Miriam

Miriam is the Playwright’s mother and Marilyn Monroe’s warmly devoted mother-in-law. At their first meeting in Manhattan, she sees Marilyn as a younger reflection of herself; their later conversations and shared meals turn that recognition into an affectionate bond that contrasts with the family’s earlier reception of the Playwright’s first wife.

Identity and First Impression

At the first meeting in Manhattan, Miriam takes her son aside and tells him that the young woman resembles her at the same age and seems just as optimistic. Her response is immediate and personal: Marilyn is not merely the Playwright’s new partner but someone who calls up Miriam’s own youth. The strength of that identification surprises the Playwright.

A Bond Across Generations

Miriam, then seventy-five, recalls details of her younger life to Marilyn. She tells her that her hair had been the same shade and waviness, and remembers feeling like a queen during her first pregnancy. These recollections give their relationship a shared vocabulary of appearance, youth, and motherhood. Marilyn, for her part, never fears that Miriam and her husband will mock her for not being intellectual; the account instead presents a relationship in which Miriam’s acceptance does not depend on intellectual similarity.

Domestic Affection and Family Contrast

In the kitchen of the couple’s Manhattan apartment and later at the Captain’s House, Miriam talks while Marilyn listens and quietly assents. Miriam teaches her to make chicken soup with matzoh balls and chopped liver with onions. She also makes borscht, sometimes with beets and sometimes with cabbage, and prepares beef broth at home. These meals make affection tangible: Miriam’s attachment is expressed through conversation, instruction, and food, and the Playwright’s supposedly favorite dishes appear more often at Sunday lunch.

The Playwright is further astonished to discover that his parents had never been particularly enthusiastic about his first wife, Esther, despite her having given them grandchildren they adored over more than twenty years. Against that history, Miriam’s devotion to Marilyn stands out as an unexpected family welcome. Her attachment joins personal nostalgia to practical care, making her an intimate point of acceptance in Marilyn’s relationship with the Playwright’s family.