17/12/2022, JULIEN'S "Icons and Idols: Hollywood" Lots Partie 1
Enchères "Icons and Idols: Hollywood"
17 décembre 2022
- 201 lots avec Marilyn Monroe -
- Partie 1 : Photographies & Documents papiers
> 17/12/2022, JULIEN'S "Icons and Idols: Hollywood": Vente
Photographies
Photographs
Lot 255: MARILYN MONROE: VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDRE DE DIENES
A framed and matted silver gelatin black and white photograph of Marilyn Monroe, taken in 1945 and hand printed circa 1960 by Andre de Dienes.
The photo itself is hand-stamped on the verso. This includes a Certificate of Authenticity, a print of the 2007 "From the Estate of Andre de Dienes" Julien's Auctions lot description and photo, and a printed biography and photo of de Dienes on the back of the frame.
Monroe met de Dienes in 1945 while pursuing a modeling career under the name Norma Jean Baker, for the Blue Book Modeling Agency. de Dienes would photograph Monroe many times between 1945 and 1953. 27.25 x 1.25 x 33 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 147, "From the Estate of Andre de Dienes," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 16, 2007
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 256: MARILYN MONROE: VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDRE DE DIENES
A framed and matted silver gelatin black and white photograph of Marilyn Monroe, taken in 1946 and hand printed circa 1960 by Andre de Dienes
The photo itself is hand-stamped on the verso. This includes a Certificate of Authenticity, a print of the 2007 "From the Estate of Andre de Dienes" Julien's Auctions lot description and photo, and a printed biography and photo of de Dienes on the back of the frame.
Monroe met de Dienes in 1945 while pursuing a modeling career under her the name Norma Jean Baker, for the Blue Book Modeling Agency. de Dienes would photograph Monroe many times between 1945 and 1953. 27.25 x 1.25 x 33 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 145, "From the estate of Andre de Dienes," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 16, 2007
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 257: MARILYN MONROE: ORIGINAL LIMITED-EDITION ANDRE DE DIENES PHOTO PRINT
An original black and white photograph gelatin print of Marilyn Monroe taken by Andre de Dienes in 1946. Stamped on the verso by Dienes circa 1950 and numbered 14/14 in the top left corner.
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from the Andre de Dienes Archive. / 13 x 10.75 inches
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 262: MARILYN MONROE: ORIGINAL ANDRE DE DIENES PHOTO PRINT
An original black and white photograph gelatin print of Marilyn Monroe taken by Andre de Dienes in 1953. Stamped on the verso by Dienes circa 1965.
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from the Andre de Dienes Archive. 20 x 16 inches
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 286: MARILYN MONROE: ORIGINAL ANDRE DE DIENES PHOTO PRINT
An original black and white photograph gelatin print of Marilyn Monroe taken by Andre de Dienes in 1949. Stamped on the verso by Dienes circa 1955.
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from the Andre de Dienes Archive. 13.75 x 11 inches
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 291: MARILYN MONROE: BERNARD OF HOLLYWOOD "SEVEN YEAR ITCH" SUBWAY PHOTO
A 1990s-era print with a matte finish, on double weight paper, depicting Marilyn Monroe on the set of the film The Seven Year Itch (20th Century Fox, 1955). Marilyn is wearing the famous white dress and standing over a subway grate while the air blows up her skirt. Text in the lower right corner reads "Bernard / of / Hollywood," verso with black ink Estate credit stamp, signed in black ballpoint ink "Susan Bernard," executor of her father's estate. This is an alternate angle of one of the most famous images in Marilyn's iconography. 11 x 14 inches
PROVENANCE Previously from the Bernard of Hollywood Archives
Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 296: MARILYN MONROE: "BUS STOP" VINTAGE PUBLICITY PHOTOGRAPH
A vintage black and white publicity photograph of Marilyn Monroe taken by Milton Greene. The photograph shows Monroe in her role as Cherie in the film Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956). Notations in pencil on verso. 8 x 10 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 981, "Hollywood Legends 2015," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 26, 2015
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 297: MARILYN MONROE: "BUS STOP" IMAGES
A group of seven vintage studio images of Marilyn Monroe from the film Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956). Includes three color publicity photographs stamped "Theatre Poster Exchange" on verso and four black and white studio images from the film, including one taken by Milton Greene. 8.5 x 10 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 882, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $500 - $700 / Sold: $ -
Lot 298: MARILYN MONROE: "BUS STOP" NEGATIVES AND COPYRIGHT
A group of five vintage Marilyn Monroe negatives produced by Milton Greene while on the set of Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956). The black and white images show Monroe and co-star Don Murray on set during filming in a bedroom. Murray has been quoted as saying that Monroe was nude under the sheets because she felt that was what her character would do. Accompanied by the copyright to the images.
The seller confirms that this property is sold with copyright. Application for copyright has not been completed. It is the responsibility of the winning bidder to obtain proper copyright. Julien's can accept no liability in relation to any matters arriving as a result of any imperfection in copyright given. Each, 1.5 x 1.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 884, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 299: MARILYN MONROE: "BUS STOP" VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH
A Marilyn Monroe vintage black and white photograph taken on the set of the film Bus Stop (20th Century Fox, 1956). 8 x 10 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 782, "From the Lost Archive of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, December 5, 2014
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 303: MARILYN MONROE: "THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL" VINTAGE MILTON GREEN PHOTOS
Two black and white photographs of Marilyn Monroe with her husband, Arthur Miller. 14 x 11 inches (largest)
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 306: MARILYN MONROE: "THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL" VINTAGE MILTON GREEN PHOTOS
A group of five vintage black and white contact sheet prints of Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, Arthur Miller, Vivien Leigh, and others taken by Milton Greene circa 1956 during the preparation for and filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Bros., 1957). 6 x 4.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 913, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $500 - $700 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 320: MARILYN MONROE: DUPLICATE OF BILLY WILDER CONTACT SHEET NEGATIVE
A duplicate of a negative of a contact sheet depicting 12 images of Marilyn Monroe wearing a white fur stole as she stands next to director Billy Wilder, circa 1957. The original photos were taken by famed photographer Richard Avedon and the lower right corner shows a copy of his inscription, which reads "for Billy Wilder from Dick Avedon / 67." 4 x 5 inches
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 361: MARILYN MONROE: "SOME LIKE IT HOT" FILM PRODUCTION PHOTOS
Two black and white photographs of Marilyn Monroe on the film set of Some Like it Hot (United Artists, 1959). 11 x 14 inches (each)
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 366: MARILYN MONROE: COLOR SLIDES
A group of 11 slides of Marilyn Monroe and husband Arthur Miller, from May 13, 1959, at the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue in New York City, where she attended a ceremony to receive the David di Donatello Award, the equivalent of the Academy Award, for her work in The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Bros., 1957).
Stack, 2 x 2 x 1 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 742, "From the Estate of Frieda Hull," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 443: MARILYN MONROE: BERT STERN SIGNED "THE LAST SITTING" PHOTO
A framed limited-edition color photograph of Marilyn Monroe from the "Last Sitting" photoshoot in 1962, signed in silver marker by photographer Bert Stern, and numbered 160/250. Framed, 28 x 26.5 inches; sight, 19 x 18.5 inches.
Estimate: $600 - $800 / Sold: $ -
Lot 452: MARILYN MONROE: IMAGE NEGATIVE WITH COPYRIGHT
Two David Conover black and white negatives and a color transparency of Marilyn Monroe numbered negative 18. Together with a black and white print copy of this picture and a composition pose reference sketch on a glassine envelope.
PROVENANCE Lot 737, "Hollywood Legends," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 26, 2010.
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 453: MARILYN MONROE: IMAGE NEGATIVE WITH COPYRIGHT
A David Conover color negative of Marilyn Monroe numbered negative 24. The image shows Monroe in a red sweater smiling into the camera. Together with a Kodachrome slide and a color print copy of this picture.
PROVENANCE Lot 740, "Hollywood Legends," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 26, 2010.
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 454: MARILYN MONROE: IMAGE NEGATIVE WITH COPYRIGHT
A David Conover color negative of Marilyn Monroe numbered negative 17. The image shows Monroe in a red sweater with white suspenders. Together with a printed color copy of this picture.
PROVENANCE Lot 736, "Hollywood Legends," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 26, 2010.
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Documents de famille
Family Documents
Lot 346: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope addressed to Mrs. Inez C. Melson, Marilyn Monroe's business manager from Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Mrs. Gladys Baker Eley, Marilyn's mother, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The envelope is dated September 25, 1958. 7.5 x 4 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 379: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to Inez Melson concerning the mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Melson, Marilyn's business manager, with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This one-page letter, dated August 15, 1959, is typewritten on Rockland Sanitarium letterhead and concerns a letter Mrs. Eley had written to Mrs. Miracle, presumed to be Marilyn's half-sister Berniece Miracle. Traviss also mentions that Mrs. Eley is "still going to church every Sunday and appears well and as happy as she can be." 6.25 x 3.5 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 381: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to Inez Melson concerning the mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Melson, Marilyn's business manager, with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This one-page letter, dated November 22, 1959, is typewritten on Rockland Sanitarium letterhead and concerns two letters that had been sent to Mrs. Eley and that Traviss felt it was not advisable to share them with her. 6.25 x 3.5 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 398: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A handwritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to "Mrs. Melson," Marilyn Monroe's business manager.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Inez Melson, Marilyn's business manager, with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This one-page letter, dated January 3, 1961, is handwritten on Traviss' personal stationary and thanks her for a personal monetary gift. 6.25 x 3.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 399: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter sent to Marilyn Monroe's mother from the Board of Directors of the Third Church of Christ, Science, Glendale.
The letter is addressed to Mrs. Gladys Pearl Eley, 2713 Honolulu Avenue, Verdugo City, California, which is the location of Rockhaven Sanitarium, where she was institutionalized in 1953 for schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there.
The letter is dated January 12, 1961. It reads: "Thank you for your very loving letter. We are always happy to have you here and it is a joy to see you come.
Our dear Leader says in First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany on Page 203, 'A deep sincerity is sure of success, for God takes care of it.'"
It's signed in blue ink by a clerk named Isabella W. Charde. 5.5 x 8.75 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 400: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope addressed to Mrs. Gladys Pearl Eley, Marilyn Monroe's mother, at the address of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Mrs. Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The return address is the location of the Christian Science Church, a religion followed by Mrs. Eley. The envelope is postmarked January 12, 1961. 6.5 x 3.75 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 403: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter sent to Marilyn Monroe's mother from the Board of Directors of the Third Church of Christ, Science, Glendale.
The letter is addressed to Mrs. Gladys Pearl Eley, 2713 Honolulu Avenue, Verdugo City, California, which is the location of Rockhaven Sanitarium, where she was institutionalized in 1953 for schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there.
The letter is dated March 27, 1961. It reads: "Thank you for your loving notes expressing your gratitude. We are always happy to see you at our services and are sure we all are one in our gratitude for Christian Science and all it does for us and the world." It's signed in blue ink by a clerk named Isabella W. Charde. 5.5 x 8.75 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 404: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope addressed to Mrs. Gladys Pearl Eley, Marilyn Monroe's mother, at the address of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Mrs. Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The return address is the location of the Christian Science Church, a religion followed by Mrs. Eley. The envelope is postmarked March 27, 1961. 6.5 x 3.75 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 405: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope addressed to Mrs. Inez C. Melson, Marilyn Monroe's business manager from Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Mrs. Gladys Baker Eley, Marilyn's mother, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The envelope is postmarked March 30, 1961.
9 x 4.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 414: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to Inez Melson concerning the mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Melson, Marilyn's business manager, with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This four-page letter, dated May 20, 1961, is typewritten on two pages of Rockland Sanitarium letterhead and concerns the "ups and downs" of Mrs. Eley's mental health. 6.25 x 3.5 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 418: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A typewritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to Inez Melson concerning the mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Melson, Marilyn's business manager, with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This one-page letter, dated December 6, 1961, is typewritten on Rockland Sanitarium letterhead and concerns two pairs of shoes that had been purchased for Mrs. Eley.
6.25 x 3.5 inches / PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 421: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A handwritten letter written by Patricia Traviss to "Mrs. Santa Claus" concerning the mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Traviss managed Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. Traviss would frequently write to Inez Melson, Marilyn's business manager and presumably the "Mrs. Santa Claus," with updates on Mrs. Eley to share with Marilyn. This two-page letter, dated December 30, 1961, is handwritten on Traviss' personal stationary and thanks her for a personal monetary gift. She then describes how happy Mrs. Eley was to receive a sewing machine as a Christmas gift. 6.25 x 3.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 422: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope hand-addressed in black ink to Mrs. Inez C. Melson, Marilyn Monroe's business manager from the address of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where Mrs. Gladys Baker Eley, Marilyn's mother, who suffered from schizophrenia, was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The envelope is postmarked December 31, 1961. 6.5 x 3.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ 
Lot 423: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope hand-addressed in blue ink from Marilyn Monroe's mother to the United States Government Employment Bureau. The back of the envelope features the words "From / Mrs. Gladys Pearl Baker-Ely / 2713 Honolu Ave. / Verdugo City / Cal." This is the address of Rockhaven Sanitarium , where she was institutionalized in 1953 due to schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there. The front of the envelope reads " United States Government Employment Bureau / Portland, Ore. / c/o United States Post Office / Postal athorities (sic)/ USA." The envelope has two stamps on the front but isn't postmarked. 6.5 x 3.75 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ 
Lot 424: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER'S HANDWRITTEN LETTER
A three-page letter handwritten in pencil by Marilyn Monroe's mother to United States Government Employ, Portlant (sic), Ore.
The return address on the letter reads: Mrs. Gladys Pearl Eley, 2713 Honolulu Avenue, Verdugo City, Cal., which is the location of Rockhaven Sanitarium, where she was institutionalized in 1953 for schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there. In the letter, Mrs. Eley writes about her past employment in 1945 and the concern she had, as a follower of Christian Science, at being asked to work with medicine. 6.25 x 9.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005.
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ 
Lot 437: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED GET-WELL CARD FROM HER FATHER STANLEY C. GIFFORD
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A get-well greeting card from Marilyn Monroe's father, Stanley C. Gifford, no transmittal envelope. This undated card is addressed to Monroe in Gifford's hand. Gifford has misspelled her name as "Marylyn." The card reads, "This cheery little get-well note comes specially to say that lots of thoughts and wishes, too, are with you every day," with the words "a little prayer too," having been added by Gifford. The card is then signed in Giffords hand, "Stanley Gifford, Red Rock Dairy Farm, Hemet, Calif.
In the book, My Sister Marilyn, A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe by Berniece Baker Miracle (Marilyn's half-sister) and Mona Rae Miracle (Berniece's daughter), Berniece writes on page 176 that Monroe confided to her that Gifford had visited her when she was in the hospital on an undisclosed date. Berniece recalls Monroe telling her that "The first time I saw my father, I was lying flat on my back in the hospital. I looked at him and I studied his face and features, and I saw that mother had told me the truth, that he was my father." Considering the fact that this is a get-well card, coupled with the fact Monroe stated to her half-sister Berniece that she first met her father when she was hospitalized, Gifford himself clearly hand delivered this card to Monroe when he visited her during one of her hospital stays. Given the fact that they ostensibly had no relationship prior to this one and only known meeting, it is highly unlikely that Gifford traveled across the country from his home in Hemet, CA to visit Monroe during one of her NYC hospital stays. Based upon all available information, the visit most likely occurred during one of her many hospitalizations in Los Angeles.
It has been widely reported that Monroe unsuccessfully attempted to contact her father by telephone many times over the years. Monroe persisted visiting the town of Hemet, California in an attempt to locate him which is confirmed by numerous locals reporting Marilyn Monroe Spottings in Hemet. It is believed that Gifford did not want to upset his wife and children by allowing Monroe to be part of his life.
This card is the only known material artifact that establishes any connection or communication between Gifford and his famous daughter. Monroe's mother Gladys dated Gifford in 1925, he was at the time her supervisor at RKO pictures. While working for him as a film negative cutter, Gladys became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter on June 1, 1926. Norma Jeane was Gladys third child. Although Gladys registered the surname Mortenson on Norma Jeane's birth certificate, using the name of her ex-husband instead of Gifford, it has been assumed for decades that Gifford was actually Marilyn Monroe's father.
Gifford was finally definitively proven to be Monroe's father through DNA testing in 2022. Although this card includes no warm salutation from the man that was indeed her father, it further complicates our understanding of the relationship, or what was believed to be the complete absence of a relationship with arguably the most important male figure in Monroe's life. Previous scholarship recounts Monroe's attempts to contact her father resulting in only bitter rejection and a broken heart, yet this card supports Berniece Miracles first-hand account and it is proof that he reached out to her in a time of need.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 438: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER'S RELIGIOUS PAMPHLETS
A group of religious pamphlets that were in the possession of Mrs. Gladys Baker Eley, Marilyn Monroe's mother.
Mrs. Eley was a devout follower of the Christian Science religion and occasionally attended service at a nearby church while residing at Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California, where she was institutionalized in 1953 for schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there.
The main pamphlet is tiled "How to Live for God" and is published by American Tract Society, a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization. The various tracts have headings, such as "How to Receive from Christ" and "How to Wait for God." 3.75 x 7 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property from the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 448: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
A two-page letter handwritten in black ink to Gladys Pearl Baker Eley (Marilyn Monroe's mother) and signed "Mrs. Vukovich."
The letter, addressed to Mrs. Baker, is written on both sides of a single piece of paper, mentions Biblical verses and suggests Mrs. Baker accept "God's promises to a sick and dying world." The letter is signed "Yours in the reality of Christianty, Mrs. Vukovich" and the back page contains the handwritten lyrics of the song "Christ is the Answer." 5 x 8 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From The Estate of Marilyn Monroe" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 449: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER-RELATED CORRESPONDENCE
An envelope hand-addressed in blue ink by Gladys Pearl Baker Eley (Marilyn Monroe's mother), to Mrs. Inez Melson (Marilyn's business manager).
The return address on the envelope was the location of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California where Mrs. Eley (who suffered from schizophrenia) was institutionalized in 1953. Marilyn paid for her care there. The envelope is postmarked August 12, 1965, more than three years after Marilyn's death. 6.25 x 4.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 131, "Property From The Estate of Marilyn Monroe" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 4, 2005.
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 450: MARILYN MONROE: MOTHER'S HANDWRITTEN LETTER
A two-page letter on a single piece of paper handwritten in pencil by Gladys Eley, Marilyn Monroe's mother, to Inez Melson, Marilyn's business manager.
The return address on the letter reads: Mrs. Gladys P. Eley, Verdugo City, Cal., which is the location of Rockhaven Sanitarium, where she was institutionalized in 1953 for schizophrenia. Marilyn paid for her care there.
In the letter, dated Aug. 10, 1965, three years after Marilyn's death, Mrs. Eley writes about Melson's upcoming visit, that she needs more thread for the sewing machine she'd received from Marilyn shortly before her death. In a post script on the back page, Mrs. Eley tells Melson to phone Miss Traviss, the sanitarium manager, to let her know. 6.25 x 8 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 131, "Property From The Estate of Marilyn Monroe" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 4, 2005.
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Télégrammes
Telegrams
Lot 263: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams sent to Marilyn Monroe with dates in 1953, 1958, and 1959. One telegram asks Monroe for signed photos in connection with a charity fundraiser, and one offers well wishes prior to the premiere of Some Like it Hot. The third telegram encourages Monroe to travel to the actual state of Florida to shoot scenes for Some Like it Hot instead of filming in Southern California. "Just as there is only one Marilyn Monroe, there is but one Florida, and neither can be successfully duplicated," is the opening line of the message to Monroe.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 267: MARILYN MONROE: SENT TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Copies of two telegrams sent to various individuals including a Coach Bill Mansur of Lee Springs High School in Lee Springs Nebraska dated April 24, 1954, reading, "Good luck with your cavalcade of sports. Sorry could not attend." It's signed, "Marilyn Monroe DiMaggio." The other is addressed to Chief J. Garry Matchel of the Woodbury, Connecticut Fire Department, dated August 7, 1959, reading, "Regret very much that I cannot be present on Saturday night because of an important engagement in Boston." It's signed, "Marilyn Monroe Miller."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 269: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED 1954 SPYROS SKOURAS TELEGRAM
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A telegram addressed to Mrs. Joe DiMaggio dated June 25, 1954 from Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962. The telegram reads in part, "You know. How much I respect you and of my high regard, whatever I suggested please believe me was meant for your best interest."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 322: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM JOHN MOORE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A May 13, 1957 telegram from designer John Moore to Marilyn Monroe, informing her that he is, "delighted to hear through Warners that you would like me to dress you for the Milk Fund Ball." Indeed, Monroe wore a Moore designed mermaid style evening gown to the premiere of The Prince and the Showgirl, which serviced as a fundraiser for the Milk Fund.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 323: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams to the star, one being from costume designer Bob Mackintosh dated July 12, 1958, another from director Robert Ellis Miller dated May 23, 1957, the third from "Liska and Gordon," undated, Gordon possibly being photographer Gordon Parks.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ -
Lot 324: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD AVEDON
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A July 18, 1957 telegram to Marilyn Monroe from photographer Richard Avedon. Avedon writes to ask if Monroe is interested in "a Standard Oil television show."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 327: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM WITH CARBON COPY RESPONSE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: An October 5, 1957 telegram to Marilyn Monroe requesting acknowledgement of an invitation from the Eye Ear Hospital in Melbourne Australia. Included is a letter from Mort Viner on MCA letterhead indicating the telegram with the invitation had never been received. Also included, a carbon copy of a letter sent to the Eye & Ear Hospital in response, indicating that the original letter or telegram with the invitation was never received, and also stating that a trip in the immediate future would be impossible, with a signature line for Monroe's secretary.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 328: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: An October 18, 1957 telegram sent to the star, inviting her to be a guest at a formal gala for the Waldemar Medical Research Foundation, sent by George Abbott.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 348: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS FROM PAULA STRASBERG
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Two telegrams to Marilyn Monroe from acting coach Paula Strasberg. Both telegrams are providing Monroe updates on Strasberg's travel to Los Angeles. Both telegraphs are dated in October of 1958. During this time, Monroe was in Los Angeles filming Some Like it Hot.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ -
Lot 350: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM HAIRDRESSER SYDNEY GUILAROFF
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: An undated telegram from Marilyn's hairstylist Sydney Guilaroff, reading, "Am at Excelsior Hotel Catania Sicily. Will be here two weeks. Letter following. Affectionately, Sydney."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 353: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams received by Marilyn Monroe in reference to film festivals, including one in Moscow, Russia and the other in Mexico City.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ -
Lot 354: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams sent to Marilyn Monroe in 1958 by "Crowther Workshop England." One congratulates her on a special award from Italy, the other with a message reading in part, "Still wear precious jewel against adversity. You're so lovely." The third asks if Monroe had received English roses that had been sent to her.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 355: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM PUBLICISTS PAT NEWCOMB AND WARREN COWAN
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A telegram to the star dated January 31, 1959, from publicists Pat Newcomb and Warren Cowan. The telegram reads in part, "You must have heard the roars of laughter even on East 57th Street. Everything about the picture rates superlatives, especially your performance and the way you looked." The telegram was sent after the senders had seen a preview of Monroe's latest film, "Some Like it Hot."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 356: MARILYN MONROE: WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM DOCUMENTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A grouping of Marilyn Monroe documents related to Western Union Telegram company, including a statement from February of 1959 with envelope and press rates, together with a prepaid reply voucher for All America Cables and Radio Inc.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $75 - $100 / Sold: $ -
Lot 357: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM JOHNNY GRANT
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A March 3, 1959 telegram to the star from KMPC radio host Johnny Grant (who later became known as "the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood." The telegram reads, "Think you have a hit in 'I Wanna be Loved by You.' We're spinning it around the clock here at KMPC. Best Wishes, Johnny Grant."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 359: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM DONINI CULTURAL ATTACHE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A Mar 12, 1959 telegram to Marilyn Monroe from the Donini Cultural Attache, asking the star which date she would prefer to receive the David di Donatello award from Italy, the equivalent of the US Academy Award, for best foreign actress of 1958. The award was presented to Monroe on May 13, 1959 at the Italian Consulate in New York.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ -
Lot 364: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM WITH CARBON COPY RESPONSE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: An April 14, 1959 telegram to the star advising that a beige dress had been located and sent to Monroe, along with a photo of her, found after a stay at the Ambassador Hotel. Also included, a carbon copy response of a letter of appreciation sent to Dan Sullivan, the hotel's assistant manager, with a signature line for Monroe's secretary.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 367: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams to the star, the first being from Photoplay magazine editor Adele Fletcher, undated, reading in part, "Ever since I saw How to Marry a Millionaire I've wanted to tell you what a grand job you do it in." The second telegram is from Harriet Beal dated June 23, 1959, reading in part, "Sorry to hear of your illness. Best wishes for a speedy recovery." The telegram is addressed to Marilyn at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York where she had been admitted for gynecological surgery. The third telegram is from Oscar Garcia DePaula, dated May 15, 1959 reading in part, "Congratulations. Stop. You deserved that prize as well as the Academy Award of 1959."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 380: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM INVITE TO 20TH CENTURY-FOX LUNCHEON IN HONOR OF NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A September 9, 1959, telegram to Marilyn Monroe advising of details of a luncheon at the 20th Century-Fox studio café in honor of Nikita Khrushchev, President of the Soviet Union. The message reads, in part, "Chairman Khrushchev's itinerary during his stay in the United States as President Eisenhower's guest brings him to Los Angeles on Saturday September nineteenth. Stop. As desired by our government a luncheon will be held for him that day at twelve thirty PM." Page two reads, "I would like to invite you to attend." The telegram is from Eric Johnston, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, and an appointed official in the Truman and Eisenhower administrations.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 385: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM CHOREOGRAPHER JACK COLE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A telegram to Marilyn Monroe from famed choreographer Jack Cole, dated February 4, 1960. The telegram is addressed to Monroe at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and reads, "The universe sparkles with miracles but none among them shines like you. Remember that when you go to sleep tonight. Tomorrow will be fun. There is no other way. All my love, Jack Cole." This telegram was likely sent the day before they started working together on Let's Make Love. Cole worked with Monroe on her dance numbers for many films, most notably "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 387: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM EILEEN AND GEORGE CHASIN AND A MESSAGE FROM BENNY BURT
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A June 1, 1960 telegram sent to the star on her 34th birthday from talent agent George Chasin and wife Eileen, reading in part, "Have a wonderful day and best wishes for many more happy health birthdays." Also in this lot, a typed message from a telegram sent by Benny Burt of the Abbott and Costello Show, reading in part, "Good luck on your first days (sic) shooting. Have tried to locate you without success. I am sure that this picture will be one of your top pictures." The typed card states, "Read to Mrs. Murray on phone 6:30 PM 4/23," indicating Burt is referring to Marilyn's final uncompleted film, Something's Got to Give, which was filmed in 1962.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ -
Lot 400: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM PRODUCER JERRY WALD
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A January 16, 1961 telegram to the star from Producer Jerry Wald, reading in part, "Just spoke to Al Hayes. He will finish script Wednesday. I'll be in New York Friday through Monday for Critics Award Sons and Lovers. Would like to see you over weekend." Wald produced Let's Make Love, released in 1960, in which Monroe starred along side Yves Montand.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 401: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM FROM ANDRE DE DIENES
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A February 11, 1961 telegram sent to the star from early photographer and friend Andre de Dienes, reading, "Turkey Foot, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get out of the hospital. Let's go driving and hiking through the redwoods, incognito, and take beautiful pictures like nobody could ever take. It will cure you of all your ills. Call me up. Love, WW." The day prior, Monroe had been released from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic's psychiatric unit, following a horrifying stay, tricked by Dr. Marianne Kris into admitting herself there thinking it was for rest and relaxation. She spent the next three weeks at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center recuperating.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $500 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 412: MARILYN MONROE: ARTHUR MILLER RECEIVED TELEGRAMS INCLUDING ONE FROM NORMAN ROSTEN
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three telegrams sent to Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe's third husband, one being from poet Norman Rosten, reading, "Forget about my letter. Situation is clearing up." Another telegram is sent prodding Miller to write and submit an introduction to the American issue of Imagination magazine by March 27 or the opportunity will be canceled. The third is sent to ask about the return of a script for a play written by Bill Inge.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $50 - $100 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 415: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED JIMMY VAN HEUSEN "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" TELEGRAM
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A 1961 telegram from songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen, who cowrote "Specialization" and "Let's Make Love" for the 1960 film Let's Make Love in which Marilyn Monroe starred with Yves Montand. The telegram reads simply, "Happy birthday and love, Jimmy Van Heusen."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 419: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS FROM HAROLD MIRISCH
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Two telegrams to the star from Harold Mirisch, producer of Some Like it Hot. The first, dated January 10, 1961, reads in part, "It just occurred to me that since you are going to do a television show for NBC, a man who could most help to make this a pleasant adventure is an old chum of mine called David Tebet." The second, dated December 29, 1961, reads in part, "Will be anxious to talk to you when you return so we can plan second project. Meanwhile, if you have not all ready (sic) done so, suggest you see "Shot in the Dark."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $400 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 420: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED DOG SHIPPING TELEGRAM
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A Western Union telegram, date stamped December 14, 1961, and addressed to Miss Marge Stengel at 882 North Doheny LOSA, reading "Dog arriving international airport American Airlines Flight 5, 7:15 PM today, Thursday." The telegram was sent by Southdown Kennels in Roxbury, Connecticut. 8 x 6 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 413, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 435: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAM POSSIBLY FROM CO-STAR WALLY COX
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A telegram to Marilyn Monroe dated May 7 with no year specified, reading in part, "Many thanks for flowers. Sure were beautiful. Celia still in hospital. Doing fine." The telegram is signed, "Wally," possibly being Wally Cox, Marilyn's co-star in her final uncompleted film, Something's Got to Give.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property.
