Raising the Dead: Marilyn, JFK and the Enquirer

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Last week, ES Updates reported on a Daily Mail story concerning a group of candid photos taken by Monroe Sixer Frieda Hull, showing Marilyn during test shots for The Misfits, and the rather spurious claim by Las Vegas croupier Tony Michaels, a former acquaintance of the late Ms Hull who purchased the photos at Julien’s Auctions last November, that Marilyn was carrying Yves Montand’s child.

As I explained last week, no pregnancy at this time has ever been noted, and there are numerous similar photos of Marilyn with a slightly prominent tummy over the years. Therefore, there is no reason to believe she was pregnant. At the time, I wondered whether this would qualify as the silliest Marilyn-related story of the year – but only days later, the US-based National Enquirer went one step further, claiming John F. Kennedy was the father, and that Marilyn had an abortion (presumably at his behest.)

Many moons ago, I would buy the Enquirer for a cheap laugh, fully aware that most of their stories were probably untrue. In this age of viral news, however, the damage done by unfounded gossip cannot be so easily dismissed.

The front cover image depicting Marilyn with Kennedy appears to be a digital manipulation. There is only one verified image showing them together, after his birthday gala in May 1962. There is no evidence of the pair having met before late 1961 or early ’62, and Frieda Hull’s photos of Marilyn were taken in July 1960.

Could it be possible that the Enquirer‘s editors decided that Montand was not quite famous enough for their readership, and reverted to the more familiar rumours about Marilyn and the former president instead? Their rather crude red circling of Marilyn’s tummy shows how innocuous her alleged ‘baby bump’ really was.

Whatever the truth of Marilyn’s relationship with John F. Kennedy, this story is plainly absurd. While both ‘victims’ are long dead, their reputations are still being sullied today. What makes this all the more sad, for those who care, is the knowledge that Marilyn desperately wanted children but, after several miscarriages and failed operations to relieve her chronic endometriosis, would never have a baby of her own.

Fake News: Marilyn, Yves and a ‘Secret Pregnancy’

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A series of gorgeous colour photos taken by Monroe Sixer Frieda Hull, whose incredible archive of candid snapshots were auctioned at Julien’s in November 2016, were published in yesterday’s Daily Mail. The images show Marilyn arriving for test shots for The Misfits in New York in July 1960.

Unfortunately – and all too predictably – the pictures are accompanied by a salacious and frankly unbelievable story. Marilyn’s belly is rather prominent in the photos, and Tony Michaels – a Las Vegas casino croupier who befriended the late Frieda Hull, and purchased the images at auction – claims that Marilyn was secretly pregnant at the time, by her Let’s Make Love co-star Yves Montand.

That Marilyn and Yves had an affair is not in doubt, and of course they were both married to other people. However, a pregnancy at this time has never been mentioned, and Marilyn’s daily routine is extremely well-documented. To casual observers her protruding tummy may look like a baby bump, but seasoned fans have noticed many similar images of her over the years.

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Furthermore, Marilyn was a very private person and it would be out of character for her to have confided in a teenage fan. Frieda Hull never sought publicity and it seems all too convenient that such a story would emerge only after her death. It has also been debunked by Scott Fortner, who helped to catalogue the recent Julien’s sale in which these photos were featured, on his MM Collection blog.

Could this be an early frontrunner for the most ridiculous Marilyn headline of 2017? It is interesting to note that the Daily Mail was recently blacklisted by Wikipedia for ‘poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication.’

Marilyn at Julien’s: A Candid Feast

“As far as Hollywood stories go, Marilyn Monroe‘s is generally seen as a tragic one,” Time magazine observes. “Knowing what would come later, it’s easy for her fans today to look at images of the actress and add their own overlay of sadness to the pictures.”

However, the article continues, candid photos from the Frieda Hull estate – up for bids at Julien’s Auctions this weekend – show a “lighter side” of Marilyn, suggesting that “the tragedy of her story does not mean that she lacked for moments of happiness—or at least moments when she appeared to be happy.”

