Joe DiMaggio - b. 1914

Joe DiMaggio  was born¹  on 25 Nov 1914 in Martinez,, California, USA. He died on 8 Mar 1999. 
 

Joe DiMaggio - b. 1914

Joe married³  Norma Jean Baker ²  daughter of Charles Stanley Gifford and Gladys Pearl Monroe on 14 Jan 1954. The marriage ended in divorce.Norma was born on 1 Jun 1926 in Los Angles, Los Angles, California, USA. She died on 5 Aug 1962 in Los Angles, Los Angles, California, USA. She was buried⁴  in Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angles, Los Angles, California, USA.

Joe DiMaggio

In 1951 the baseball star Joe DiMaggio saw a picture of Monroe with two Chicago White Sox players, but

waited until his retirement from baseball before asking the man who arranged the picture to set up a date. At

first Monroe did not want to see him, fearing a stereotypical jock, but after a two-year courtship they eloped

and married at San Francisco's City Hall on January 14, 1954. During the couple's honeymoon, Marilyn was

asked to take a detour to Korea to entertain the troops. She performed ten shows over a four day tour in

freezing temperatures. Her audience consisted of more than 100,000 soldiers and marines.

Unfortunately the marriage would quickly prove to be undermined by DiMaggio's jealousy over Monroe's

sexpot image. Although they both claimed to want to settle down, Monroe still longed to perfect her craft and

gain respect from her peers. Friends claimed that Joe became posessive and controlling as Marilyn became

more and more defiant of his wishes. After filming the notorious skirt-blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch,

for example, director Billy Wilder recalled the "look of death" on DiMaggio's face as he watched alongside

fans and extras as her panties were revealed over and over again. Marilyn's makeup man, Allan "Whitey"

Snyder, also recalled that soon after the skirt scene, Marilyn appeared on set with bruises on her upper arms.

Furthermore, DiMaggio's biographer Richard Ben Cramer claims that DiMaggio was so "disgusted" by

Monroe's "sloppiness" that he began to abuse her. On October 27, 1954, 274 days after their marriage,

Monroe was pressured by 20th Century Fox to obtain a divorce from DiMaggio on the grounds of mental

cruelty. Strangely enough, on her 29th birthday, DiMaggio escorted Monroe to the opening of the movie that

essentially ended their marriage.

 

 

Sources

  1.  Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia  (http://en.wikipedia.org), 4 Jun 2012, Wikimedia Foundation , c/o CT Corporation System , 818 West Seventh Street , Los Angeles, California 90017 ."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_dimaggio."

  2.  Scott Pfitzinger, World Connect Project pages of Scott Pfitzinger  (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GED&db=:3183927).

  3.  Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia .

  4.  Compiled by: Find A Grave, Find A Grave  (http://www.findagrave.com/), Find A Grave, PO Box 522107, Salt Lake City, UT 84152-2107.