Frank Capell
Frank Capell was a right wing, anti-communist writer, who was one of the first people to specualte about Marilyn and the Kennedys. Two things Capell hated were communists and the Kennedys, and he thought the two were interlinked. In 1964, Capell wrote a book called “The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe” – it was more of a booklet with just 70 pages – and in it he condemns Marilyn as a communist who got what she had coming. Capell accuses everyone connected with Marilyn of being a communist too, but holds a special vitirol for Robert Kennedy, who, he claims was responsible for Marilyns death. Add to that the fact that he played a large part in helping to write Robert Slatzer’s book and was indicted for libel along with Jack Clemmons and I think you have enough to discredit him right there.
Jeanne Carmine
Jeanne Carmine was not heard of with regards to Marilyn, before she turned up in Anthony Summers’ book “Goddess” claiming to be Marilyn’s best friend and to have lived with her. Neither was true. There are no records whatsoever to show Jeanne Carmine lived in 882 North Doheny Drive when Marilyn was living there. Carmen claims that both she and Marilyn were put up there by Frank Sinatra, but this couldn’t be true as the apartment was owned by Violet Mertz from 1952 to 1981. While Frank did live there for a time, it wasn’t until 1963, after Marilyn had died. Carmen isn’t in any of Marilyn’s personal phonebooks, nor had any of Marilyn’s friends ever heard of Carmen. Carmen has been known to make some of the most outlandish and scandalous claims about Marilyn, but she is a thoroughly unreliable source.
Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana was a mafia boss whose brother and godson wrote a book saying that Giancana was involved with Marilyn’s death but there is no photographs or evidence to support the two ever meeting. There is also no evidence that Giancana was at Cal Neva during Marilyn’s last weekend.
Robert Slatzer
Slatzer was an book critic for a small Ohio newspaper in 1952, when he used his press pass to get onto the set of “Niagara” in the hopes of meeting Marilyn. Slatzer was lucky enough to meet Marilyn over the course of two days and had photos taken with her. It is thought that he got photos developed after the first day on set and returned the following day to get more, and ask her to sign the originals. It is important to note that these photos, on the set, are the only photos of the two of them together. Later, when Marilyn was dating Joe DiMaggio, Slatzer got a lot of press by playing himself as a “dark horse” in the relationship stakes with Marilyn and DiMaggio. In May 1957 Slatzer sold a lurid story to ‘Confidential’ magazine (the National Enquirer of the time) saying that he had had an affair with Marilyn when she was with DiMaggio. It included such stories as how Marilyn sat kissing Slatzer while DiMaggio talked baseball in the corner of the room. Marilyn, and then husband Arthur Miller, were said to be extremely upset about the article. Marilyn was notorious for cutting people off when she felt betrayed or used. There is absolutely no way Marilyn would have stayed in contact with Slatzer after that story went public. After Marilyn’s death, Slatzer tried to sell a short article he had written about how Marilyn’s death was a conspiracy, to a journalist named Will Fowler. Fowler rejected the article but told Slatzer “Too bad you weren’t married to Monroe. That would REALLY make a great book.” Soon after that Slatzer arrived back to them saying that he’d forgotten to mention before, they had been married in October 1952 down in Mexico and that they got the marriage annulled shortly after on the orders of Daryl Zanuck. This is where his story completely falls apart, as the day Slatzer claimed he and Marilyn travelled to Mexico, Marilyn was photographed attending a party held by Photoplay. On the day Slatzer claims they married, Marilyn was at Jax clothing store in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Slatzer is not mentioned in any of marilyn’s correspondence or personal phonebooks. None of Marilyn’s friends had heard of him, and people who helped him tell his story by corroborating anything, were said to need the money it brought with it. Slatzer’s own wife claimed to have not heard mention of any marriage until the release of his book. Lastly, Slatzer’s book was written with step by step help from Frank Capell. Slatzer is one the root causes of a lot of the downright lies regarding Marilyn’s life, particularly her last day.
Jack Clemmons
Jack Clemmons claimed to be the first officer on the scene the night of Marilyn’s death and he went alone and that Greenson, Engleberg and Murray were all acting suspicious. Clemmons claimed that Murray had the washing machine on and was washing sheets, which he thought was strange. Clemmons claimed he thought it was murder immediately and when he suggested this he was told to fall in line or else. In fact, three other officers attended the scene with Clemmons and none of them suggested that they thought it was murder. Clemmons was later arrested and forced to resign over slandering a United States senator with Frank Capell.
Deborah Gould
Peter Lawford’s account of the night Marilyn died has, for the most part, remained the same. It was in the 80’s, after Lawford’s death that his third wife, Deborah Gould, spoke to Anthony Summers and “revealed” all the shocking lies about him.
Jack Miner
Jack Miner claimed he was at Marilyn’s autopsy – he wasn’t. Miner also claimed Dr. Greenson had tapes of Marilyn’s psychiatry sessions that he allowed him listen to but Greenson’s family all claim there are no such tapes. Greenson’s own wife told Anthony Summers’ in 1982 that Greenson never taped sessions with Marilyn because if he had she would never had seen him again.
Fred Otash
Fred Otash claimed he was hired by Joe DiMaggio as a private investigator and that he orchestsrated the wrong door raid but this is false as the actual investigators name is Barney Ruditsky. Otash was also the person who claimed he installed wire taps in Marilyn’s Brentwood home but this has been disproven below.
Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer was the first author who used the Kennedy affair rumour to sell books. Mailer also admitted to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes that his book was mainly written to make money and that a lot of it wasn’t true.
Natalie Jacobs
Natalie Jacobs was the wife of Arthur Jacobs – Marilyn’s press agent – who was at the Hollywood Bowl the night Marilyn died and claimed an usher came to tell him of a phone call between 9 and 10pm which, she claims, was about Marilyn’s death. The problem we have here is Jacobs made the claims after her husband had died and we now know that Marilyn had only taken the overdose at approximately the time Jacobs claims the phone call came through.
Arlene Dahl
Arlene Dahl was an actress in the 50’s, who later claimed to have introduced Marilyn and JFK between 1947 and 1951, but this doesn’t add up as Dahl has changed the date of the meeting on a few occasions. Also, in 1947 Kennedy was dating Gene Tierney and the relationship was said to be serious. For the 1951 account, Dahl claimed that Marilyn attended a party at the home of Elsie DeWolffe, where she met JFK, but DeWolffe was already dead a year by 1951 and the house she claims the party was held in had been sold a number of years before that.
Lionel Grandison
Lionel Grandison was the Deputy Coroners aide when Marilyn died. When Grandison wrote a book about Marilyn’s death and his part in the autopsy, he claimed that it was murder – that all the pills were lodged in Marilyn’s throat and that when he refused to sign the death certificate, he was threatened by Deputy Coroner Dr. Curphey. Of course we only have Grandison’s word for that, and, given his mention of a diary being stolen from the Los Angeles County Hospital, I would be inclined to align him with Slatzer et al. Grandison was also later convicted of fraud, making him untrustworthy.
Norman Jefferies
Norman Jefferies was the son in law of Eunice Murray, Marilyn’s housekeeper. Due to his connection with Eunice, Marilyn hired Jefferies as a handyman to fix things around her new home in Brentwood. Jefferies supported the theory that Marilyn was killed by Robert Kennedy and even claimed that he was there when it happened.