1945

March
16: At Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove with Jim, wearing a fancy hat and altered dress from Grace McKee(doc: photo/ CG card)

June
26: Photographed at Radioplane Corporation by David Conover

28: Meets with David Conover to view photos at Aunt Ana's house

July
1: Adviced by David Conover to quit work at Radioplane to become a professional model (doc:Finding Marilyn)

4: Arranges for sick leave from the factory and leaves with David Conover for a modeling trip through California (Red Rock Canyon/ Mojave Desert/ Mount Whitney/ Death Valley/ Hemet). They spent evenings having dinner, going for walks, having drinks, and planning next day's shooting before retiring to their motel, where Norma Jeane would read Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health. They'd get up early in the mornings and take off with a picnic lunch and six-pack of beer to look for modeling spots(doc:Findng Marilyn)

Marilyn would study herself in the developed photos and quickly learned how to look her best in pictures; she found she photographed best full face, with her lips parted.

9-10: In Death Valley with Conover, staying at the Furnace Creek Inn

17: Heads back home to Los Angeles with Conover, who is immediately ordered overseas; with no time to finish Norma Jeane's portfolio, Conover calls a photographer friend, Potter Hueth, to help out.

August
2: signs up with the Blue Book Modeling Agency, located at Ambassador Hotel and headed by Emmeline Snively

November
20/26: paid a total of $50 from Andre De Dienes for modeling work; she signed the checks "Norma Jeane Dougherty" and stated she lived on 11348 Nebraska Avenue, West Los Angeles