is the way I heard.

Pam was in a stadium with thousands of other football fans when her smiling face suddenly appeared

on the jumbo tron. She was wearing a LeBats t-shirt. The next day, LeBats signed Pam to a modeling

gig and before long Pamela Anderson became a bonafide sex symbol. Charlie was in a bank trying to

cash an international check from her mother. The teller refused and Charlie threw a fit. So

impassioned was her outburst, a talent agent waiting in line signed Charlie to a contract

right then and there and before long Charlize Theron became a bonafide sex symbol. Norma's rise to fame

was not so different. She was discovered in a pizza parlor and offered the role of a lifetime.

Soon thereafter she became a sex symbol unlike any other. Perhaps you know the rest of Norma's

story, the story of why she changed her name and the production that made her famous.

But what about the sharp eyed women who discovered her in that pizza parlor? What did they see in this

high school dropout that so many others missed? In her autobiography, Norma recalls their first

meeting over a picture of draft beer and a pepperoni pie. Linda and Sarah were sitting together,

she wrote, both were older than me and both were wearing two-piece business suits. I was wearing

jeans, a button-down shirt tied off at the waist and sandals. It was obvious to me, even from across

the room, that these women hadn't talked to a person like me for a long time, if ever.

Did Norma imagine in her wildest dreams that changing her name would change the industry?

That doesn't seem likely. She was 21 at the time, unemployed, homeless, and recently divorced.

Not exactly a Hollywood pinup girl. She was, according to Linda,

complicated. And yet, Norma possessed an undeniable quality that any good casting agent would

recognize, a fire in the belly, a hunger, a willingness to do whatever the role required.

You should understand, Warren Sarah, a role like this could really change your life. Are you prepared

...