Marilyn Monroe photographed by David Cicero in 1951, a year that was very busy for her. Early that year, she moved into an apartment with Shelley Winters and work rapidly began to pick up for her. She worked on a number of films like As Young as You Feel, Love Nest, Let’s Make It Legal, and Clash by Night; she also began classes in Literature and Art at UCLA - “to expand my horizons.” She also met and befriended Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan - with whom she was intimate with. The two were in California eager to pitch Miller’s “The Hook” to various studios.

Around that time, she was grieving the loss of her friend and agent, Johnny Hyde. One evening, Marilyn was escorted to a party thrown by Charles Feldman and his wife Jean Howard; this led to Marilyn signing with Famous Artist agency, which Feldman headed with Hugh French. She managed a new, negotiated a seven year contract with Fox that stated the following: She was guaranteed 40 weeks of her salary, and would be paid regardless if she worked or not. Her salary would be $500 for the first year and Fox had the option to drop her if they so choose. If they renewed, she would receive a pay increase at $750 weekly for the second year; $1,250 for the third, $1,500 for the fourth, $2,000 for the fifth, $2,500 for the sixth, and, in 1957 for her seventh, $3,500. She would have no say over script and was obligated to whichever film the studio assigned her, she would not be allowed to make films for another studio unless pre-approved by Fox (for which they would make a profit from). She was unable to receive any pay from appearances on the stage, radio, and television - which explains why Jack Benny offered her a car for her appearance, as a thank you.

This was the same contract Marilyn walked out of in December 1954, when she moved to the east coast, Connecticut and New York, to build her own production company with Milton H. Greene.