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 439: MARILYN MONROE: "RAIN" RECEIVED TELEGRAMS FROM PRODUCER ANN MARLOWE
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Two telegrams from producer Ann Marlowe, both referencing Monroe's possible participation in a television adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's Rain for NBC. Ultimately the project fell through because the network did not want to hire her choice of director, Lee Strasberg.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property.
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 440: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED TELEGRAMS FROM JOURNALIST DONALD ZEC
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Two telegrams to the star from British journalist Donald Zec of the Daily Mirror, both regarding days and times where he could get together with the star. Together with a carbon copy noting Monroe's response received," By all means. I am a woman of her word. Please phone Eldorado 5-2325. Delighted to see you."
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property.
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Factures, Reçus & Chèques
Invoices, Receipts & Checks
Lot 260: MARILYN MONROE: 1952 CANCELLED BANK CHECK
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: An oversized counter check dated July 14, 1952 and completed entirely in Marilyn Monroe's own handwriting, made out to one of her favorite clothiers, Jax, in the amount of $133.20. Monroe's signature is large and bold, under which she wrote her home address as being the "Bel Air Hotel, with a phone number included.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 261: MARILYN MONROE: FINANCIAL LEDGER 1953-1955
A comprehensive financial ledger documenting presumably every Marilyn Monroe financial transaction from January 1953 through March 1955. The hardbound ledger contains handwritten entries, all of which are presumed to have been made by Monroe's business manager, Inez Melson, covering in great detail Monroe's cash received and disbursed, assets and liabilities, capital, income, expenses, and general financial transactions for the years in which Monroe completed Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, River of No Return, and There's No Business Like Show Business. This is an incredible look at Monroe's finances during the years she was propelled to stardom as she completed some of her most famous films. 12 x 8 x 1.75 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 170, "Marilyn Monroe Auction - Property From The Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 293: MARILYN MONROE: INVOICES FOR SHOE PURCHASES
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Six receipts for Marilyn Monroe's shoes from Belgian Shoes Inc. (4), Owens (1), and a Mrs. Leona Robinson (1) with dates in 1955, 1959, and 1960. Also included is a 1959 statement from Belgian Shoes, Inc. with an original mailing envelop and an unmarked and undated receipt for one pair of shoes. .
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 301: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED 1956 BANK CHECK FROM JOAN COPELAND WRITTEN ON MARILYN AND ARTHUR'S WEDDING DAY
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: An uncashed bank check from Joan M. Copeland, Arthur Miller's sister, made payable to Marilyn Monroe Miller in the amount of ten dollars, dated July 1, 1956. The date is when Monroe and Miller were married in a Jewish ceremony in Roxbury, Connecticut. 6.25 x 2.75 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 385, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 330: MARILYN MONROE: EVENING GLOVE ORDER
A group of documents dated February 19, 1958, regarding the purchase of evening gloves from the John E. Fuchs Corporation in New York City. The documents include a typed signed letter from Kay Fuchs addressed to Mrs. Miller reading in part, "Kenneth Lane of Delman's asked us to send you the enclosed gloves. ... Enclosed find also a sample pair with our compliments of white satin glove." Together with a packing slip for the order listing a pair of 20-button white kid gloves for $165 and a pair of 10-button white kid gloves for $105, an invoice for the gloves, and a statement of account. Largest, 8.5 x 5.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 305, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 331: MARILYN MONROE: FUR STORAGE, SERVICE RECEIPT, AND AGREEMENT
A storage and service receipt and agreement from Maximilian Fur Company, Inc., addressed to Mrs. A. Miller, 444 East 57th Street, New York City, Apt. 13E, dated July 3, 1958, listing a ranch mink coat, a white ermine coat, and a black fox stole trimmed with silk, together with a typed note to Mrs. A. Miller on Maximilian letterhead recommending a clean and glaze for the ranch mink coat and a glaze for the black fox stole. Original business reply envelope from Maximilian Fur Company included. The ranch mink coat referenced is very likely the coat Joe DiMaggio gave to Monroe. 9.5 x 8.75 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 219, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 332: MARILYN MONROE: ALIATA SHOE RECEIPT
A typed receipt, undated, listing a pair of "Multicolor Shoes" sold to Miss Marilyn Monroe at the Bel Air Hotel for a total of $51.50. Secretarial notation on the invoice indicates that the charges were paid with check number 306 on September 5, 1958. 8.5 x 5.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 402, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 351: MARILYN MONROE: BOOK STORE STATEMENTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Four Marilyn Monroe statements from Martindale's Book Stores and one statement from Doubleday Book Shops, all with dates in 1958 and 1960.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 352: MARILYN MONROE: MARTINDALE'S BOOK STORES RECEIPTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Three Marilyn Monroe receipts from Martindale's Book Stores with dates in 1958. Titles of various books purchased include, Collected Short Stories by Dorothy Parker, Red Arrow, and Peace in Piccadilly.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $350 - $450 / Sold: $ -
Lot 358: MARILYN MONROE: 1959 CANCELLED BANK CHECK
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc., business check dated March 5, 1959 and signed by Marilyn Monroe. The check, drawn on the Colonial Trust Company of New York, is made out to the State Tax Commission $25.00.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 382: MARILYN MONROE: FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS 1959-1960
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A collection of ten financial documents including bank deposits, Colonial Trust Company and Bank of America bank statements, a check stub from M.G.M. Records, a Colonial Trust Company envelope, and an unsigned letter to Colonial Trust Company requesting the bank to produce a printed checkbook to be mailed to May Reis at the Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada. 8.5 x 11.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 371, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 383: MARILYN MONROE: 1959 FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURN
A 1959 federal income tax return for Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, including Form 1040, Schedule C, and Form 1116, together with five typed pages documenting income for Monroe and Miller, along with business expenses and deductions, contributions, taxes paid, medical expenses, and other items. These documents show that the combined income for Monroe and Miller for 1959 was $323,453.00, of which $103,362.50 was income from royalties for Miller's plays, including Death Of A Salesman, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge, among others. The Millers were required to write a check to the Internal Revenue Service for $30,338.55, the balance due for taxes on their income. Monroe's marriage to Miller ended in 1961. 8.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 311, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 384: MARILYN MONROE: I. MAGNIN RECEIPT
A receipt from I. Magnin, a luxury department store in Beverly Hills, California, for two bottles of cologne. The receipt, which was among documents related to Marilyn Monroe's mother Gladys Baker Eley, is dated January 13, 1960 and the purchaser's name is abbreviated as a typewritten M with the word "Send" handwritten in ink. The total amount of sale is $11.40. 4.25 x 4.25 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $800 - $1,200 / Sold: $ -
Lot 386: MARILYN MONROE: BICYCLE RENTAL RECEIPT
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A receipt from Hans Ohrt Lightweight Bicycles in Beverly Hills for the rental of one Hopper bicycle from February 24 through March 24, 1960, made out to Mrs. Marilyn Monroe Miller. The receipt is dated March 31, 1960. During this period, Monroe completed filming Let's Make Love, and on March 8, she received a Golden Globe award for her performance in Some Like It Hot (20th Century Fox, 1959). 4.5 x 7 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 387, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 389: MARILYN MONROE: CHECKBOOK AUGUST 8, 1960 - JANUARY 27, 1961
A cardboard covered wire bound checkbook for Monroe's account at Irving Trust Company in New York City. The cover is incorrectly labeled as being from the Colonial Trust Company, 4/30/58 - 7/31/59. The checkbook covers Monroe's expenses from August 8, 1960, to January 27, 1961, with check numbers 1253 through 1483, offering a fascinating look at Monroe's expenses in 1960 and 1961.
Recipients of payments from Monroe's personal account during this period include The Mapes Hotel in the Nevada hotel (where Monroe and Arthur Miller stayed while filming The Misfits), Erno Laszlo Institute, Paula Strasberg, Ralph Roberts, I. Magnin + Co., Dorr Optical Co., Beverly Pets, Arthur P. Jacobs Co., Beverly Hills Hotel, West Side Hospital, Ferragamo, Jurgensen's Grocery, Hollywood Reporter, Avis Rent-A-Car System, Bergdorf Goodman, Carey Cadillac Rending Co., Yankee Traders, Variety, Riverside Flower Shop, Marilyn Monroe Productions, Hattie Stephenson, Ralph Greenson, M.D., Modern Auto Rental, T. Anthony - luggage, La Scala Restaurant, Schwab's Pharmacy, New York Telephone Company, J. Ricky, Screen Actors Guild, Lee Siegel, M.D., Leonard H. Schuyler, M.D., Bloomingdale's, Flatiron Window Cleaning Co., Jax Beverly Hills, Inc., Martindale's Bookstore, Plaza Hotel, Louis Finger, M.D., Rexford Kennamer, M.D., Berkley Square Cleaners, Sutton Wines and Liquors, Beverly Hills Music Co., MCA Artists Ltd., Marianne Kris, M.D., Actors Studio Inc. - contribution, Agnes M. Flanagan, Mrs. Michael Chekhov, Rudolph J. Kautsky, Evelyn Moriarty, Allan Snyder, Hazel Washington, Gucci, Patricia Newcomb, Maximilian Fur Company, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Norman Norell Inc., and Western Costume Co., among others. 6 x 9.25 x .25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 473, :Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 392: MARILYN MONROE: 1960 ARTHUR P. JACOBS COMPANY INVOICES
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A grouping of documents from the Arthur P. Jacobs Company, including five statements, sixteen expense detail documents, two letters and invoices from United Airlines, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, all with dates in 1960 and related to various expenses for publicity, and Let's Make Love and The Misfits.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 393: MARILYN MONROE: 1960 ARTHUR P. JACOBS COMPANY INVOICES
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A grouping of documents from the Arthur P. Jacobs Company, including five statements, sixteen expense detail documents, two letters and invoices from United Airlines, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, all with dates in 1960 and related to various expenses for publicity, and Let's Make Love and The Misfits.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 394: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED INVOICES
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: Two invoices from makeup artist Marie Irvine. Both invoices are dated September 16, 1960. One reads "Special make-up at N.Y. apartment, July 17, 1960;" the other reads "12 Leichner eyeshade [sic]" sent to Reno, Nevada. 6 x 7 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 363, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 395: MARILYN MONROE: 1960 ARTHUR P. JACOBS COMPANY INVOICES
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A grouping of documents from the Arthur P. Jacobs Company, including five statements, sixteen expense detail documents, two letters and invoices from United Airlines, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, all with dates in 1960 and related to various expenses for publicity, and Let's Make Love and The Misfits.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 396: MARILYN MONROE: SIGNED TEXACO CREDIT CARD
A Texaco National Credit Card was owned and signed in blue ink by Marilyn Monroe. The card is addressed to: "Marilyn Monroe Prod / 480 Lexington Ave / New York I7 NY" and has the expiration date of 7/60. 3.5 x 2.25 inches
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 397: MARILYN MONROE: MARTINDALE'S BOOK STORES RECEIPTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Four Marilyn Monroe receipts from Martindale's Book Stores with dates in 1960. Titles of various books purchased include, Color of Evening, How to Live with a Cat, My Father Charlie Chaplin, and Vogue among others.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 410: MARILYN MONROE: BLOOMINGDALE'S RECEIPTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A large collection of receipts and invoices from famed department store Bloomingdale's in New York. These receipts show purchases for a mattress and box springs, blankets and pillows, several uniforms, a fur coat hanger, and curtains, among other items. Twenty-five documents in total.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 411: MARILYN MONROE: LIQUOR RECEIPTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A grouping of eight Marilyn Monroe receipts and statements for liquor with various dates from Mac's Liquors and Jurgensen's Grocery Company.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ -
Lot 413: MARILYN MONROE: 1961 BANK STATEMENT
A Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc. bank statement from Bankers Trust Company of New York showing credits and debits for the month of March 1961.
Monroe found the production company in 1955 after becoming dissatisfied with the scripts she was being offered and as an effort to develop her own projects and take control of her career. 9 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 974, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $500 - $700 / Sold: $ -
Lot 416: MARILYN MONROE: CHECKBOOK JULY 14, 1961 - SEPTEMBER 25, 1961
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A softcover wire-bound checkbook labeled "MARILYN MONROE (PERSONAL), IRVING TRUST CO., 7/14/61 - to - 9/25/61."
Recipients of payments from the checkbook include Beverly Hills Hotel, Ralph R. Greenson, Schwab's Pharmacy, Chasen's, Leon Krohn M.D., A. Fitz & Sons, Paul A. Reilly Co. Inc., Arthur P. Jacobs Co. Inc., Ralph Roberts (ten treatments), Mary Jane Lane, R. Gordon & Co. Inc., Berkley Square, Pacific Tel. Co., Lena Pepitone (her maid, who wrote the 1979 book Marilyn Monroe Confidential: An Intimate Personal Account), Rudy Kautsky, Elizabeth Arden, Polyclinic Coffee Shop, Paula Strasberg, Pat Newcomb, 444 Management Co., and Lord & Taylor, among others.
The opening balance listed in the checkbook for this account is $12,853.24. The closing balance is $11,854.53. 7.5 x 8.5 x .25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 473, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 441: MARILYN MONROE: LIQUOR RECEIPTS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Five Marilyn Monroe receipts for liquor with various dates from Sutton Wines and Liquors, Mac's Liquors and Jurgensen's Grocery Company.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $150 - $250 / Sold: $ -
Lot 442: MARILYN MONROE: LAST SAG CARD AND RECEIPT
A Screen Actors Guild membership card for the period beginning May 1, 1962, and ending November 1, 1962. "Marilyn Monroe" is typed onto front of card as well as her membership number. Together with Monroe's carbon copy receipt for payment of $125 on May 22, 1962, listing her address as "P.O. Box 64721, Los Angeles 64, Calif." 6.25 x 3.75 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 576, "Property from the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 446: MARILYN MONROE: ROCKHAVEN SANITARIUM RECEIPTS FOR MARILYN'S MOTHER
A grouping of 137 receipts, ranging in date from October 1962 through April 1966, addressed to Inez C. Melson, Marilyn Monroe's business manager, for the care of Monroe's mother, Gladys Eley, while she was staying at Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City, California. Included with the Rockhaven Sanitarium receipts are other invoices for products and services provided to Eley, including prescription medications, toothbrushes and toothpaste, repairs to her dentures, cash advances, and package deliveries sent to Gainsborough, Florida, for Eley's other daughter, Berniece Miracle. The April 27, 1966, invoice indicates that Eley's account at Rockhaven was $7,355.90 in arrears. 9.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Partial lot 132, "Property From The Estate of Marilyn Monroe" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, June 4, 2005
Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 / Sold: $ -
Divers Documents Papiers
Various Papers Documents
Lot 121: BETTE DAVIS: "ALL ABOUT EVE" ORIGINAL EDITH HEAD "MARGO CHANNING" BUMPY NIGHT GOWN COSTUME SKETCH (WITH DVD)
An original gouache and ink on paper costume sketch from the production of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's classic film All About Eve (20th Century Fox, 1950) by Edith Head. The sketch depicts Bette Davis as Margo Channing in the iconic dark brown fur trimmed gown worn by her during Bill Sampson's (Gary Merrill) welcome home party, where she delivers one of her most famous lines, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." Davis appears on-screen with Marilyn Monroe, in a breakthrough performance, wearing the gown. Head won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White for this Oscar winning Best Picture; Davis was nominated for Best Actress. The sketch is faintly penciled "for Bette Davis" to the right side, and initialed, possibly by Mankiewicz, near the right bottom hem.
Includes a DVD of the film. / 17 x 14 inchesn
Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 258: MARILYN MONROE: MEDICAL FILE
A medical file pertaining to cosmetic surgery performed on Marilyn Monroe. The file includes facial X-rays and doctors' notes from the office of Dr. Michael Gurdin, M.D., and the X-ray office of Drs. Conti and Steinberg. Dr. Gurdin's chart on Monroe begins on July 14, 1958, and lists the patient as Marilyn Miller with addresses in New York and Los Angeles.
The chief complaint listed is "chin deformity" and goes on to give a medical history that begins in 1950 and ends in 1962. Listed are a 1956 bout of neutropenia in England; 1957 ectopic pregnancy in New York; and 1950 cartilage implant in chin that the doctor observed had slowly begun to dissolve. Those with knowledge of the implant procedure have explained that this was done in association with a tip rhinoplasty, a procedure involving the tip of Monroe's nose only, not the bones.
The last entry is dated June 7, 1962, and reports a fall at between 2 and 3 a.m. resulting in swelling and tenderness of the nose. Monroe was brought to Dr. Gurdin by her psychoanalyst, Dr. Ralph Greenson. Monroe was referred to Drs. Conti and Steinberg for X-rays. For her visit to the radiologists she was given the alias "Miss Joan Newman," and that name appears on the paperwork with Monroe's Brentwood home address.
Six X-rays are in the folder: a frontal facial bones X-ray; a smaller X-ray that is a composite of the right and left sides of her nasal bones; and four small dental X-rays into the roof of Monroe's mouth, looking upward toward the nasal bones. The conclusion, written by Dr. Conti and dated June 7, 1962, is that there was no damage to Monroe's nose due to her fall. A more recent evaluation of the X-rays indicates a very minute hairline fracture of this bone. Monroe had turned 36 less than a week earlier. On June 8, the following day, Monroe was fired from the film Something's Got to Give (20th Century Fox, 1962). 9 x 12 inches
PROVENANCE From the Medical File of Dr. Michael Gurdin
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 259: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED AND SENT LETTERS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Four letters received by the star on various topics. Two letters with dates in 1952 and 1953 are from an aspiring songwriter and singer by the name of Mrs. John H. Spurgeon. Another letter is from Harold Mirisch dated May 7, 1959. Another letter on letterhead from The First Baptist Church dated December 4, 1958 is from a man named Bill Lennon, requesting Marilyn's permission to write to the TV show "What's My Line?" and list his occupation as secretary to Marilyn Monroe. Included is a very direct letter to Lennon in response, reading in part, "Miss Monroe would not under any circumstances permit the use of her name in any misrepresentation." Also included, a carbon-copy of a letter addressed to "John" dated February 1, 1960 (likely designer John Moore) asking if he'd been advised by the Railway Express Company about a message left at the Beverly Hills Hotel for Marilyn that read, "The dress you expected from Talmack was destroyed in a plane fire." Handwritten annotations on the letter list a "Mr. Clemens, Head of Air Department," and a phone number for the claims department, not in Monroe's handwriting. Overall a very interesting look at the types of issues Monroe dealt with on a daily basis.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $400 - $600 / Sold: $ -
Lot 264: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONAL JOURNAL
A black "Record" book with 150 numbered and lined pages, the first page dated "Feb 18, 1953" with approximately 14 pages containing entries in Monroe's hand.
The notes are very personal with Monroe ruminating about her life and experiences in her past that continue to affect her life, including these notes about the childhood influence of Ida Bolender that lingers into her adult life, reading in part, "Ida - I have still been obeying her - it's not only harmful for me to do so but unrealality [sic] because in my work - I don't want to obey her any longer." Ida Bolender was one of Marilyn's foster parents as a child and Marilyn retained negative memories of the experience. 4.75 x 7.25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 170, "Marilyn Monroe Auction - Property From The Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 268: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY OWNED CLIPPINGS ABOUT HER PERFORMANCE IN KOREA
A pair of clippings from the Honolulu Star Bulletin reporting on Marilyn Monroe's visit to Korea and her performance for the U.S. troops were personally owned by the actress. The headlines read: "Marilyn Greets 10,000 Men In Skin-Tight Purple Dress" and "Marilyn Monroe Causes Near-Riot Of Korea Troops."
Although the dates of the newspaper are missing, Monroe visited Korea in February 1954 with husband Joe DiMaggio a few weeks after their marriage. Monroe was invite to perform before the troops and and the trip caused an interruption in the couple's honeymoon.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 270: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED LETTER FROM CHILDHOOD ACQUAINTANCE
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A one-page typed letter from Ruth Edens, apparently an acquaintance of Monroe's from her childhood, dated August 24, 1954, and reading in part, "I have long intended to write you this letter because I have particularly wanted to say that when you used to visit me at my Balboa Island cottage, you were a shy and charming child whose appeal, it seems to me, must have reached the hearts of many people. I could never seem to get you to say much to me, but I loved having you come in and I missed your doing so after you'd gone away. I wondered about you many times and was delighted when I discovered you in the films. I hope the stories in the magazines which say you felt yourself unloved throughout your childhood, are merely press-agentry. In any case, I want you to know that I, for one, was truly fond of you and I'm proud of you for having developed enough grit to struggle through to success." The letter also states, "I hope you are getting much happiness out of life, little Marian [sic]. I saw so much that was ethereal in you when you were a little girl that I fell sure you are not blind to life's spiritual side. May all that is good and best come your way!? The letter is signed "Sincerely, Ruth Edens." 9 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 339, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 271: MARILYN MONROE: SIGNED PLEDGE FORM FOR MAKEUP ARTISTS, HAIR STYLISTS, BODY MAKEUP ARTISTS GUILD, LOCAL 706, PROGRAM BOOK
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A carbon copy of a pledge form for Makeup Artists, Hair Stylists, Body Makeup Artists Guild, Local 706. Monroe pledged $100.00 for the guild's program book on August 18, 1954. Monroe's handwritten message reads in part, "My thanks to Gladys Witten and Allan Snyder. Marilyn Monroe." Helen Turpin authorized the payment, billed to 20th Century-Fox. At the bottom of the receipt, Monroe wrote, "Inez Melson," the name of Monroe's business manager at the time. 5.75 x 8.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 367, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 287: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED ITALIAN FAN SCRAPBOOK
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A handmade scrapbook sent to Marilyn Monroe. Created by an Italian fan named Alessio Borracina, the booklet includes images of Monroe from newspapers and magazines glued to the pages. Inside the scrapbook is a photo of Borracina with an inscription reading "I dedicate this photo to you to be always in your heart. Based on the images of Monroe in the scrapbook, it was sent to her in the mid-to-late 1950s. 9.5 x 7 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 428, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 288: MARILYN MONROE: ARTHUR MILLER HANDWRITTEN BOOK DEDICATION
A single piece of lined paper torn from a spiral-bound notebook, heavily stained, containing a notation in Miller's hand reading "This book is being written out of the courage, the widened view of life, the awareness of love and beauty, given to me by my love, my wife-to-be, my Marilyn. I bless her for this gift, and I write it so that she may have from me the only unique thing I know how to make. I bless her, I owe her the discovery of my soul."
