September 30, 2013

• Marilyn

  I once met Marilyn Monroe… well sort of
  I bought her a bottle of very expensive champagne…

  She was married to the playwright Arthur Miller at the time
  They lived in Arthur’s eccentric house in Roxbury Connecticut
  Marilyn would have her driver bring her across the bridge at Lake Zoar into Newtown
  To visit her friend Nino at his restaurant “La Ronde” just off Route 25
  She was always accompanied by her housekeeper who looked a lot like her
  They were dressed in old jeans and bulky sweaters and both wore dark glasses
  This big Caddie would drop them off a little before noon and she would settle in a booth
  In a dark corner of the pub area while the maid would go off to the Grand Union
  With the driver to do the shopping…

  Nino would come in with two glasses and a bottle of champagne
  He would sit and drink and talk with her for a while
  And then go back to the kitchen to cook for his other customers
  He was a great chef and people who used to dine at his place in New York
  Would come up on the new Interstate for his special dishes and great wine cellar

  “La Ronde” was the creation of Enric Madriguera and his wife Pat Gilmore
  Enric had a great NYC latin band in the 30’s into the late 40’s and Pat was his vocalist
  They got fed up with New York and bought an old farmstead in Newtown
  They spent a lot to turn it into a country inn and Nino came along to cook
  Because he was sweet on Pat although she never went for him at all
  The bistro didn’t work out so they sold the place to Nino and went back to the city

  My business was located only a few minutes from “La Ronde”
  And I would take my clients there for lunch because it was convenient
  And the food and service impressed them… It was very expensive
  But it could be written off as the cost of doing business…

  One fellow I used to deal with was a real character
  He was the advertising manager of a substantial company in Bridgeport
  And one afternoon when our waitress whispered to us the seedy-looking woman
  In that dark corner booth drinking champagne alone was really Marilyn Monroe
  He ordered another bottle of her favorite and when the girl brought it to her
  He lifted his glass to her and she smiled and nodded and signed her linen napkin
  And sent it over with “that was very sweet of you… Marilyn”…

  Marilyn got a Mexican divorce from Arthur Miller the following year…
  That bottle of ’53 Dom Perignon… Marilyn’s favorite cost me $89 dollars in 1960
  I looked it up on Google the other day… $721 in today’s dollars!…
  But there doesn’t seem to be any available… Poor Marilyn probably drank it all

  She was the ultimate Hollywood victim…

  “La Ronde” had one more brief glimpse of fame the following year…
  Floyd Patterson used the place as his training camp in 1961 in the defense of his title
  As the heavyweight boxing champion of the world against Ingemar Johanssen…

  • 2:30 pm
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