Marilyn Monroe. Her life and death continues to fascinate people the world over.
One of the last people to ever interview Marilyn Monroe was veteran Hollywood journalist — Patte B. Barham. Patte Is the co-author of the book, Marilyn: The Last Take.
‘We spoke with Patte Barham recently about Marilyn Monroe.
Q – Patte,_besides Marilyn Monroe did you know other film actors and actresses like John Wayne, James Dean, people like that?
A – Well, yes I did, sure. I didn’t know James Dean, but ‘John Wayne we all knew. Being at home in Newport Beach (California) I used to see him a lot. Of course, I always admired him. I thought he was great. Ironically, I knew all of his ex-wives (laughs).
Q – So, you really knew the Hollywood stars.
A – Oh yeah. Sure did. I was born here, unlucky me.
Q – I think that’s lucky considering your chosen profession.
A – Well, thank you.
Q – How long did you know Marilyn Monroe? Did you know her before she became a star?
A – Well, I met her at press parties and things. I interviewed her once. I always thought she was delightful. She had quite a sense of humor. She always impressed me as a gal who was determined to get‘ ahead. She would do almost anything to get there by the way. She was even studying Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and those big books. Errol Flynn was also doing that. He always wanted to play something that he wasn’t. Marilyn was the same way. She always carried these heavy books around with her. I don’t know whether she read them or not, but, she gave the impression that she was very serious, and reading them. Of course, I didn’t follow her around. I never knew her well enough to follow her around with a tape recorder. Had I known then, what I know now, I would’ve had a tape recorder, an ever present notebook, all of those good things that we never do. I would’ve had pictures taken with her, had her autograph them in every language. Unfortunately, we never thought of her as the big star she later became.
Q – What year did you meet her?
A – About a year before she died. I knew people who knew her long before that. We really didn’t take her seriously. It was just kind of sad. Nobody really did. They didn’t realize she had all these problems, and that she was a gal who was striving so hard to get to the top, only to find it pretty empty when she got there.
Q – So, your first impression of Marilyn Monroe was somebody who was trying so hard to become somebody.
A – Very hard. She had these tremendous obstacles to overcome. Within this context, is a gal who had gone to school with her, in I guess it would be junior high. Marilyn was being shuttled around from foster home to foster home then. She said that Marilyn would never undress in a gym, when they all took showers together. Marilyn was sort of afraid. She’d go in the shower, but never take a shower; She was kind of embarrassed to take her clothes off. Isn’t that kind of funny? It’s as though she was ashamed of her body, and ashamed of her clothes. Maybe her under things weren’t pretty enough, you know. She had a very funny complex. Yet, on the surface, she wore-a little extra make-up. She kind of shocked those other conservative gals. She was a loner. She did flirt with the boys, but she kind of stuck to herself, as though she was afraid she’d make the wrong move. She was very cautious.
Q – When did-you last see her?
A – I saw her a couple of months before she died. I kind of felt sorry for her. She seemed so beset upon by problems. People were pushing her. I kind of thought gee, I’d like to know you better. Unfortunately, in this life, we always think of those things too late.
Q – What was her mood at that time? Was she upbeat or down?
A – Well, she was in-between. It was before they re-established her at the studio, and before she got her new contract at twice the money. That last week by the way, she was very, very happy. Everything was going right. She was not suicidal at all. When I met her she was sort of mixed up, and unhappy. She wasn’t secure. She wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing. She impressed me as a woman of a lot of indecision. Her stand-in Evelyn Moriarity, who was a good friend of mine, told me that Marilyn was always taking notes, writing things on pieces of paper, which explains the diary by the way. She did take notes, and kept things kind of to herself. One of the reasons Marilyn was always late, although she didn’t impress me that way, was she was always talking about her childhood. She would go on and on about this unhappy childhood. She would say, ‘Tm not sure this was the right decision.” She was kind of confused. I think she felt that everything was sort of coming at her at once. I really had that feeling.
Q – I’ve always found it rather strange that the people who could write a book on Marilyn, Joe Dimaggio, Pat Newcomb (Marilyn’s publicist), don’t. Why do you suppose that is?
A – I did talk to Pat Newcomb, and she was very, very cagey. I’m sure she’s a nice person, but she wold say nothing. Joe Dimaggio, you can’t even contact him direct. Marilyn’s big contact, of course, was later his son, whom she really had a lot of respect for. Joe was probably her best friend all along. But, unfortunately, you cannot talk to these people. I don’t know why.
Q – Did you read Donald Spoto’s biography on Marilyn Monroe?