Although the note is undated, Miller refers to Marilyn Monroe as his wife to be, indicating that it was written prior to their marriage on June 29, 1956. Although this dedication did not appear in any of Miller's books it was possibly intended to be used in A View from the Bridge, which Miller was rewriting as a two-act play during his courtship with Monroe. Because Miller was not officially divorced until June 1956, it is possible that the dedication was not used due to timing. 8.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 187, "Marilyn Monroe Auction - Property From The Estate of Lee Strasberg" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 289: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALIZED 1955 GUCCI ADDRESS BOOK
A personalized brown leather, six-ring Gucci address book with custom stamped "M.M." on the front cover, that belonged to Marilyn Monroe (circa 1955) with handwritten entries, many in Monroe's hand.
Contacts include Marlon Brando, "Mother Miller," Lee Strasberg, Maurine [sic] Stapleton, and Harold Clurman, among others. The book includes various handwritten entries and notes throughout. Of particular note is Monroe's handwritten list of very personal things she must make an effort to do, including "as often as possible to observe Strassberg's [sic] other private classes"; "never miss my actors studio sessions"; "must make strong effort to work on current problems and phobias that out of my past has arisen," among other entries.
The address book is from the estate of Lee Strasberg, Marilyn's acting coach and close friend, and to whom she left the bulk of her own estate.
6 x 7.5 x 1.25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 187, "Marilyn Monroe Auction - The Estate of Lee Strasberg" Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $50,000 - $70,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 292: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED LETTER FROM THE ACTORS STUDIO
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A typewritten letter regarding The Actors Studio members purchasing and then donating books to a newly formed theatre library, sent to Monroe's Sutton Place apartment in New York City in a hand-addressed envelope postmarked January 29, 1956. Letter 5.5 x 8.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 340, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 295: MARILYN MONROE: "BUS STOP" HAND-ANNOTATED DIALOGUE PAGES
A small bound group of 31 mimeographed half pages containing Monroe's dialogue for the film Bus Stop (20th Cent. Fox, 1956). Ten of the pages contain notes in Monroe's hand in pencil. Additional notes in the hand of Paula Strasberg and an administrative hand. A note in Monroe's hand on the first page next to lines about her character Cherie wanting to be respected and tired of being "pawed at and pinched at" reads "Fight with manager/ A.M. H. Cohn middle of dinner party" clearly references incidents Monroe wished to draw upon from her life in the scene. Another note in Monroe's hand written beneath the line "Oh - it's you!" reads "(Good God it's you)." 5.5 x 9.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 264, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $10,000 - $20,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 302: MARILYN MONROE: INTERIOR DESIGN DOCUMENTS AND FABRIC SAMPLE
A proposal sent to Normal Norell from Thomas DeAngelis Inc. for Mrs. A. Miller's bedroom. The proposal gives estimates to custom upholster a settee, headboard, bedspread, pillows and box spring drop using the fabric ordered by Norell from Italy, samples of which are included in the previous lot. The estimate is accompanied by six invoices from De Angelis, an invoice from Scalamandr Silks, and an invoice with Scalamandr silk fabric sample. 8.75 X 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 286, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $300 - $500 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 304: MARILYN MONROE: HANDWRITTEN NOTE
A single sheet of stationery from Parkside House, the English manor where Monroe and Arthur Miller stayed in Surrey while she filmed The Prince and The Showgirl in London in 1956. The note reads "I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone's wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really." Monroe had just entered her third marriage and was on location with her new husband, Arthur Miller. 5.25 x 7 inches
LITERATURE Monroe, Marilyn, and Bernard Comment. Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. Pages 114-115. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. 1-237. Print.
PROVENANCE Lot 180, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 305: MARILYN MONROE: "THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL" NOTEBOOK PAGES
Two pages torn from a lined spiral-bound notebook, both stained in red ink. The first page was published in the book Fragments and contains references to "The Sleeping Prince," an early production title for Monroe's film The Prince and the Showgirl, dating these writings to 1956. The notes show Monroe becoming her own task master, reminding herself "don't stop myself," "learn - lines logically," "I can't do more than/ one thing at a time/ make map tonight," and "take my time to think." She instructs herself to make a list of tasks and work on exercises, which perhaps explains the cryptic writings on the second page that did not appear in Fragments, reading in full, "From Ridding partly/ T Nautiousness [sic]/ Place/ personalization (A)/ weariness/ (J)/ (Ar)." 8.5 x 11 inches
LITERATURE: Monroe, Marilyn, and Bernard Comment. Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. Pages 168-169. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. 1-237. Print.
PROVENANCE Lot 194, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 319: MARILYN MONROE: CUSTOM-BOUND COPY OF ARTHUR MILLER'S COLLECTED PLAYS
A red leather clamshell box with gilt designs, title on spine and a simple "MM" on the lower right corner. The ivory silk satin lined box contains a matching red leather bound volume with "MM" on cover, gilt edged pages and chartreuse silk satin boards and end papers. Special dedication page reads, "This first copy/ of the first edition/ has been specially hand-bound/ for Marilyn." Arthur Miller's Collected Plays, The Viking Press, copyright 1957. Bound by Gerhard Gerlach, stamped in gold inside back cover. 7 X 9.75 X 2.25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 268, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 321: MARILYN MONROE: FILE COPIES OF IMPORTANT LETTERS
From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: Carbon copies of two important letters. The first two-page letter, dated March 14, 1957, is correspondence between attorneys Irving L. Stein and Robert H. Montgomery in reference to Milton Greene, Monroe's business partner and friend at the time, having a contractual entitlement to have Executive Producer credit on the film The Prince and the Showgirl. The second six-page letter, dated April 14, 1961, is correspondence between Arnold Weissberger and Monroe herself regarding her contract with Twentieth Century-Fox and is specific to her desire not to participate in the film Goodbye Charlie. Both letters are in response to significant business issue's occurring within Monroe's film star career.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $500 - $700 / Sold: $ -
Lot 325: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY OWNED MAGAZINE WITH LAURENCE OLIVIER-PENNED MONROE ARTICLE
An issue of Florida's Playtime Magazine dated July 6, 1957 featuring a photo of Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Oliver on the cover was personally owned by Monroe. Copy on the cover reads "EXCLUSIVE! / How Marilyn Impressed Me / By Sir Laurence Olivier." On page 6 is the article in which Olivier details his experience directing and acting alongside Monroe when the two made the film The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Brothers, 1957) and reads in part: "For me it has been an experience, entertaining, stimulating and rewarding in extreme."
The challenges faced by the two actors working together on the comedy inspired the drama My Week With Marilyn (The Weinstein Company, 2011), which earned Michelle Williams an Academy Award nomination as best actress for her performance as Monroe. 8.25 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $500 / Sold: $ -
Lot 326: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED VERVE RECORDS CORRESPONDENCE
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: Two letters from Norman Granz of Verve Records. In the September 5, 1957, letter, Granz writes, "I've been thinking about our album project and I should like to do the kind of tunes that would lend themselves to an album called 'MARILYN SINGS LOVE SONGS' or some such title." In the December 30, 1957, letter, he writes, "I wonder too if you are ready to do any recording. I shall be in New York January 20th for about a week and the Oscar Peterson Trio is off at that time, so if you felt up to it perhaps we could do some sides with the Trio during that period." 8.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 439, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 329: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR INFANTILE PARALYSIS FASHION SHOW APPEARANCE THANK-YOU LETTER
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A February 4, 1958, letter from Eleanor Lambert thanking Monroe for appearing at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis fashion show on January 28, 1958. The letter reads in part, "Your presence was sparkling and thrilling to us all behind the scenes as well as to the audience." 6.5 x 8.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 433, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
Lot 347: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED NEWSLETTER
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A 23-page newsletter titled "Revival, Salvation - Healing - Miracles - Special Jewish Addition," dated September 1958. The back cover reads "To Marilyn Monroe, Bel Air Hotel, Bel Air, Los Angeles, Calif." Monroe received this newsletter during the filming of Some Like It Hot (United Artists, 1959). 8.25 x 10.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 442, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 349: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONAL POETRY MAGAZINE
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A published Wisconsin Poetry Magazine, dated November 1958, containing poems written by Rose Davison, sent to Marilyn Monroe by Davison with a handwritten inscription reading "To Marilyn Monroe Miller/ with best wishes/ Rose Davison."
Sixteen pages with red paper cover, an interesting item considering Monroe's interest in reading and writing poetry. 6 x 9.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 398 , "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 360: MARILYN MONROE: "SOME LIKE IT HOT" AD SHEET
An original movie advertisement sheet promoting Some Like it Hot (United Artists, 1959) starring Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane Kowalczyk.
11 x 8.5 inches
Estimate: $100 - $200 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 362: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY OWNED "SOME LIKE IT HOT" PAPERBACK
A paperback edition of the screenplay for Some Like It Hot (Signet Books, 1959) by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. The paperback features eight pages of photographs from the film.
Monroe won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for her role as Sugar Kane and the film was named the funniest film of all time in a poll by American Film Institute in 2000. 4.5 x 7.5 x .5 inches
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $300 - $500 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 363: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY OWNED "SOME LIKE IT HOT" CALENDAR
A release date calendar for Some Like It Hot (United Artists, 1959) was personally owned by Marilyn Monroe. The cover page, featuring a photo of Marilyn in costume playing a ukulele reads: "The New Marilyn Monroe Calendar, Very Hot For March," an allusion to the famous 1951 nude calendar which helped establish Monroe as the premiere sex symbol of her era.
The calendar features four pages, each with a photo of Monroe and announcing March 18 as the comedy's release date. The back page features the film's poster.
Monroe won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for her role as Sugar Kane and the film was named the greatest comedy film of all time in a poll by American Film Institute in 2000.
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 365: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONAL ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE COMMEMORATIVE PROGRAM
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A 34-page soft cover booklet from the Italian Cultural Institute. This booklet commemorates the opening of the new home of the organization, located at 686 Park Avenue, New York City, New York, in 1959. Monroe likely acquired this item onsite at the Institute on May 13, 1959, when she received the David di Donatello Award for her work in The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Bros., 1957). 8.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 440, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 388: MARILYN MONROE: RECEIVED LETTER FROM CONGRESSMAN JAMES ROOSEVELT
From the personal files of Marilyn Monroe: A June 30, 1960, two-page letter on Congress of the United States, House of Representatives letterhead from Congressman James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, asking Monroe to consider appearing in a television program focusing on the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research, scheduled to air on October 7 of that year. The letter reads in part, "We do feel that just a brief greeting from you would contribute very much indeed to the success of the show. Won't you agree to do this?" 8.5 x 11 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 436, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 391: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY OWNED "LETS MAKE LOVE" MAGAZINE COVER
A front cover of Far East Film News magazine featuring the poster for Let's Make Love (20th Century Fox, 1960) beneath a headline that reads: "Dedicated to the NEW Monroe Doctrine!" The cover was personally owned by Marilyn Monroe and is dated November 1960. 10.25 x 14.25 inches
PROVENANCE From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property
Estimate: $200 - $300 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 433: MARILYN MONROE: CRAYON DRAWING
Titled "Old Man sitting on a bench listening," the conte crayon on paper sketch is a monochromatic abstract portrait of a man leaning forward. The title is written along lower edge of sheet. The drawing is unsigned and framed in a gilt wood frame.
The sketch is from the estate of Lee Strasberg, Marilyn's acting coach and close friend, and to whom she left the bulk of her own estate. 9.75 x 12.25 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 527, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $10,000 - $20,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 434: MARILYN MONROE: PERSONALLY ANNOTATED "SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE" SCREENPLAY AND PAGES
A Something's Got To Give (20th Century Fox, 1962) mimeographed screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, 149 pages, blue cover dated March 29, 1962 reading "Final Confidential For Planning Purposes Only." The script, marked final, also dated March 29, 1962, contains notations in Monroe's hand throughout in pencil and green ink on 18 pages. Some of the notations are from Monroe's work with a Swedish dialect coach.
In addition to these notations, two typed pages of Monroe's dialogue are bound between pages 107 and 108 of the mimeographed script. These two pages contain Monroe's dialogue from one of the few scenes captured on film, with her extensive pencil notations. Raw footage of Monroe performing with Tippy the cocker spaniel and the children in this scene exists, and Monroe's notations are evident in the footage. The top of the page reads "Real Thought/ Mental Relaxation/ substitute children - B & J if necessary/ feeling - place the pain where it is not in the brow." B & J likely refers to Arthur Miller's children Bobby and Jane. Another notation next to one of Monroe's lines of dialogue reads simply "Mona Lisa," which does in fact mirror the expression she uses when delivering this line. Even the exaggerated "Ahhhhh---" that Monroe does at the beginning of each take in the raw footage is written on the page in her hand, reading in full, "Ahhh--Look for the light.?
The notations throughout the script also include notes in an unidentified hand criticizing certain points of the story, including "Too Harsh," "Naggy," "Dull" and many other comments. Overall, the notations in both the script and on the dialogue pages used by Monroe to film the scene with the children and Tippy the dog tell the story of a tedious script writing and editing process. Her dialogue notations are a revealing window into her process in performing some of the last scenes she ever recorded on film. 9.5 x 12 x 1 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 578, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg, Julien's Auctions," Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $10,000 - $20,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 436: MARILYN MONROE: PRAYER BOOK FOR JEWISH WORSHIP
A Union Prayer Book for Jewish Worship that belonged to Marilyn Monroe. The cover is stamped "Marilyn Monroe Miller" and inscribed to Monroe... "For Marilyn - with all of my best wishes and deepest respect - fondly, Bob." 5 x 6.75 x 1 inches
Christie's bookplate is affixed to the interior of the front cover.
PROVENANCE Lot 628, Lot 9A, The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe, Christie's, New York, Sale number 9216, October 27 & 28, 1999, Julien's Auctions, Las Vegas, June 23, 2018
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 / Sold: $ - 
Lot 447: MARILYN MONROE: HANDWRITTEN NOTE
An undated note on a single sheet of unlined paper, entirely in Monroe's hand, reading "For life/ It is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed./ For work/ The truth can only be recalled, never invented." 8 x 5 inches
LITERATURE Monroe, Marilyn and Bernard Comment. Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. Pages 158-159. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. 1-237. Print.
PROVENANCE Lot 190, "Property from the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 17, 2016
Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 / Sold: $ -
Lot 451: MARILYN MONROE: DOG-RELATED POSTHUMOUS CORRESPONDENCE
An undated typed letter from Mrs. Edward Herdan of Los Angeles that reads:
"To whom it may concern: I was greatly taken aback when I saw the pet of Marilyn's in a picture with her. We were forced to put our pet to sleep on account of old age recently and she was a double of this little dog. We have been looking with grieving hearts for several months now, to find one that resembled our Shaggsy, but all in vain. If it were at all possible to get the dog we could give it an excellent home. Dr. Christenson of the Hollywood Cat and Dog Hospital was our Vet for fourteen years. Hope this request receives some consideration. Sincerely, Mrs. Ed Herdan."
Included is a copy of a letter from Inez Melson, Monroe's former business manager, dated September 4, 1962, reading:
"Dear Mrs. Herdan, I hope you will understand that I have not answered your kind letter about "Moff" before this because of the pressure of matters involving the affairs of Marilyn. I know how you must feel about your little "Shaggsy" and it would be wonderful if it were possible to send "Moff" to live with you. However, you will understand that her sister's dearest wish is to have him and I hope in due time to be able to send him to live with her. Unfortunately, in due process of law, even little "Moff" is a part of Marilyn's personal effects and thus, he has to wait. It grieves me greatly to refuse so many kind people and I only wish that I could grant the desire of each good person who would love "Moff" as his mistress loved him." The letter is signed, "Sincerely yours, Inez Melson, Administratrix of the Estate of Marilyn Monroe."
Frank Sinatra gifted the dog to Monroe in 1961. She named him Maf as a comic reference to Sinatra's mafia connections. Interestingly, people within Monroe's inner circle appear to be unaware of the correct spelling of the dog's name. Written correspondence reflects use of the names "Maff" and "Moff."
7.25 x 10.5 inches
PROVENANCE Lot 414, "From the Archives of Marilyn Monroe's Personal Property," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018.
Estimate: $700 - $900 / Sold: $ -
© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
M comme Monroe, Gladys
Gladys Pearl Monroe
( 1902 - 1984 )
Mère de Marilyn Monroe
Gladys Pearl Monroe (appelée aussi Gladys Baker, Gladys Mortensen, Gladys Eley) naît le 27 mai 1902 à Porfirio Diaz (aujourd'hui nommé Piedra Negra) au Mexique et est la première des deux enfants de Della Mae Hogan et Otis Elmer Monroe (les grands-parents de Marilyn). Son existence est déclarée civilement cinq jours après sa naissance (le 1er juin) à un juge civil mexicain. Son père, Otis, travaille dans les chemins de fer mexicains depuis 1901. Après la naissance de leur fille Gladys, la petite famille retourne aux Etats-Unis, menant une vie itinérante le long de la Côte Ouest, jusque dans le Nord des Etats-Unis pendant un an, puis s'installent à Los Angeles au printemps 1903 où son père décroche un emploi à la Pacific Electric Raimway. Ils vivent dans un petit bungalow d'une seule pièce dans la 37ème Rue Ouest (secteur sud du centre-ville). C'est là que naît le frère de Gladys, Marion Otis Elmer (l'oncle de Marilyn), en 1905. La famille vit dans une certaine précarité et n'a pas de foyer stable (ils vivent dans près de onze foyers différents -maisons ou appartements- entre 1903 et 1909). Gladys et Marion vivent ainsi leur enfance dans la pauvreté et l'insécurité, sans pouvoir se lier d'amitié avec des amis de leurs âges.
>> Certificats de naissance de Gladys 
>> 1906 - Gladys, 4 ans
En 1907, la santé de son père Otis Elmer se dégrade. Porté sur la boisson et souffrant de troubles de la mémoire, son état s'empire rapidement: maux de tête, tremblements, instabilité émotionnelle avec des accès de rage, des crises de larmes et même des attaques cardiaques. L'été 1908, suite à une crise, Otis se retrouve à moitié paralysé. Admis à l'hôpital 'Southern California State Hospital' à Patton, en Californie, en novembre 1908, où sa mère Della espace de plus en plus ses visites car Otis ne reconnaît même plus son épouse, il y meurt, le 22 juillet 1909, à l'âge de 43 ans. Il était atteint de parésie, le stade ultime de la syphilis qu'il avait contracté au Mexique, à cause des piètres conditions d'hygiène. C'est ainsi que seulement âgée de 7 ans, Gladys se retrouve orpheline de père. Gladys souffrira beaucoup de l'absence de son père. Sans doute terrifiée par le fulgurent déclin mental de son mari, Della Mae racontera à ses enfants que leur père était devenu fou, à cause de l'alcool et de sa vie désordonnée. Pourtant, le dossier médical qu'on lui avait remis après la mort d'Otis, explique qu'il était décédé d'une maladie organique et non d'une maladie mentale.
Se retrouvant veuve à seulement 33 ans, sa mère Della Mae vit une deuxième jeunesse en fréquentant de nombreux hommes qu'elle reçoit chez elle entre 1910 et 1911, avant de se marier le 7 mars 1912 avec Lyle Arthur Graves, un aiguilleur en chef à la Pacific Electric, où il avait travaillé avec Otis. Ils vont vivre dans la maison de Graves, au 324 bis South Hill Street dans la partie nouvelle du quartier d'affaires de Los Angeles. Lyle semble être un bon beau-père, offrant des cadeaux aux enfants de Della. Mais le couple ne tient pas, Otis étant aussi porté sur la boisson que son précédent mari, et ils divorcent le 17 janvier 1914.
>> 1912 - Gladys, 10 ans, et son frère Marion, 7 ans 
>> 1916 - Gladys, 13 ans
A la fin de l'année 1916, Della Mae loue une chambre dans une pension de famille au 26 Westminster Avenue sur la toute nouvelle plage du district de Venice, en Californie, au sud de Santa Monica. Le propriétaire de la pension de famille s'appele John Baker et l'engage pour diriger sa propriété pendant qu'il s'occupe d'une salle de jeux sur la plage. Della envoie son fils Marion, âgé de 11 ans, vivre chez des cousins à San Diego car elle pense qu'un garçon doit être élevé par un homme, et seule Gladys reste vivre auprès de sa mère. Gladys est une jeune fille coquette, brillante, expansive, aux cheveux châtains clairs, parlant d'une voix limpide et haut perchée, au rire facile, et à la recherche d'attention des hommes mûrs (sans doute en lien avec son enfance, était-elle à la recherche d'une figure paternelle). Sa mère, Della, ne tarde pas à rester bien longtemps seule et elle fréquente un veuf, Charles Grainger. Cette nouvelle liaison rend Gladys malheureuse, qui se braque contre le nouveau compagnon de sa mère, en lui opposant un silence absolu, et se montrant de très mauvaise humeur. Gladys devient alors un boulet pour Della, qui avait peur de perdre Charles Grainger. C'est alors qu'elle décide de la marier.
Gladys, qui n'a alors que 14 ans, commence à avoir un certain succès auprès des hommes. Et c'est Jasper Newton "Jap" Baker (le fils de John Baker, qui est pompiste ou releveur de comptes à gaz selon les biographes) âgé de 26 ans, qui, aidé de Della Mae, certifie que Gladys était en âge de se marier, 18 ans (alors qu'elle n'en avait que 15) sous prétexte que les preuves de sa date de naissance ont disparu suite aux nombreux déménagements, et l'épouse le 17 mai 1917 (certificat de mariage ci-contre). En fait, Gladys était enceinte de deux mois au moment du mariage. Della assiste gaiement au mariage et donne sa chambre de Westminster Street aux jeunes mariés, pour, de son côté, emménager dans le bungalow de Charles Grainger. Gladys et Jasper Baker ont deux enfants: un fils Robert 'Jack' 'Kermit' Baker (le demi-frère de Marilyn) qui naît le 10 novembre 1917, et une fille Berniece Inez Gladys (la demie-soeur de Marilyn) qui naît le 30 juillet 1919.
A la naissance de Berniece, le couple donne l'adresse de Della Monroe (1410 Coral Canal Court) sur le certificat de naissance. C'est ainsi qu'à 17 ans, Gladys se retrouve épouse et mère de deux enfants. Cependant, suite à son enfance chaotique, l'exemple d'une vie mouvementée de sa mère, ayant connue de nombreux beaux-pères, et par son jeune âge (elle est encore adolescente), Gladys se montre peu maternelle avec ses enfants, dont l'envie serait plutôt de sortir pour aller s'amuser. Il lui arrive d'ailleurs de confier ses enfants à des voisins pour sortir dans les bals et fêtes organisés sur les plages, pendant que son mari travaille de longues heures comme représentant de commerce.
>> vers 1917/1918 - Gladys, Robert Baker et une amie
>> 1918 - Gladys, 16 ans 
>> 30/07/1919 - Certificat de naissance de Berniece 
>> 1919 - Gladys avec ses enfants et sa mère Della Mae
>> 1919 - Gladys avec Robert Baker et leurs enfants
>> vers 1920 - Gladys et Robert Baker
Au cours de l'année 1921, le couple part en voyage à Flat Lick, dans le Kentucky, ville d'où est originaire Jasper, pour rendre visite à la famille de celui-ci. Durant le trajet, pendant que Gladys et Robert se disputent, leur fils Jackie tombe de la voiture dans un virage et se blesse à la hanche. Robert, furieux, reproche à Gladys son manque d'attention. Pendant leur séjour à Flat Lick, Gladys part un jour en randonnée dans les bois avec Audrey, le frère cadet de Jasper. Bien que Jasper est bel homme, il est jaloux de son frère. Quand Gladys revient de la promenade, Jasper la frappe avec une bride dans le dos. Gladys s'enfuit et part en ville, où elle y montre son dos aux passants, en hurlant et pleurant qu'elle a peur de son mari. Finalement, elle revient et ils repartent ensemble avec les enfants pour retourner en Californie. Un jour, elle surprend son mari avec une autre femme dans la rue (d'après ce que rapportera plus tard Gladys à Berniece). C'en est trop pour Gladys qui finit par demander le divorce en 1921 selon les motifs suivants: "Cruauté extrême sous forme de mauvais traitements, d'insultes et de langages orduriers à son égard et en sa présence, de coups et blessures." John rétorque que sa femme a une conduite impudique et lascive.
Après avoir quitté le domicile conjugual, Gladys loue un bungalow au 46 Rose Avenue, à Venice, qu'elle partage avec sa mère Della Mae. Gladys avait signé le bail sous le nom de sa mère Della Monroe, et sous-loue deux des chambres, afin d'être payée comme gérante, ce qui lui permet de verser 100$ par mois aux propriétaires absents, Adele Weinhoff et Susie Noel.
Fin juin 1922, le dernier chèque du loyer n'avait pas été posté. Une dispute éclate entre Gladys et Della, chacune accusant l'autre de dilapider l'argent. N'ayant d'emploi ni l'une ni l'autre, l'essentiel de leurs revenus leur était versé par Charles Grainger, le compagnon de sa mère, et le reste consistant en une modeste somme qu'envoyait Jasper Baker. La courte expérience de colocataires entre mère et fille prend fin en juillet 1922, sous une menace d'expulsion. Della, avec la permission de Charles Grainger, part alors vivre dans un bungalow vide qu'il posséde à Hawthorn.
>> Gladys et sa mère Della Mae 
Le divorce de Gladys et John est prononcé le 11 mai 1923 et Gladys obtient la garde des enfants (jugement de divorce ci-contre). Mais lors d'un week-end de garde, déjà bien avant que le divorce ne soit prononcé, Jasper ne ramène pas les enfants -Robert et Berniece- et les emmène dans sa ville d'origine Flat Lick dans le Kentucky, pour s'installer chez sa mère, pensant que les enfants recevront une meilleure éducation et de son côté, il espère recommencer sa vie.
