Posted on

Marilyn’s Birthday Auction at Julien’s

Julien’s Auctions are holding an online sale of Marilyn-related photos and memorabilia, ending on June 1st (her 94th birthday.) Here are some highlights.

Program for the 1972 exhibition, Marilyn Monroe: The Legend and the Truth, curated by Lawrence Schiller; and catalogue for The Berniece and Mona Rae Miracle Collection, a Sotheby’s online auction from 2001.

Photos of a young Marilyn by Andre de Dienes

Original still photo and lobby card from River of No Return (1954.)

Candid photos from Marilyn’s 1954 trip to Korea.

1955 photo of Marilyn with a Pekingese dog by Milton Greene. Another image from the session can be seen in this Look magazine cutout.

Still photos from The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Let’s Make Love (1960.)

Marilyn in 1957, signed by Sam Shaw
A 1972 copy of Show magazine (cover photo by Bert Stern)

2017 real estate brochure for Marilyn’s last home at 5th St Helena Drive, L.A.

Photographs by George Barris, 1962

UPDATE: View results here

Posted on

Marilyn and the Legendary Women of Hollywood

Marilyn’s latest dedicated auction at Julien’s is now only a week away. Property From the Life and Career of Marilyn Monroe is part of a two-day event, Legendary Women of Hollywood, also featuring auctions for Mae West, Lucille Ball and Olivia Newton-John. The display of Marilyn’s movie costumes at London’s May Fair Hotel has now ended, and a public exhibition of the entire catalogue will open at Julien’s in Beverly Hills on October 28, ahead of the sale on November 1. (You can read all my posts on the sale here.)

The 103pp hardback catalogue is now available for $75 plus shipping, and if you order a copy before the auction you will also receive the other three catalogues in the set, which is worthwhile as the Women of Hollywood volume (with Lucille Ball on the cover) also contains another 42 pages on Marilyn, including this spread on the necklace she wore to the Cinemascope party at the Cocoanut Grove on New Year’s Day in 1953. You can preview the catalogue here, and place your order here.

I’ll be looking at the auction lots in depth over the next few days, but until then, here’s a catalogue preview from Lorraine at Marilyn Remembered.

UPDATE: In addition to the Legendary Women of Hollywood event, Marilyn is prominently featured in another upcoming auction at Julien’s, A Southern Gentleman’s Collection, gracing the cover of one catalogue in a three-volume set. The sale includes lots related to Marilyn’s early years and marriage to Joe DiMaggio, and an army jacket gifted to her in Korea. More to follow…

Posted on

Publishing News: Marilyn’s Lost Photos, and More

Limited Runs have produced a book based on their touring exhibit, Marilyn Monroe: Lost Photo Collection, featuring 21 images by Milton Greene, Gene Lester and Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder. Only 125 copies have been made, priced at $95. Hopefully it will be a high-quality product, but it still seems rather expensive for such a slim volume.

One of Marilyn’s best biographers and a friend of this blog, Michelle Morgan has recently published two new books via Lulu. The Marilyn Journal is the first in an anthology series, compiling newsletters of the UK Marilyn Lives Society, founded by Michelle in 1991. A Girl Called Pearl is a charming children’s novel – not about Marilyn as such, but it is set in the Los Angeles of her childhood, so it does have some interesting parallels, and would be a great Christmas gift for readers young and old (also available via Kindle.)

Marilyn: I Wanna Be Loved By You, an 82-page catalogue (in French) accompanying the current exhibition at Aix-en-Provence, is available from Amazon UK for £8.44.

Thanks to Fraser Penney

In the November 19 issue of Scotland’s Weekly News (with Donny Osmond on the cover), Craig Campbell picks his Top 10 MM movies. Click the photo above to read the article in full.

Finally, Marilyn’s love of Chanel No. 5 is featured in an article about favourite perfumes in Issue 3 of UK nostalgia mag Yours Retro.

Posted on

Marilyn at Julien’s in November

The full catalogue for the upcoming Marilyn-only event at Julien’s Auctions is now online. Among the 1,015 items on offer are movie costumes from the collection of David Gainsborough Roberts; rare candid photos formerly owned by Monroe Sixer Frieda Hull; and personal property from the Lee Strasberg estate.

Some items were previously sold at Christie’s in 1999, while various  writings, drawings and correspondence have been published in books like Fragments, MM Personal and Girl, Waiting. However, there is still a great deal of unseen material, yielding fresh insight into Marilyn’s life and times.

In advance of the auction in Beverly Hills on November 17 the Happy Birthday dress will be on display for one week only from tomorrow at the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware in County Kildare, Ireland.

ES Updates will be covering all aspects of the sale, including a series of detailed posts about what’s on offer; and Scott Fortner will be interviewing Anna Strasberg at his MM Collection blog on November 1.

Posted on

Hollywood Legends at Julien’s

Marilyn graces another auction catalogue cover this week. Julien’s Hollywood Legends sale is set for April 5-6, and includes photographs, documents and a cocktail dress that belonged to MM.

Norma Jeane by David Conover, 1945

 

Marilyn in 1949

UPDATE: Norma Jeane’s 1941 class photo from Emerson Junior High was sold for $1,280

A black velvet belt, probably worn by Marilyn in As Young As You Feel, sold for $2,432

Marilyn-themed suitcase owned by Anna Nicole Smith, sold for $1,024

‘A New Wrinkle‘ 1953 calendar from Tom Kelley Studio, sold for $1.375

Marilyn’s 1954 script for the unmade film, Horns for the Devil, sold for $1,375

Hairdresser Peter Leonardi’s invitation to the premiere of The Seven Year Itch, sold for $1,408

Red cotton nightshirt owned by Marilyn, sold for $15,000

Nude foundation bra from Marilyn’s ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You‘ dress, sold for $28,800

Marilyn’s 1961 bank savings book, sold for $1,920

Amateur film shot during production of The Misfits, sold for $2,560

8mm film reel showing Marilyn working on a scene with Misfits co-star Thelma Ritter, sold for $3,840

Skull cap trimmed with cabbage rose, worn by Marilyn in There’s No Business Like Show Business, sold for $8,125

Light brown wool cocktail dress from Jax, sold for $25,000

 

Posted on

Marilyn at Heritage Auctions

Marilyn graces the cover of the latest Heritage Auctions catalogue (price: $50, or view as PDF), accompanying the next Entertainment & Music Memorabilia auction, to be held in Dallas (and online.) Among the MM-related items on offer are several sets of rare photographs, featuring Betty Grable, Joshua Logan and others.

Marilyn at the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Luncheon hosted by 20th Century Fox, 1951
Marilyn at home
Marilyn with Betty Grable
During filming of Bus Stop, 1956