"Terry Karger is the one living person who intimately knew Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan."
Hollywood, CA— 'My Maril' by Terry Karger and NY Times best-selling author Jay Margolis has won the FIREBIRD BOOK AWARD in the category of Movies and Television. Authors and publishers from around the world submitted their work to the International Firebird Book Awards for consideration. A select panel of 25 judges independently scored and evaluated the quality of the writing and production. Only entries with the highest of scores were awarded the coveted Firebird.
The movie star, the singer, the sex symbol, the so-called "dumb blonde" —all things that Marilyn Monroe is known as, and yet her story goes far beyond that. How did she build her career in Hollywood? Who was she close to—her family, her friends, her lovers—and who was really there for her? Was a successful young woman's life cut short by suicide, or is there more to the story? Most importantly, who really was Marilyn Monroe? My Maril: Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Hollywood, and Me reveals the intimate details of the star's life and the environment of Hollywood and the United States at the peak of Marilyn Monroe's career.
Terry Karger, granddaughter of Metro Pictures co-founder Maxwell Karger and the daughter of Fred Karger (Marilyn's lover and vocal coach), recounts her experience with Hollywood and a young Marilyn Monroe. Coauthored by New York Times best-selling author Jay Margolis, My Maril begins with a young Terry Karger meeting Marilyn, affectionately nicknamed "Maril" by the Karger family, for the first time as her father's new girlfriend. Marilyn becomes Terry's babysitter, and she serves as a friend and sister-esque figure in the young girl's life. Terry's version of Marilyn is personal--she is kind, affectionate, smart, and mischievous, strikingly different to the way she was portrayed by the media. This book is a comprehensive account of Marilyn's entire life, as well as a behind-the-scenes glance into other prominent public figures, such as Ronald Reagan, that Terry Karger knew personally.
"Old Hollywood through the eyes of a child and a young woman. When your stepmom is Jane Wyman, stepbrother is the son of Ronald Reagan (who would later become President of the United States), and surrogate mother / big sister is Marilyn Monroe, you've got some unique memories. Terry Karger delivers."—Richard Buskin, New York Times Best-Selling Author
As author Jay Margolis states, "Fame never impressed Terry and the messages Terry wants to get across are that Marilyn Monroe was intelligent, not a dumb blonde, a woman who sought and was attracted to intelligence, and was a kind-hearted, generous soul who bought gifts for those she loved even if she was not necessarily in a financial position to buy such expensive gifts." My Maril dives deep into this side of Marilyn, revealing never-before-heard stories from Terry herself. It also includes previously unseen photos from Terry's personal collection. These photos are of Marilyn Monroe, the Karger family, and other prominent figures.
This book is unique in comparison to other accounts of Marilyn's life, as Jay states, "This book differs from the others in that, for the first time, it's a memoir of a woman, Terry Karger, who not only knew Marilyn Monroe longer than her three husbands, Jim Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, and Arthur Miller, but she first met a 21-year-old Marilyn Monroe as a 6-year-old child. Marilyn became Terry's first and only babysitter, and Terry grew up with her until Marilyn's death at 36 and Terry was 21. Unlike the other books where people knew Marilyn only for a few short years, Terry and her family knew Marilyn for 14 years!"
"Terry Karger has written a remarkable story of her times with two of the most iconic, larger-than-life figures of the twentieth century, Ronald Reagan and Marilyn Monroe. She knew them before the world did. Terry had a glimpse of their down-to-earth humanity." —Hermine Hilton, Author and Memory Expert
My Maril: Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Hollywood, and Me is a personal account of the Hollywood experience, as told by a woman who grew up in it. Marilyn Monroe is not a one-dimensional figure: she is a human like the rest of us – someone who is kind and intelligent, but also has her own struggles. Terry Karger and Jay Margolis clear up any misconceptions and false information about Marilyn, and they reveal the true story of Marilyn Monroe's life.
My Maril: Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Hollywood, and Me, ISBN: 978-1-63758-326-5, ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-327-2, $9.99 Kindle, $28.00 Hardcover, 256 Pages, Post Hill Press, 2022. Available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
About Terry Karger: Terry Karger graduated from the University of Southern California in 1963, one year after Marilyn Monroe's death. She taught at Crescent Heights Elementary and would later teach at Westwood Elementary where her students had parents such as Micky Dolenz, Millie Perkins, Ronny Cox, and Richard Pryor.
About Jay Margolis: New York Times bestselling author Jay Margolis graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California and became a Jesse Unruh Research Scholar for his paper on African American Reparations. On October 15, 2014, The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. accepted Margolis's book The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed for display at the 37th Annual Book Fair & Authors' Night, in partnership with Politics & Prose. The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed was translated into Italian, French, and Russian and became a New York Times bestseller. Jay Margolis appeared in the 2014 United Kingdom documentary, directed by Renny Bartlett, titled The Missing Evidence: The Death of Marilyn Monroe, a Blink Films production in association with the Smithsonian Channel.
Media Contact: For a review copy of My Maril: Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Hollywood, and Me or to arrange an interview with Jay Margolis, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Reach Lorenz on Twitter @abookpublicist