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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that shines a spotlight on the ups and

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Speaker 1: downs of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're looking at the story behind one of the most

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Speaker 1: famous performances of one of the most famous songs of

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Speaker 1: all time, Marilyn Monroe's sultry rendition of Happy Birthday. The

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Speaker 1: day was May nine, nineteen sixty two. At a fundraising

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Speaker 1: event for the Democratic Party, Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday, Mr.

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Speaker 1: President to John F. Kennedy. The televised gala was held

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Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden in New York City, ten days

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Speaker 1: before the president's actual forty five birthday. More than fifteen

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Speaker 1: thousand guests attended that night, with top tier tickets selling

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Speaker 1: for one thousand dollars each or about hundred dollars today.

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Speaker 1: Plenty of other stars gave performances that night, including Bobby

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Speaker 1: Darren and Ella Fitzgerald, but it was Monroe's breathy rendition

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Speaker 1: of Happy Birthday that stole the show. Months earlier, rumors

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Speaker 1: began to swirl that Monroe and Kennedy were already intimately acquainted.

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Speaker 1: They had reportedly spent the night together after attending a

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Speaker 1: party at Bing Crosby's house and Palm Springs in late March.

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Speaker 1: Some have theorized that night was when jfk asked Monroe

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Speaker 1: to attend the fundraiser in New York, but according to

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Speaker 1: his wife, Jackie Kennedy, the President's brother Bobby, was the

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Speaker 1: one who extended the invitation. Much to her dismay, the

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Speaker 1: First Lady chose not to attend that evening. Regardless of

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Speaker 1: who invited her, Marilyn Monroe agreed to the appearance and

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Speaker 1: even had a special outfit designed for the occasion, a

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Speaker 1: flesh colored chiffon gown adorned with more than twenty five

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Speaker 1: hundred shimmering rhinestones. The form fitting dress was so tight

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Speaker 1: that she had to be sewn into it, and once inside,

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Speaker 1: it looked as if she was wearing nothing at all.

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Speaker 1: The year leading up to the event had been a

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Speaker 1: difficult time for the actress. Her most recent film, The Misfits,

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Speaker 1: had been a dud at the box office, and her

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Speaker 1: divorce from playwright Arthur Miller had been so distressing that

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Speaker 1: she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in Manhattan. For

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Speaker 1: several days. She rebounded in the spring of nineteen sixty two,

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Speaker 1: when she landed the leading role in a screwball comedy

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Speaker 1: called Something's Gotta Give. Unfortunately, her reliance on barbiturates had

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Speaker 1: spiraled out of control at that point, and as a result,

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Speaker 1: she was repeatedly late to the set if she showed

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Speaker 1: up at all. Her reputation for tardiness was frequently reported

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Speaker 1: in the press, and was even used as a running

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Speaker 1: joke at JFK's fundraiser. Throughout the evening, actor and m C.

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Speaker 1: Peter Lawford repeatedly introduced Marilyn Monroe, before looking back at

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Speaker 1: the empty stage and calling for the next guest instead.

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Speaker 1: When it was finally time for her scheduled appearance, Lawford

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Speaker 1: pushed the joke even further, introducing her as quote the

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Speaker 1: late Marilyn Monroe, a description that would prove ominously prophetic

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Speaker 1: in the months to come. The actress took the stage

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Speaker 1: wearing an ermine fur coat draped over her shoulders. Lawford

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Speaker 1: quickly removed the fur revealing her skin tight gown and

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Speaker 1: drawing gasps from the audience. Then accompanied by jazz pianist

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Speaker 1: Hank Jones, Monroe began her famous ache on Happy Birthday,

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Speaker 1: before transitioning into a version of thanks for the memory

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Speaker 1: with new lyrics celebrating JFK's work as president. You may

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Speaker 1: have heard the clip before, or at least a parody

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Speaker 1: of it, but just in case, here's how it went.

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Speaker 1: Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday too, Happy birthday, Mr President.

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Speaker 1: Happy birthday to Mr President for all the things you've done,

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Speaker 1: the babble Dutch rue, the way you deal with us

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Speaker 1: deals and I pro thank you so much. And just

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Speaker 1: like that, her long awaited appearance was over. An enormous

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Speaker 1: birthday cake was carried out to celebrate the occasion, and

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Speaker 1: the President himself finally took the stage. Once the applause

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Speaker 1: died down, Kennedy thanked the evening's performers and joked that

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Speaker 1: he could now quote retire from politics after having had

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Speaker 1: Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet and

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Speaker 1: wholesome way. The evening's exchange breathed new life into the

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Speaker 1: rumors of Monroe and Kennedy's affair. In a column about

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Speaker 1: the event, journalist Dorothy Kilgallen described Monroe's performance as quote

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Speaker 1: making love to the president in the direct view of

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Speaker 1: forty million Americans. Whatever the true nature of their relationship,

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Speaker 1: JFK and Marilyn Monroe never saw each other again after

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Speaker 1: that evening. They interacted briefly at an after party, where

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Speaker 1: the only known photo of the two was taken along

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Speaker 1: with Bobby Kennedy, but that was the last known interaction

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Speaker 1: they had. It also proved to be one of Monroe's

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Speaker 1: final public appearances. In June of that year, she was

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Speaker 1: dismissed from her role And Something's Got to Give due

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Speaker 1: to her chronic absences, and the film was never finished.

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Speaker 1: Shortly after, on August five, the thirty six year old

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Speaker 1: actress was found dead in her home from a drug overdose.

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Speaker 1: Fifteen months later, President Kennedy met his own untimely end

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Speaker 1: when he was assassinated less than six months after his

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Speaker 1: forty sixth birthday. In the decades since these sad events,

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Speaker 1: historians and fans alike have poured over the footage of

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Speaker 1: Monroe's birthday appearance, searching for evidence of her struggle with

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Speaker 1: mental health. In a way, though, it's the behavior of

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Speaker 1: the other people that evening that offers all the insight

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Speaker 1: one would need. Marilyn Monroe struggled her whole life to

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Speaker 1: be taken seriously, not only as an actress, but as

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Speaker 1: a human being. The futility of her efforts was on

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Speaker 1: full display at the fundraiser, where she was made the

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Speaker 1: butt of jokes and treated as little more than a

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Speaker 1: sex object, at one point, even being unwrapped for the

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Speaker 1: ogling crowd. Some would argue that the actress relished the

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Speaker 1: attention and that she leaned into the public surface level

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Speaker 1: perception of her. There's certainly some truth to that, but

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Speaker 1: we should be careful not to mistake resignation for satisfaction.

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Speaker 1: In her last recorded interview, the actress touched on her

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Speaker 1: status as a sex symbol. She said, quote, I never

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Speaker 1: quite understood it, this sex symbol. I always thought symbols

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Speaker 1: were those things you clashed together. That's the trouble. A

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Speaker 1: sex symbol becomes a thing. If I'm going to be

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Speaker 1: a symbol of something, I'd rather it be sex than

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Speaker 1: some of the other things we've got symbols of. I

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Speaker 1: just hate to be a thing. But in the end,

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Speaker 1: symbols and things are so much easier to understand and

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Speaker 1: control than individuals. Marilyn Monroe knew she was more than

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Speaker 1: just a pretty face and curves the powers that be

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Speaker 1: insisted otherwise, but that was their family, not hers. I'm

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Speaker 1: gay Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can learn

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Speaker 1: even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if

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Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can always send

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Speaker 1: them my way at this day at I heart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in history class. It s

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Speaker 1: the