the friendship with Marilyn that she claimed
to have to do this. She was not interested in Marilyn, whose memory she damaged beyond repair, she was only
interested in self promotion.
I really do find her story hard to believe, why would Marilyn befriend her? They were not even the same sort of
people. I can’t imagine that they would get along or have anything to talk about. They had nothing in common. She was
just not the sort of person whom Marilyn would have chosen for a close girlfriend.
Many of the conspiracy theories and stories of Bobby Kennedy’s relationship with Marilyn centre on the testimony and
accounts of only a handful people, Slatzer and Carmen being the main contributors. Sadly, most of these will now be
forever associated with Marilyn and are even crazily accepted by some to be fact.
As the years have passed, Slatzer and Carmen have added to their tall tales, come up with new claims and fantasies, all
an insult to Marilyn’s memory. Slatzer would claim that Marilyn was murdered because she knew the truth about aliens
crash landing at Roswell and Carmen would tell of Bobby Kennedy finding Marilyn’s tell all red diary and threatening to
have her shut up for good.
The difficult thing when you are creating your version of the truth as you go along is that your story changes and you
can easily be caught out, as can be said of both Carmen and Slatzer, but when the person you are speaking about is no
longer there to put their side of the story forward, it makes it a lot easier. Marilyn was an easy target and someone that
everyone would want to be associated with. She gave them both a kudos they had never had before, and would not
have had without her.
Maybe the saddest thing of all is that Marilyn is no longer here to decry these claims, but now neither are Slatzer and
Carmen, I wonder if they have at last had to explain to her why they made her their meal ticket all these years?
| Page 2 |
| By Rebecca Swift |