Leur fils Robert, qui garde des séquelles de sa blessure à la hanche, boite. Il est hospitalisé dans un hôpital de Louisville et porte un plâtre à la jambe.
Quand à Gladys, qui souhaite récupérer ses enfants mais qui reste sans nouvelles, elle se rend à San Diego car elle pense que Jasper y a trouvé un emploi et s'y est installé. Puis elle reçoit un courrier de son ex beau-frère l'avertissant que Jasper et les enfants se trouvent à Flat Lick. Elle s'y rend donc en demandant de l'aide à sa belle-soeur Myrtle (la soeur de Jasper) qui non seulement refuse, mais va avertir Jasper. C'est alors que Jasper et sa mère cachent Berniece et avertissent les médecins de l'hôpital pour empêcher Gladys d'emmener son fils. Mais Gladys n'abandonne pas: elle s'installe à Louisville et y trouve un emploi de femme de ménage, en attendant que l'état de Robert s'améliore. Gladys va rester presqu'une année, vivant chez la famille Cohen (Margaret et John 'Jack' Cohen), où elle officie en tant que nounou de leur fille de trois ans, prénommée Norma Jeane (d'où l'origine du prénom de Marilyn Monroe et non pas Norma pour Norma Talmadge et Jean pour Jean Harlow comme bon nombre de biographes pensent). Il semblerait que Gladys aurait reporté tout son amour maternel sur la petite fille, allant jusqu'à projeter de la kidnapper pour l'emmener avec elle à Los Angeles.
De son côté, Jasper se remarie. S'avouant vaincue, ne pouvant voir ses enfants que de façon irrégulière, et réalisant qu'elle ne pourra jamais les récupérer définitivement, Gladys décide de repartir à Los Angeles et va finir par perdre de vue ses enfants.
Marilyn écrira plus tard: "Ma mère dépensa toutes ses économies pour récupérer les enfants. Finalement, elle les retrouvera dans le Kentucky où ils vivaient dans une belle maison. Leur père s'était remarié et vivait dans l'aisance. Elle le rencontra mais ne lui demanda rien, pas même d'embrasser les enfants qu'elle avait recherché pendant si longtemps."
A Los Angeles, Gladys parvient à trouver un emploi dans la florissante industrie du cinéma: elle travaille six jours sur sept comme monteuse pour la Consolidated Film Industries, puis pour la Columbia et enfin pour la RKO. A la Consolidated Film Industries, elle se lie d'amitié avec une collègue, la surveillante Grace McKee. A la fin de l'été 1923, elles dédicent alors de partager un appartement au 1211 Hyperion Avenue (aujourd'hui le Silver Lake) à Los Angeles, à quelques kilomètres à l'Est de Hollywood. Gladys change d'apparence et teint ses cheveux en rouge cerise. Les deux femmes -Gladys et Grace- mènent une vie joyeuse de femmes célibataires, se promenant en ville et faisant beaucoup la fête. Un collègue de Gladys, Vernon S. Harbin dira que Gladys "avait la réputation d'être un pilier de bar". Mrs Leila Fields, qui travaillera avec Gladys à la RKO, dira d'elle: "C'était une belle femme, une des plus belles femmes que j'ai eu le privilège de rencontrer. Elle avait bon coeur, était une bonne copine et était toujours de bonne humeur avant sa maladie."
C'est aussi dans cette usine -la Consolidated Film Ind.- que Gladys rencontre un bel homme, Charles Stanley Gifford (le père "présumé" de Marilyn, portrait photographique ci-dessus), un véritable coureur de jupons, éléguant et distingué.
>> Gladys au Noël de la Consolidated Film Industries 
Pendant l'été 1924, Gladys fréquente assidûment un homme, Edward Mortensen (photographie ci-contre) immigrant norvégien, bel homme qui est un bon parti, avec un travail stable. Ils se marient le 11 octobre 1924. Mais Gladys, sans doute trop frivole et incapable de partager une vie maritale, se lasse très vite de sa nouvelle vie; elle confie à Grace que la vie avec son mari est certes convenable, mais ennuyeuse à mourir et à peine quatre mois après son mariage, elle quitte le domicile conjugual le 26 mai 1925 pour aller revivre avec Grace. Le couple finit donc par divorcer. Et Gladys de reprendre sa vie légère faites d'aventures et d'amusement entre amis. Elle renoue quelques temps une liaison avec Charles Stanley Gifford.
En 1924, elle retourne tout de même dans le Kentucky afin de revoir ses enfants mais ces derniers sont restés trop longtemps éloignés de leur mère, et aussi probablement manipulés; pour eux, leur mère n'est qu'une étrangère. Gladys se résoud à laisser la garde définitive à leur père.
>> Certificat de mariage avec Mortensen 
>> Gladys (2ème en partant de la droite) et des amies
avec annotation de Marilyn 
>> vers 1924 - Portraits de Gladys
A la fin de l'année 1925, Gladys se retrouve enceinte. Elle donne naissance à une petite fille qu'elle prénomme Norma Jeane Mortenson (future Marilyn Monroe) le 1er juin 1926. A l'hôpital, dont le séjour est payé grâce à une collecte de ses collègues, elle affirme que ses deux premiers enfants sont décédés. Elle déclare que le "père" de l'enfant est Martin Edward Mortensen, son précédent mari, mais il semblerait que le père soit Charles Stanley Gifford, son collègue qu'elle fréquente épisodiquement depuis 1923 et qui l'aurait abandonné dès qu'il aurait su qu'elle était enceinte. Cependant, des biographes citent d'autres pères potentiels, tous des collègues de Gladys: Harold Rooney, Clayton MacNamara, ou encore Raymond Guthrie qui avait fait une cour enflammée à Gladys au cours de l'année 1925.
Plusieurs années après, Gladys sympathisera avec une jeune infirmière Rose Anne Cooper qui rapportera les propos de Gladys: "Elle disait qu'elle avait été intime avec un certain nombre d'hommes et elle parlait de son passé, disant ouvertement que lorsqu'elle était jeune, elle était 'très sauvage' comme elle disait. Cependant, pour elle, le seul genre d'intimité pouvant mener à une grossesse était celle qu'elle avait partagé avec 'Stan Gifford'. Elle avait toujours été ennuyée par le fait que personne ne semblait vouloir la croire, mais que c'était la vérité. Elle disait que même sa propre mère ne la croyait pas. 'Tout le monde pensait que je mentais ou que je ne le savais pas. Je savais. J'ai toujours su', racontait-elle".
Elle ne réclamera jamais de soutien ni moral ni financier à Charles Stanley Gifford.
Marilyn Monroe racontera plus tard: "Elle ne parlait presque jamais sauf pour dire "Ne fais pas tant de bruit, Norma." Elle me disait ça même quand j'étais au lit le soir avec un livre. Même le bruit d'une page de livre qu'on tournait l'agaçait. Il y avait un objet dans l'appartement de ma mère qui me fascinait. C'était une photographie accrochée au mur. Il n'y avait rien d'autre sur les murs que cette photographie encadrée. Chaque fois que je rendais visite à mère, je restais plantée devant en retenant mon souffle tellement j'avais peur qu'elle m'ordonne d'arrêter de la regarder. Un jour, elle m'a surprise ainsi, mais elle ne m'a pas grondée, bien au contraire. Elle m'a fait monter sur une chaise pour que je la vois mieux. Elle m'a dit :"C'est ton père." J'étais tellement bouleversée que j'ai failli tomber de la chaise. C'était si bon d'avoir un père, de pouvoir regarder sa photo et de savoir que j'étais de lui. Et quelle merveilleuse photo, en plus ! Il était coiffé d'un grand chapeau mou qu'il portait incliné sur le côté. Il avait des yeux rieurs et pleins de vie et une petite moustache à la Clark Gable. Cette photo me réconfortait... J'ai demandé à ma mère comment il s'appelait. Elle ne m'a pas répondu. Elle est allée s'enfermer dans sa chambre."
>> 01/06/1926 - Certificats et Acte de naissance de Norma Jeane
Après la naissance de l'enfant, Gladys rentre chez elle avec son bébé, au 5454 Wilshire Boulevard. Mais le 13 juin 1926, soit douze jours après la naissance de Norma Jeane, Gladys place le bébé dans une famille d'accueil -les Bolender- qui vivent à Hawthorn, à environ 25 km de chez elle, et non loin d'où vit Della Mae. Gladys avait echoué dans son rôle de mère avec ses deux premiers enfants, et avec son travail à plein temps et son goût pour les plaisirs et sorties, elle est incapable d'élever une enfant. C'est d'ailleurs sa mère Della Mae qui lui a conseillé de placer le bébé chez une famille d'accueil, les Bolender, un couple sérieux et dévot qu'elle connait bien, puisqu'ils sont voisins. Cependant, cette situation semble n'être que temporaire pour Gladys: elle s'installe quelques temps chez les Bolender, avant de retourner vivre chez elle et de verser 25 Dollars par mois à la famille d'accueil. Elle rend aussi visite à sa fille le week-end, comme le racontera Wayne Bolender: "Gladys venait presque tous les samedis vers midi. Il lui arrivait de passer la nuit ici, mais généralement, elle avait un rendez vous le samedi soir ou bien elle était invitée à une soirée, auquel cas elle repartait pour Hollywood au bout de quelques heures." Marilyn racontera plus tard que quand sa mère venait la voir, jamais elle ne lui montrait une marque d'affection; elle lui parlait à peine, ne l'embrassait pas et ne lui souriait pas: "C'était la belle dame qui souriait jamais. Je l'avais vue souvent auparavant mais je ne savais pas exactement qui elle était. Quand je lui ai dit:"Bonjour Maman", elle m'a regardée avec stupeur. Elle ne m'avait ni embrassée ni prise dans ses bras, elle ne m'avait jamais tellement parlé."
Sans doute les Bolender aurait peut être voulu adopter Norma Jeane, comme ils l'ont fait avec d'autres enfants dont ils s'occupaient, mais Gladys s'y est opposée, espérant reprendre un jour sa fille.
Le 18 août 1926, le divorce d'avec Mortenson est prononcé.
>> 1926 - Gladys et Norma Jeane
Au début de l’année 1927, Gladys s'installe chez sa mère Della Mae qui rencontre de sérieux problèmes de santé; elle est notamment atteinte de fréquentes infections respiratoires. Malgré le surcroît de transport en trolley pour aller à son travail, Gladys s'occupe de sa mère et se retrouve ainsi aussi dans la même rue des Bolender, ce qui lui permet alors de voir plus fréquemment sa fille.
La maladie du coeur de sa mère s'aggrave rapidement, suivie d'une profonde dépression: elle souffre de délires, d'euphorie, de sautes d'humeur, de colères et d' hallucinations. Elle est hospitalisée au Norwalk State Hospital le 4 août 1927 où on lui diagnostique une myocardite aiguë (inflammation du coeur et des tissus environnants ) et elle y décède le 23 août 1927, à l'âge de 51 ans, d'un arrêt cardiaque pendant une crise de folie. Gladys s'occupe des funérailles, faisant enterrer sa mère auprès du premier mari de celle-ci et père de Gladys, Otis Elmer Monroe, au Rose Hill Cemetery, à Whittier. Gladys sombre dans la déprime, mais parvient à faire face au deuil et reprend son activité de monteuse pour les studios de cinéma (à la Columbia et à la RKO).
>> 1928, Santa Monica - Gladys et sa fille Norma Jeane,
son frère Marion avec sa femme Olive et leur fille Ida May
Pendant sept ans, Norma Jeane va rester chez les Bolender, recevant la visite de sa mère qui de temps en temps, la prenait pour un week-end. En 1933, lorsque Norma Jeane est atteinte de la coqueluche, Gladys va rester quelques jours chez les Bolender, puis quelques temps après, elle retire sa fille de chez les Bolender car la petite restait inconsolable après la mort de son chien Tippy, tué par un voisin. Marilyn se souviendra: "Un jour, ma mère est venue me voir. J'étais en train de faire la vaisselle. Elle me regardait sans dire un mot. Quand je me suis retournée, j'ai été surprise de voir ses yeux pleins de larmes. Elle m'a dit: "Je vais faire construire une maison et nous y vivrons toutes les deux. Elle sera peinte en blanc et il y aura un petit jardin derrière."
Elles vivent ensemble dans l'appartement de Gladys au 6021 Afton Place, situé près des studios de Hollywood où elle travaille comme monteuse en free-lance avec son amie Grace. Gladys et Grace emmènent parfois Norma Jeane visiter les studios d'Hollywood, mais aussi au cinéma pour aller voir les derniers films sortis. La même année, en 1933, Gladys obtient un prêt de 5000 Dollars de la Mortgage Guarantee Company de Californie pour acheter une maison meublée de six pièces, dont trois chambres, au 6812 Arbol Street, près de Hollywood Bowl. Dans la maison, il y a aussi un piano demie-queue blanc de la marque Franklin (ayant appartenu à l'acteur Fredric March) qui a séduit Gladys. Pour faire face aux charges, Gladys loue une chambre de la maison à un couple d'anglais, George Atkinson, sa femme et leur fille. Pour Norma Jeane, c'est un nouveau mode de vie, elle expliquera plus tard: "La vie devint désinvolte et tumultueuse, c'était un changement radical après ma première famille. Quand ils travaillaient, ils travaillaient dur, et le reste du temps, ils s'amusaient. Ils aimaient danser et chanter, ils buvaient et jouaient aux cartes et avaient un tas d'amis. A cause de mon éducation religieuse, j'étais affreusement choquée -j'étais persuadée qu'ils finiraient tous en enfer. Je passais des heures à prier pour eux."
A cette époque, Norma Jeane ressent les premiers attraits vers le cinéma. Pendant les vacances scolaires, elle reste des heures dans les salles de cinéma, comme elle le racontera plus tard: "J'étais assise, toute la journée, quelques fois une partie de la nuit -face à l'écran tellement grand pour une petite fille comme moi, toute seule, et j'adorais ça. Rien ne m'échappait de ce qui se passait - et il n'y avait pas de pop-corn à l'époque."
Le 17 août 1933, le fils de Gladys, Robert 'Jackie Kermit' Baker qui vit dans le Kentucky avec son père, décède à l'âge de 16 ans des suites d'une infection rénale. Le garçon était atteint d'une tuberculose osseuse déclarée après son accident à la hanche quand il était petit. Gladys n'avait plus aucun contact avec ses enfants de son premier mariage. Robert 'Jackie' n'a donc jamais revu sa mère et n'a jamais su l'existence de sa demie-soeur Norma Jeane.
>> 1933, Californie - Gladys 
1933 - Gladys et sa fille Norma Jeane
Le 29 mai 1933, le grand-père de Gladys qu'elle n'a jamais connu, Tilford Hogan, s'est pendu. Gladys prend peur: son père et sa mère sont morts dans des hôpitaux psychiatriques, après des phases de démence; elle reste donc persuadée que ces problèmes sont héréditaires et que sa santé mentale est en jeu. Peu à peu, elle entre en dépression et est soignée par médicaments. En janvier 1934, Gladys fait une crise d'hystérie, tremblante et recroquevillée sous l'escalier. Les Atkinson se voient obligés d'appeler une ambulance qui emmène de force Gladys à l'hôpital Los Angeles General Hospital. Cet événement va marquer Norma Jeane à jamais; Marilyn se souviendra plus tard: "Soudain, il y eu un bruit épouvantable dans l'escalier, à côté de la cuisine. Je n'avais jamais rien entendu d'aussi effrayant. Des coups et des bruits sourds qui semblaient ne jamais devoir s'arrêter. J'ai dit :"Il y a quelque chose qui tombe dans l'escalier." L'anglaise m'a empêcher d'aller voir. Son mari est sorti et il est revenu dans la cuisine au bout d'un certain temps en disant: "J'ai fait appeler la police et une ambulance." J'ai demandé si c'était ma mère et il m'a répondu :"Oui, mais tu ne peux pas la voir." Je suis restée dans la cuisine et j'ai entendu des gens arriver et essayer d'emmener ma mère. Personne ne voulait que je la voie. Tout le monde me disait: "Sois mignonne, petite, reste dans la cuisine. Elle va bien. Ce n'est rien de grave!" Mais je suis sortie quand même et j'ai jeté un coup d'oeil dans l'entrée. Ma mère était là, debout. Elle hurlait et elle riait en même temps. Ils l'ont emmenée à l'hopital spychiatrique de Norwalk. Celui où on avait emmené le père de ma mère et ma grand mère quand ils avaient commencé à hurler et à rire ( ..) J'ai longtemps continué à entendre le bruit épouvantable dans les escaliers, avec ma mère qui hurlait et riait pendant qu'ils l'entrainaient hors du havre familial qu'elle avait tenté de construire pour moi". En février 1934, Gladys est autorisée à rentrer chez elle, mais elle est à nouveau hospitalisée pendant plusieurs mois dans un asile de Santa Monica, puis transférée au Los Angeles General Hospital et en décembre, elle rejoint le Norwalk State Hospital. Gladys va passer les quarante années suivantes entre diverses institutions. Il semble qu'elle souffrait de troubles mentaux et ne pouvait mener une vie normale hors d'un encadrement spécialisé. Cependant, les soins apportés à cette époque étaient quelques peu rudimentaires et il est possible qu'un traitement non adapté n'ait fait qu'empirer son état.
Durant cette période difficile, les Atkinson et Grace McKee s'occupent alternativement de Norma Jeane, qui parvient à voir sa mère lors de rares week-end où Gladys est autorisée à sortir; lorsque c'est le cas, Gladys, Grace et Norma Jeane vont déjeuner à l'Ambassador Hotel. Marilyn confiera: "Je veux tout simplement oublier tout le malheur, toute la misère qu'elle a eus dans sa vie, et tous ceux que j'ai eus dans la mienne. Je ne peux pas oublier, mais j'aimerais essayer. Quand je suis Marilyn Monroe et que je ne pense pas à Norma Jeane, cela marche quelquefois."
Le 15 janvier 1935, Gladys est déclarée aliénée, souffrant de schizophrénie paranoïde, par les médecins du Norwalk State Hospital. Le rapport du médecin chef déclare : "Sa maladie se caractérise par des préoccupations religieuses et par une dépression profonde et une certaine agitation. Cet état semble chronique".
Le 25 mars 1935, Grace McKee devient la représentante légale de Gladys, par décision de la Cour Supérieure de Justice de Californie. Le bilan de la situation financière de Gladys est dressé: elle dispose de 60$ sur son compte en banque, de 90$ en chèques non endossés sur une assurance, d'un meuble de radio (d'une valeur de 25$ dont 15 n'ont pas été payés et sont dus au magasin); ses dettes s'élèvent à 350$ sur une Plymouth et de 200$ d'arriérés sur le piano blanc.
Pour combler les dettes, Grace revend la voiture à son précédent propriétaire, vend le piano pour 235$, et revend le crédit de la maison.
>> 25/03/1935 - Décision de la Cour: Grace tutrice des biens de Gladys
et situation financière de Gladys:
>> Etat des finances de Gladys - 28/09/1936 
En 1938, Gladys tente de s'enfuir du Norwalk State Hospital. Elle racontera avoir reçu des appels téléphoniques de Martin Edward Mortensen, son précédent époux, ce qui est impossible car celui-ci est décédé dans un accident de moto neuf ans auparavant. Cependant, il existe un homonyme, un homme se nommant aussi Martin Edward Mortensen, vivant à Riverside Country en Californie, qui revendiquera bien longtemps après la paternité de Marilyn et pour lequel on retrouvera dans ses affaires après sa mort, le 10 février 1981, des documents le liant à Gladys (les papiers de mariage et divorce, mais aussi le certificat de naissance de Norma Jeane).
Après cette tentative d'évasion qui a échouée, Gladys est transférée au Agnew State Asylum, un établissement adapté pour les personnes souffrant d'hallucinations schizophrénique, situé à San José, près de San Francisco. C'est à partir de ce moment que Norma Jeane verra que très peu sa mère. Un jour, Grace emmène Norma Jeane à la pension de la clinique où vit Gladys: cette dernière ne lui adresse pas la parole jusqu'au moment de partir, où elle dit à sa fille: "Tu avais de si jolis petits pieds".
Durant l'Hiver 1938, Gladys écrit une lettre à sa fille Berniece, l'envoyant à Flat Lick chez les parents de Jasper. Mais ces derniers étant décédés, le facteur a transmis la lettre au frère de Jasper qui vit aussi à Flat Lick, qui la renvoie à son tour à Jasper qui vit désormais à Pineville, en Louisianne. Dans cette lettre, Gladys explique à Berniece qu'elle a une demi-soeur, Norma Jeane, âgée de douze ans, qui vit chez les Goddard (Grace McKee s'est mariée à Ervin Goddard en 1935). Gladys supplie aussi Berniece de la sortir de l'Agnew State Hospital, et lui donne l'adresse de sa tante (la soeur de Della Monroe), Dora Hogan Graham, qui vit à Portland, dans l'Oregon. Berniece répond à sa mère en lui informant qu'elle a contacté diverses personnes (dont Dora) et qu'elle va tout tenter pour la faire sortir.
>> Etat des finances de Gladys - 07/02/1940 
>> 1940s - Gladys et Grace (McKee) Goddard 
>> 1940s, Reno - Gladys 
En 1945, Dora Hogan Graham, qui vit à Portland, intervient auprès des autorités pour qu'on laisse sortir Gladys, qui en retour, accepte de vivre avec sa tante pendant un an. L'été 1945, l'hôpital 'Agnew State Hospital' la laisse alors sortir avec 200$ et deux robes, déclarant que Gladys ne représente plus un danger ni pour elle, ni pour les autres. Gladys part vivre chez sa tante Dora et trouve du travail en faisant le ménage et effectuant des soins non-médicaux à des patients en convalescence et invalides. Elle s'habille de blanc, comme une infirmière. Dora écrit une lettre à Berniece en lui racontant que Gladys s'intéresse beaucoup à la Science Chrétienne, et qu'elle souhaite soigner des gens malades sans l'apport de la médecine.
En novembre et décembre 1945, Norma Jeane voyage dans l'Ouest des Etats-Unis avec le photographe André DeDienes pour un reportage photographique: ils vont jusque dans le désert de Mojave et dans le Nevada. Lors de leur passage dans l'Oregon, ils font une halte à Portland pour rendre visite à Gladys où ils arrivent les bras chargés de cadeaux. Mais après des années passées dans des institutions, Gladys est devenue totalement asociale, fermée sur elle-même et très amaigrie. Ces retrouvailles vont marquer profondément Norma Jeane: elle embrasse sa mère et lui montre les photos prises par Dedienes. Gladys reste murée dans son silence, vissée dans son fauteuil. DeDienes racontera plus tard: "La rencontre entre la mère et la fille manquait de chaleur. Elles n'avaient rien à se dire. Mrs Baker était une femme d'un âge incertain, émaciée et apatique, ne faisant aucun effort pour nous mettre à l'aise. Norma Jeane faisait bonne figure. Elle avait déballé nos cadeaux: une écharpe, du parfum, des chocolats. Ils restèrent où nous les avions posés, sur la table. Il y eut un silence. Puis Mrs Baker cacha son visage dans ses mains et sembla nous oublier complètement. C'était très pénible. Apparement, ils l'avaient laissée sortir trop tôt de l'hopital." Déboussollée, Norma Jeane s'agenouille auprès de sa mère qui finit par lui murmurer: "J’aimerais tellement vivre avec toi Norma Jeane." Retenant ses larmes, Norma Jeane embrasse sa mère et lui laisse son adresse et son numéro de téléphone avant de partir. En reprenant la route avec Dedienes, elle restera inconsolable, ne cessant de pleurer. En effet, Gladys reste plus ou moins une étrangère pour Norma Jeane qui ne l'a, finalement, que très peu connue. De plus, Norma Jeane vient de signer un contrat de modèle et aspire à faire carrière. Elle se sent donc incapable de prendre soin de Gladys qui souffre de problèmes mentaux.
Gladys insiste et ne cesse d'implorer sa fille Norma Jeane lui réclamant de l'aide. En avril 1946, Norma Jeane cède et envoie de l'argent à sa mère pour qu'elle la rejoigne à Los Angeles. Elles partagent deux petites chambres louées par Norma Jeane, en dessous de chez "tante" Ana Lower, sur Nebraska Avenue. Gladys n'est pas en forme; elle est obsédée par la Science Chrétienne et découvre, par le biais des pouvoirs guérisseurs d'Ana Lower, les possibilités de l'esprit sur la maladie et étudie ainsi dévotement de nombreux livres sur ce thème. Elle assiste aussi aux services de l'Eglise tous les dimanches. Eleanor 'Bebe' Goddard (la fille de Doc Goddard, le mari de Grace McKee) racontera: "Elle errait et était imprévisible. Elle était docile mais absente."
Un jour, Gladys, toute de blanc vêtue, se rend à l'agence de modèle de sa fille (BlueBook) et déclare à la directrice Emmeline Snively, en lui saisissant la main: "Je suis simplement venue vous remercier personnellement pour tout ce que vous avez fait pour Norma Jeane. Vous lui avez offert une nouvelle vie."
En août 1946, Berniece se rend à Los Angeles avec sa fille Mona Rae pour rendre visite à sa famille. A leur arrivée à l'aéroport de Burbank, Norma Jeane, Grace McKee, Ana Lower et Gladys sont venues les accueillir.
>> Août 1946, Santa Monica - Gladys et ses filles
(Berniece et Norma Jeane) et sa petite fille Mona Rae
>> Août 1946, Los Angeles, dans un restaurant chinois:
Berniece, Mona Rae, Grace, Norma Jean, Ana Lower et Gladys. 
Après plusieurs semaines, Gladys rechute et doit à nouveau rejoindre l'hôpital Norwalk State Asylum. Grâce à ses salaires gagnés en tant que modèle, Norma Jeane envoie de l'argent pour améliorer la prise en charge de sa mère.
Gladys entretient une correspondance épistolaire avec Margaret Cohen (la mère de la petite Norma Jeane qu'elle gardait à Louisville en 1923); elle lui confie, dans une de ses lettres envoyée l'été 1946: "Mes propres filles ne me comprennent pas, elles n'essayent même pas". Gladys lui demande aussi des nouvelles de Norma Jeane Cohen, âgée désormais de 26 ans, souhaitant reprendre contact avec elle.
