Books in Brief

Marilyn Monroe, by Maurice Zolo-tow (Harcourt, $5.75). The marriage of Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe was so odd a mixture of libido and Liberalism that I have long believed it was invented at an editorial conference of the New York Post. Marilyn’s biographer, however, says she had always dreamed of mating with someone like Arthur, being herself a girl of searching intellect and cultivates taste. Unfortunately for that solemn thesis, author Zolotow has threaded his book with anecdotes and epigrams belying Marilyn’s braininess, although not necessarily her comic genius (to mention intangible virtues only). Sample intellect: Of her favorite “number by Beethoven”—“I’m afraid I’m not very good at numbers.” Of her admiration for the Renaissance— “Of course, if I had lived in the brentano’s

Renaissance, I would be dead now.” Such Monroeisms prompt Mr. Zolotow to remind us of Punch’s quip: “Timon is a girl’s best friend.” m. s. evans

Featured Tags

Marilyn Monroe, by Maurice Zolo-tow (Harcourt, $5.75). The marriage of Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe was so odd a mixture of libido and Liberalism that I have long believed it was invented at an editorial conference of the New York Post. Marilyn’s biographer, however, says she had always dreamed of mating with someone like Arthur, being herself a girl of searching intellect and cultivates taste. Unfortunately for that solemn thesis, author Zolotow has threaded his book with anecdotes and epigrams belying Marilyn’s braininess, although not necessarily her comic genius (to mention intangible virtues only). Sample intellect: Of her favorite “number by Beethoven”—“I’m afraid I’m not very good at numbers.” Of her admiration for the Renaissance— “Of course, if I had lived in the brentano’s

Renaissance, I would be dead now.” Such Monroeisms prompt Mr. Zolotow to remind us of Punch’s quip: “Timon is a girl’s best friend.” m. s. evans