It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero
of the country’s national pastime captures the heart of the beautiful, glamorous Hollywood star. But the brief, volatile marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio–the couple wed on January 14, 1954–
barely got past the honeymoon before cracks began to show in
its brilliant veneer.
In 1952, the New York Yankees slugger DiMaggio asked an
acquaintance to arrange a dinner date with Monroe, a buxom
blonde model-turned-actress whose star was on the rise after
supporting roles in films such as Monkey Business (1952) and
a leading role in the B-movie thriller Don’t Bother to Knock (1952).
The press immediately picked up on the relationship and began to
cover it exhaustively, though Monroe and DiMaggio preferred to
keep a low profile, spending evenings at home or in a back corner
of DiMaggio’s restaurant. On January 14, 1954, they were married
at San Francisco City Hall, where they were mobbed by reporters
and fans. Monroe had apparently mentioned the wedding plans to someone at her film studio, who leaked it to the press.
