Before she became Marilyn Monroe, the movie star got divorced in LV

Marilyn Monroe with her earnings and Clark Gable in John Huston's "The Misfits," United Artists, 1961. (AP Photo)The cast and principals of "The Misfits", Front row, delegated right: Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable. Back row, delegated right: Eli Wallach, playwright Arthur Miller, and director John Huston are seen. (AP Photo)The Cal Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe was once owned by Frank Sinatra, seen here in 1959 with Marilyn Monroe and an unidentified male. (Don Dondero/Reno Gazette-Journal by means of AP)Fresh from declaring divorce in Las Vegas, Marilyn Monroe presented for an image in California including the covers of 5 magazines she appeared on in July, 1946. (Review-Journal).
Months prior to she embraced her phase name of Marilyn Monroe, a young Norma Jeane Dougherty invested six weeks in Las Vegas in 1946 to establish residency to apply for divorce from her then-husband, Jim Dougherty.

According to author David Spoto, Jim Dougherty married her when she was 16 in 1942, at a time when she dealt with another round of foster care. Dougherty was a Merchant Marine sailor overseas who didn't like the costs sustained by her modeling, and his partner believed he disrupted her motion picture career plans.

With the freedom managed by her pending Las Vegas divorce, she progressed incredibly quickly as a cover design in nationwide publications and agreement starlet with a Hollywood studio. She had actually listened to what her L.A. agent, Emmeline Snively, informed her - - the movie studios do not like wives, who may get pregnant while under agreement, according to Spoto.

Norma Jeane Dougherty's quick, historic time in Las Vegas, where she would invest her 20th birthday on June 1, can be traced to at least seven specific places, based on historic accounts.

Here are the places she is known to have checked out:.

Union Pacific Station.

( 1 Main St. at Fremont Street).

She arrived in Las Vegas from Los Angeles on May 14, 1946, most likely by traveler train. Grace McKee, her foster mom in L.A. who prompted her to go to Las Vegas to divorce her partner, suggested she invest her residency at the downtown Las Vegas home of Minnie Willett, McKee's 69-year-old auntie, according to Spoto.

Las Vegas Hospital.

( 201 N. Eighth St. at East Ogden Avenue).

She arrived experiencing "trench mouth," sores on her gums from bad health or perhaps from having her knowledge teeth eliminated, according to author Carl Rollyson. The treatment was a painful wash of hydrogen peroxide. Norma Jeane would return to that health center a couple of weeks later on throughout a bout with the measles.

Aunt Minnie's house.

( 604 S. Third St. at Bonneville Avenue).

Marilyn resided in a space at this 1920s-era house (because demolished), according to Spono, sunning herself in the yard. As she would write in a May 25 letter to Snively, "having lots of rest and I'm getting tan," as priced quote in the letter cost an auction by New York-based Sotheby's in 2005.

Third and Fremont streets.

Her trip accompanied the yearly "Helldorado" Old-West-themed celebration and parade down Fremont from May 23-26. "Las Vegas is really a vibrant town," she wrote to Snively, including that she fulfilled cowboy star Roy Rogers who was the star of the in-production Republic Pictures film "Heldorado" (" Hell" altered to calm censors). Rogers pulled her up to take a flight on his palomino stallion, Trigger. "What a horse!" she composed.

City Park.

( off Fifth Street and Bonanza Road).

Rogers and business shot "Heldorado" on Fremont Street and the rodeo grounds of City Park. "In in between shootings," Norma Jean wrote to Snively, "a number of fellows from Republic Studio walked over to me and asked me if I would fulfill some stars … … they asked me to have dinner with them at the Last Frontier.".

Last Frontier Hotel.

( 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard, South).

After dinner, they went back to City Park where "we went to the rodeo," she wrote. Clark County Courthouse.

( Second and Third streets, Carson and Bridger avenues).

Norma Jean completed her residency on July 5 and promptly declared divorce, according to Spoto. After she left for Los Angeles to resume modeling, a photo of her in a swimsuit covered by five publications with her image on the covers, all in the exact same month, appeared on Page 8 of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on July 11. On Aug. 26, she signed a movie contract with 20th Century Fox and soon passed her stage name, according to Spoto.

County Courthouse.

On Sept. 13, she returned for her divorce trial while her partner was unable to go to. After Aunt Minnie testified that she had actually coped with her for the 6 weeks, the judge right away gave the divorce, according to Spoto.

She left Las Vegas for L.A. on her method towards iconic motion picture stardom, a top ticket office draw in Hollywood throughout the 1950s until her drug-related death in 1962.

I will write once again soon. Love, Norma Jeane.".

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.