On a sunny day in 1941, 800 teens from the Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School gathered outside for a class photo. The huge panorama shot captured all of their smiling faces, the boys in jackets and the girls in collared dresses.
In the coming years, they'd all go on to make their own lives, starting all kinds of careers, many of them likely joining the military, then going on to have children of their own, many of them remembered today only by their families.
But there was one girl in that sea of young faces who would burn herself into all of their memories, and into ours.
She was only 15 years old at the time, and had a rocky childhood in and out of foster care and a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
She escaped the grim realities of her life by creating fantasy worlds, and dreamed of being an actress. And while she was known for her pretty face, she was also quite intelligent and talented.
Four years after the school photo was taken, she'd sign with 20th Century Fox and become a silver screen icon.
Her name was Norma Jeane Mortenson (or Mortensen, or Baker), and she would later be known as Marilyn Monroe.
But in the school photo? You might never pick her out.
Think you can? Check out the photo below and see if you can spot Marilyn!
[H/T: Daily Mail]
This is the 1941 class of Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High. Amid these 15-year-olds is the future Marilyn Monroe, then known as Norma Jeane Baker or Norma Jeane Mortenson.
Can you find her? We know, it's tough. If you're stumped, click on the image below to see where she is.
She's circled in red! Did you find her?
It's true, there are a lot of faces in this photo, so let's try something easier.
How about now? It should be a little more obvious, but here's a hint: Monroe's signature blonde hair didn't exist yet. Norma Jeane had curly brown hair.
Here she is. Even without the hair, she still has that dazzling smile.
She would also leave school the following year after a troubled childhood including being a ward of the state, a seriously mentally ill mother, and sexual abuse.
To escape, she married her neighbor at 16, but was unhappy with life as a housewife.
Many of the kids also signed the back of the photo and left little messages. Monroe, unfortunately, did not.
The other kids in her class would go on to lead lives most of us would consider normal, getting jobs, joining the military, or raising families.
It would be fascinating to hear what memories of Monroe they might have!
When her husband enlisted in the Merchant Marine in 1943, Monroe started working at the Radioplane Munitions Factory with many other women who pitched in during the War.
Here she is sporting curls and a propeller at the factory.
Monroe worked as a model before getting into acting, and found most of her work in pinup-style advertisements in men's magazines.
After working as a model, Monroe signed with 20th Century Fox in 1946, and starred in bit parts until her big breakthrough in 1950.
In this photo of Monroe posing for a publicity image in 1947, you can see her transition from brunette to blonde.
Monroe's rise to fame would be meteoric, and she'd go on to be one of the most long-lasting Hollywood icons, still celebrated today.
Sadly, her troubles would also continue in the forms of depression and addiction, and she would die of an overdose of barbiturates at only 36.
The photos of her as a young girl show someone teetering on the edge of a life she probably never even imagined, and are a poignant look into the past.
SHARE this unique look at a movie star with anyone who loves history and film!
