From Norma Jeane To Marilyn

The Bolender Years

"...As I grew older, I knew I was different from other children, because there were no kisses or promises in my life.." ~Marilyn Monroe

I don't want to paint the picture that Norma Jeane had a completely miserable early childhood. Ida and Albert were decent to her, the best way they knew how to be. Hell, they were paid to be. They were true bible thumping Christian Scientists, and convinced Gladys to be one too. She had Norma Jeane Mortenson baptized as Norma Jeane Baker as a child. by Amie Semple McPherson. This would be the first of many name changes. And, as we can see from the 1930 census record, it looks like Gladys stayed on at least one occasion. 

Here we find Gladys Baker listed as a boarder with her child, 2 year old Norma Jean [sic] Baker. However, information could have been given by a neighbor, as they also listed Ida as Edna.

 “I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.’ But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.”

As matter of fact, Marilyn spoke more enthusiastically than ever when she described her life in the Bolender home. She spoke of happily climbing trees, running as fast as she can, playing with her bobbsy-twin foster brother, Lester and otherwise enjoying the wonderment of childhood. She even had a little puppy named Tippy. But, Marilyn also speaks of much confusion and pain. Marilyn would later write "Ida—I have still been obeying her—it’s not only harmful for me to do so but unrealality because life starts from Now..."

Marilyn and Tippy. Tippy was a gift from her foster father. In 1932, a neighbor murdered her beloved puppy. Marilyn claims he chopped her in half with a hoe for rolling in the garden.

Marilyn had no idea who her mother was in those days. She knew enough to know she should have one, as all the neighborhood children did. And that she should also have a Papa. She assumed Ida was hers. So, one day she endeavored to call her "Mama". Ida replied sternly, "I am not your mother! Don't call me mama. Call me Aunt Ida. The woman who comes here with the red hair, she's your mother!" 

Lester Bolender and Norma Jeane

As a little girl n the household of Ida Bolender, Norma Jeane was not told she was pretty. Prettiness was not a valuable or important commodity compared to the eternal rewards of heaven. Instead, Norma Jeane was encouraged to be quiet, modest, and any form of twinkling was not permitted. It is said that the first time she was molested, it was by another boarder in Ida's home. When she told Ida, she was quickly shushed, and informed that the man in question was a good Christian. Surely, this incident helped create Marilyn. Ida was wrong. Sex, when you have no other leverage, is absolutely a commodity.

The Bolender home. Previously 459 East Rhode Island Street but renamed 4201 West 134th Street in the 1940s due to re-districting.

Marilyn's time with the Bolenders lasted the first seven years of her life. In 1933, her mother Gladys was well enough to reclaim her daughter. And it would scar the child for life.