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Marilyn Monroe and Joltin Joe DiMaggio (Photofest)

Why Joe DiMaggio Is Striking Out with Marilyn Monroe! story on Confidentials August 1953 cover

Josephine Baker, 1920s (Photofest)

Walter Winchell (Photofest)

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Rita Hayworth, Dick Haymes, and Hayworths daughters Rebecca and Yasmin, 1952 (Photofest)

Francesca de Scaffa with Ken Carlton in Edge of Hell, 1956 (Photofest)

Francesca de Scaffa, 1951 (New York Daily News)

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J. Robert Oppenheimer (Photofest)

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Lucille Ball and husband, Desi Arnaz, 1955 (Getty Images)

Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and their children, Lucie and Desi Jr., 1953 (Photofest)

Ava Gardner, 1954 (Photofest)

Ava Gardner, 1950s (Photofest)

Sammy Davis Jr. and Meg Myles on the magazines cover in 1956 (Photofest)

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Marlene Dietrich and daughter Maria Riva (Photofest)

Lizabeth Scott, with Michle Morgan, 1954 (Getty Images)

Robert Harrison hospitalized, 1956 (New York Daily News)

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Clark Gable and his second wife, Ria Langham Gable, 1933 (Photofest)

Josephine Dillon, 1960 (Photofest)

Robert Mitchum, 1953 (Photofest)

Jerry Geisler, 1958 (Getty Images)

June Allyson, 1949 (Photofest)

June Allyson, Dick Powell, and children (Photofest)

Howard Rushmore, 1958 (International News Photo)

Robert Harrison, 1957 (New York Daily News)

Marilyn Monroe on Confidentials cover, September 1955 (Photofest)

Kim Novak article in Confidential, January 1956

Kim Novak (Photofest)

Lana Turner and Bob Topping, with her daughter, Cheryl Crane, 1950 (Photofest)

Joan Crawford on the cover of Confidential, January 1957

Maureen OHara, 1955 (Photofest) Liberace, 1955 (Photofest)

Liberace and his mother, 1954 (Photofest)

Robert Harrisons niece, Marjorie, and her husband, Fred Meade (Photofest)

Howard Rushmore and wife, Frances, found in a New York City cab, January 3, 1958 (New York Daily News)

He put the wood to the best fastballs ever served up in the American League, but Joltin Joe DiMaggio kept swinging at and missing those lovely curves in his world series of the heartthat gallant attempt to make Marilyn Monroe his wife.

The pitcher in this case had the male half of the North American continent sighing in frustration when gossip columnists said shed jiggle down the aisle with the famed Yankee slugger. Marilyn and the headline-conscious publicity department of Twentieth Century-Fox made a six-month riddle out of the question: Will or wont the wedding bells ring? For months on end, the bosomy beauty made much of the fact that she hadnt even been asked for her hand and what came with it. Many a baffled male thought this was bedrock proof that DiMaggio was cracking up.

From his place in the matrimonial batters box, Joe said practically nothing. It wasnt unusual. DiMaggios always been the kind of man who let his actions speak for themselves and his devoted attention to Marilyn spoke volumes. He even prompted the wrath of his ex-wife, Dorothy Arnold, who sued for complete custody of their nine-year-old son, on grounds that DiMaggio was taking Joe, Jr., along on his dates with the chesty blonde.

It was as obvious as a line drive into Yankee Stadium bleachers that Joe was wearing his heart on his sleeve for Marilyn. But he, too, knew he was fanning out like a bush leaguer with Marilyn. He couldnt figure out, for some time, who the opposition manager was.

Fans of Joes and Marilyns, who are still scratching their heads over this puzzle, can relax. The answer is Joe Schenck, an old artist at the fade-away pitch in the Hollywood league. Genial Joe (Schenck, that is) said No dice, when Marilyn went to him to confess palpitations of the heart over one of the best ball players since Babe Ruth. In effect, he told her, Have fun, kid, but dont get serious. That was enough to change a four-bagger into an easy out.

The uninitiated may well inquire how a balding, squat little gnome old enough to be her grandfather could exert such a strong influence over the beauteous Miss Monroe. Insiders will confess they, too, are often a little baffled over Joes Rasputin-like powers. But none deny his abilities.

Schenck, they point out, occupies the role of a father in Miss Monroes life. He guides the luscious blondes career, inspires her ambitions, lauds her triumphs and lulls her fears. Hes always there with a paternal hug or a strong shoulder to cry on.

It was he who assigned top designers to create a wardrobe that beautifully just misses clothing Miss Monroe. To him go the honors for putting witty writers to work spinning those headline-catching remarks she makes (sample comment against sun-bathing: I like to be blonde all over). To others, Joe Schenck might be a bald-headed old man. To Marilyn, he was, and is, the kind of guy every little girl wantsthe man who snaps his fingers and gets results.

If Marilyn was ripe for such a relationship, there can be no argument that Schenck is a cum laude graduate of the university for Daddies, De Luxe. This stubby Galahad has been a knight in a cream-colored convertible for years to gals from six to 36 (beyond that age bracket, a girl isnt supposed to need a pop).

Excerpt from Why Joe DiMaggio Is Striking Out with Marilyn Monroe!
(August 1953)

On this summer afternoon he businessmen in the gray flannel suits and the secretaries who assisted them were at their desks. Outside, it was amateur hour on the streets of New York City as aimless tourists, their heads bobbing down to look at maps and up to look at tall buildings, meandered along Broadway. Robert Harrison, forty-eight, blue-eyed, deeply tanned, and dapper as always in his white suit and white fedora, glided through this crowd like a broken-field runner, the ever-present cigarette dangling from his lip and a copy of Confidential