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Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil (Icons of America)

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Over the years, I've read hundreds and hundreds of books, but I've only read three cover-to-cover in one sitting. The first was To Kill the Potempkin and Mexico Bente Uno, both written by Mark Joseph. The third was Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil, written by Jerome Charyn. Someone once asked me how I could tell a great photograph, and I said to them it's when I bite my bottom lip and under my breath I scream "I wish I made that photo!" That's how I feel about Jerome's latest book. I wish he wrote this book 30 years ago. It would have really helped me understand Joe DiMaggio the Yankee clipper as applicable to my relationship with him as a photographer and member of the press. I found myself screaming "Oh My God I understand now!" Hell, if Joe D. was alive today, he'd understand himself a whole lot better! (A quick antidote- I was photographing a Gerry Cooney fight in San Fransisco for Sports Illustrated and somewhere around 3 o'clock in the afternoon in an almost totally empty cow palace. DiMaggio walked in ringside, sat down in his seat alone. I was approximately 40 feet away setting up a remote camera. I looked over, smiled, no particular response. I went back to where my camera bag was, took out a 300 mm 2.8 lens, focused on a chair near DiMaggio, flipped it to a vertical, looked over the lens before I moved it, glanced at DiMaggio-we made eye contact- and I made 3 frames. Before my finger hit the shutter release to make the 4th, DiMaggio, without saying a word, mouthed "THAT'S ENOUGH". It might as well have been an earthquake.) Mr. Charyn, thank you so much for clearing this up for me. You have written one hell of a great book. I'm going to buy a dozen copies as gifts.

Joe D.

(Originally posted on [...] )

While browsing "Book Soup" on Sunset, I came across "Joe Di Maggio: The Long Vigil" by Jerome Charyn. It's really interesting. Mainly because it deals with the all-American sports hero not at his career prime nor at the peak of his glory, but his life after the spotlight.

Bios tend to emphasize the drama of their subject's struggle to fame and its eventual realization but in "Vigil" it was interesting to discover Charyn's emphasis on the years after, which were just as tumultuous for DiMaggio, internally at least.

Always private in life and ready to end the glare of the camera by retiring with grace, you nevertheless get a feel for how addictive fame can be (Jay-Z's own lyrics from "Lost One": Fame is / The worst drug known to man / It's stronger than, heroin) by the lack Joe felt once the public glare had left him. This was obviously not helped by marrying a woman who (arguably) became and still is the most famous woman in the world: Marilyn Monroe.

Having read pretty much every Marilyn Monroe bio there is, it was cool to read Charyn's take on the man's side of the story, as regards to their marriage. Losing overwhelming public adoration, while your hot wife is on the exact opposite swing, rising to icon status, seemed to be more psychologically damaging for poor Joe than dealing with the pressure of being a sports star. And yet, ironically, while getting into fits over how unhealthy all this mass attention on his wife was, he was equally obsessed and besotted with her.

The author goes so far as to describe the ex-Yankee as a regular stalker: Even after MM openly declared her love for Arthur Miller and when they were courting at New York's Waldorf Hotel, Joe would "wait in the alleys" outside, hoping to see her come out. And after Miller's and Monroe's marriage dissolved, who was waiting? Joe. He wanted to re-marry her. And let's not forget that Joe did the ultimate uber-romantic gesture of sending six roses to her crypt for twenty years after her death. (Actually I think that's amazing.) But you do get the feeling when you read "Vigil" that one fascination replaced another and MM definitely replaced baseball.

Maybe celebrated personalities, whether sports stars, actresses or singers, are just that. People who can never let go their insane passion for something. And once you give up one passion, it leaves a void for another. As Charyn says, Joe always had "the gallop of someone consuming himself" and when it wasn't baseball it was love/lust for "an electric light."

Anyway, "The Long Vigil" is a cool little book and a new take on showing how the "quieter" years of any star are never that quiet.

(Reviewed on [...])

Joe DiMaggio as an autistic ballplayer is an interesting concept. Jerome Charyn explores this theory in "Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil." As an incredibly gifted athlete, the renowned New York Yankee excelled at hitting a curve ball out of the park or catching a long fly in centerfield. But away from the game, he lived a secluded life surrounded by a few, select people that he barely even talked to. His social skills were so poor that he had trouble reading his own name off a cue card.

