domaki

life:

Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe, 22, takes dance lessons, Hollywood, 1949.

While it’s hardly evident in these warm and carefree photos, the next few months in Marilyn’s career would be marked by struggle. Later in 1949, desperate for money, she posed naked for a pinup calendar, a gig that paid her just $50 and later came back to haunt her. (The pictures wound up in the debut issue of Playboy).

But the beautiful and, as importantly, the tenacious Marilyn pushed on. She watched, practiced and learned, and as she honed her talent her opportunities grew.