En février 1948, Gladys sort de l'hôpital et emmènage chez Ana Lower; elle trouve un emploi de femme de ménage.
Le 30 mai 1948, Gladys écrit une lettre à Berniece, lui reprochant notamment le fait qu'elle ne lui ait pas annoncée la mort de Tante Ana Lower, décédée le 14 mars, mais aussi car Berniece n'a pas répondu à sa dernière lettre:
>> Juin 1948 - Lettre de Gladys à Grace
>> Lettre non datée de Gladys à Norma Jeane
(merci à Eduardo) 
Le 20 avril 1949, Gladys épouse John Stewart Eley, un électricien originaire de Boise, dans l'Idaho. Norma Jeane apprend la nouvelle par une lettre que lui a envoyée Grace. Mais John est déjà marié et son épouse vit à Boise.
En 1951, Marilyn demande à Inez Melson, l'administratrice de ses affaires, de faire des visites régulières à Gladys, pour s'assurer de son bien être tandis qu'elle continue à fréquenter diverses institutions. En 1952, Inez Melson persuade Marilyn qu'elle la désigne comme tutrice légale de Gladys. Gladys travaille dans une clinique privée à Homestead Lodge, près de Pasadena.
Le 23 avril 1952, John Stewart Eley meurt d'une affection cardiaque à l'âge de 62 ans et Gladys se retrouve veuve. La semaine suivante, l'existence de la mère de Marilyn est révélée par le journaliste Erskine Johnson: Marilyn a toujours dit qu'elle était orpheline; mais avec le scandale du calendrier où elle a posé nue en 1949 et qui fait surface cette année là, des journalistes curieux enquêtent et découvrent que sa mère n'est pas morte, contrairement à ce qu'a encore déclaré Marilyn la semaine précédente dans une interview pour Redbook, et que celle-ci a fréquenté des institutions psychiatriques. Marilyn accorde alors une interview, publiée le 3 mai 1952, qu'elle a préparée avec Sidney Skolsky, et y déclare notamment: "Je n'ai jamais connu ma mère intimement et, depuis que je suis adulte, je suis entrée en contact avec elle. A présent, je l'aide et veux continuer à l'aider tant qu'elle aura besoin de moi." Puis Marilyn reçoit alors une lettre implorante de sa mère: "Chère Marilyn, Je t'en prie, ma chère fille, j'aimerais avoir de tes nouvelles. Je n'ai que des soucis ici, et j'aimerais bien partir le plus vite possible. Je préfèrerais avoir l'amour de mon enfant que sa haine. Tendrement, ta mère." Gladys continue à entretenir aussi des relations avec sa fille Berniece: elle lui rend visite en Floride au cours de l'année 1952.
>> 1952, Floride - Berniece, Gladys et Mona Rae 
Le 9 février 1953, d'après les conseils de Grace McKee, Marilyn fait transférer Gladys dans un établissement plus confortable, l'institution privée Rockhaven Sanatorium, à Verduga City, afin de protéger sa mère contre les journalistes trop curieux; Marilyn paie alors 300$ par mois pour les frais d'hospitalisation.
Marilyn racontera: "Longtemps, j'ai eu peur de m'apercevoir que je ressemblais à ma mère et que je finirais comme elle dans un asile de fous. Quand je déprime, je me demande si je vais craquer, comme elle. Mais j'éspère devenir plus forte."
>> 22/03/1956 - chèque de 600 Dollars de Marilyn
adressé à Inez Melson pour l'hospitalisation de Gladys
(merci à Eduardo) 
En 1959, Marilyn assure définitivement l'avenir financier de sa mère par un fonds de fidéicommis (qui désigne une disposition juridique -souvent testamentaire- par laquelle un bien est versé à une personne via un tiers). Pour Noël 1959, Gladys envoie ses souhaits à Marilyn, signant toujours du nom de son dernier époux décédé: "Loving Good Wishes, Gladys Pearl Eley":
>> Noël 1959 - Carte de voeux de Gladys pour Marilyn: 
Au cours du premier trimestre 1960, pendant que Marilyn tourne le film "Le Milliardaire" ("Let's Make Love"), elle donne une interview au journaliste George Belmont, à qui elle évoque notamment son enfance et sa mère. Elle déclare alors que sa mère est "morte".
Le 5 août 1962, le monde entier apprend le décès de Marilyn Monroe. Gladys en est très affectée; elle ne se rend pas à l'enterrement et fera plusieurs tentatives de suicide. Le 22 août 1962, elle écrit une lettre à Inez Melson, la remerciant de son soutien et rappelant qu'elle avait enseigné la science chrétienne à Norma Jeane: "I am very greatefull for your kind and gracious help toward Berniece and myself and to dear Norma Jeane. She is at peace and at rest now and may our God bless her and help her always. I wish you to know that I gave her (Norma) Christian Science treatment for approximately a year."
>> 22/08/1962 - Lettre de Gladys à Inez Melson: 
Un jour, en 1963, elle s'enfuit de Rockhaven Sanatorium; elle est retrouvée le lendemain, dans une église de San Fernando Valley, serrant dans ses mains une bible et un livre de prières de la Science chrétienne.
Inez Melson déclarera: "La mère de Marilyn se consacrait toute entière à sa religion, la Science chrétienne, et était principalement préoccupée par le mal. C'est là que se situait ses dysfonctionnements. Elle pensait avoir fait quelque chose de mal dans sa vie, et qu'elle serait punie pour cela."
>> 1963 - Gladys 
Le 27 avril 1966, elle est transférée au Camarillo State Hospital où elle y reste un an. Elle reçoit régulièrement la visite de Inez Melson:
>> 1966 - Gladys et Inez Melson
-photographies- 
-captures-
-video-
En 1967, elle part vivre chez sa fille Berniece en Floride.
En 1970, c'est sous le nom de Gladys Eley qu'elle intègre la maison de retraite Collins Court Home, à Gainesville en Floride. Aux journalistes curieux qui tentent de l'approcher pour qu'elle leur évoque sa célèbre fille Marilyn, elle leur répond: "Ne me parlez pas de cette femme !". En 1972, elle déclare à James Haspiel, un fan de Marilyn qui l'a connu et suivi pendant de nombreuses années: "Je n'ai jamais voulu qu'elle fasse ce métier !"
En 1980, c'est Lawrence Cusak qui devient son tuteur légal.
Le 11 mars 1984, c'est à l'âge de 81 ans que Gladys meurt d'une crise cardiaque; elle est incinérée.
>> Années 1980s - Gladys 
> sources pour l'article:
Livres: Marilyn Monroe, L'encyclopédie, de Adam Victor / The secret life of Marilyn Monroe, de J. Randy Taraborelli / Marilyn Monroe de Roger Baker
Sur le blog: enfance de Marilyn évoquée dans l' Interview de Georges Belmont
Sur le web: biographie d'Yria sur le forum mmonline / article "family" sur marilynmonroesplace / fiche Gladys sur findagrave , sur geni , sur imdb
© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand.
Property from the life and career of MM - 12/2014 - Docs
Documents papiers
Lot 708: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED LETTER REGARDING BOND
A Marilyn Monroe received letter. The envelope is addressed to Marilyn Monroe at 1215 Lodi Place in Los Angeles from Opal M. Clark and postmarked July 22, 1948. A note to Monroe reads in full, “Here is your bond Norma – please sign the enclosed receipt + return to me. Hope all is well with you. With love – Opal.” At the time, Monroe was living at the Hollywood Studio Club, a residence for women in the film industry.
4 1/4 by 9 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $384 - Estimate: $150 - $300 
Lot 709: MARILYN MONROE EMPLOYMENT RECORDS
A group of seven Marilyn Monroe employment documents from Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. The documents date from 1947 to 1949 and include two employment opening and four employment closing notices as well as one change of rate card. These cards represent Monroe’s first forays into film work. Notable are the cards filled out during her work on The Dangerous Years (20th Century, 1947), indicated on the opening and closing cards as being for a “Sol Wurtzel Prod.,” and a starting card dated August 27, 1949, for her role as Clara in the film A Ticket to Tomahawk (20th Century, 1950), indicating that Monroe flew to the filming location with a closing card from this film dated October 21, 1949, stating that filming was finished. One closing card indicates her first firing from Fox. Dated August 25, 1947, the card explains “Option Not Exercised” after only a year; the studio opted not to take Monroe under contract again at that time. Monroe changed her name from Norma Jeane to Marilyn Monroe when she got her contract with Fox in August 1946. Monroe’s salary during this period ranged from $125 to $200 per week.
4 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$2,560 - Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 
Lot 718: MARILYN MONROE SIGNED CHECK
A Marilyn Monroe signed check dated September 15, 1957, check number 35, in the amount of $12.12 paid to the New York Telephone Company from a Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc. account with Colonial Trust Company. The check information is typed and signed by Monroe in blue ink. Below her signature is her title with Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc., President.
3 by 8 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$7,040 - Estimate: $2,500 - $3,000 
Lot 720: MARILYN MONROE FILM SYNOPSIS FROM ARCHIVE
A five-page screenplay synopsis for the unproduced film "Miss Nobody" written by Garson Kanin. The typed document heading reads “ Original Screenplay – 140pp.” and “Henry F. Greenberg/ May 5, 1950.” It is presumed Monroe was approached to participate in the production.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$192 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 722: MARILYN MONROE TELEPHONE COMPANY DOCUMENTS
A Marilyn Monroe telephone bill and other telephone company related documents. Items include an April 1951 telephone bill for $180.41 (when adjusting for inflation that is almost $1600 in the 2013 economy); a bill pay reminder; an itemized list of long-distance calls from the phone company (undated); a rate information card addressed to "M. Monroe," postmarked May 1961; and other telephone company related items.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$448 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 725: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM CARY GRANT
A Cary Grant typed, signed letter to Marilyn Monroe. The undated letter, written on Grant's personal stationery, followed a recent trip by Grant and his wife to visit troops in Japan and Korea. The letter was accompanied by a gift Grant was asked by a soldier to take to Monroe. Grant also offers his assistance if Monroe should also go visit the troops in Asia. The pair worked together on the film Monkey Business (20th Century, 1952). A notation on verso is written in pencil in an unknown hand.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$3,840 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 728: MARILYN MONROE EMPLOYMENT RECORDS
A 22-piece collection of Marilyn Monroe’s earning records from 20th Century Fox. The quarterly records span from 1946 to 1953 beginning after Monroe’s first contract with Fox in August 1946. The weekly accounting of Monroe’s salary illustrates the actress’ rise in star power throughout her career at Fox. In 1953, 20th Century Fox released three Monroe films: How to Marry A Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Niagra. The records reflect two different employee numbers for Monroe, 63015 and 661616, most likely due to the break in her contract with Fox.
Each, 5 1/2 by 11 inches
Winning bid:$6,250 - Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 
Lot 739: JANE RUSSELL HANDWRITTEN LETTER TO MARILYN MONROE
A Jane Russell handwritten letter to Marilyn Monroe. The 10-page letter is written on onionskin paper. Russell starts the letter "Dear Little One" and signs it "Old Jane." In the letter, Russell addresses rumors of Monroe's divorce from Joe DiMaggio and encourages Monroe to rely on religion to help her through this rough period. She discusses Hollywood marriages, including her own, and gives her opinion on fellow actresses' marriages. In part, Russell writes, "I've never written such a letter - But I love you very dearly + I don't want you to be unhappy ever... ."
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid: $3,200 - Estimate: $500 - $700 
Lot 747: MARILYN MONROE LETTER RECEIVED WHILE IN KOREA
A typed letter sent to Marilyn Monroe by Major General Lionel McGarr. Dated February 16, 1954, McGarr thanked Monroe for her appearance, stating that she provided relaxation and a boost for morale. Monroe entertained troops in Korea February 16-19, 1954, while on her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio. Accompanied by the original hand-delivered transmittal envelope typed “Miss Marilyn Monroe/ ‘Marilyn Monroe VIP Show'/ Korea.”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $768 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 748: MARILYN MONROE ENCLOSURE CARDS AND MESSAGES
A group of Marilyn Monroe received floral enclosure cards and other personal cards from friends and family members, including Freddie Fields, “all the boys at M.C.A.," Patsy & Rose D’Amore, “Judy & Jay,” “Aunt Allis,” “Sydney,” Arthur O’Connell, Vernon Scott and others, with personal messages to Monroe. Accompanied by a note written in an unknown hand on Beverly Hills Hotel stationery regarding “M. McCarthy” and a typed message dated November 8, 1954, for Mrs. DiMaggio regarding a cousin. This note has a handwritten notation that reads “he is ??”.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 6 3/4 by 5 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $576 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 749: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM SID ROSS
A two-page handwritten letter from Sid Ross to Marilyn Monroe. Written on American Airlines stationery, postscript on a third page. The letter expresses Ross’ regret that Monroe couldn’t meet with him and goes on to offer her advice, including “Don’t be the baseball; be the bat.” Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope postmarked May 17, 1953. Ross wrote an article about Monroe in 1952, and his brother, photographer Ben Ross, had three sittings with Monroe in the early 1950s.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/4 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $640 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 750: MARILYN MONROE LETTERS FROM LOTTE GOSLAR
A pair of letters received by Marilyn Monroe from her teacher and friend, mime Lotte Goslar. Both letters are from January 1954. One is a single-sided handwritten note. The other is handwritten on two-pages, double sided, in which Goslar congratulates Monroe on her marriage to Joe DiMaggio.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $448 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 752: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM JOE DiMAGGIO
A Joe DiMaggio three-page handwritten letter to Marilyn Monroe postmarked October 9, 1954. DiMaggio dates the letter as "Saturday - a.m." and greets Marilyn "Dear Baby." The letter came to Marilyn on the heels of her October 6th announcement to the press that she and DiMaggio were divorcing. In the letter DiMaggio discusses watching the announcement. The letter reads in part, "Don't know what you're thoughts are about me, - but I can tell you I love you sincerely, - way deep in my heart, irregardless of anything." Accompanied by original transmittal envelope addressed to the house the couple shared in Beverly Hills, California.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$78,125 - Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000 
Lot 753: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM TOM NEAL
A five-page handwritten letter to Marilyn Monroe from actor Tom Neal. Neal reminds Monroe where they had met previously and offers her support and encouragement during her divorce from Joe DiMaggio. Citing his time in the media spotlight due to his love triangle with Barbara Payton and Franchot Tone, Neal writes in part “Marriage is rough enough without taking on an added burden of marrying someone who doesn’t understand the film industry.” Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope postmarked October 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$512 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 754: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM SAM SHAW
A 16-page letter from Sam Shaw to Marilyn Monroe. Handwritten on small notebook paper. Shaw has labeled two pages “7.” He discusses an art opening that he went to and Monroe’s marriage to and divorce from Joe DiMaggio. Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope postmarked December 3, 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
7 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$1,562.50 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 755: MARILYN MONROE SEVEN YEAR ITCH TELEGRAM
A Western Union telegram sent to Marilyn Monroe by Twentieth Century-Fox Studios dated December 23, 1954. The telegram summons Monroe to meet with Lew Schreiber regarding The Seven Year Itch (20th Century, 1955) on December 28, 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$ 1,280 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 758: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM SAM SHAW
A three-page handwritten letter from Sam Shaw to Marilyn Monroe. The letter discusses a film Shaw has just seen and a postscript that continues on to the back of the third page discussing Monroe’s interest in collecting art. Below the postscript Shaw has drawn a caricature of Monroe with paintings in frames. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope postmarked December 8, 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
12 1/2 by 8 inches
Winning bid: $1,125 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 759: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM SAM SHAW
A 12-page handwritten letter from Sam Shaw to Marilyn Monroe. In the letter, Shaw offers his advice for dealing with the press and Monroe’s public image. On the back of the last page Shaw has drawn a caricature of his family with the text “We all love Marilyn/ the Shaws.” Reads in part “I found a shot of you that we both liked...I think this photo puts me in Milton’s class.” Shaw has included a newspaper clipping of Monroe dancing with Clark Gable. Accompanied by two envelopes, the first is stamped without postmark, the second is postmarked December 9, 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
9 by 6 inches
Winning bid: $1,125 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 760: MARILYN MONROE 1954 LETTER FROM SAM SHAW
A one-page handwritten letter from photographer, artist and producer Sam Shaw to Marilyn Monroe. Shaw chastises Monroe for sending neither a hello nor a goodbye note to him and references Shaw giving Monroe’s address to Dame Edith Sitwell. With a drawing on reverse of a grave with a shovel and a tombstone that reads “Here lies his [drawing of a heart] and luve [sic] gone but no [sic] forgotten.” Accompanied by original transmittal envelope postmarked December 10, 1954.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
9 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$ 2,187.50 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 761: MARILYN MONROE 1954 LETTER FROM HER LAWYER
A letter written to Marilyn Monroe from her lawyer, Lloyd Wright Jr. The two-page typed, signed letter, dated October 26, 1954, discusses contracts, endorsements, with references to ghostwriter Ben Hecht and a payment due to Alfred Hayes. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $500 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 763: MARILYN MONROE CARD FROM MARLON BRANDO
An enclosure card handwritten to Marilyn Monroe from Marlon Brando. The small card has an image of Asian-inspired scene of a boat in a body of water. Reads in full, “Happy birthday Marylin [sic] from Marlon.”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 by 4 inches
Winning bid: $1,920 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 764: MARILYN MONROE LETTERS FROM HENRY ROSENFELD
A group of three letters from Henry Rosenfeld to Marilyn Monroe, undated, written on lined notepaper. One note addressed “darling” informs Monroe of a present that Rosenfeld purchased for her on the occasion of her birthday. He closes the note, “I want you to be happy above everything else in the world. Always and always, Henry.” Rosenfeld, a wealthy New York dress manufacturer, met Monroe in 1955. They became close, and at some point he proposed to Monroe. The proposal came to nothing, but the pair remained friends.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
and Lot 756, "Julien's Summer Sale," Julien's Auctions, Las Vegas, June 26, 2009
12 by 8 inches
Winning bid: $384 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 767: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM CHERYL CRAWFORD
A letter written to Marilyn Monroe by producer/director Cheryl Crawford. The letter is typed, signed and contains a handwritten postscript. In the letter, Crawford expresses a desire to work with Monroe on future productions. Typed on Crawford’s personal stationery and dated June 8, 1955. Earlier in the year, Crawford introduced Monroe to Lee Strasberg.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $320 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 768: MARILYN MONROE 20TH CENTURY FOX CONTRACT DISPUTE LETTER
A letter from Twentieth Century-Fox Executive Manager Lew Schreiber to Marilyn Monroe. The single-page typed, signed letter, dated December 16, 1954, is in regard to the disagreement between Monroe and the studio over her contract. In January 1955, Monroe formally announced the formation of Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $1,250 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 769: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM HENRY GRUNWALD
A typed and signed letter to Marilyn Monroe from Henry Grunwald hand dated "Dec. 30., 1956." The letter reads in part, "It's not the story I had wanted to do on you, of course, but I think it did you justice... ." The letter was written when Grunwald was a senior editor at TIME magazine.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid: $896 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 770: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED CORRESPONDENCE
A group of three notes sent to Marilyn Monroe. The first is a handwritten note regarding a shooting schedule, In an unknown hand signed simply with a heart.The note reads in part, "RELAX - rest and go over the scenes we worked on last Saturday." Written on the back of a TIME magazine memo sheet. The second is a handwritten note believed to have been written by photographer Zinn Arthur to Milton Greene and Monroe. Reads in full, "Milt Thanks for Tryin'. Marilyn - You're a damn good actress and my hat goes off to you - Zinn (Sin)." The third appears to be a typed telegram inviting Monroe to an event at the Ambassador Hotel.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
4 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $320 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 771: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM PAT NEWCOMB
A two-page typed memo to Marilyn Monroe from Pat Newcomb. Typed on Arthur P. Jacobs Public Relations stationery and dated May 21, 1956. Newcomb wrote regarding the importance of personally reaching out to journalists who had written about Monroe. Handwritten note and sign-off from Newcomb.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $384 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 773: MARILYN MONROE RIPPED CARD FROM AMY GREENE
A handwritten card from Amy Greene to Marilyn Monroe that has been ripped in half. On the front of the card is printed “Mrs. Milton Greene.” Dated November 10, 1954, the card gives Greene’s good wishes for Monroe's recovery and an invitation to recuperate from her surgery with the Greenes. Accompanied by a note to “Sidney” on the front of the envelope, also ripped in half, with instructions to deliver the note to Marilyn.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Original size, 3 by 4 inches
Winning bid: $125 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 774: MARILYN MONROE LETTER AND CARD FROM JAMES HASPIEL
A Marilyn Monroe received letter from superfan James Haspiel. The handwritten letter is dated June 9, 1956, and reads in part, “I hope you didn’t mind that wild ride back from the airport – it was wonderful seeing you again, + I guess we all got carried away… .” Accompanied by a “Good-Bye” card from “The Monroe Six” and original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $384 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 775: MARILYN MONROE BIRTHDAY AND GET WELL CARDS
A group of seven greeting cards sent to Marilyn Monroe. The cards have birthday and get well messages. Birthday greetings: belated birthday card signed “Delosky” (undated); a belated birthday greeting from Dan Hanrahan, who has included his business card and a lengthy handwritten message (June 1961); and a birthday greeting from Betty Doktor (June 1961). Get well wishes from The Monroe Six (April 1956); Anne McDowell (April 1956); Mr. & Mrs. Henry Peterson (May 1961); and Frank Young (May 1961). Most accompanied by the original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 8 3/4 by 7 3/4 inches
Winning bid:$ 2,187.50 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 776: MARILYN MONROE LETTER AND CARD FROM DELOS SMITH JR.
A double sided typed letter from Delos Smith Jr. to Marilyn Monroe. Smith wrote in reaction to a TIME magazine article and Delos own discussions with a TIME editor. Smith goes on to gossip about other Hollywood stars and praising Monroe’s appearance at The Actors Studio. Smith signed the letter “Happy Mothers Day, Delos.” Accompanied by a greeting card with a handwritten note from Smith. He signed the card “Bring that old Bus to a Stop and hurry home. Love Delos.” With original transmittal envelope postmarked May 6, 1956.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Larger, 9 by 6 inches
Winning bid: $256 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 777: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM PAT NEWCOMB
A typed, signed letter from Pat Newcomb to Marilyn Monroe; Milton Greene was cc’d. Dated April 24, 1956, the letter is in regard to an event for Nunnally Johnson. Typed on Arthur P. Jacobs Public Relations stationery, Newcomb references recent doctor’s orders have clamped down on Monroe’s social life in order to “complete the picture in good health.” The film Newcomb refers to was Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956), Monroe’s first film under new contract with 20th Century Fox and her newly formed company, Marilyn Monroe Productions.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $320 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 778: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED LETTERS
A group of three letters received by Marilyn Monroe. The first is a handwritten letter dated January 6, 1956, that reads in part, “I think it’s wonderful that you stood your ground and got your way.” Signed indistinctly. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope with a New York return address from “Rella.” The second is a greeting card from June Alpino with an invitation for Monroe to join her at the circus and a gift to give Monroe from a third party. Alpino has included a small black and white photograph of herself. The third is a five-page letter from “Jeanie” handwritten on Disneyland Hotel stationery. The letter mentions Jeanie and her husband Frank going to spring training and laments the fact that she hasn’t seen Monroe in more than a year. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope postmarked March 26, 1956.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $375 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 779: MARILYN MONROE WESTERN COSTUME SHIPPING RECEIPTS
A pair of shipping inventory receipts from Western Costume Company. Both are dated May 28, 1956, regarding the leasing of costume items to Marilyn Monroe Productions. Each notes that the statement should be sent to “Milton Green” [sic]. These items were most likely used in Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956), which began shooting in May.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $320 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 783: MARILYN MONROE "THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC" DOCUMENTS
A pair of papers with the typed lyrics of the song "That Old Black Magic," one on Chateau Marmont stationery with handwritten corrections and two smaller half sheets with the typed lyrics stapled together. Marilyn Monroe sang "That Old Black Magic" in the film Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956). The documents are presumed to have been used to rehearse or during filming of the scene.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $768 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 784: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM PARADE PUBLICATIONS
A typed, signed letter to Marilyn Monroe from Bob Jennings, a staff writer at Parade Publications Inc. Dated March 6, 1956, Jennings' letter refers to an article Jennings was writing about Korea that included Monroe. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope with numerous markings on the outside, including one that reads “important take care this afternoon!”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$ 1,152 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 785: MARILYN MONROE PRESCRIPTION FROM LEE SEIGEL
A Marilyn Monroe slip of paper with two prescriptions written by Fox studio physician Lee Seigel dated April 6, 1956. The prescriptions are for Diamox and Achenalin. Both appear to be prescribed for an eye issue.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$375 - Estimate: $200 - $300 
Lot 786: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM HER ANALYST
A handwritten letter from psychotherapist Margaret Herz Hohenberg to Marilyn Monroe on Hohenberg’s stationery and dated May 10, 1956. The letter concerns the accompanying account statement and a recent telephone session. Also present is the original transmittal envelope addressed to Monroe at Chateau Marmont. Monroe began to see Hohenberg in 1955 at the recommendation of Milton Greene.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 790: MARILYN MONROE HANDWRITTEN NOTES
A pair of Marilyn Monroe handwritten notes. The first is pencil on lined legal paper that appears to be a Lee Strasberg quote; the page is titled “Lee S.” The second is written in pencil on a blank sheet of paper and reads “My Darling, my darling, my poppy.”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 12 1/2 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$ 4,687.50 - Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000 
Lot 791: MARILYN MONROE 1956 BIRTHDAY CARD FROM PETER LEONARDI
A belated birthday card sent to Marilyn Monroe from Peter Leonardi. The card appears to be postmarked June 2, 1956. This would make it after Monroe’s break from Leonardi at a time when it was proposed Monroe had written in her journals that she was afraid of him and thought “… Peter wants to be a woman – and would like to be me – I think…” (see Fragments p. 96 and Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox by Lois Banner (p. 289-290).
