At San Francisco's City Hall, actress Marilyn Monroe married New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio was nicknamed 'the Yankee Clipper' by Yankee stadium announcer Arch McDonald in 1939, when he liked DiMaggio's sped and range to in the outfield to Pan Am's new airliner.
The couple sped away from City Hall and 500 screaming fans, headed south and hid out in the small town of Paso Robles, staying at the Clifton Motel for $6.50 a night. The motel owner didn’t recognize them, which tells us something about Paso Robles.
Joe was scheduled a few weeks later to promote American style baseball training to Japanese leagues under the sponsorship of the Yomiuri newspaper there. Faced with huge crowds and press, Joe figured to escape to Japan with Marilyn until the frenzy died down. It turned out to be a case of Out of the frying pan and into the rice cooker.
Marilyn and Joe, The Yankee Clipper, flew in Pan Am’s Yankee Clipper to Japan. Unfortunately for them, there was no longer a private honeymoon room. But after the Clifton Motel, we can assume they appreciated Pan Am’s First Class seating and dining.
They boarded the plane in San Francisco and 9.5 hours later, landed in Honolulu. They were mobbed at the airport with Marilyn getting her hair pulled and needing the police to save them. After a one night stay they took the 2am flight to Tokyo; flying time 10 hours. That makes you appreciate the 11 hour direct flights from San Francisco to Tokyo these days, and a mere 9 hours back because of the continuous wind pushing the jet toward the Golden Gate.
At the Tokyo airport, 3,000 screaming fans charged the runway. Joe and Marilyn had to be smuggled out of the plane’s cargo hatch to a secretly awaiting police car which fans began throwing themselves on top of. Since the streets were also mobbed with fans, it took six hours to get to their hotel.
I relate this story to give you hope and patience. The next time you have to fly a long international flight, then wait for your baggage and stand in a customs line, just say to yourself, “Well, this is shorter and easier than Joe and Marilyn had it.”
When the couple returned to America, Joe wanted Marilyn to quit show business, settle down and be a housewife. But what woman could give up working with Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift? Maybe she could resist working with character actor Tom Ewell on the next movie offered to her, but she couldn’t resist being directed by the famous Billy Wilder in The Seven Year Itch.
When DiMaggio visited the location and saw his wife standing over a subway grating, with her dress blowing up in front of 5,000 onlookers, he was outraged.
This story is from my memior: 'I was a Pan Am Princess of the Sky'
Nook: http://goo.gl/5k6Tl
ITunes: http://goo.gl/dyNR9
Thank you,
John Michael Domino