Customer Reviews

Norma Jean: My Secret Life With Marilyn Monroe

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ted Jordan may have been, as he claims, the most important man in Marilyn's life. However, he offers very little supporting evidence of this. He tells many interesting stories about Marilyn, and what it was like to make love to her. However, when it comes to illustrating the woman herself, he is somewhat less than generous. According to him, she had absolutely no talent. This is something that anyone who has ever seen Bus Stop or The Misfits knows to be false. Perhaps she did sleep her way to the top, as so many of her generation did. I cannot deny or affirm this. All I know is, for someone who claims to have been Marilyn's best friend, Jordan has not been particularly generous. On the back of the book, he promises a catalogue of Marilyn's strengths and weaknesses. I see plenty of praise, but only in the form of Marilyn's body and sexual prowess. This is not exactly new information. He also attests that Marilyn despised hard work and refused to go to any classes, which is completely against fact. He completely ignores one of the saddest parts of Marilyn's existence; her desire to be a real actress, and her fear that the world was laughing at ehr for her sexuality. She stopped doing films for a period to attend public acting classes, which Jordan makes absolutely no mention of. Jordan seems more concerned with expressing how, if Marilyn had only listened to him in every respect, all would have been better. The book is an expanded outlet for gossip and self-exaltation. What truth may be in it seems slanted. Read with caution, if you must read.

This is one of the least believable books about the life of Marilyn Monroe, which purports that the author was an intimate lover and friend to MM. By the way, Marilyn's father of record, Martin Edward Mortensen died in 1981 at age 85 of heart failure. The NY Times reported he had in possession a copy of his divorce papers from Gladys and a copy of MM's birth certificate.... Wouldn't it be nice if people would do a little research before they write this stuff and call it a 'memoir'?

If I could rate this a -2, I would. There are many superb biographies of Marilyn available. This isn't one of them.

This would make a good fiction book... but as a factual book Marilyn it falls very short. I read this out of curiousity from the library, and I cannot tell you how glad I am that I did not buy this. There are so many errors in the timeline and such that I wondered if Mr Jordan did ANY research at all during the writing of this book.

Some of the pictures are cute, but that's the best aspect of the book. If you love Marilyn and are a stickler for facts and the truth- don't bother with this book.

This particular biography of Marilyn Monroe sometimes seems plausible in dialogue and description, but a few of the events seem exaggerated and contrived. Ted Jordan is another person who claims to have been Marilyn's lover, secret boyfriend, and confidant throughout her entire career. I can't help comparing it to Robert Slatzer's _The Mysterious Death of Marilyn Monroe_ because he claims EXACTLY the same things in his book, portraying himself as the most important person in her life with even less corroboration than Ted provides. In fact, the two books often directly contradict each other. For example, Bob claims that Marilyn had no interest in finding her father because she knew him to be her mother's former husband Ed Mortenson, who died in a motorcycle accident; Ted writes that Marilyn (or Norma Jean, as he calls her all the way through-- without the "e") knew the identity of her father to be her mother's co-worker, C. Stanley Gifford. Both men say they knew her so well... is one or both of them lying? (I think it is more likely to be Bob Slatzer who is lying, as his book reads as one long fantasy that he created in his head. ) And if about that, what else? _My Secret Life_ makes a lot of outrageous claims, including Marilyn having a lesbian affair with his stripper wife, Marilyn aborting their baby, and Marilyn calling him on the night of her death. The uncomfortable thing to me is how Jordan portrays her as a horribly ambitious, mentally ill prostitute, repeating several times that she had no talent and used everyone to get what she wanted. Maybe some of that is true, but in a book such as this one (as well as _The Mysterious Death of_), the reader never knows WHAT to believe.

He was really smearing her in this book. He said that she talked dirty and slept with him just to get to her uncle who broke her in the business. He said all this stuff like her uncle slept with her in exchange for pills he could get her later. He told of all the times she talked dirty and said, " I want to sleep my way to the top!". What kind of person would say that? Not Marilyn, Marilyn was innocent and like a frightened child, in a woman's body. She had problems but was loyal to her friends life long. ALl this guy care about was bragging about it and spreading gossip. It's more of a look inside of him, a dirty mind.

I don't believe a word of this book. Ted Jordan "claims" to be close to MM but he offers no supporting evidence. He even claims to own MM's diary, but he offers no proof. Unfortunately, when a star such as Marilyn dies, many unknowns get on the bandwagon to make a quick buck. Don't waste your money or time.

I have read this book when it first came out. As I know Ted Jordan (Eddie Friedman) He was a great guy, his father was the brother of Ted Lewis. Knowing he was acting in Hollywood during the period of time in the book, I do not doubt the verasity of the book. I think it is well written, and my wife and I both enjoyed it. We feel that the wild "goings on" back in those Hollywood days are well documented in Ted's book.

It has been several years since I read this book--well, 10 to be honest. Recently I looked it up again, and was appalled to see all of the smearing now on the net and directed at Ted Jordan. Among the most outrageous allegations is that he claimed to have fathered a child with MM. Certainly this claim is nowhere in this book. A more moderate allegation is that she aborted the child. I dont remember this incident either in the book, though I may be wrong here. What is saddest, however, is the claim Ted wrote the book just to capitalize. If this were true, he would have thrown fuel on the conspiracy fire, not done a very effective job of dousing it. This is the one book I have ever read about anything that made me forget any conspiracy theory in this American culture.

I remember the book as being amazingly well crafted for a work apparently written without a ghost helper. I remember being impressed that Ted took the time to write this book more than 20 years after Marilyn's death. I remember its giving the warm, fuzzy feeling that I really was there--not just a voyeur. I remember having the same feeling as Ted when the news of Marilyn's suicide came over my car radio one quiet Sunday morning. Most of all, the book was written with real feeling--a rare commodity in American literature. Even if the whole book is a lie, THIS MAN REALLY CARED. If you want to come away thinking you really understood anyone, this is one of the most satisfying, matter of fact, biographies ever written. Perhaps that is why mainstream Hollywood is so determined to rub it out. Jordan's quiet narration is more compelling than a whole room full of media caterwauling. Some of Jordan's pictures are almost naive in their simplicity. Do not expect to be unreasonably titillated, one brief passage where a 17 year old Marilyn asks Ted for sex on their first date excepted. Thank, Ted Jordan, you for a job extraordinarily well done. Marilyn, "As long as there are men that read and eyes that see--so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

I was deeply moved by this book and would like to thank the author somehow for 'putting it all out there'. Behind every great man is a great woman. Thanks Ted!