Bob Mitchum

Bob Mitchum is introduced as a brash young man working alongside Bucky Glazer at Lockheed, with ambitions of becoming an actor. The novel gives him a brief but defining role in a scene where Bucky seeks his coworkers’ admiration by showing them photographs of his wife, Norma Jeane Baker.

At Lockheed

Bucky particularly wants to impress Mitchum, whose acting ambition makes him a valued audience for the photographs and for the letters Bucky receives from Norma Jeane. Bucky expects the display to earn him envy and approval. The other coworkers respond with whistles and admiring remarks, apparently confirming his expectation.

Rebuke and confrontation

Mitchum reacts differently. After looking through the photographs, he confronts Bucky for showing his wife in that way and tears the pictures into pieces before Bucky can stop him. The exchange nearly becomes a fight; only the nearby foreman prevents it. Mitchum’s brief intervention reverses the scene’s social dynamic: the man Bucky hoped to impress refuses to treat the photographs as a source of masculine status.

Narrative role

Mitchum is defined here through contrast with Bucky. Where Bucky treats the images as proof of his good fortune and a means of winning attention, Mitchum’s response registers a boundary against displaying Norma Jeane for the amusement of others. The episode does not develop Mitchum’s acting career further, but his refusal makes him the one coworker whose reaction Bucky did not anticipate.