Yet how did such an awkward, insecure man marry Marilyn Monroe? Charyn feels that the relationship was created as the ultimate public relations move. A nude calendar of Marilyn had surfaced and she wanted to rehabilitate her image by staging DiMaggio as her real life leading man. No one was viewed as more stable or reliable than The Yankee Clipper. What she never expected was that he would literally become obsessed with her.

The book is not a straight biography. Charyn inserts his own opinions and at times writes in the first person. At under 150 pages of text, it is not an overwhelming read. Instead it is a unique look at a man whose iconic status is tempered by very human flaws. His unbreakable concentration on the ballfield left him mentally drained and physically exhausted. This intensely driven quest for perfection was unendurable, yet it was a pattern he followed throughout his life. His sense of discipline was unmatched, but it lacked the heart and emotion that would allow others to connect with him. By keeping himself aloof and distant, Charyn describes DiMaggio as being above the world around him and not part of it.

A poignant passage revolves around DiMaggio's most legendary achievement - his 56 game hitting streak in 1941. Charyn gives a rich, textured account transporting the reader back to that moment in time. Europe is in the midst of World War II, and the United States is on the brink. Americans are nervous, scared and uncertain. DiMaggio was their national distraction. Would he get a hit? Would he keep the streak alive? His heroics on the field provided Americans with a sense of hope during a dark hour.

For a man who didn't even talk much to his own teammates, life after baseball became an odyssey of extreme loneliness for DiMaggio. He was like an ex-president - a once powerful man now removed from his lofty position. He was aimless and adrift. He did the autograph circuit until he dropped making millions, yet receiving little personal satisfaction. He died basically alone in a hospital room reportedly saying his last words to a nurse who was attending him. It was a sad and pathetic end for a life so revered.

While short in length, the book is chock full of details and interesting tidbits. Subjects range from Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle to Paul Simon and Frank Sinatra. Charyn expertly and proficiently covers the major areas of DiMaggio's life in a succinct manner. Told chronologically, it reads more like a page-turning, in-depth magazine profile than a droll, just-the-facts reference book.

Charyn looks at the big picture. He encourages the reader to remember DiMaggio for his dogged determination and his strict adherence to duty. He provided inspiration to his team on the field playing through injury and illness. He brutally forced his mind to focus so he would never be seen making a mistake. He gave it his all - every time. While he couldn't obtain the perfection he so strived for, he never gave up on the two things that mattered the most to him - baseball and Marilyn Monroe.

Overall, Charyn is able to provide the language DiMaggio lacked in describing his life.

I don't really care much for baseball despite living in the heart of Cardinal country (St. Louis), but I was willing to take a chance on Jerome Charyn's book just for the fact that Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe are namesakes in our country's pop culture and entertainment history. Though I appreciate both of them, I sheepishly admit I knew very little about their relationship so I thought Charyn's bio of Joe would be a nice quick read to learn more. And indeed I did.

Joe came into popularity after Babe Ruth, but unlike the Babe he didn't take to the limelight. He was quiet, concentrated, and very reserved. Despite having a lot to be proud of for the records he set in the game, he kept his pride to himself. Even after he retired, he passed right out of the spotlight like it didn't even phase him. And yet it prompted attention like that of Paul Simon who immortalized Joe in the song Mrs. Robinson by asking, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

It's obvious to understand why fans loved and embraced him so much. Charyn begins his book with a brief history of how DiMaggio entered the game and set up court. But DiMaggio was a very different kind of celebrity. We see an almost solemn Joe going off to war and returning to the game fighting off physical injuries. The game was moving forward with or without him, and Joe was becoming another etch in the record and history books. Enter Marilyn Monroe.

Charyn gives you a true sense that Joe really loved Monroe and was even obsessed with her. But their brief and abusive relationship might have been one for the tabloids and Joe wanted no part of that. He couldn't sway Monroe to avoid the camera's eyes either. Charyn gives us a "What if?" making the reader contemplate if Joe could have saved her or not and how history for both of them - and their fans - might have been very different.