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
5 by 5 inches
Winning bid: $128 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 793: MARILYN MONROE SAHARA HOTEL DOCUMENTS
A group of Marilyn Monroe Sahara Hotel documents. Dated 1956, the documents relate to Monroe’s stay at the Sahara Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. Items include two telegrams sent to Monroe at the hotel, three hotel message slips, and a letter to Monroe written on Sahara Hotel stationery from Dr. S. Purple, with original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Sizes vary
Winning bid: $896 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 794: MARILYN MONROE ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS
A group of correspondence received by or regarding Marilyn Monroe, including a 1956, letter from Inez Melson to Florence Thomas; a March 10, 1956 letter from “Olive” to “Jean”; eight hotel telephone message slips from March and May 1956; several phone messages on scraps of paper; a handwritten note left for Monroe by Ted Harper; an invitation to The Original Wine House with handwritten note on verso from proprietor Bob Purvis; empty transmittal envelopes addressed to Monroe; and two newspaper clippings about Monroe.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 4 by 10 inches
Winning bid:$1,152 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 795: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED AND KEPT LETTERS
A pair of letters received by Marilyn Monroe. The first is from Fred Libby written on Pan American World Airways stationery, addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Miller, dated July 6, 1956. Libby congratulates the pair on their recent wedding, and he says he hopes to meet Mr. Miller someday. The second letter is addressed to Monroe from a chiropractor named Jacob Kaufman. Kaufman had never met Monroe, but after hearing of her frequent illnesses, he felt compelled to write her with his advice. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope postmarked March 7, 1960.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$256 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 796: MARILYN MONROE LOVE NOTE FROM ARTHUR MILLER
A small note handwritten by Arthur Miller to Marilyn Monroe dated "Wed., April 4 - 1:12 p.m." The note reads in part, "I am deeply happy. And agonized that you're not in reach." Signed simply "A."
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 by 5 inches
Winning bid:$2,560 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 798: MARILYN MONROE CARD FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller handwritten card to Marilyn Monroe dated "Christmas 1955." The front of the card is a cartoon of two despondent characters. Printed text reads, "No, I'm more depressed than you are." Under the text Miller has handwritten "You're not either." The salutation on the card reads "For Marilyn." It goes on to discuss the present that accompanied the card. Also present is the original envelope that reads simply "For Noodle."
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$1,280 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 799: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller typed and handwritten love letter to Marilyn Monroe. In the letter Miller addresses Monroe as "Dearest Wife" although their wedding was a month away and his divorce not yet final. Miller has signed the letter "Art," and below his signature he has written, "Please - if I have ever made you cry, or made you one ounce sadder even for a second - forgive me. My perfect girl." Accompanied by original transmittal envelope dated April 30, 1956.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$6,875 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 800: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
A typed, signed love letter from Arthur Miller to Marilyn Monroe dated April 26, 1956. The letter reads in part, "The publicity is beginning to break evidently. Winchell this morning says I call you long distance all the time...I just worry that Bob and Jane won't be getting any kind of shock out of all this that will make it harder when they meet you." The letter discusses other details of Miller's life at that time. Signed, "kiss you, Art." Miller enclosed a letter from friend Norman Rosten that reads in part, "What are your plans? We won't tell, but we're curious. Even Mary is curious. What's his rush for a divorce, she asked me last week? (As though this was brand new)." Rosten's letter also discusses the press and appears to refer to the pressure on Miller by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Also present is a London review of The Crucible and the original transmittal envelope to Monroe. Please note that this lot comes with a single transmittal envelope. Two were shown in the printed catalog.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$3,520 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 801: ARTHUR MILLER LETTERS FROM HIS CHILDREN
A pair of letters from Arthur Miller's children mailed by Miller to Marilyn Monroe. The first letter is a single page typed from Robert Miller and dated April 23, 1956. The second is a double-sided handwritten letter from Miller's daughter Jane. Both state they miss their father, thank him for gifts he recently gave them, and share the events of their recent days. Both also state they are sending him their footprint (not present). Jane and Robert are Miller's children with his first wife, Mary Grace Slattery. Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$100 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 802: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller two-page typed signed love letter to Marilyn Monroe dated May 9, 1956. The letter begins "Dearest, Best Person" and reads in part, "It is your suffering in the past that I respect and even bow down to. I see i often as a kind of trial to which you were cruelly put...You were placed in the jaws of this society without the protection of a family, a name, an identity; it is quite as though you were the pure victim...I do know how desperately you want to shake loose from all the dragging horrors of the past." Miller discusses his initial attraction to Monroe, his divorce, and his love for her. Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$5,312.50 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 803: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller four-page typed and handwritten love letter to Marilyn Monroe dated April 29, 1956. The letter provides insight into Miller's feelings about Monroe just before their wedding. Reads in part" "But what can I do? I love you. When I love somebody I love them, I want them to be near me, to bear my children, to be my wife. You think I am so clean, so faultless, so incapable of untruth that in comparison you are defiled? I have sinned, Marilyn; I am no better than you in any way. I can hate every man you were ever with but I can't hate you." On the third page Miller has affixed a piece of petrified wood and signed the letter "Your lover, slave, friend, father, son, and Pest, Art." The fourth page, written later that same day, is additionally signed "Art." Accompanied by original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$7,040 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 804: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller two-page typed and handwritten love letter to Marilyn Monroe dated May 9, 1956. Miller begins the letter relaying frustration with his soon to be ex-wife Mary Grace Slattery and goes on to tell Monroe that he has disclosed their relationship to his parents and his concerns about his family and children. Miller also references the film "Viva Zapata" (20th Century, 1952), a film that Monroe wanted to work on but was denied by the studio. Miller enclosed sage in the letter and writes below his signature "A little sage brush for your pillow." He additionally asks, "And where is your footprint!!!" Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$4,160 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 806: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller three-page typed, signed love letter to Marilyn Monroe dated May 7, 1956. Miller discusses his upcoming divorce, tension between Monroe and Milton Greene, plans for Monroe to visit him in Reno, and their plan to introduce Monroe to Miller's children. Miller also discusses a recent argument the pair had: "I was separated from you, leaving you in a world of men lusting for you. I wanted you to be reminded that I am desirable...Nevertheless, it was still more alarming to you than it should have been -- your reaction was out of proportion... ." Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope addressed to Monroe at Hotel Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$4,160 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 807: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER FROM ARTHUR MILLER
An Arthur Miller handwritten love letter dated May 11, 1956. Written on two lined pages. Salutation is to "Dearest Wife." Reads in part, "I am walking around in a daze of love...I wanted to buy a wedding ring but they don't have really nice ones here - I looked... ." Miller goes on to discuss an apartment he would like to rent, recent negative articles, and his love for her. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$12,160 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 808: MARILYN MONROE LOVE LETTER TO ARTHUR MILLER
A Marilyn Monroe single-page handwritten letter to Arthur Miller, presumably unsent. In the undated letter Monroe is responding to an earlier letter she received from Miller. The letter reads in part, "...there was no choice to make - the same road was always before me. So when you speak of my nobility it really wasn't so noble... ." Accompanied by two sheets of blank paper found with this letter.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$43,750 - Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 
Lot 810: MARILYN MONROE PUBLICITY DOCUMENTS FOR THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL
Marilyn Monroe’s copies of publicity reports for the film “The Sleeping Prince,” which was the working title of The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Bros., 1957). One document is titled “Projected Logistical Report/ Publicity” and contains 45 pages of information. The second is a 14-page document titled “Publicity and Promotion Budget for U.K.” Both cover pages list the people cc’d on the documents. Next to Monroe’s name is a check mark, indicating that these were her personal copies.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$640 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 811: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM PAT NEWCOMB
A typed letter to Marilyn Monroe from Pat Newcomb. The letter is cc’d to Milton Greene, undated, typed on Newcomb’s stationery. Newcomb asks if Monroe can meet with a journalist who has flown in from London. She also mentions mailing Monroe her swimsuit and asks if she can bring her anything else.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$384 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 813: MARILYN MONROE HANDWRITTEN NOTE TO VERA
A Marilyn Monroe handwritten note to "Vera." Written in pencil on a tablet of unlined white paper. The note was presumably never sent. The note reads in part, "...I never had a friend before this - I mean one that was a girl..."
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid:$3,520 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
Lot 817: ARTHUR MILLER LETTERS FROM HIS CHILDREN
A group of four letters, two drawings, and one postcard from two of Arthur Miller’s children, Bobby and Jane, to their father and Marilyn Monroe and one letter from Jane to their pets. Most addressed “To Daddy,” one to “MMM” from Bobby Miller. Those letters that are dated are from 1958 and 1959.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
and Partial Lot 816, "Julien's Summer Sale," Julien's Auctions, Las Vegas, June 26, 2009
Largest, 9 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$ 128 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 818: MARILYN MONROE SENT ARTHUR MILLER MANUSCRIPT
An Arthur Miller typed manuscript sent to Marilyn Monroe. The seven-page draft of an article that Miller wrote for LIFE magazine is about his then wife and the series of photographs she took with Richard Avedon posing as five different actresses: Lillian Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Theda Bara. The manuscript contains a number of handwritten corrections. The final article was rewritten and ultimately titled "My Wife Marilyn" and appeared alongside Avedon's photographs in the December 22, 1958, issue of LIFE magazine. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$ 6,250 - Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 
Lot 819: MARILYN MONROE STATEMENT AND WARNER BROTHERS TELEGRAM
A telegram received by Marilyn Monroe from Warner Brothers, dated May 24, 1957. The two-page telegram is in regard to Monroe’s former business partner, Milton Greene, receiving a credit on the film The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Bros., 1957). Accompanied by an undated typed statement by Monroe regarding the situation with Greene, condemning his leadership of Marilyn Monroe Productions and his attempt to receive an Executive Producer credit for this film.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
Winning bid: $384 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 820: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED LETTERS
A pair of letters sent to Marilyn Monroe. The first is from Alex North, a neighbor in Connecticut; accompanied by transmittal envelope. The second is from Herb Martin and is written on the back of a copy of a newspaper article that mentions Martin. Both letters express a desire to see Monroe.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $75 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 825: LETTERS BY AND REGARDING MARILYN MONROE'S MOTHER
A group of letters written by and regarding Marilyn Monroe's troubled mother, Gladys Eley (previously Monroe, Baker, and Mortenson). Group includes letters written by Eley while institutionalized at Rockhaven Sanitarium in Verdugo City (Montrose), California, circa late 1950s to early 1960s. Several of the letters are stamped but not postmarked, believed to have been saved from the mail by Inez Melson, who was appointed guardian of Eley. The letters reveal insight into Eley's schizophrenia. The handwritten letters are addressed to The President of the United States, Mother Church – The First Church of Christ Scientist, and a letter that was mailed to Melson from Eley. Also present is a letter from Bernice Miracle, Marilyn's sister, to Melson. Those that are dated are from the early 1960s.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
and Lot 131, "Property from the Estate of Marilyn Monroe," Julien's Auctions, Los Angeles, June 4, 2005
Sizes vary
Winning bid:$6,400 - Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000 
Lot 826: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED POSTCARDS
Three Marilyn Monroe received postcards. The first, with an image of the Golden Gate Bridge, was sent to Monroe in Idaho in May 1956. Possibly sent by Peter Lawford, initialed indistinctly as “PL” or “RL.” The second, sent from “G,” is a postcard of La Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Sent to Monroe in May 1961. The card reads in part, “Hope your ‘Killer Kut’ is still in good shape," indicating that "G" stands for hairstylist George Masters. The third is a card sent in 1956 from Suzanne, who writes, “I hadn’t heard from you in 2 weeks so I played hookey.”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 4 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$500 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 827: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM MAY REIS
A handwritten letter from May Reis to Marilyn Monroe. The letter is written on Renvyle House Hotel stationery, dated May 10, 1961. Reis writes about her stay in Ireland and travels; signed simply “May.” Reis was Monroe’s personal secretary and friend. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/2 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$1,000 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 828: MARILYN MONROE MEDICAL INVOICES
A group of Marilyn Monroe medical invoices that includes invoices from Dr. D. Russell Anderson, Dr. Margaret Herz Hohenberg, dentist Paul Kniss, Dr. Edward J. Simons, and one from the offices of Dr. Myron Prinzmetal and Dr. Rexford Kennamer, among others; seven items total.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$ 437.50 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 829: MARILYN MONROE FAN MAIL
A group of more than 75 letters, photographs, religious tracts and postcards sent to Marilyn Monroe by her fans. The letters span from 1956 to 1961. The letters, mailed by Monroe's fans from around the world, offer advice, matchmaking, and get well wishes and make requests.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$4,062.50 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 830: MARILYN MONROE SCRAPBOOK FROM FAN
A scrapbook given to Marilyn Monroe by a dying fan. The 30-page book contains inspirational images and text, both handwritten and pasted in. Most of the entries are religious in nature. Accompanied by a letter from the fan.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
9 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$192 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 831: MARILYN MONROE FAN MAIL
A group of more than 100 letters, cards and postcards sent to Marilyn Monroe by her fans. The letters, which span from 1954 to 1962, were mailed from fans around the world, including a card in a mailing tube from Lyle & Scott LTD in Scotland that was signed by approximately 900 employees of the clothing manufacturer.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Sizes vary
Winning bid:$3,200 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 832: MARILYN MONROE FAN MAIL
A group of approximately 90 letters sent to Marilyn Monroe by her fans. The majority of the letters were sent to Monroe posthumously in the second half of 1962. The letters were mailed from fans around the world.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest envelope, 7 by 4 inches
Winning bid:$4,375 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 833: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED NOTE
A Marilyn Monroe received typed note signed “Norm,” believed to be from Norman Rosten. The humorous undated note reads in part, “Thanks for your sweet darlin’ wire: it all helped carry me through the valley of the shadow...Did you ever think that some people just gotta stay alive?” Rosten goes on to mention recent reviews.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
4 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$ 512 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 834: MARILYN MONROE POSTCARD FROM NORMAN ROSTEN
A postcard to “Marilyn Miller” from Norman Rosten sent from Alaska. The image on the front of the card is of a nude Inuit woman in the snow. Signed simply “N,” postmarked January 26, 1959. Stamp has been cut away. Rosten wrote Marilyn: An Untold Story in 1973.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
5 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$256 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 835: MARILYN MONROE SIGNED CHECK TO HEDDA ROSTEN
A Marilyn Monroe signed check from a Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc. account with Colonial Trust Company in New York City. Numbered 240, dated February 5, 1960, and written to Hedda Rosten in the amount of $65.85. The typed check also details in the upper right corner taxes removed from the gross amount due Rosten of $75.00. Rosten and her husband, Norman, were friends of Monroe’s, and Hedda was also employed by Monroe as a private secretary. Endorsed by Hedda Rosten on verso.
3 1/8 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $5,120 - Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000
Lot 941: MARILYN MONROE NEW YORK POST RELATED DOCUMENTS
A Marilyn Monroe received letter from the New York Post and a typescript copy of a New York Post article. The typed signed letter is from New York Post columnist Max Lerner, dated May 10, 1961, and written on New York Post stationery. The typescript is of an article written by New York Post gossip columnist Earl Wilson circa 1961. Titled “Marilyn’s not A-Marryin’ ” and is typed on three pages.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$192 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 950: MARILYN MONROE POSTCARDS FROM PAT NEWCOMB
A pair of postcards handwritten to Marilyn Monroe by Pat Newcomb and sent to Monroe’s address, 882 North Doheny Drive in Los Angeles. Both cards were mailed in 1961, one sent from New Delhi with an image of the Taj Mahal, the other from Hong Kong with an image of the city. The addressee on both cards is “Marge Stengel.”
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$320 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 951: MARILYN MONROE TELEGRAM FROM PRODUCER ANN MARLOWE
A telegram to Marilyn Monroe from producer Ann Marlowe again offering Monroe a part in the teleplay Rain . Monroe appears to have dictated a response to her secretary, who wrote in pencil, “I would only consider it if Lee Strasberg directed it.” Dated June 21, 1960.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$512 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 952: MARILYN MONROE LETTERS FROM MCA MANAGEMENT
A group of three letters received by Marilyn Monroe from MCA Management Ltd. The first is dated May 17, 1955, and was sent to Monroe in New York. The second is dated May 3, 1961 and is accompanied by a confidential letter typed on 20th Century Fox stationery addressed to George Chasin regarding a role for Monroe in a film adaptation of the book Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm. The third is from Chasin, dated May 2, 1961, regarding two screenplays delivered via messenger to Monroe’s bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she was recovering from sinus trouble.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
9 by 6 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$192 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 953: MARILYN MONROE LETTER FROM 20TH CENTURY FOX
A typed, signed letter from 20th Century Fox to Marilyn Monroe Productions. Dated March 4, 1959, the letter directs Monroe to appear at the studio on April 14, 1959, to begin work on "Time and Tide," later re-titled Wild River (20th Century, 1960). Monroe was ultimately replaced by Lee Remick.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$875 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 954: MARILYN MONROE LETTERS REGARDING FILM ROLES
A pair of Marilyn Monroe received letters regarding potential film projects. The first is a three-page typed, signed letter from director Melvin Frank regarding Monroe starring in The Road to Hong Kong (UA, 1962). The undated letter, typed on Beverly Hills Hotel stationery, reads in part, “I wanted to thank you again for reading our script and tell you how curiously frustrated and bumbling I felt on the phone last night… .” Signed “Mel.” The second is a two-page handwritten letter from producer Harold Hecht. The letter is in regard to an unproduced film, "Lucy Crown" that Hecht would like Monroe to star in. Accompanied by original envelope.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
10 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $512 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 955: MARILYN MONROE LETTERS FROM INDUSTRY INSIDERS
A group of four letters sent to Marilyn Monroe by members of the entertainment industry. The first is a typed, signed letter from agent Freddie Fields dated May 20, 1961. It references a script that is no longer present. The second is a typed, signed letter from agent Johnny Maschio typed on Showcase Enterprises, Inc stationery and dated April 28, 1961. Maschio asks Monroe to contact him, emphasizing "It is very important." The third letter is a typed signed solicitation from casting director Owen McLean on Twentieth Century-Fox stationery. The fourth is a typed letter, written on Twentieth Century Fox stationery, is dated May 29, 1956 that appears to be signed "Harry." It reads "Marilyn: The post art turned out fine. Thanks for your gracious help."
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$640 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 956: MARILYN MONROE DOCTOR'S NOTES
A pair of handwritten doctor’s notes left for Marilyn Monroe. The first is a single double-sided sheet signed indistinctly by a doctor. The message states that the doctor left two prescriptions for Monroe with Dr. Hohenberg and gives directions on how to use the medication. The second is a small single-sided note written in an unknown hand, also about medication and notes about a doctor.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
9 by 6 inches
Winning bid:$384 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 957: MARILYN MONROE NOTE WRITTEN ON L.A. INSTITUTE FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS NOTE PAPER
A Marilyn Monroe retained note written on a small piece of paper from the Los Angeles Institute for Psychoanalysis. The note refers to a Dr. Walter Greenson. Written in an unknown hand.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
5 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$437.50 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 958: MARILYN MONROE PRESCRIPTION CENTER RECEIPTS AND INVOICE
Marilyn Monroe carbon copy receipts from The Prescription Center in Beverly Hills, California. Both are dated April 22, 1961, but with separate amounts. The second receipt bears Monroe’s signature on the carbon. One receipt is primarily for prescriptions, the other for makeup and personal care items. Accompanied by an invoice from The Prescription Center.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
6 by 4 inches
Winning bid:$2,240 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 960: MARILYN MONROE LIST OF MEDICATIONS
A typed sheet of instructions for Marilyn Monroe’s medications. The sheet is titled “Marilyn is to take Pills as follows.” It is undated and does not name, only describes the size of the medications.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $500 - $700 
Lot 961: MARILYN MONROE TELEGRAMS FROM DOCTOR AND MILTON GREENE
A pair of telegrams received by Marilyn Monroe. The first is an urgent message from Monroe’s doctor to call, May 19, dated 1956. The second is from one-time business partner Milton Greene delivered to Monroe while she was a patient at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, dated November 12, 1954. Greene writes that he cannot wait to be with Monroe and that he has great news. Accompanied by two Western Union transmittal envelopes.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
5 3/4 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$1,024 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 962: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED TELEGRAMS
A group of three telegrams sent by friends and colleagues to Marilyn Monroe. The first is from “May,” presumed to be May Reis, that offers Monroe get well wishes. The second is from Harold Mirisch. It reads “As long as we cannot talk to each other on the telephone how about you and I having dinner Monday night love = Harold Mirisch.” The third is from Nedda Logan sent to Monroe at the Chateau Marmont on May 17, 1956. Logan raves about Monroe’s performance in Bus Stop (20th Century, 1956) which her husband directed.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 5 3/4 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 963: MARILYN MONROE MEDIA TELEGRAMS
A pair of telegrams regarding Marilyn Monroe. The first was sent to Monroe on November 23, 1954 from the Showmen’s Trade Review regarding Monroe being named Female Money Making Star for 1954. The second is a two page telegram from The Daily Mirror in London sent to Pat Newcomb with interview questions for Monroe.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 5 3/4 by 8 inches
Winning bid:$448 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 965: MARILYN MONROE FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
Marilyn Monroe financial documents relating to loans. A William Morris interoffice memo cover sheet on the first document is dated “2/13/51” with details of expenditures in 1949 and 1950. The second document concerns a $74,000 loan dated May 29, 1962, only three months before Monroe’s death. Five pages total.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
Largest, 11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$256 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 966: MARILYN MONROE STATEMENT REGARDING GÉRARD PHILIPE
A Marilyn Monroe statement regarding the death of actor Gérard Philipe. Handwritten in an unknown hand on the back of a Beverly Hills Hotel notecard in blue ink. Monroe laments that she never had the opportunity to work with the French actor. Marked in pencil “Statement, Radio 1 – Europe.” Philipe died in 1959 just shy of his 37th birthday.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$437.50 - Estimate: $100 - $200 
Lot 967: MARILYN MONROE RECEIVED INVITATIONS
A group of three invitations sent to Marilyn Monroe. The first is a card believed to have accompanied flowers sent to Monroe at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The card invites Monroe and Pat (presumably Pat Newcomb) for a quiet evening free of "shop talk." Signed "Minerva (Nelli)." The second, written on Beverly Hills Hotel stationery, reads in part, "I just traveled 6000 miles to see you and find out how you are." It is signed "Henry." The third is written on a Beverly Hills Hotel card inviting Monroe to dine. Signed "Jack Halperin." All are accompanied by unpostmarked transmittal envelopes.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$192 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 968: MARILYN MONROE CHECKS, INVOICES, BILLS AND RECEIPTS
A group of Marilyn Monroe invoices, bills and two checks. The group includes a pair of checks from the Colonial Trust Company of New York, the first is blank except for the check number “21,” the other is dated April 14, 1956, and has been made out to Dr. C. Russell Anderson but is unsigned, written in an unknown hand; a Jurgensen’s Grocery Company invoice from April 1961 and promotional flyer, return envelope and original transmittal envelope; an invoice from Beverly Hills Music Company dated May 1961 for 28 LPs purchased by Monroe, with itemized slip, return envelopes and original transmittal envelope; an invoice from Au Petit Jean restaurant from April 1961, with original transmittal envelope; and insured postage receipts from the United States Post Office from 1956.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 5 3/4 by 11 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $200 - $400 
Lot 969: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May 1 to May 6, 1961, and include messages from George Chasin, Norman Brokaw, José Ferrer, Frank Rosenberg, Henry Rosenfeld, and George Masters, among others. Accompanied by four Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$640 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 970: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May 8 to May 15, 1961, and include messages from George Chasin, Jay Kanter, Mr. Gillerof (presumed to be Sydney Guilaroff), Henry Rosenfeld, Sidney Skolsky, and Julie [sic] Styne, among others. Accompanied by four Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$896 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 971: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May 8 to May 15, 1961, and include messages from George Chasin, Jay Kanter, Mr. Gillerof (presumed to be Sydney Guilaroff), Henry Rosenfeld, Sidney Skolsky, and Julie [sic] Styne, among others. Accompanied by four Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$896 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 972: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May 15 to May 20, 1961, and include messages from George Chasin, Harold Mirisch, Sidney Cassipell, Melvin Frank,and Rupert Allan among others. Accompanied by three Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$1,024 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 973: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May 21 to June 1, 1961, and include messages from Agnes Flanagan, Donald Barry, Ben Gary, Minna Wallis, Ernie Kovak [sic], Ben Platt Jr. and Clifton Webb, among others. Accompanied by three Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 974: MARILYN MONROE HOTEL TELEPHONE MESSAGES
A group of 20 hotel telephone message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from June 1 to June 12, 1961, and include messages from Ted Jordan, Dr. Krohn, Harrison Carroll, George Chasin, Clifton Webb and Mr. Guilaroff (presumed to be Sydney Guilaroff), among others. Accompanied by three Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$768 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 975: MARILYN MONROE GROUP OF HOTEL MESSAGES
A group of 17 hotel telephone and package delivery message slips for Marilyn Monroe. Messages date from May to June 1961 and include messages from Norman Brokaw, Richard Conte, George Chasin, Bill Penzer, Miss Wallace (believed to refer to Minna Wallis), Ted Jordan and Harold Mirisch, among others. Thirteen of the messages are accompanied by or still affixed to Beverly Hills Hotel door hangers.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Winning bid: $640 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 976: MARILYN MONROE GROUP OF NOTES, MESSAGES AND HANDWRITTEN PROSE
A Beverly Hills Hotel note pad with a notation on the top page together with more than 30 loose pages from a similar note pad. The pages contain phone messages, including ones from George Chasin, Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra, Josh Logan and Sandy Meisner; telephone numbers; notations; appointment reminders; and a single sheet with handwritten prose that has been crossed out but appears to be in Monroe’s hand. It reads, “All day long he stayed/ with me; and one sailed in perfect calmness… .”
