Marilyn and Me Sisters, Rivals, Friends

Susan Strasberg

ISBN 10: 0385403305 / ISBN 13: 9780385403306

Published by Sydney: Doubleday, 1992, Sydney, 1992

About this Item

H/c. First Edition. 6 " x 9 1/2 ". pages 282, b/w illustrations, name and date on first page. This book is the author's memory of Marilyn: a first hand account of her breathy voice giving Susan advice on men, makeup and Hollywood. Marilyn went to stay with Lee Strasberg and his family, he and his wife Paula became her teachers, surrogate parents and therapists; Susan became her friend and surrogate sister. Tiny mrk on bottom edge of pages otherwise very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 003487

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Marilyn and Me Sisters, Rivals, Friends
• Publisher: Sydney: Doubleday, 1992, Sydney
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385403305
• ISBN 13: 9780385403306
• Binding: H/c
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

1992 Doubleday hardcover, Susan Strasberg (Bittersweet). The daughter of acting teachers Lee and Paula Strasberg discussed her relationship with Marilyn Monroe when the screen idol came to New York to study with her parents, describing Monroe's personal and professional insecurities, romances, and dreams. - Amazon

From Kirkus Reviews

Actress Strasberg's second tour of her friendship with Marilyn Monroe--first told in her confessional 1980 autobiography, Bittersweet, which focused on Strasberg's emotional swamps--is an even stronger, more mature version of her time spent with the legend. This memoir in no way deepens our grasp of what or who MM was, nor does it match Arthur Miller's magnificent portrait in Timebands. Miller, in fact, gets mauled by Strasberg, who shows him at his most tight-lipped and beleaguered, especially after his cuckolding by Yves Montand and during the filming of The Misfits. What makes Strasberg's Marilyn rewarding might be called the ``bodywarmth'' of MM's presence on the page. Marilyn comes through as a luminescent older sister and jealous rival for Strasberg's parents' attention. Lee Strasberg was the nation's high guru of acting, to whom Marilyn fled when she could not get out of her dumb-blond roles. Could Lee make her a serious actress? Indeed, Lee could, and certainly gave something to MM's intellectual growth, confidence, and ability to stretch as an actress. Her private rehearsals with Lee in the Strasberg apartment are always offstage here, with young Susan eavesdropping when her mother Paula doesn't have her ear to the door. Marilyn at 29 became a regular houseguest for years (Susan was then 17, though she'd met MM much earlier on the set of There's No Business Like Show Business), and the monolithic Lee had a soft spot for her that melted his usual granite. Susan and MM rolled around her bedroom like sisters, trying out Kama Sutra positions (clothed), and MM lusted for Susan's clothes while Susan yearned to be MM. Much later, a grief- stricken Lee wrote and delivered MM's eulogy. Can we ever get enough of MM? Maybe not. Strasberg allows us once more chance to cuddle up to a shy goddess. But MM fans also shouldn't miss Sam Toperoff's adventurous, literate novel Queen of Desire (1991). (Sixteen pages of photos--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.