I will also admit I'm not much of a lengthy biography reader. I avoid volumes and pages exploring historical figures and celebrities like they are the plague. At just barely 200 pages, this book is a concise and well developed effort giving non-bio readers like me the opportunity to enjoy a good nonfictional read and learn all we need to know.

Charyn is to be commended for a nice and intriguing read that definitely kept a non-ball player interested. Whether you are a fan of baseball, the Yankees, "Dimagg," or good ole Norma Jean, this book has a little bit of everything for everyone.

Are there days you daydream? Your mind wondering around looking to escape? Well I have been in that state the last few days. Did you miss me? I know you wonder where I have been or up to. Well I was living the life of a star. Well in my head at least.

Joe Dimaggio and Marilyn Monroe 1954Image by Kemon01 via FlickrYou see, I was lost in my daydreams, associating with Jolting Joe and America's Sexiest Woman. I finally have taken the book, The Long Vigil, away from Dear Hubby. He had been hogging it. And now I am getting to float through it myself. Jerome Charyn writes about Joe DiMaggio focusing on his life after retiring from baseball. It was then that he had a nine month marriage to Marilyn Monroe. What a picture they presented to the American public. But as we all know, photos are not always real life. Most of the time they are posed.

Cover of Cover of Joe and MarilynWell that is more of what life was for Joe and Marilyn. Sadly it was a set up marriage to boost Marilyn's sinking image due to her infamous nude photos cropping up. And more so, that Joe loved her deeply in his quiet way. Joe, raised in an All-American setting, being the All-American baseball player, thought he was getting the All-American gal for the All-American life. Not seeing that wounded Norma Jean would be there one moment and sultry screen star Marilyn there the next. One role that Marilyn was not going to fit into was the housewife sitting home caring for her dear hubby. It is one thing to wear the pearls and heels on screen and other to live a life drab of color in reality.

But while reading The Long Vigil I had managed to daydream of a different life too. Being the one who loves hearth and home, I could sympathize with Joe and his desires to take it easy for once. I was feeling the lump that appeared in my throat when he found out that Marilyn filed for a divorce. And more so the cut to the heart when she died before they were able to get back together again. Joe was a quiet stoic man who had lived a life of hard work in the public eye. He wanted to be able to have the normal life that most of us try to escape. Sadly it would be one that left him heartbroken and lonely for 37 years.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of one of those sports records still considered to be unbreakable: Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.

While most of the books over the years -- especially those written in a long-ago time, when athletes were always heroic rather than mortal like the rest of us -- concentrate on the his accomplishments on the field, this year's offerings (the other being Kostya Kennedy's 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports), take a different and darker approach.

The subtitle The Long Vigil can be viewed in more than one way. In one, it represents DiMaggio's need to maintain his status as "The Greatest Living Ballplayer," a title officially bestowed upon him when baseball celebrated its centennial in 1969.

The dust jacket offers another angle.

Rather than the image of the Yankee Clipper in Yankee pinstripes, the photo -- taken by John Vachon for LOOK magazine in 1953 -- represents the main "accomplishment" of DiMaggio's post-career: his love affair with Marilyn Monroe, which continued long after their divorce and even past the Hollywood icon's death.

DiMaggio does not look especially happy in the photo, even though Monroe is smiling, perhaps whispering some loving nugget into his ear. There are no other photos in the book, as if Charyn did not want to intrude further on DiMaggio's notorious demands for privacy.

One word is repeated through The Long Vigil: "brood." Charyn portrays DiMaggio as a man who was never comfortable in his own skin, always wanting to be the best. He sought the accolades of an adoring public with one hand, but pushed them away with the other. Was that separation born of aloofness or an innate shyness/inferiority complex? Either way, DiMaggio was always thinking about his image and his place in the hierarchy of the game. He spent most of his life observing how the public observed him, both during his playing days and in retirement. On the one hand, he wanted to be left alone, Garbo-like. On the other, he wanted -- needed -- the adulation and was reluctant to share it with anyone, not Monroe, not Ted Williams (his main source of competition for the headlines in 1941, as the Boston slugger batted .406), not Mickey Mantle (who would replace DiMaggio as the face of the Yankees).

