For almost her entire career, Marilyn Monroe's makeup artist was Allan "Whitey" Snyder of 20th Century Fox. He did her makeup for her first screen test, added glow to her skin with Vaseline, and painted her lips in several shades of red. Marilyn made him promise: if she went first, only he would do her face one last time. In August 1962, Whitey kept that promise.
βΆοΈ Watch the episode: Marilyn Monroe and her makeup artist
In this story:
- Who was Whitey Snyder, and what promise did Marilyn make him give?
- Who was Norma Jeane, and why did she become Marilyn Monroe?
- How did Whitey Snyder create Marilyn Monroe's makeup?
- Why did Marilyn pose nude for fifty dollars?
- Whom did Marilyn Monroe love: DiMaggio, Miller and Montand
- Why did Marilyn Monroe never become a mother?
- What happened to Marilyn Monroe in her final year?
- Marilyn's secrets that aren't in the video
- How did Whitey Snyder keep his promise?
In this story:
- Who was Whitey Snyder, and what promise did Marilyn make him give?
- Who was Norma Jeane, and why did she become Marilyn Monroe?
- How did Whitey Snyder create Marilyn Monroe's makeup?
- Why did Marilyn pose nude for fifty dollars?
- Whom did Marilyn Monroe love?
- Why did Marilyn Monroe never become a mother?
- What happened to Marilyn Monroe in her final year?
- Marilyn's secrets that aren't in the video
- How did Whitey keep his promise?
- Video version of the story
- Frequently asked questions
Who was Whitey Snyder, and what promise did Marilyn make him give?
Silence. Pink roses. A man opens the black metal case he has carried after her across film sets for years and takes out a red lipstick. His hand trembles above the white sheet.
Before him lies the most famous face on the planet. She is thirty-six, and she is dead.
Allan Snyder, whom all of Hollywood simply called Whitey, was the makeup artist at 20th Century Fox. He had seen Marilyn without lashes, without eyebrows, without confidence — in the morning, at six o'clock, when she was still a frightened little girl and not a goddess.
Once, in the makeup room, they say, she laughed and made him promise: if she went first, only he would do her face. Whitey joked back: "Bring her in while she's still warm." She threw a powder puff at him. They both roared with laughter. Who would have known then that the joke would become a vow.
Marilyn never forgot that joke. Later she gave Whitey a gold Tiffany money clip engraved: "Whitey, honey, while I'm still warm. Marilyn." He treasured the gift all his life.
Who was Norma Jeane, and why did she become Marilyn Monroe?
Her real name was Norma Jeane. Her mother, Gladys, worked as a film cutter at a movie studio — she lived next to the movies, but not in them. And she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. She would take her daughter back, then give her away again.
Foster families, an orphanage, an iron bed among strangers' children. When yet another guardian family was about to move away, sixteen-year-old Norma was married off to the boy next door, Jim Dougherty — just so she wouldn't have to go back to the orphanage.
While her husband served in the Navy, a photographer noticed Norma. A modeling agency, magazine covers, and one condition: become a blonde. Her chestnut curls were bleached — for a shampoo ad, they say. Do you also remember your first radical hair color and the feeling that someone new was in the mirror?
At twenty she signed a contract with Fox. Someone at the studio suggested the name Marilyn, and she took the surname Monroe from her mother's maiden name. She never gave up on Gladys.
The "Marilyn" brand passport
| Parameter | Value |
| Real name | Norma Jeane Mortenson (baptized as Baker) |
| Born | June 1, 1926, Los Angeles |
| Studio | 20th Century Fox |
| Makeup artist | Allan "Whitey" Snyder |
| Signature look | platinum blonde hair, glowing skin, red lips |
| Iconic fragrance | Chanel No. 5 |
How did Whitey Snyder create Marilyn Monroe's makeup?
The screen test. Whitey takes Vaseline and applies a thin layer to her cheekbones — so that under the studio lights her skin wouldn't look flat but would glow from within. What we call highlighter today then lived in a little pharmacy jar.
And he painted her lips not with one lipstick. Darker shades of red along the outline, lighter ones toward the center. The lips looked full, almost wet, both on black-and-white film and in color.
One of her Max Factor lipsticks was later sold at auction. We have a separate episode about the magician who invented Hollywood makeup — "Max Factor. The Makeup That Saved."
Why did Marilyn pose nude for fifty dollars?
And then the studio dropped her. No roles, no money, with an unpaid car, without which you can't get to a single audition in Los Angeles. Photographer Tom Kelley offered fifty dollars for a nude shoot on red velvet. She agreed. Honestly, she had no choice.
