Marilyn the Riveter: New photos show Norma Jean working at a military factory during the height of World War II
108
View
comments
Early photos of Marilyn Monroe working in a military factory in Van Nuys, California show the young Norma Jeane contributing to the war effort in a military factory, before she became the movie star we remember today.
The pictures were taken by David Conover in 1944, while he was on assignment for Yank magazine.
During World War II, Conover worked for the U.S. Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit, and his commanding officer was future U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
It was Reagan who sent him to the Radioplane Munitions Factory where he first met and photographed Monroe - at the time going by Norma Jean Dougherty, her married name.
Marilyn before she was Marilyn: The photographs, taken by military photographer David Conover, are credited with helping launch Norma Jeane's career
For years, Conover has been credited with discovering Monroe by taking those first pictures of a curly-haired brunette.
And as Gizmodo pointed out yesterday, a pre-peroxide Monroe is just one of the interesting aspects of the photographs.
Monroe is seen putting together a plane - but it isn't just any plane, it's a drone.
Writer Matt Novak says that while Monroe's main job a the factory was spraying down planes with fire retardant, she's pictured by Conover putting together a OQ-2 radioplane, the first mass produced unmanned aerial vehicle in the world.
'Drones have been in the news so much recently that we often think of them as a new concept in war,' Novak wrote. 'But they've existed in some capacity in virtually every modern American conflict since WWI.'
Worker bee: Marilyn is pictured assembling a drone, as pointed out by Gizmodo yesterday
Those pictures of Marilyn assembling the drones were what really set her career in motion.
Conover soon recommended Norma Jeane to another photographer, Bill Carroll, who was looking for someone to shoot for for his portfolio.
'I was looking for a girl for my counter card who was a girl next door. I didn't want a model. I wanted a good-looking Plain Jane, the kind of kid you'd like to live next to,' Carroll told
LA Weekly.
Working girl: Monroe posing for Bill Carroll in her first paid work as a model
Beach babe: After shooting Monroe for Yank, Conover recommended her to photographer Bill Carroll who needed a girl to shoot for his portfolio
Girl next door: Young Norma Jeane was just what Carroll was looking for - the 'kind of kid you'd like to live next to'
Norma Jeane fit that role perfectly, and he gave her $20 dollars to shoot her. It was her first paid work as a model.
Amazingly, it wasn't until Carrol was rifling through Time magazine years later that he recognized a picture he helped Conover develop, and realized the girl he shot for his portfolio was a young Marilyn Monroe.
'I sincerely believe that my pictures present a different woman than the one they know. I had no idea who Monroe was until I read that Time magazine 40 years later. I had no idea I had photographed the same woman,' he said.
Her first job: Carroll paid Monroe $20 dollars for her work
Before she was famous: It wasn't until Carroll came across a story about Conover's pictures in Time magazine 40 years later that he realized he shot a young Marilyn Monroe
Fun in the sun: Norma Jean playing in the California surf
Over the years, Monroe's hair color and legal name would change, but her devotion to the troops would not.
RELATED ARTICLES
China grounds world's first CAKE DRONES over fears they... 
Simpsons creator is spending his last months giving away his...
How Hollywood might have looked if films were shot in...
Share this article
ShareIn 1954, after she had hit it big in 'Gentleman Prefer Blondes,' Monroe traveled to Korea to entertain American troops stationed there during the Korean War.
Shortly after marrying second husband Joe DeMaggio, she traveled alone to Korea to perform in front of 13,000 marines over a three-day period.
She would later say that going to Korea 'was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to look down and see a fellow smiling at me.'
Entertainer: Today marks the 60th anniversary of the armistice that brought the Korean War to a stalemate. Monroe contributed to the war effort then by entertaining troops overseas in 1954
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2FdISPamxrZ32Wv6q42Kdkhqeep7ymec%2Bhpq2no2LGsMHNoGSHp6Kirm6WxJqlZq%2Bfp7iqusZmjpCBeWKzoq%2FTqKmyZpipuq0%3D