A Marilyn Monroe letter from Len Cormier
Autograph Letter Signed ("Len"), 5 pp recto, 8vo, San Francisco (though his letter states he is in Sydney, Australia), May 26, 1947, to Marilyn Monroe, on "SkyMail" stationery. Len Cormier was a young Navy pilot who dated Monroe (then Norma Jeane Dougherty) shortly after she divorced her first husband in 1946. They had at least 2 dates: one at Tommy Dorsey's Casino Gardens in Santa Monica, and one where he took her flying (the only civilian he ever took up in a plane, he later recalled). In his letter from training camp, he writes, "I'll have to admit that I don't leave your picture out all the time, since nobody would get any work done if it were." He relays his experiences with flight operations and traveling, and ends his letter with a thoughtful message to his career-oriented friend: "I've still got my fingers crossed, hoping that all the breaks in the world come to you."
6 x 9 in.