Can contemporary readers imagine what the hitting streak mean to to a nation on the brink of war? With no other distractions? Even the chapters that don't focus on DiMaggio's own accomplishments deal with his impact on the culture of the era. A section on Josh Gibson, a fixture of Negro League lore, had delusional conversations with the Yankee. "Josh's sad refrain is perhaps the severest indictment of white baseball we will ever have," writes Charyn. "He could only try and seek solace from its most visible player, Joltin' Joe. But white baseball wouldn't talk to Josh Gibson."

Did DiMaggio falter in his later years as well? Charyn writes about the curious symbiotic relationship between the Clipper and attorney Morris Engelberg. Was he a true fan or just someone trying to take advantage of a lonely man working hard to not be forgotten? I'm still not sure, although the author seems to put Engelberg in a more favorable light than other accounts I've read.

Charyn has included baseball in several of his novels, most notably The Seventh Babe. He is obviously a great fan of the game in general and DiMaggio in particular, so this must have been a difficult project for the author. It's never easy for a fan to grow older and realize the celebrities he or she put on a pedestal are just as flawed as everyone else. And, just as everyone else, ballplayers are dead a lot longer than they're alive, including the "death" of retirement. It's like walking on the moon; what can you do after that of any consequence?

In Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil, Charyn provides the reader with a candid, yet sympathetic, view of one of baseball's greats. It is the focus on the man on the field and outside of the ballpark that made this such a spectacular read.

In his touching Preface, Charyn remembers growing up in the Bronx, scraping by, but always finding a way to make enough to get through the turnstiles at Yankee Stadium; a need that increased as DiMaggio shot to fame.

DiMaggio is portrayed as a complex, intense man, unable to feel comfortable in his own skin unless he was in center field. Off the field he was shy and barely spoke. His list of famous friends seems endless, yet we are left wondering how well they really knew him. Perhaps the only one who truly knew the real Joe was Marilyn Monroe. Their short-lived marriage captivated the world then, and as Charyn's book exemplifies, their tumultuous, tragic love story still nags at us. Could he have saved her? Could she have saved him?

I highly recommend Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil by Jerome Charyn. Whether you love baseball legends or are looking for a well-written book that moves along at a perfect pace, you'll find it in the pages of Charyn's latest release.

I was never a big fan of Joe DiMaggio; he always seemed a bit of a whiner to me. I much preferred the Charlie Gehringer/Al Kaline type of baseball hero: show up, play, win or lose, no excuses. Having said that, the two books I have read on DiMaggio,"56" and now this one, really put things in perspective for me and give me a better appreciation of the man and his career.

I never did think Creamer did a good job with his biography: far too mean spirited. Joe was indeed a kind of tragic figure: he played with a deep sadness and isolation that Kaline or Rose or Johnny Bench lacked in their joyful embrace of the National Game. It seems that DiMaggio was far too undereducated to understand what was happening to him; Charyn is right to say that Joe was a kind of "idiot savant." He was and out of baseball, he seemed incapable of understanding life. That explains his melancholy relationship with Marilyn Monroe; he never really understood who she was or what she needed him for.

At any rate, this is a very well-written book; I recommend it completely...although I still remain loyal to Number 6: Al Kaline.

Jerome Charyn (The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson) once again succeeds as a thorough and thought-provoking writer. The Long Vigil delves into Joe D., the baseball great vs. Joe D., the man who carried a life-long torch for Marilyn Monroe. This compact read presents the many facets of the price DiMaggio paid for his success and the sad, often tragic burden there was in living the life of Joe DiMaggio - on and off the field.

Joe DiMaggio, the Long Vigil gives an interesting look at a most enigmatic personality. Most of us know DiMaggio for two things: a baseball legend and his love for Marilyn Monroe.

Author Charyn has compiled many views of DiMaggio into this book giving us a peek into what made the man and how he became a legend, and includes his quirks and struggles with his popularity and his personal relationships.

Whether you love baseball or even know much about DiMaggio and his outstanding career, this outstanding biography brings forth some intriguing facts you might not have known before. And of course, there is much about DiMaggio ongoing love for Marilyn Monroe, a love that haunted him.

Charyn has done an excellent job writing about the life and times of the great Joe DiMaggio.