mayer, jack warner, darryl zanuck.onsters, and tough, tough businessmen, because they knew the things the public wanted were stars and stories. and they ran it like a factory. and they rolled those things out. four or five, six hundred of them a year. >> there were only a few large studios, and those studios made the movies, period. it was sort of like the mafia, in that they controlled everything. >> the studio system operated a pool of aspiring talent, what they called stock contract players. >> being a contract player didn't mean that you were going to be a star. you were shuffled from one movie to the next. and often, you were a glorified extra, essentially. >> hollywood has always been a difficult place for women. hollywood treats women as disposable, as you don't bring any talent to the screen, you bring beauty. >> when you weren't working, they stuck you in front of the camera and you posed for all kinds of pin-up pictures. i didn't really feel specifically like a commodity at the time. it's only on looking back

was like, uh-oh, her career's over. >> reports of marilyn's nude photos reach fox studio head darryl zanuckanuck's office to account for herself, and she was put in front of, you know, all of the powerful male studio heads. >> they said, did you pose for a calendar? and i said, yes. anything wrong? >> for 20th century fox, it wasn't about, we really think sin is bad. it was like, wait a minute. sin might be bad for business. >> posing nude was such an explosive thing. >> there was great anxiety. everybody said, say you didn't. i said, but i did. you know, i should say that i did. and they were very unhappy. >> the studios thought her career would be over. >> but marilyn devises a high-stakes plan to let the public decide her fate. >> aline mosby is a very big journalist at that point in time, and a lot of people read her. it's my understanding she was already somewhat sympathetic to marilyn. >> marilyn seeks out mosby in the powder room and confides in her. >> i was in debt. i always supported myself. no one else ever supported me in my life. i had no family and had no place to go. >> cruci

. >> while marilyn is creatively expanding, darryl zanuck is busy trying to replace her. >> he believear and audiences would love her just the same. >> it's classic darryl zanuck to think that you could replace her with sharemoore, replace the body with another body of a similar type. >> the more that zanuck pushed the more marilyn came back saying that the people make me a star. so from her point of view, just go direct to the audience. who needs zanuck? >> and marilyn knows exactly how to fight back. >> the photo shoot that marilyn did for "red book" magazine was a really pivotal moment for her. >> the choice of "red book" was a really symbolic one. it was geared at women and hadden about running some serious journalism. >> this was the exact opposite of all of the posed, heavily-made-up photos where she's looking right into the camera saying i'm here to seduce you. she was really questioning not just i think herself but how to show herself differently. >> marilyn was trying to position herself as a kind of every woman. >> it has that vulnerable, every day kind of girl look, working