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
5 1/2 by 4 inches
Winning bid:$14,080 - Estimate: $600 - $800 
Lot 977: MARILYN MONROE FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
A folder of Marilyn Monroe's financial documents relating to loans from City National Bank in Beverly Hills, California. The documents date from 1961 to 1962 and include file copies of typed letters from Monroe's lawyer Milton Rudin and of letters sent from Monroe's secretary as well as deposit receipts. Correspondence discusses transfers, deposits and financial arrangements made on behalf of Monroe. Folder has a typed label that reads “MARILYN MONROE 1961-1962/ CITY NATIONAL BANK OF BEVERLY HILLS.”
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
Largest, 11 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$1,152 - Estimate: $400 - $600 
Lot 978: MARILYN MONROE CHASEN'S RESTAURANT DOCUMENTS
A group of Marilyn Monroe documents relating to Chasen’s restaurant. The first is an invitation dated May 3, 1961, with a handwritten note that reads “Chasin,” which could refer to Monroe’s agent or that it came from him. Found with: Chasen's restaurant invoice and credit form from May 1962; a Chasen's card with Monroe’s typed name; and a telegram invitation for an event with French director Christian–Jacque.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
Largest, 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$448 - Estimate: $100 - $200
Lot 979: MARILYN MONROE CARD FROM DELOS SMITH JR.
A handwritten card from Delos V. Smith Jr. to Marilyn Monroe. The card, with an image of a Native American man in front of a tipi, reads in full, “New Teepee?/ Enjoy Heapee!/ Little Peepee,” with original transmittal envelope postmarked April 1961. Envelope has additional writing and post office notations. Together with two envelopes addressed to Monroe from Smith.
PROVENANCE From the lost archive of Marilyn Monroe
3 by 5 inches
Winning bid:$256 - Estimate: $300 - $500 
Lot 984: MARILYN MONROE REAL ESTATE DOCUMENT
A Marilyn Monroe signed, typed purchase offer for Monroe's Los Angeles home on Helena Drive. This is the only home Monroe ever purchased. The document dated January 9, 1962, and contains a purchase price of $52,500. Monroe would die just eight months later.
15 by 9 1/4 inches
Winning bid:$ 17,500 - Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 
Lot 986: MARILYN MONROE RECEIPTS
A pair of receipts from the Mart on Santa Monica Boulevard. One is dated July 31, 1962, for the purchase of a tapestry; the second, undated, is for the purchase of a table. Both are marked paid on August 1, 1962. Accompanied by a business card from the Mart. Monroe seems to have been actively decorating the house she had purchased only a few months earlier. Five days after visiting the Mart, Monroe passed away.
Each, 6 by 3 1/2 inches
Winning bid:$1,625 - Estimate: $1,300 - $1,600
Lot 987: MARILYN MONROE AUTO INSURANCE DOCUMENT
A Marilyn Monroe automobile insurance document with effective date March 23, 1962, issued by Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company through Ebenstein and Company. The endorsement portion of the document states that Monroe is excluded as a driver under this policy. Five pages total.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Lois Banner
12 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches
Winning bid: $1,600 - Estimate: $800 - $1,200 
Lot 989: MARILYN MONROE FUNERAL CARD
An original card from the funeral of Marilyn Monroe on Wednesday, August 8, 1962, at the Westwood Village Mortuary in Los Angeles. The front of the card bears an image of the Bok Singing Tower. The inside reads in part, "In Memory of/ Marilyn Monroe/ Born June 1st, 1926/ Passed Away/ August 5th, 1962,” with the details of her funeral service. Facing page is printed with Psalm 23. Accompanied by a photocopy of an information packet about the services for Monroe that includes the eulogy given by Lee Strasberg, a list of invited guests, and a letter to those not invited to the service.
5 1/2 by 3 1/4 inches
Winning bid: $2,560 - Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 
6/08/1962 Organisation des funérailles
Le matin du lundi 6 août 1962, Berniece Miracle (la demie-soeur de Marilyn) arrive de Gainesville, au Texas, où elle vit, à l'aéroport de Los Angeles. C'est Inez Melson (la conseillère financière de Marilyn) qui vient la chercher à l'aéroport.
On Monday morning, August 6, 1962, Berniece Miracle (Marilyn's half-sister) arrives from Gainesville, Texas, where she lives, at Los Angeles. This is Inez Melson (Marilyn's financial advisor) who joins her at the L.A. airport.
> Berniece Miracle avec Inez Melson
Elles se rendent au cimetière de Westwood Village pour finaliser l'organisation des funérailles de Marilyn avec Joe DiMaggio.
They go to the Westwood Village Mortuary to make final arrangments for the funeral services with Joe DiMaggio.
> Berniece Miracle avec Inez Melson 
> Berniece Miracle 
Joe DiMaggio se rend au cimetière de Westwood Village Memorial Park pour organiser les funérailles de Marilyn Monroe (qui se tiendront le 8 août), en compagnie de Milton Rudin (l'avocat de Marilyn).
Joe DiMaggio goes to Westwood Village Memorial Park to make arrangments for the funeral of Marilyn Monroe (which will be held in August, 8) with Milton Rudin (the Marilyn's lawyer).
> Joe DiMaggio et Inez Melson 
> Joe DiMaggio (photo de Lawrence Schiller) 
> Joe DiMaggio et Milton Rudin 
Inez Melson et son mari se rendent à la maison de Marilyn, au Fifth Helene Drive, pour trier les effets personnels de la star. Melson se souvient que la table de nuit était encore encombrée de divers flacons: "Nous en trouvions sans cesse: des somnifères, du nembutal et du seconal". Soucieuse de la réputation de Marilyn, Mrs Melson détruit alors les pillules, en les jetant dans les toilettes et en emportant le reste pour les mettre à la poubelle. Elle a par la suite beaucoup regretté son geste.
Inez Melson and her husband go to Marilyn's house at Fifth Helena Drive, to sort the belongings of the celebrity. Melson remembers that the night table was still cluttered with various bottles: "We found it constantly: sleeping pills, nembutal and seconal." Concerning about the reputation of Marilyn, Mrs. Melson then destroyed pills, throwing them in the toilet and taking the rest to put in the trash. She has later deeply regretted her actions.
Eunice Murray est interviewée par des journalistes: "Je n'ai jamais vu Marilyn Monroe pleurer" et elle ajoute: "Marilyn n'a jamais parlé de la mort".
Eunice Murray talks to press: "I never saw Marilyn Monroe cry." She also says "Marilyn never mentioned death."
En début d'après-midi, à 14 heures, le corps de Marilyn Monroe est transféré de la morgue au cimetière de Westwood, où auront lieu les funérailles.
At 2 pm, the body of Marilyn Monroe is wheeled from the Los Angeles County morgue and taken to Westwood Village Mortuary, Los Angeles, where funeral services will be held.
© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand.
7/08/1962 Préparation des funérailles
Le mardi 7 août 1962, la police de Los Angeles et celle de New York font l'inventaire des fourrures et des bijoux de Marilyn Monroe. Ils sont stockés temporairement aux postes de police pour être conservés en sécurité.
On Tuesday, August 7, 1962, Los Angeles Police and New York Police made an inventory of Marilyn Monroe's furs and jewelry . They are temporarily stored at police stations to be kept safe.
> Los Angeles
> New York 
Au Grauman's Chinese Theatre de Los Angeles, des petites filles mettent leurs mains dans les empreintes laissées par Marilyn (le 26 juin 1953).
At Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, little girls put their hands in the handprints left by Marilyn (in June, 26, 1953).
Joe Jr., le fils de Joe DiMaggio, arrive à Santa Monica avec son costume pour assister le lendemain aux funérailles de Marilyn.
Joe Jr., the son of Joe DiMaggio, arrived in Santa Monica with his costume to attend the day after the funeral of Marilyn.
Dans la journée, Eunice Murray (la gouvernante de Marilyn), Inez Melson (la conseillère financière de Marilyn) et Berniece Miracle (demie-soeur de Marilyn) se retrouvent à la maison de Marilyn, au Fifth Helena Drive dans le quartier de Brentwood de Los Angeles, pour choisir la tenue que Marilyn portera pour ses funérailles. Quand Berniece demande où se trouvent les robes bleues de Marilyn, Eunice Murray lui explique que Marilyn ne portait plus de bleu depuis longtemps. Eunice choisit une robe vert pâle de Pucci suspendue dans la penderie, qui était la robe préférée de Marilyn.
In the afternoon, Eunice Murray (Marilyn's housekeeper), Inez Melson (financial advisor of Marilyn) and Berniece Miracle (half-sister of Marilyn) are meeting in Marilyn's house at Fifth Helena Drive at Brentwood, in Los Angeles to choose the outfit that will wear Marilyn for her funeral. When Berniece asks where are the Marilyn's blue dresses, Eunice Murray explains that Marilyn was not wearing color blue since a long time. Eunice chooses a Pucci pale green dress hanging in the closet, which was the favorite dress of Marilyn.
> Eunice Murray au 5 Helena Drive
-photographies de Gene Anthony- 
> Eunice Murray accueille Berniece Miracle et Inez Melson
> Berniece Miracle ressort avec les affaires vérifiées par la police
> Berniece Miracle avec Inez Melson
Après qu'elles soient sorties de la maison, la police pose à nouveau les scellés sur la porte.
After they have gone out the house, the police once again raises the seals on the main door.
La robe verte de chez Pucci choisie pour l'inhumation de Marilyn était la robe qu'elle avait portée le 22 février 1962 à la conférence de presse au Hilton de Mexico:
The green dress from Pucci which has been chosen for the burial of Marilyn was the dress that she wore in February, 22, 1962 at the press conference at the Hilton in Mexico City:
Puis Berniece se rend au cimetière Westwood Village Mortuary, où elle s'entretient avec le révérend Floyd Darling.
Berniece then goes to the Westwood Village Mortuary Cemetery , where she speaks with the Rev. Floyd Darling.
Joe DiMaggio reste 4 à 5 heures seul dans la pièce avec le corps de Marilyn.
Joe DiMaggio stays 4 to 5 hours alone in the room with the body of Marilyn.
On prépare la chapelle du cimetière de Westwood où aura lieu la cérémonie des funérailles.
The chapel of the Westwood cimetery where the ceremony will be held is prepared.
L'emplacement où reposera Marilyn Monroe est décidé: elle sera inhumée dans la crypte au marbre rose du "corridor of Memories" n°24 du cimetière de Wetswood Village Memorial Park.
The place where Marilyn Monroe will be rested is decided: she will be intered in a pink marble crypt at Corridor of Memories, #24, at the Wetswood Village Memorial Park Cimetery.
Le cercueil dans lequel elle reposera a été fabriqué par la société de cercueil Belmont à Shadyside, dans l'Ohio. C'est un cercueil que l'on a appelé la "Cadillac des cercueils" - en argent antique de gros calibre, de fermeture hermétique, en bronze doublé à l'intérieur d'un tossi de satin de couleur champagne-soie.
The casket in which she will rest was manufactured by the Belmont casket company in Shadyside, Ohio. It's a casket known at that time as the "Cadillac of caskets" – a hermetically sealing antique-silver-finished 48-ounce (heavy gauge) solid bronze "masterpiece" casket lined with champagne-colored satin-silk.
© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand.
Marilyn Monroe: the unseen files
Marilyn Monroe: the unseen files
Par Tim Auld, publié le 21/02/2011,
en ligne sur telegraph.co.uk
A new book reveals the extraordinary contents of Marilyn Monroe's private filing cabinets, thought lost for over 40 years after her death
Detail of a test print from the Marilyn Monroe archive Photo: MARK ANDERSON
In November 2005 Millington Conroy, a businessman living in Rowland Heights, 40 miles east of Los Angeles, contacted Mark Anderson, a successful magazine photographer, to discuss an unusual commission.
He had in his possession two metal filing-cabinets, one brown, one grey, containing private papers and a collection of furs, jewellery and other assorted memorabilia, all belonging to Marilyn Monroe. Would Anderson be interested in photographing the collection?
The material – about 10,000 documents – had been thought lost for more than 40 years since the death of Monroe on the night of 4 August 1962. Now, here it was, a treasure trove, languishing in a Californian suburb.
It was the commission of a lifetime, the largest undocumented Monroe archive in existence. Yes, of course Anderson was interested, and, with the help of the biographer and Monroe aficionado Lois Banner, he set about creating a record of the archive's contents, which is now to be published for the first time as a book.
There are letters from Monroe glowing with admiration for Robert Kennedy; a half-finished love letter to her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio found in her room after she died from a drug overdose; unseen pictures of Monroe as a child and young woman; touching fan mail; rare insights into her marriage to the playwright Arthur Miller; and extensive documentation of her squabbles with the Hollywood studio Twentieth Century-Fox.
In these documents the flesh-and-blood Monroe, usually lost in the heady blaze of the images of her on film and in glamour photographs, comes alive in the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life.
We can see her bookshop receipt for The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, volumes one, two and three (she was a slave to therapy); the newspaper cuttings, both flattering and critical; her witty little telegrams. Then there are the bills for enemas, facials and prescription drugs, the uppers and downers that in her later years carried her through the day, and eventually killed her.
Frank Sinatra, one of Monroe's lovers, is said to have suggested she buy the filing cabinets to protect her privacy when she was living in New York in 1958. In early 1962, when she moved to Brentwood, Los Angeles, she had the cabinets shipped down.
The grey one, containing private correspondence, was kept in the guest cottage at the Brentwood house; the brown one, containing business records, was stored across town in her office at Twentieth Century-Fox studios.
One account of Monroe's last night claims that she actually died in the guest cottage and was subsequently moved to her bedroom in the main house and rearranged on her bed.
What is certain is that sometime on the night of 4 August the cabinet in the guest cottage was broken into, and that crucial files were removed – perhaps pertaining to Monroe's relationship with the Kennedys and their links with the Mafia boss Sam Giancana, perhaps to her contractual arrangements with Twentieth Century-Fox.
How did these immensely valuable cabinets manage to vanish for so long only to resurface in a quiet corner of suburban California? The key to the mystery is Inez Melson, Monroe's business manager in the mid-1950s, guardian of Monroe's schizophrenic mother, and, following Monroe's death, administrator of her Los Angeles holdings.
In the days and weeks after Monroe died Melson, who received nothing in Monroe's will (the bulk of the estate and her personal effects were left to Lee and Paula Strasberg, her acting coaches), made sure the filing cabinets ended up in her possession.
She had the brown cabinet at Twentieth Century-Fox transported to her home in Hollywood Hills, and, fraudulently, using the name of one of her nephews, bought the grey cabinet for $25 at the Monroe Estate auction she herself had organised. Upon her death in 1985 Melson left her collection, including the cabinets, to her sister-in-law Ruth Conroy, who, upon her death, bequeathed it to her son Millington.
In the course of their research, it soon became apparent to Anderson and Banner that Melson had acquired the contents of her archive illegally and that Strasberg's third wife, Anna, was in fact the legal owner of the material.
'We told Mill what we had found,' writes Banner. 'Realising that his ownership of the collection could be in jeopardy, he threatened to sell it on the black market… We wanted to ensure that the [collection] remained intact and that it would eventually be shown to the public; so we informed Anna Strasberg of its existence. We were not privy to her ensuing negotiations with Mill. All we know is that, in the end, they reached a settlement.'
What is astonishing about the archive, says Banner, is quite how much material has survived, and also its quality. Amid the mass of bills, cheques, contracts and publicity shots there are insights into the most private corners of her life.
Monroe grew up effectively an orphan. She never knew her father, and her mother's illness meant Monroe spent her childhood and teenage years being passed from family to family, including a spell at the Los Angeles Orphan Home. She was left with a lifelong desire to truly belong in a family, and to bring up children of her own.
Monroe's horror at the idea of not being able to get pregnant is made starkly and rather zanily clear by a handwritten letter she taped to her stomach before having her appendix removed in 1952: 'Cut as little as possible,' it reads. 'I know it seems vain but that doesn't really come into it. The fact I'm a woman is important. You have children and you must know what it means. For God's sakes Dear Doctor no ovaries removed.'
Monroe suffered three miscarriages in the mid-1950s while married to the playwright Arthur Miller, and the archive is full of reminders of how painful that time must have been. There's a receipt for a maternity dress Miller bought, and a letter of condolence from the poet Louis Untermeyer, which sums up the paradox of her life – at once adored by millions and isolated in her suffering: 'It's grimly ironic that while the rest of the country was enjoying the comedy of your impersonations in Life [the December 1958 issue had a shoot in which Monroe spoofed the great sirens of history], you were going through your personal tragedy… Arthur's tribute was a model of good taste, artistic balance, and love. It must be an added comfort to know that everyone loves you – especially now.'
Most extraordinary is a letter she and Miller received on 24 January 1958, in the aftermath of her third miscarriage, offering them a child to adopt: 'Wonder if you might be interested in the adoption of a baby girl, that was born to an unwed mother about the same time your wife lost her child. It is a healthy and beautiful baby and the mother feels that you people would really make a good happy home for her… If you are interested you can reach me by phone.'
Would Monroe have been a good mother? Who can tell? But letters she wrote to her stepchildren, Bobby and Jane Miller, reveal a playfulness and understanding of childhood needs and disappointments that would surely have stood her in good stead.
In August 1957 we find her writing to them at summer camp in the guise of their basset hound, Hugo (she also wrote to them as their Siamese cat, Sugar Finney): 'It sure is lonesome round here! I made a mistake and I am sorry, but I chewed up one of your baseballs. I didn't mean to. I thought it was a tennis ball and that it wouldn't make any difference but Daddy and Marilyn said that they would get you another one, so is it all right for me to keep playing with this one as long as you are getting a new one? Love from your friend and ankle-chewer.'
The light-hearted, but slightly wistful tone of these letters (the word lonesome crops up again and again in her letters to the children at this time) are made more poignant by the fact that on 1 August Monroe had suffered her second miscarriage.
Anderson and Banner's selection of material presents Monroe in a positive light. She is a woman fighting to control her image in a man's world; a talented comic actress compared by directors to Garbo and Chaplin; a caring stepmother; a clever correspondent; a trustworthy friend.
The authors do not, however, gloss over her petulance ('I am exceedingly sorry but I do not like it,' reads her curt telegram to Twentieth Century-Fox on being sent the script for Pink Tights, which she'd already decided she did not want to make); nor over her refusal to compromise, which during the filming of The Misfits led to Dorothy Jeakins – a major Hollywood costume designer who had done costumes for Monroe on both Niagara and Let's Make Love – leaving the film ('I'm sorry I have displeased you. I feel quite defeated – like a misfit, in fact,' wrote Jenkins). Angry legal spats also bear witness to her legendary lateness, which resulted in almost everything she worked on running over schedule.
Despite knowing how infuriating she could be, it remains impossible not to like Monroe. She had a wit worthy of Mae West ('There is only one way he could comment on my sexuality and I'm afraid he has never had the opportunity!' she wrote of Tony Curtis, though he would later claim to have been her lover) and an ability to remain winsome even in adversity.
After she was fired from the film Something's Got to Give in 1962, as her drug habit escalated, she wrote to George Cukor, the director: 'I blame myself but never you. The next weekend I will do any painting, cleaning, brushing you need around the house. I can also dust.'
Marilyn always said it was the people and not the studios who had made her famous, and we see the best of her when she reaches out to her public. She received thousands of fan letters each week, and was meticulous about filing away those that had particularly touched her.
There is a charming letter from a 17-year-old Italian boy, who is clearly entirely overcome: 'I imagine that you and I dance wrapped in a sky of stars, and they smile on us.' He requests a lock of Monroe's hair. Monroe is clearly touched because along with the letter is found a note by her: 'Pic of him and dedication autographed and returned also a lock of hair. Also a letter which I will carry next to my heart always.'
Equally moving is a note from the mother of a soldier who saw Monroe perform in Korea in 1955. She quotes from the letter her son sent her: 'When she appeared on the stage, there was just a sort of gasp from the audience – a single gasp multiplied by the 12,000 soldiers present… The broadcasting system was extremely poor… However, it didn't matter. Had she only walked out on stage and smiled it would have been enough.'
If representatives of the Kennedys did remove documents from the filing cabinet on the night of Monroe's death, and Lois Banner is certain that they did ('I know who took them and what happened to them, but I don't feel at liberty to say at this point,' Banner told me), they were pretty thorough. The archive now has almost no material relating to Monroe's relationships with JFK and Robert Kennedy, which are thought to have dominated the final months of her life.
Tantalisingly, she makes two references to Robert Kennedy in letters written on 2 February 1962, the day after she had attended a dinner in the attorney general's honour. To Arthur Miller's son, Bobby, she writes: 'I had to go to this dinner last night as [Robert Kennedy] was the guest of honor and when they asked him who he wanted to meet, he wanted to meet me. So, I went to the dinner and I sat next to him, and he isn't a bad dancer either. But I was mostly impressed with how serious he is about civil rights.'
She is rather more circumspect when relating the incident to Miller's father, Isidore: '[Robert Kennedy] seems rather mature and brilliant for his thirty-six years, but what I liked best about him, besides his Civil Rights program, is he's got such a wonderful sense of humor.'
Smitten? Maybe. There are certainly no other letters here that emanate this wide-eyed flirty glow. But the remaining documents from Monroe's last spring and summer offer no hint as to where this relationship might have gone.
Instead there are ledgers and memos charting the increasingly poor state of Monroe's finances and revealing that her main expenditure was on medical bills. There is an eerie absence of anything else. Where are the letters from friends, the fan mail, the urgent telegrams of former times?
Stolen, perhaps? Or had the isolation that Marilyn always so feared begun to close around her. The only hint of human warmth to be found among a sea of cheques and tumbling balances is a note, signed with a heart, from Monroe's acting coach Paula Strasberg: 'Have faith,' it reads.
> sur le blog: le livre MM Personal
The private files of Marilyn Monroe
1/ PUBLICITY STILLS: Monroe in 1960 on the set of Let’s Make Love
2/LETTER TO HER SURGEON: A note Monroe taped to her stomach before her appendectomy in 1952, in which she urged the doctor to remove 'as little as possible... no ovaries’
3/ BOOKSHOP RECEIPT: When asked by journalists what her religion was, Monroe replied 'Freud’. She began reading his writings during her early years in Hollywood. This receipt shows the purchase of all three volumes of his life and works
4/ CLOTHING LIST: Favourite garments shipped to Monroe in New York in 1955. The seventh item is thought to be the dress she wore to perform to troops in Korea
5/ LETTER FROM HER FOSTER MOTHER: Ida Bolender, who had looked after Monroe as a child, wrote to Marilyn’s half-sister after the star’s death to dispute stories of an unhappy childhood. The picture was taken by Monroe’s grandmother
6/ LETTER TO HER STEPCHILDREN: Monroe writes to Arthur Miller’s children at summer camp in the voice of their cat, Sugar Finney (or 'Feeny’ as she misspells it)
7/ FUR COAT: This leopardskin coat is thought to have belonged to Monroe and have been taken from her home after she died by Inez Melson
8/ LETTER FROM A COSTUME DESIGNER: Dorothy Jeakins, a famous Hollywood costume designer, left The Misfits after a disagreement over her work. Here she writes to the actress to apologise for displeasing her
9/ FANMAIL: Two children from Brooklyn send a token of their esteem
10/UNUSED MATERNITY CLOTHES: Receipt for a bed-jacket Arthur Miller bought Monroe just before she suffered a miscarriage in December 1958
11/ FOSTER BROTHER: The Bolenders called Monroe and Lester, another of their foster children, 'the twins’
12/ LETTER FROM HER PUBLICIST: In a letter of 1959 Joe Wolhandler lists the several inaccurate press stories he has had to deny in the past 24 hours. He concludes, 'I am in the business 20 years and I still don’t know how these things happen’
13/ TEST PRINT: A costume and make-up test for Something’s Got to Give
14/ LETTER TO HER LAWYER: Monroe’s assistant writes to the lawyer’s secretary to make sure the parlous state of Monroe’s finances remains a secret
15/ THE FILING CABINETS
16/ ADOPTION OFFER: Soon after one of Monroe’s miscarriages, she and Arthur Miller received this letter offering a baby girl
17/ RECORD RECEIPT: A bill for three records by Frank Sinatra, who is known to have had an affair with Monroe
27/10/1954 Divorce prononcé
Le 27 octobre 1954, Marilyn Monroe se rend au tribunal de Santa Monica, en Californie, pour le jugement de son divorce d'avec Joe DiMaggio. Elle est épaulée par son ami Sidney Skolsky, mais aussi accompagnée par son avocat Jerry Giesler. Pour la circonstance, Marilyn est toute vêtue de noir, élégante dans un tailleur classique, un petit chapeau noir et des gants blancs, comme si elle était en deuil. Elle arbore autour de son cou le collier de perles que lui avait offert l'empereur japonais lors de sa lune de miel en Asie. Dès leur arrivée, le trio (Marilyn, Skolsky et Giesler) sont assaillis par les photographes et caméramen.
Au tribunal, Marilyn est assise devant le juge Orlando H. Rhodes. Elle témoigne pendant dix minutes:
"Joe est froid et indifférent, il est lunatique et peut ne pas m'adresser la parole pendant plusieurs jours... Quand j'essaie de lui parler, il ne me répond pas ou me dit: 'Laisse moi tranquille! Arrête de m'ennuyer'. (...) Il m’interdit de recevoir des visites, en neuf mois, je n’ai reçu que trois fois des amis.".
Natasha Lytess avait proposé à Marilyn de témoigner en sa faveur mais Marilyn a refusé. Seule Inez Melson, la conseillère financière de Marilyn, apporte un témoignage:
"Mr DiMaggio était complètement indifférent et se souciait peu du bonheur de Mrs DiMaggio. Je l’ai vu la repousser et lui dire de lui ficher la paix".
Marilyn appose sa signature sur les papiers du divorce. Ses yeux se remplirent de larmes quand le juge annonça: "Divorce accordé", au motif de "cruauté mentale" (qui équivaut à l'incompatiblité d'humeur en France). Il ne sera cependant officiel que l'année suivante, en octobre 1955, prononcé par le juge Elmer Doyle.
