JACKIE AND MARILYN: A CONVERSATION

oh, the things that are left to be resolved in heaven ...

 

“Aw,  Miss Monroe, you know … it could have been worse …” Jackie smiled, and then winked, “You could have been me.”

 

“At least they called you by your name,” Marilyn retorted petulantly.

 

Well, sometimes ... most times a lot of other things ...

 

Not to be outdone, Jackie said evenly, “At least you were considered better for being different,” and then, betraying a hint of a still-festering anger, “You know, I had to be better, and then, even better … and after all that … all that still mattered was that I was … different.”

 

“But Jackie, look at all the good you did," Marilyn gushed, admiringly, almost child-like in not really comprehending. 

 

"If not for you … no Willie, no Hank … you know," she said earnestly, and then,

 

"At least  … you finally got vindication.  Most people wouldn’t even know I knew that word.  Most still don’t know the difference between me and Jane,”  the starlet offered disconsolately.

 

Poor  girl.  She just doesn’t get it, maybe doesn’t want to.

 

Jackie made another attempt at an explanation, stating, ”Yeah, but it was the fifties.  You know … You and I couldn’t even have danced together.  We weren’t that big.  In fact, we were really kind of small … just there at the right time."

 

Gee, he doesn't really see ...  If only he understood...

 

 “But Jackie, we were -- are -- icons”

 

“Yeah, kid, icons … like those little figurines on a doily.  They moved us at will.  But you know what?  At least we were there.  And because we were there, some things will never be the same.”

 

Marilyn sat there with her lips slightly parted, staring dreamily into faraway space, and musing upon the Negro’s words.  Jackie scratched at his short-cropped gray hair and pressed his right index finger hard across his pursed, scowling lips. 

 

He wasn’t done thinking about this.

 

Neither was she.

Reviews

[Imani Wisdom]

I like this. Great writing.

[Liza]

interesting conversation - great write!

[just rose.]

Sometimes imagined conversations contain the most truth ... you do a great job here of showing the different ways in which these incredible icons were marginalized during such a restrictive social era, while simultaneously being idolized. Most people don't even know I knew that word. How true ... an interesting meditation on the position of star and starlet in the firmament of history.