A – I think I’ve read ’em all.
Q – Mr. Spoto did not like your book at all. He calls it, the most -astonishing compendium of errors” This book quoted people and sources inaccurately and embellished incidents. The Last Take was a disastrously misleading book.” What would you say to Mr. Spoto?
A – I’m sorry he feels that way. Naturally I would disagree with him. We have the facts. We have the interviews on tape. Everything is documented and researched thoroughly.
Q – What about Marilyn’s death do you find suspicious? What bothers you about it?
A – We feel she was definitely murdered, and we really tried to prove that. I got inside information through a connection whose name I cannot mention, who is in the Witness Protection Program. He even told me the name of the murderer. I know all of this. “Hard Copy” would love me to go on the air, by the way, and discuss it. And, I may yet do it. But, for the moment, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to protect myself, because I want to live a little longer. It’s kind of scary. This is all Organized Crime related. It was all set up. I have C.I.A. contacts. This person is very high in Organized Crime. He told me everything. I found this out from one of my sources in Texas. There was at least three tapes going on that night, which recorded the whole thing. One was by Organized Crime, one was by the F.B.I., an illegal tape by the way, and then the other was her own little amateur thing she had. I guess it was under the bed, I don’t know. It’s kind of fun to wonder where she really put it. They found all kinds of equipment in a vine outside the window, where they found batteries, which were later pulled out. But, it was all set up. We really proved our point. We know that there were two people who came in the house that night.
Q – Is the murderer alive today?
A – Yes. He’s in the Witness Protection Program. The interesting thing is, they don’t miss when it’s a hit. Everything was planned. They hid in the bathroom across from the bedroom. It was being repaired, so there was no water, and no pipes. That explains everything about the fact that a suicide would’ve been impossible, because she couldn’t have taken 40 or 50 pills without some water or champagne. Everything was empty. There was no water, in the pipes or anything else. Of course there was no residue in the stomach. All the vital organs in the autopsy disappeared, which to this day, we’ve never been able to run that down. Some papers that were very key to the investigation also disappeared. I ran down sources of people that would and wouldn’t talk, and would talk off the record. Then, I ran down the guy that heard the whole murder being committed on tape. I had to run him down in Canada with the F.B.l. His father and the man who put the illegal tapes in there; I have their names, are still living in Vancouver. I had to call over there. I got this in Colorado Springs. Everything goes in different sequence, you know, I talked to him. He said the tapes were illegal. They had to pull them out. He heard the whole thing on the tape, but he said they destroyed the tape because they were put in illegally. So, that’s another of our sources. We didn’t just take one. We talked to a lot of them. To reach the levels found in her bloodstream, it would’ve required 70-90 pills taken within 15 minutes, and no water glass, no water in the bedroom, the bathroom disconnected for remodeling. It had to have been done professionally, and it was done by injection. She was flipped over, and was very, very well tranquilized, knowingly or unknowingly, and quite high on champagne when they came in there. She was actually dozing. The psychiatric nurse, under the guise of a maid was down the hall, in her own room, listening to a television program which was very loud. They slipped in and out, and the whole thing was done in about 15 minutes.
Q – You really are giving serious thought though to go on T.V. and present your case?
A – Well, they certainly approached me. Very honestly I’ve been kind of leery about it. If I can go on wearing a mask maybe (laughs). I sure would have to be kind of careful. You’re playing with fire. It was a well-orchestrated hit. And remember, the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. burned all of Marilyn’s spiral notebooks, back on the morning of her death. They’re all destroyed.
Q – What would happen to someone if they came forward with absolute proof that Marilyn was murdered?
A – I have to think that one over real hard because you could also end up very dead (laughs).
Q – Even after all this time?
A – Sure. This is interesting, there were tissue samples which would prove that Marilyn was killed by injection, and they were all misplaced, confiscated hours after the autopsy was completed. And she received multiple injections 4O hours before she died, yet the coroner found no evidence of injection in her body. It’s a tremendous cover-up. I think it’s gotta be the greatest cover-up in history.
Q – Do you think you’ll see this mystery solved in your lifetime?
A – I don’t know. I’d like to have a couple of good body guards and a little help. I want to be protected. .
Q – If you know what really happened to Marilyn, how many other people must know.
A – Well, I think Pat Newcomb knows pretty well. I think that some of these other people that won’t talk know. I don’t know what Joe Dimaggio knows ’cause he sort of put it completely out of his mind. Robert Slatzer (claims to have been married to Marilyn Monroe) certainly knows. He’s got some good evidence.