Then Johnny Hyde appeared in her life — an influential Hollywood agent, more than thirty years her senior. He left his wife for her and kept asking her to marry him. She refused: "I love you, but I'm not in love with you." Saying yes could have made her a wealthy widow — Hyde was gravely ill with a heart condition.
He still got her a new contract with Fox. And a few days later he died. She stood at the funeral in a black veil — a girl whom the dead man's family considered "that other woman."
Two years passed, and that calendar came out. The newspapers went wild, the studio panicked. And Marilyn came out to the reporters in a high-necked dress, and when asked whether she had anything on at all, she winked:
I did. The radio was on.
— Marilyn Monroe, in reply to journalists
The scandal became publicity. Later that photo appeared in the first issue of Playboy. She got not a cent.
Whom did Marilyn Monroe love: DiMaggio, Miller and Montand
She married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. He dreamed of a wife at home. She was the most desirable woman in the country.
New York, night filming, a subway grate, a white dress flying up to her knees. The crowd roars, photographers click. DiMaggio, they say, turned away grimly in the crowd. The marriage lasted nine months.
Then came playwright Arthur Miller, an intellectual in glasses. They were introduced by director Elia Kazan, then, according to biographers, her lover. Marilyn read over Miller's shoulder and, it seems, for the first time felt like a mind rather than a body.
Why did Marilyn Monroe never become a mother?
She dreamed of a child. She bought tiny baby sweaters. And in the summer, at thirty-one, an ectopic pregnancy, an ambulance at night, surgery.
A year later, right after "Some Like It Hot," a miscarriage. Most likely endometriosis was to blame, which she had lived with for years. But she blamed herself. How many of us silently carry that same guilt, in which there is no fault of ours?
What happened to Marilyn Monroe in her final year?
On the set of "Let's Make Love," she had an affair with her co-star, the French singer and actor Yves Montand. Both were married. His wife, actress Simone Signoret, knew everything.
Insomnia, depression. For years she couldn't fall asleep without sleeping pills and washed them down with alcohol. Her psychoanalyst persuaded her to check into a clinic to "rest." But Marilyn was locked in a ward for violent patients: bars, doors without handles. In despair she hurled a chair at the glass door.
DiMaggio got her out. Her ex. The one who once turned away in the crowd.
Several biographers write that in the spring she spent a night with President Kennedy. There is no confirmation; history is silent. And in May, Marilyn, literally sewn into a rhinestone dress, sings at Madison Square Garden: "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." It seems like the peak.
Three months later she was found dead in her bedroom in Brentwood. She was thirty-six. Officially — an overdose of sleeping pills, "probable suicide." One of the last people to see her was psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson, whom she visited almost daily.
Marilyn's secrets that aren't in the video
When a journalist asked what she wore to bed, Marilyn replied: just a few drops of Chanel No. 5. The phrase became one of the most famous advertisements for the fragrance — and Marilyn received nothing for it. About the woman who created this fragrance, see the episode "Chanel. The Convent Orphan Who Dressed the World."
Marilyn left most of her estate to her acting teacher Lee Strasberg, and a share to her psychoanalyst Marianne Kris. And the "Happy Birthday" dress itself was later sold at auction for almost 4.8 million dollars — the girl who was once paid fifty.
And DiMaggio, they say, sent red roses to her crypt three times a week for twenty years. He never married again.
How did Whitey Snyder keep his promise?
DiMaggio organized the funeral: quiet, for a few dozen people. Most Hollywood stars were not invited. He believed that Hollywood was what had killed her.
And Whitey came with his case. Vaseline on the cheekbones. Darker red along the outline, lighter toward the center. The same movements as at her first screen test, when she was twenty. Now he painted without any jokes.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
| 1926 | Norma Jeane is born in Los Angeles |
| 1942 | At 16, she marries Jim Dougherty |
| 1946 | Contract with 20th Century Fox and first screen test with Whitey Snyder |
| 1949 | Tom Kelley shoot on red velvet for $50 |
| 1954 | Marriage to Joe DiMaggio, lasting nine months |
| 1956 | Marriage to Arthur Miller |
| May 1962 | "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at Madison Square Garden |
| August 1962 | Death in Brentwood; Whitey does her final makeup |
Marilyn's lips are not a single lipstick, but a play of light: deep red at the edge and a glow in the center. Today this technique takes two minutes in front of a mirror. LIPLINERPRO lip liner gives the same crisp outline Whitey started with.
