Editing Marilyn Monroe (section)

=== 1944–1948: Modeling, divorce, and first film roles ===
[[File:Norma-Jean.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=Portrait of Monroe aged 20, taken at the Radioplane Munitions Factory|A photo of Monroe taken by [[David Conover]] in 1944 at the [[Radioplane Company]]]]
In April 1944, Dougherty was shipped out to the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific]], where he remained for most of the next two years.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=83–86|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=91–98}} After Dougherty left, Monroe moved in with Dougherty's parents and began a job at the [[Radioplane Company]], a munitions factory in Van Nuys, to help the war effort.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=83–86|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=91–98}} In late 1944, she met photographer [[David Conover]], then working in the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]]' [[First Motion Picture Unit]], who had been sent to the factory to shoot morale-boosting pictures of female workers.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=90–91|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2p=176}} Although none of her pictures were used, she quit working at the factory in January 1945 and began modeling for Conover and his friends.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=90–93|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2pp=176–177}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Yank USA 1945|url=http://www.wartimepress.com/archives.asp?TID=YANK%20USA%201943&MID=YANK%20-%20USA%20Edition&q=357&FID=42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807072009/http://www.wartimepress.com/archives.asp?TID=YANK%20USA%201943&MID=YANK%20-%20USA%20Edition&q=357&FID=42|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2017|publisher=Wartime Press|access-date=January 13, 2012}}</ref> Defying her deployed husband and his disapproving mother, she moved on her own and signed a contract with the Blue Book Model Agency in August 1945.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=103–104}}

The agency deemed Monroe's figure more suitable for [[pin-up]] than high fashion modeling, and she was featured mostly in advertisements and men's magazines.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=95–107}} She straightened her naturally curly brown hair and dyed it [[Blond|platinum blonde]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=93–95|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=105–108}} According to Emmeline Snively, the agency's owner, Monroe quickly became one of its most ambitious and hard-working models; by early 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers for publications such as ''[[Pageant (magazine)|Pageant]]'', ''U.S. Camera'', ''Laff'', and ''Peek''.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1p=95, for statement & covers|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=109, for Snively's statement}} As a model, Monroe occasionally used the pseudonym Jean Norman.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=93–95|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=105–108}}
[[File:Marilyn Monroe postcard.JPG|thumb|left|Monroe posing as a [[pin-up model]] for a postcard photograph, {{circa|1940s}}|alt=A smiling Monroe sitting on a beach and leaning back on her arms. She is wearing a bikini and wedge sandals.]]
Through Snively, Monroe signed a contract with an acting agency in June 1946.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=110–111}} After an unsuccessful interview at [[Paramount Pictures]], she was given a screen-test by [[Ben Lyon]], a [[20th Century Fox|20th Century-Fox]] executive. Head executive [[Darryl F. Zanuck]] was unenthusiastic about it,{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=110–112|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=117–119}} but he gave her a standard six-month contract to avoid her being signed by rival studio [[RKO Pictures]].{{efn|RKO's owner [[Howard Hughes]] had expressed an interest in Monroe after seeing her on a magazine cover.{{sfn|Banner|2012|p=119}}}} Monroe's contract began in August 1946, and she and Lyon selected the stage name "Marilyn Monroe".{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=112–114}} The first name was picked by Lyon, who was reminded of Broadway star [[Marilyn Miller]]; the surname was Monroe's mother's maiden name.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|p=114}} In September 1946, she divorced Dougherty, who had been opposed to her career.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|p=109}}

Monroe spent her first six months at Fox learning acting, singing, and dancing, and observing the film-making process.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=118–120|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=130–131}} Her contract was renewed in February 1947, and she was given her first film roles, bit parts in ''[[Dangerous Years]]'' (1947) and ''[[Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!]]'' (1948).{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=120–121}}{{efn|It has sometimes been claimed that Monroe appeared as an extra in other Fox films during this period, including ''[[Green Grass of Wyoming]]'', ''[[The Shocking Miss Pilgrim]]'', and ''[[You Were Meant for Me (film)|You Were Meant For Me]]'', but there is no evidence to support this.{{sfn|Churchwell|2004|p=59}}}} The studio also enrolled her in the [[Actors' Laboratory Theatre]], an acting school teaching the techniques of the [[Group Theatre (New York City)|Group Theatre]]; she later stated that it was "my first taste of what real acting in a real drama could be, and I was hooked".{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=122–126}} Despite her enthusiasm, her teachers thought her too shy and insecure to have a future in acting, and Fox did not renew her contract in August 1947.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=120–121, 126|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=133}} She returned to modeling while also doing occasional odd jobs at film studios, such as working as a dancing "pacer" behind the scenes to keep the leads on point at musical sets.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=120–121, 126|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=133}}
[[File:Marilyn-by Cronenweth.JPG|thumb|upright|Monroe in a 1948 [[publicity photo]]]]
Monroe was determined to make it as an actress, and continued studying at the Actors' Lab. She had a small role in the play ''Glamour Preferred'' at the [[Bliss-Hayden Theater]], but it ended after a couple of performances.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=122–129|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=133}} To network, she frequented producers' offices, befriended gossip columnist [[Sidney Skolsky]], and entertained influential male guests at studio functions, a practice she had begun at Fox.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=130–133|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=133–144}} She also became a friend and occasional sex partner of Fox executive [[Joseph M. Schenck]], who persuaded his friend [[Harry Cohn]], the head executive of [[Columbia Pictures]], to sign her in March 1948.{{sfnm|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1pp=204–216, citing Summers, Spoto and Guiles for Schenck|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=141–144|3a1=Spoto|3y=2001|3pp=133–134}}

At Columbia, Monroe's look was modeled after [[Rita Hayworth]] and her hair was bleached platinum blonde.{{sfnm|1a1=Banner|1y=2012|1p=139|2a1=Spoto|2y=2001|2pp=133–134}} She began working with the studio's head drama coach, [[Natasha Lytess]], who would remain her mentor until 1955.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=133–134}} Her only film at the studio was the low-budget musical ''[[Ladies of the Chorus]]'' (1948), in which she had her first starring role as a chorus girl courted by a wealthy man.{{sfn|Churchwell|2004|p=59}} She also screen-tested for the lead role in ''[[Born Yesterday (1950 film)|Born Yesterday]]'' (1950), but her contract was not renewed in September 1948.{{sfn|Banner|2012|p=148}} ''Ladies of the Chorus'' was released the following month and was not a success.{{sfn|Summers|1985|p=43}}