The Frieda Hull collection ranges from approximately Lots 605-788 of the Julien’s sale, and is well worth a closer look. Time have featured some of the most striking images on offer, and I’ve posted a few more below.

Signed photo of Marilyn in New York, 1955
Returning from her Jamaican honeymoon with Arthur Miller, 1957
Marilyn attends a screening of The Prince and the Showgirl, 1957
Leaving her New York apartment in 1959, en route to meet Khrushchev in Hollywood
Attending Josephine Baker’s revue in Los Angeles, 1960

Frieda Hull also collected original memorabilia, including movie stills, studio portraits and lobby cards. She compiled scrapbooks and home movies, and even owned a scarf of Marilyn’s, and a Gladstone Hotel menu signed by MM and Arthur Miller – not to mention a Monroe Six badge!

This archive is so unique that it could easily fill a book. Although some images have been seen before, many have never been published, and some are extremely rare. Whatever her mood, Marilyn could always spare a smile for her fans. So let’s hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of these lovely pictures.

Marilyn at Julien’s: Let’s Make Music

Marilyn’s RCA Victor award for ‘I’m Gonna File My Claim‘ after it was released as a single to promote River of No Return and sold 50,000 copies in 1954, as well as promotional materials, are among the items in the upcoming Julien’s sale.

An unedited, 30-minute audio recording of Marilyn performing multiple takes of ‘Runnin’ Wild’ and ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You’ (from Some Like It Hot) on a reel of acetate tape, from the estate of Studio 7612 owner Myron Blackler, is also on offer.

Marilyn’s personal songbook – containing more than 369 indexed pages of song standards, such as Cole Porter’s ‘You Do Something To Me’ – is up for bids. Receipts show that in February 1960, Marilyn purchased three albums by Frank Sinatra; and in April 1962, she bought a live double-album by Judy Garland.

Finally, a set of vinyl compilations featuring Marilyn herself are on sale, as collected by Monroe Sixer Frieda Hull.

Marilyn at Julien’s: Happy Birthday Mr President

The ‘nude’ beaded dress worn by Marilyn as she sang ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962 will be auctioned at Julien’s next month, with bids starting at $1 million. There are also several other items on offer from the historic gala, including Marilyn’s own ticket and program.

Legendary costume designer Bob Mackie began his career as a sketch artist for Jean Louis, and his drawings of Marilyn’s dress are also up for sale. At the time of his first attempt, Mackie didn’t know who the dress was for (although he was already working with Jean Louis on Marilyn’s costumes for Something’s Got to Give.)

Five colour photos from the collection of Monroe Sixer Frieda Hull, and an eight-minute film comprised of clips from the night’s entertainment, take us back to the events of 1962.

Illustrator LeRoy Neiman captured Marilyn’s unforgettable performance in art.

Producer Clive David kept a commemorative tile signed by various stars in attendance, including Marilyn, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Benny and Maria Callas. It would be Marilyn’s last major public appearance, triggering over fifty years of rampant speculation.

UPDATE: The ‘Happy Birthday’ dress was sold at Julien’s for $4.8 million on November 16, 2016, making it the most lucrative dress in auction history. The buyer is Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum, who plan to showcase the dress in future exhibitions. Read a full report from Scott Fortner on his MM Collection Blog.

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 GirlWaiting. 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.

The Man Who Bought Marilyn’s Hair

Hair test for Something’s Got to Give (1962)

Following recent news that two locks of Marilyn’s hair have been sold by Julien’s Auctions, the man who paid $37,000 for one of them has been interviewed by CNBC.

“The locks from the estate of Monroe super-fan Frieda Hull, who had obtained the hair from the Tinseltown starlet’s hairdresser, sold for a whopping $70,000 combined. Julien’s originally expected the hair to sell for only a few thousand dollars.

One of the bidders on Monroe’s golden tresses was Remi Gangarossa, a 31-year-old Chicago financial professional. Despite his relatively young age, Gangarossa told CNBC he’d been ‘infatuated’ with Hollywood and one of its most tragic icons for most of his life.

