AVALON, Calif. (AP) — Norma Jeane Baker was a teenage newlywed, living in a Catalina Island apartment, playing with neighborhood children and being photographed around town, angering her young husband.

The time Marilyn Monroe spent on the Southern California isle in 1943 is the focus of an August exhibit titled “Before She was Marilyn” at the Catalina Island Museum, which is changing direction to broaden its appeal.

The exhibit will include letters and photos taken on the island when Monroe was married to James Dougherty. Because of World War II, the island had been taken over by the military.

Museum curator Jeannine Pedersen told the Los Angeles Times the museum found where she lived in a third-floor apartment of a wood-framed building that still stands at the corner of Metropole Avenue and Beacon Street.
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