And instead of the Vaseline from the screen test — LIPGLOSSPRO lip gloss: a drop in the center, and your lips catch the light as if under studio lamps.
LIPLINERPRO lip liner · LIPGLOSSPRO lip gloss
You've read to the end — now watch Whitey Snyder open his case one last time. Episode eight of "SINART. The DNA of Beauty," about Marilyn Monroe. Subscribe to SINART on YouTube so you don't miss the next stories.
βΆ The episode video will be here
Men came and went: husbands, lovers, presidents. But Marilyn entrusted her face to one person — until the very end. The most famous blonde in the world never found a love that lasted. But she had loyalty that needed no words.
The next episode is "Rihanna. The Face She Didn't Hide": the story of a girl who turned her skin and her pain into a billion-dollar empire. Coming soon to the channel.
And whom do you trust with your face — and would you have taken such a promise from anyone?
Frequently asked questions
Who was Marilyn Monroe's makeup artist?
Marilyn Monroe's chief makeup artist was Allan "Whitey" Snyder of 20th Century Fox. He did her makeup for her first screen test in 1946 and worked with her on most of her films. Marilyn trusted him so much that she made him promise: if she died first, he would do her final makeup. In August 1962, Snyder kept that promise before the funeral.
How did Marilyn Monroe do her lips?
According to accounts of Whitey Snyder's work, Marilyn's lips were painted in several shades of red, by legend up to five. Darker tones were applied along the outline, lighter ones closer to the center. This made the lips look fuller and almost wet. Today this effect is easy to recreate with a lip liner one shade darker than your lipstick and a drop of gloss in the center.
What was written on Marilyn Monroe's gift to Whitey Snyder?
Marilyn gave her makeup artist a gold Tiffany money clip engraved: "Whitey, honey, while I'm still warm. Marilyn." It was a reply to his joke. When she asked him to do her makeup after her death, Snyder joked: "Bring her in while she's still warm." The gift turned the joke into a promise, which he later kept.
What was Marilyn Monroe's real name?
Her real name was Norma Jeane. On her birth certificate of June 1, 1926, she is recorded as Norma Jeane Mortenson, and she was baptized as Norma Jeane Baker. The name Marilyn Monroe appeared in 1946, when she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. She legally changed her name only in 1956.
Why did Marilyn Monroe take the surname Monroe?
Monroe was the maiden name of her mother, Gladys. When 20th Century Fox was looking for a catchy name for the young actress, the name Marilyn was suggested at the studio, and she chose the surname herself. Despite her difficult relationship with her mother, who suffered from schizophrenia, Marilyn kept a connection to her family at least through her surname.
How much was Marilyn Monroe paid for the photo in Playboy?
Nothing. In 1949, photographer Tom Kelley paid her $50 for a nude shoot on red velvet — she needed the money for her car. The rights to the image were sold to a calendar manufacturer, and Hugh Hefner bought the photo for the first issue of Playboy in December 1953. Marilyn did not receive a single cent for that publication.
How many times was Marilyn Monroe married?
Three times. First, at 16, in 1942, to Jim Dougherty, so she wouldn't have to return to the orphanage. Second, in 1954, to baseball player Joe DiMaggio; the marriage lasted nine months. Third, in 1956, to playwright Arthur Miller; they divorced in early 1961.
Did Marilyn Monroe have children?
No. Marilyn desperately wanted a child, but in 1957 she went through an ectopic pregnancy and surgery, and at the end of 1958, after filming "Some Like It Hot," a miscarriage. Biographers link her health problems to endometriosis, from which she suffered for years. She herself often blamed herself.
What did Marilyn Monroe die of?
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on the night of August 4–5, 1962. She was 36. The official conclusion was acute poisoning by sleeping medication, "probable suicide." Theories and rumors still circulate around her death, but the official conclusion has never been changed.
How much did Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress cost?
The flesh-colored rhinestone dress for her performance at Madison Square Garden in May 1962 was created by designer Jean Louis, and it was literally sewn onto Marilyn. In 2016 the dress was sold at Julien's auction for almost 4.8 million dollars. At the time it was a record for a dress sold at auction.
Who did Marilyn Monroe leave her estate to?
According to her will, the main part of Marilyn's property went to her acting teacher Lee Strasberg, and a share to psychoanalyst Marianne Kris, who later passed it on to child psychiatry. Over the years, the rights to Marilyn's name and image became a profitable business and changed hands to new owners several times.
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