Fate may have intervened to grant Gangarossa one of his biggest wishes. He explained that Julien’s was originally scheduled to auction a slate of Monroe’s former property in November, but decided to auction just a few of her items off in a separate event, which took place last weekend.

The Chicago resident said he had already received offers to buy the hair, but ‘I said absolutely not,’ Gangarossa told CNBC. ‘It’s an interesting thing to know my investment was worth it, but it’s not for sale.'”

Marilyn: Still Loved For Her Yellow Hair

Marilyn during filming of Some Like It Hot

‘Love me for my yellow hair alone’, Marilyn once wrote to her friend, Norman Rosten – it was an ironical misquote (perhaps intentionally so) of a line from W.B. Yeats’ poem ‘For Anne Gregory‘, which actually read  ‘Love me for myself alone/And not my yellow hair.’

This weekend, two locks of Marilyn’s hair – previously owned by Frieda Hull, a former member of the teenage group known as the Monroe Six, who befriended the star when she moved to New York – were sold by Julien’s Auctions for $70,000, as part of their latest Icons and Idols sale. Other items from the late Ms Hull’s collection, including many rare, candid photos, will be sold by in November’s Marilyn-only auction, also at Julien’s.

In a macabre footnote, the ashes of novelist Truman Capote – another friend of Marilyn’s – were also sold at Julien’s this weekend for $43, 750.  And in other hair-related news, a wig worn by Marilyn in The Misfits will be on sale at Heritage Auctions on November 12.

UPDATE: You can now read a CNBC interview with Remi Gangarossa, who placed the winning bid for a lock of Marilyn’s hair, over here.

Julien’s Adds Frieda Hull Collection to November Sale

Members of the Monroe Six with Marilyn on James Haspiel’s birthday, 1959. (Frieda Hull is pictured kneeling directly below MM.)

A trove of rare photos from the estate of Frieda Hull – a former member of the Monroe Six, the group of loyal fans who befriended Marilyn after her move to New York in 1955 – has been added to the upcoming Julien’s Auctions sale, set for November and also including items from the David Gainsborough Roberts Collection and Marilyn’s own personal archive, as Just Collecting reports. (This follows the sale of fellow Monroe Sixer Jimmy Collins‘ photo collection at Heritage Auctions earlier this year.)

“Hull’s job as an airline employee also enabled her to follow Monroe on the West Coast, and throughout her life she built up an archive of rare photographs spanning the actress’ entire career.

In addition to the photographs that members of the ‘Six’ took themselves, Hull’s collection features a wide range of previously unseen images. They include unseen colour photos of Monroe as she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden; slides of her on location filming the iconic subway skirt-blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch; and images of her and husband Arthur Miller after the premiere of Some Like It Hot in 1959.

In all, the Frieda Hull collection includes 550 colour and black & white candid photographs, more than 150 slides, close to 750 movie stills, publicity photos and lobby cards, and even personal home movies of Monroe leaving her New York apartment in 1958.

Aside for the photographic archive, Hull’s personal collection also includes memorabilia such as locks of Monroe’s hair, a scarf gifted by Monroe herself, Hull’s original ticket and program to the 1962 JFK Madison Square Garden gala, and a Gladstone Hotel menu autographed by Monroe and Miller.”

Just four years younger than Monroe, Frieda Hull died in Las Vegas in 2014, aged 83. You can read her obituary here. And for an exclusive sneak preview of the Frieda Hull collection, visit Scott Fortner’s blog here.

“It was an absolute thrill to work with Julien’s on the Frieda Hull Collection.  I was repeatedly delighted and dumbstruck over the photos in this archive, many of which I’d never seen.  Fans will be overjoyed and amazed with these new unpublished images of Marilyn.  Below are some shots from my study as part of my sorting process, which was no small task considering the sheer volume of photos.  All totaled, an unprecedented 142 lots of photos will be offered in the auction, the majority of which were taken by members of the Monroe Six.”