The loveliest story I recall comes from a girl who lived near Marilyn in New York when she had her apartment on East 57th Street. Every night before going to bed, the girl would go for a walk, and every night she would encounter Marilyn, who was airing her dog. Being a fan, she wanted very much to speak to her, but because she was also a lady, did not think it right to intrude upon the actress’ privacy, and so she said nothing. Thus the situation remained until one night when the girl was wearing a new coat — not, she said, an expensive coat or one particularly beautiful. Then the silence was broken, and it was the great star who broke it. ‘You must excuse me for speaking to you,’ she said, ‘but you look so nice in that coat that I just can’t bear not telling you.’ That was Marilyn.” – Marilyn Monroe: A Composite View by Edward Wagenknecht (1969)
Marilyn Monroe photographed by Milton H Greene