Joe DiMaggio était absent et ne fera pas appel. Mais il ne renoncait pas à annuler le divorce: la veille du jugement, il était à Los Angeles, prétextant qu'il était venu voir son fils. Et le jour même du divorce, il convoque la presse pour dire qu'il n'avait pas perdu l'espoir d'une réconciliation, en déclarant: "J'éspère qu'elle verra la lumière".
Quand à Marilyn, elle était certainement perdue dans ses sentiments: d'un côté, elle déclare à la presse qu'elle n'avait pas d'homme dans sa vie, en tenant une interview la veille du jugement (sa première interview depuis la séparation), tout en se préparant à persuader le juge de la "cruauté mentale" de DiMaggio; et de l'autre côté, elle continuait à voir DiMaggio: on raconte même qu'elle aurait passé la nuit précédente et suivante de l'audience, avec Joe, chez Sinatra.
>> captures 
>> Video 1
>> Video 2
>> Video 3
>> dans la presse
Kansas Russell Daily News
>> sources:
Livre Marilyn Monroe Les inédits de Marie Clayton
Livre Les vies secrètes de Marilyn Monroe, de Anthony Summers
Daily News 8/08/1962
Le journal américain de New-York Daily News du mercredi 8 août 1962, titre en Une "Did he make mystery call?'" en publiant une photographie de Marilyn Monroe en compagnie de José Bolanos, prise trois mois auparavant (en avril) à la soirée des Golden Globes. Alors que les préparatifs des funérailles se préparent, on apprend que Bolanos pourrait bien être la dernière personne à avoir parlé au téléphone à Marilyn.
C'est Joe DiMaggio, le second mari de Marilyn, qui s'occupa des funérailles. Seulement 15 personnes triées sur le volet, des "amis très proches" de Marilyn, participeront à la mise en place des services à 13h dans la Chapelle du cimetière de Westwood, parmi lesquelles son agent Pat Newcomb, Paula et Lee Strasberg de l'Actors Studio. Le journal publie des photographies des proches de Marilyn arrivant à Los Angeles pour se rendre aux funérailles de l'actrice: l'avocat new-yorkais Aaron R Frosch accompagné de la coach d'art dramatique Paula Strasberg, l'avocate Inez Melson, la demie-soeur de Marilyn Berniece Miracle. Mais ni son premier mari, James Dougherty, ni son dernier mari, Arthur Miller, ne seront présents, ni même sa mère, Gladys Baker, internée en institut psychiatrique, mais néanmoins reprénsentée par sa tutrice, Inez Melson. Son second époux, Joe DiMaggio et le fils de celui-ci, Joe Jr, suivront le cortège funéraire. Le poète Carl Sandburg a rédigé une éloge envoyée par télégraphe. La famille demanda ne pas apporter de fleurs mais de faire plutôt un don à une institution. La présentation du corps de la défunte a été préparée par son maquilleur et sa coiffeuse habituelle, envoyés, d'après l'article, par la 20th Century Fox. Des centaines de fans se regroupèrent autour du cimetière, dans lequel Marilyn sera inhumé et où reposent sa grand-mère et sa tante Grace Goddard. On ne sait pas encore si sa mort, par l'absorption de barbituriques, est un accident ou un suicide.
La police recherche le scénariste mexicain Jose Bolanos qui pourrait bien être la dernière personne à avoir discuté avec Marilyn par téléphone. Cet appel aurait fait suite à celui de Joe Dimaggio Jr., le fils de Joe DiMaggio âgé de 21 ans et incorporé dans la Marine, et qui raconta à Marilyn sa rupture sentimentale d'avec sa petite amie Pamela Ries. Selon sa gouvernante, Eunice Murray, Marilyn était alors toute enjouée.
José Bolanos était le dernier ami connu en date de Marilyn, qu'elle rencontra lors de son séjour à Mexico en février de la même année, et qu'elle fréquenta les dernières semaines précedent sa mort, à Hollywood. Mais Pat Newcomb, l'agent de Marilyn, ajouta qu' "ils s'amusaient et aimaient passer juste du temps ensemble."
Eunice Murray rapporta à la police que Marilyn s'agita après avoir reçu ce deuxième appel tard dans la soirée de samedi, mais qu'elle n'avait aucune idée de l'identité de cet interlocuteur, ni de l'heure précise. Mrs Murray raconta que vers 3h30 du matin, elle pressentie que quelque chose n'allait pas, remarquant que la lumière de la chambre de Marilyn, fermée à clé, était toujours allumée. Elle appela le docteur qui força la porte et trouva Marilyn morte. "Connaissant Marilyn comme je la connais, je pense que si cet appel l'a réveillé, elle a dû reprendre des pillules pour dormir", déclara Mrs Murray. ce qui montre que sa mort serait bien accidentelle, thèse que réfute Ben Hecht, qui interviewa Marilyn en 1954, informant qu'elle tenta de se suicider deux fois quand elle était jeune, affirmant que c'est "Hollywood qui la sauva".
On apprend aussi l'attirance de Marilyn pour la ville de Mexico: elle y rencontra Jose Bolanos avec qui elle aurait prévu de coproduire un film. il l'accompagna dans la ville faire du shopping pour la décoration de sa maison de Los Angeles. Elle resta à Mexico jusqu'au 2 mars et Bolanos la rejoignit ensuite à Los Angeles. Marilyn retourna ensuite à Mexico, notamment le 15 septembre, journée de l'indépendance du pays. Elle fit aussi un don de 1 000 Dollars à un orphelinat du Mexique, ce qui porte à croire qu'elle aurait éventuellement prévu d'adopter un enfant mexicain, bien qu'aucun ami proche de Marilyn n'ait entendu parlé de tel projet.
Le journal rapporte aussi les déclarations d'amour pour Marilyn, de trois actrices : Rosalind Rusell, Lisa Kirk et Carroll Baker, toutes trois choquées par l'annonce de la mort de la star, elles donnent leur avis sur sa tragique disparition.
>> Source scans sur emulsioncompulsion.com
MM Personal
MM - Personal:
From the private archive
of Marilyn Monroe
Auteur: Lois Banner
Photographies: Mark Anderson
Date de sortie: mars 2011
Relié 336 pages
Langue: anglais
Éditeur: ABRAMS
Prix éditeur: 27,24 Euros
ISBN-10: 0810995875
ISBN-13: 978-0810995871
Ou le commander ? sur amazon.fr
Description:
Livre illustré de la collection d'Inez Melson, conseillère financière qui s'occupa des affaires et effets personnels deMarilyn Monroe après sa mort en 1962.
La collection, photographiée par Mark Anderson, avait été l'objet d'un sujet commenté dans le magazine Vanity Fair, en 2008.
The Things She Left Behind
The Things She Left Behind
published in 2008 October,
by Sam Kashner,
online vanityfair.com
The tragic 1962 overdose … two filing cabinets holding many of her secrets: keys to the mystery that was Marilyn Monroe. As her estate battles for control of her image, the author describes the cache’s revelations—papers, furs, jewelry, and other items—which have cast a spell over several people, including photographer Mark Anderson, who spent more than two years documenting the disputed collection.
Monroe, as photographed in Korea by a U.S. Army corporal in 1954.
Photograph by Don Obermeyer.
Dr. Ralph Greenson, her psychiatrist, was probably the first to arrive, in the early-morning hours of August 5, 1962. Her personal physician, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, was also summoned to her bungalow, at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive. One of her lawyers, Milton “Mickey” Rudin, came and started working the phones. Arthur Jacobs, her chief publicist, was called away from the Hollywood Bowl, where he and his future wife, Natalie Trundy, were attending a concert on that warm summer night. In later years, Jacobs would never speak about the scene in her bedroom, because it was “too horrible to talk about.” The police got there around 4:30 a.m. And then there was the curious sight of Eunice Murray, the housekeeper who had discovered the body, washing the bedsheets in the middle of the night.
The actor Peter Lawford, President Kennedy’s brother-in-law, was not there, but he had been troubled by the way Monroe sounded in their last phone call, just before her death: “Say good-bye to Pat [Lawford]. Say good-bye to the president. And say good-bye to yourself because you’re a nice guy.”
Marilyn Monroe, the most famous movie star in the world, had succumbed to a prescription-drug overdose at the age of 36. Since then, the rumors and confusion about what happened before and after her death have never gone away: Was it suicide or an accident? Was she in fact murdered? The mystery has fueled her legend as much as any of the 30-plus films she made in her 15-year career, or the famous men she married—Yankee great Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller—or her relationships with John and Robert Kennedy. Conflicting accounts of her last hours and the actual time and means of her death have served only to deepen the mystery.
Marilyn Monroe’s death received front-page coverage throughout the world. Gay Talese reported in The New York Times that the number of suicides in New York a week after her death hit a record high of 12 in one day. One suicide victim left a note saying, “If the most wonderful, beautiful thing in the world has nothing to live for, then neither must I.” Truman Capote, writing from Spain, recorded in a letter, “Cannot believe that Marilyn M. is dead. She was such a good-hearted girl, so pure really, so much on the side of the angels. Poor little baby.” Billy Wilder, while loudly complaining that it had been taxing to direct her in The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot—two of her greatest and best-loved movies—recalled that it was “worth a week’s torment to get … three luminous minutes on the screen.” In Italy, Sophia Loren broke down and wept. Joshua Logan, who directed Monroe in the film version of William Inge’s Bus Stop, paid her the ultimate compliment when he compared the “dumb blonde” character she created to Chaplin’s Tramp, one of the great comic inventions of the 20th century.
There was another person in the house on Fifth Helena that morning, a shadowy figure in most of the Monroe biographies: Marilyn’s business manager, Inez Melson, a plump woman in her early 60s, who had been recommended by Joe DiMaggio. She sat quietly going through Marilyn’s personal papers.
Melson had had the thankless task of looking after Gladys Baker Eley, Monroe’s mother, a schizophrenic who was institutionalized off and on throughout her adult life. Marilyn—born Norma Jeane Mortenson—didn’t like to visit her, but Melson treated Gladys as if she were her own mother, and she regularly gave Monroe lovingly detailed reports of her “progress.”
Additionally, Marilyn had become a daughter figure to Melson, who had a troubled relationship with her own daughter, Emmy Lou. In a handwritten 1957 letter to Melson, Marilyn wrote, “I wish there were some way I could tell Emmy Lou what a wonderful mother she has.” But, in truth, Marilyn never felt close to Melson—she was a painful reminder of her own mother, estranged since childhood.
Joe DiMaggio had put Melson in the job to look after things, to keep an eye on Marilyn, to report to him about what she was up to. She was supposed to be the Yankee Clipper’s spy in the house of love. Now she had a funeral to arrange. Joe put her in charge. Their “baby” finally belonged to them. DiMaggio sat up all night with the body and, along with Melson, helped to select an apple-green sheath dress of nylon jersey. Melson, by her own account, removed 15 bottles of prescription medicine from the bedside table.
There were also two filing cabinets, one gray and one brown, to deal with. Frank Sinatra had advised Monroe to get them to protect her privacy. One had a built-in safe hidden behind a faux drawer. That’s where her personal life was, in those files: the letters, invoices, financial records, favorite snapshots, and mementos that meant the most to her. Now Melson had control of the filing cabinets. After years of looking after Gladys and getting little in return, she was going to become an important person in Monroe’s posthumous life. Marilyn’s secrets would belong to her.
During the 48 hours after Monroe’s death, while the police were busy taking statements and photographs, Melson removed papers from the filing cabinets and stuffed them into a shopping bag. She also called the A-1 Lock & Safe Company to change the lock on one of them.
Monroe’s will, filed for probate on August l6, established a $100,000 trust to provide her mother with $5,000 per year and Mrs. Michael Chekhov, the widow of one of her acting coaches, $2,500 a year. She left $10,000 to her half-sister, Berniece Baker Miracle; $10,000 to her former secretary and friend, May Reis (with a provision that she could inherit more); and $5,000 to the playwright and poet Norman Rosten and his wife, Hedda. Curiously, she left 25 percent of the estate’s balance to further the work of her New York psychiatrist, Dr. Marianne Kris, who had disastrously incarcerated her, briefly, in a padded cell in New York’s Payne Whitney Clinic in 1961, when Monroe was suffering from insomnia and exhaustion.
The most valuable portion of the estate, including all of her “personal effects … [to be distributed] among my friends, colleagues and those to whom I am devoted,” was left to Lee Strasberg. In 1955 Strasberg and his wife, Paula, had welcomed Monroe into the Actors Studio, the country’s most prestigious acting school and purveyor of “the Method,” which had famously launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean. The Strasbergs had believed in her talent, making her part of their family. Paula had replaced Natasha Lytess as Marilyn’s personal acting coach and had been well paid for it.
The Strasberg bequest would eventually net the heirs tens of millions of dollars from film royalties, the sale of her personal belongings, and the licensing of her image over the last 45 years. A fortune would accrue to a woman Monroe had barely known: Lee Strasberg’s third wife, Anna Mizrahi Strasberg. (Monroe met Anna once, at a United Nations event, years before Paula Strasberg’s death.)
It must have been a blow to Inez Melson that she was not named in the will. Nonetheless, the court appointed her special administratrix of the Monroe estate, most likely due to the influence of Joe DiMaggio, who by many accounts had been planning to remarry Marilyn. Shortly after the funeral, Melson entered the house with Marilyn’s half-sister, Berniece Miracle, and sorted through the actress’s personal effects. “We sat around the fireplace,” Miracle wrote in her overlooked 1994 memoir, My Sister Marilyn, “watching Inez burn papers all day long.” Melson put Monroe’s red leather Gucci shopping bag on the floor, saying, “Put what you want to take home in here,” and noting that Marilyn apparently saved every letter Arthur Miller had ever written her.
Melson herself, it seems, put aside furs, jewelry, hats, perfume bottles, and handbags, and they readied the rest of Monroe’s things for the estate sale that would take place in 1963, which offered “Personal Property Likely To Depreciate in Value.”
(Monroe at her Los Angeles home, by Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, in 1953. By Alfred Eisenstadt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
The gray cabinet—“Metal 4 drawer filing cabinet, legal size with lock”—was included in that sale and bought under the name of Melson’s nephew W. N. Davis, without his knowledge. It was delivered to 9110 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Melson’s office address.
The brown filing cabinet was apparently removed from the house by DiMaggio, and personally delivered, some six years later, to Melson’s home, in Los Angeles, where it remained until her death, in 1985, when the two cabinets were passed on to her sister-in-law, Ruth Conroy, of Downey, California, and in turn to Conroy’s son Millington Conroy, a perfume and cosmetics salesman. The two cabinets—along with furs, hats, handbags, and jewelry—were taken to Conroy’s suburban home in Rowland Heights, 25 miles outside of Los Angeles.
Love at First Sight
Marilyn was divine and profane at the same time, and she quickly entered the realm of myth and metaphor as Hollywood’s most famous martyred saint. At the height of her fame, she had received 5,000 fan letters a week. Many were from men and women who talked about the sadness in her eyes, her vulnerability, and how they identified with her. Her immortal fame was parodied in the “Church of Marilyn” scene in Ken Russell’s 1975 film Tommy in which blonde priestesses in Marilyn masks offer sacraments of whiskey and pills beneath a statue of Monroe. Today, there are still legions of Marilyn Monroe fans, including several high-profile celebrities. Madonna, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, and Nicole Kidman all worship at the Church of Marilyn, as does Lindsay Lohan. For the February 18, 2008, issue of New York magazine, Bert Stern photographed Lohan in a re-creation of his famous, final portrait series taken at the Hotel Bel-Air six weeks before Monroe’s death. But in fact, two years earlier, Lohan had channeled Monroe in a white bathing suit on the cover of Vanity Fair, in a tribute to André de Dienes’s sun-drenched images of a young Marilyn frolicking on the beach. Marilyn has become the patron saint of the lost girls of our own era—Lohan and Amy Winehouse and even Britney Spears—gifted performers knocked around by celebrity, constant surveillance, and the echoes of Marilyn’s own self-doubt.
From Marilyn’s first film, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, in 1948, to her last, The Misfits, in 1961, she went from studio-issue blonde bimbo to Method-trained, heartbreaking actress of depth and soul. She moved beyond camp—that was her genius. That’s how she differed from Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren and Sheree North—blonde, busty actresses in the Marilyn mold that Hollywood used in its attempt to replace her. But she was irreplaceable.
In September 2007, Mark Anderson, an Australian-born photographer living in Los Angeles, contacted Vanity Fair to say that he had spent the last two years photographing everything in Millington Conroy’s archive. Was this the real thing or would it turn out to be the Hollywood equivalent of the Hitler diaries, the 1983 hoax that was supposed to be the Führer’s most intimate rantings, quickly discredited by several experts? If it was the latter, it wouldn’t be the first time a fraud had been perpetrated in Marilyn World. Most recently, Robert W. Otto curated an exhibition of Monroe memorabilia for display on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, from November 11, 2005, through June 15, 2006. At least one of the items, a set of Clairol 20 Instant Hairsetter rollers with a strand of hair described as Marilyn’s, was found to have been manufactured after Monroe’s death and was removed from the exhibition.
Anderson, 49, who still resembles the brawny surfer of his youth, is a scrappy, resourceful photographer with a jaunty Australian accent. On a moonless night last September, we drove to Rowland Heights in his black Ford Expedition to a large, Spanish-style suburban house on a cul-de-sac, surrounded by tall palm trees. As we pulled up in front of the house, Anderson called Millington Conroy on his cell phone. Conroy was in Las Vegas that weekend, but Anderson had been given the run of the house (one of two that Conroy owned), where he had been photographing all the items in the filing cabinets. Over Anderson’s cell phone, Conroy told me, “Prepare yourself. What you’re about to see will blow you away.”
It was pitch-black. The huge date palms surrounding the house somehow made the darkness more ominous. During the drive, Anderson had explained that he first met Conroy, now 56, a lanky man with white hair and light-blue eyes, in November 2005 at the Santa Monica office of Bodyography, a small cosmetics company where Conroy was head salesman. “Mill,” as he’s called, was wearing denim shorts and a T-shirt and was carrying rumpled Target bags. When he pulled out a luminous pearl necklace that he claimed had been given to Monroe by Joe DiMaggio, as well as several receipts made out to “Mrs. Arthur Miller” and letters addressed to “Mrs. Joe DiMaggio,” Anderson was hooked. Immediately after the meeting, he had his lawyer draft a letter of intent to photograph the archive, which Conroy signed at their initial meeting at the Rowland Heights house.
At first, Anderson couldn’t believe his good fortune. He remembered how bowled over he was the first time he had seen her, in Some Like It Hot, when he was just a boy in Australia. “Who ever forgets the first time they saw Marilyn Monroe?” he says. “As time went by [photographing the archive], I got even more interested in the whole thing. And then that was it—I’d been bitten. The poison was in my veins.”
Before we entered the house, Anderson disabled the alarm. The front door opened to a living room with a peach-and-ivory décor, which was continued throughout the house. Anderson had turned the living room into a photographic studio, with lights, cameras, and seamless backdrops. A collection of exquisite handbags was artfully arranged on one surface, beautifully lit so they glittered like jewels. On the floor lay a black Persian-lamb jacket with a mink collar next to a gold-clasped leather bag. We proceeded into a small office off the hallway, passing the two filing cabinets, which stood side by side next to the kitchen. In the office, Anderson showed me a number of Monroe’s documents—letters, receipts, ledgers, telegrams—which were kept in a large black safe and impeccably preserved in plastic sleeves in three-ringed notebooks.
Anderson explained that this was a far cry from his introduction to the collection, which had been jumbled together in Target bags and padlocked behind impressive bars and chains in one room. The first time Anderson visited, Conroy dumped folders of papers onto the kitchen table—receipts “for a pair of shoes she bought in Bloomingdale’s, champagne she bought at Jurgensen’s, one for lunch at Chasen’s, dated 1960. A Jax clothing receipt, a psychiatrist’s receipt from Marianne Kris.”
At one point, Anderson recalls, Conroy told him to close his eyes while he fetched something from one of the cabinets. Anderson heard the metal bars on the office door slide back with a loud clanging, and he braced himself, half expecting to “get whacked across the back of the head with a baseball bat.” Instead, Conroy placed in his hands a cold, hard object that slid between his fingers. He thought it was a necklace till he opened his eyes and saw he was holding rosary beads. “They were really beautiful. I mean gorgeous—part onyx and part dark-green stones. The crucifix was gold and large, larger than normal. They were so worn they looked more like worry beads than rosary beads. I was strangely moved,” he says. Conroy believed that they had been given to Marilyn by DiMaggio and had once belonged to DiMaggio’s mother.
Anderson asked Conroy the $64,000 question: “Are there any Kennedy letters?”
“Yes, there are.”
Conroy brought out a white envelope, which Anderson assumed contained them. Instead there was a sheaf of other letters, on good-quality cream-colored paper. As Anderson began to read one of them, he noticed poems or fragments of poems written in pencil along the margin of one of the typed pages. “I remember thinking whoever wrote it was very much infatuated with Marilyn. It was very deep, all about how their heart was torn by seeing her. It was just too intense.” The letter was signed “Googie” or “Gookie.” Conroy gently tugged the paper out of Anderson’s hand.
“Do you want to see this letter? Trust me, you’re going to die.”
He handed Anderson another letter, covering the signature. And then he revealed it: three-quarters of an inch high, it read, “All my love, T. S. Eliot.”
Anderson stared at it for a few seconds, until that letter, too, was pulled from his hand. “I was numb. T. S. Eliot was writing letters to Marilyn Monroe?”
According to Anderson, Conroy told him, “Not just letters. Love letters.”
“Oh, my god,” Anderson responded. “This is big news. This is history!”
“I know, but you’re missing the point. Everything I have is history,” said Conroy as he slid the letters back into the white envelope.
In early 2006, after Anderson began photographing the archive, he realized there was enough material to fill a book, an idea Conroy came to endorse. But they needed someone to write the text. Conroy first called Seymour Hersh, the former New York Times journalist (now with The New Yorker), who had won a 1970 Pulitzer Prize for breaking the My Lai massacre story. Hersh, along with Peter Jennings of ABC News, had been to the Rowland Heights house about 10 years earlier to research a TV documentary on the Kennedy presidency, with executive producer Mark Obenhaus. “I remember they did show us some photographs we had never seen before,” Hersh recalled recently. “They knew their stuff. But the people in the house definitely tried to sell us things. It’s hard to remember—that was three wars ago.” Hersh, however, politely declined their invitation to write the text, as he was working on another book at the time.
Camelot or Spamalot?
That’s when Anderson contacted Anthony Summers, mentioning the existence of a number of letters and other archival material, including five or six letters or notes from the Kennedy brothers, a letter from Monroe to Joe Kennedy, a note from the gangster Sam Giancana, Monroe’s doodles and notes and possibly her notebooks, her jottings on politics, and a letter from DiMaggio to Inez Melson written after Monroe’s death. It was the Kennedy letters that most intrigued Summers. An Oxford-educated journalist, he wrote the best-seller Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, and had met with Melson in 1983 and with Ruth Conroy in 1986. But if there were Kennedy letters, Melson and Conroy had kept them to themselves.
“The truth is,” Conroy told Summers over the phone, “my mother only showed you one of the two filing cabinets.”
Summers recalls, “I knew Inez Melson had worked for Monroe, I knew she’d kept at least one filing cabinet, and I knew it had contained some interesting material. So I thought to myself, ‘It looks like I’m going to have to get myself out to L.A., then, doesn’t it?’ ” On July 29, 2006, he flew in from New York, where he had been working on another project at the time. Just before departing, however, he got word from Conroy that the alleged Kennedy and Giancana letters, which supposedly were being held in storage by a memorabilia dealer and acquaintance of Conroy’s, had apparently been lost. “Some hope was still held out that some of the significant stuff would be there when I got to L.A.,” Summers explains, “and [I was] intrigued by the possibility that I’d wind up finding myself writing about a scam. Knowing, too, that any second file cabinet of Monroe material might contain something of significance, I decided to press on to L.A.”
Summers had enjoyed meeting Inez Melson 23 years earlier. “I liked dear Inez,” he says, recalling that he brought her chocolates and flowers. When he first went to her modest home, in Laurel Canyon, she was having circulatory problems and sat with her leg up on a chair. She mentioned the existence of a filing cabinet, but she wasn’t mobile enough to show it to him on that visit. After a long conversation, Melson directed Summers to cross the room and extract a letter from her dressing table. “She seemed to come to feel she could trust me,” Summers remembers, “and my impression was that she wanted to get off her chest something that had long upset her.” She told him, “I want to show you something, young man, that I totally disapprove of.” It was a letter from Jean Kennedy Smith saying, “Understand that you and Bobby are the new item,” which has long been taken as proof of an otherwise unproven affair between Monroe and Robert Kennedy. The only other item Melson showed him was a clock she claimed had belonged to Joe DiMaggio.
Before Summers departed, Melson promised him, “When I’m better, I’ll show you the filing cabinet.” But she didn’t get better, and in 1985 she died. The following year, Summers got a call from Melson’s sister-in-law, Ruth Conroy, who invited him to peruse the material she’d “inherited” from Melson. Summers did so, and he “published what was worthwhile in the paperback edition of Goddess.” But again Ruth Conroy had shown him only one of the two filing cabinets. If there were Kennedy or Sam Giancana letters, Summers never saw them.
When Summers arrived at the Rowland Heights house in July 2006, Conroy confirmed that the Kennedy letters—along with a blue shoebox containing love letters from Joe DiMaggio—were missing. But Conroy assured both Summers and Anderson that he was on the case, hiring a lawyer and planning to travel to Miami to search for the letters himself. The memorabilia dealer, Bruce Matthews of Gotta Have It Golf, Inc., however, told Vanity Fair over the phone, “I never saw Kennedy letters. I would have noticed something like that.”
But there were other letters that Conroy wanted to show Summers. “I remember it was dark, and Summers was standing in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee,” Anderson recalls, “and Mill comes walking out of the small office that had the gray filing cabinet in it at the time. And he’s got the white envelope with the T. S. Eliot letters” to show Summers, perhaps as a kind of consolation prize. But Summers dismissed what he saw: not the letter signed by T. S. Eliot that Anderson had seen, but fragments of poems with the name “T. S. Eliot” scrawled in the margin. Summers believed the attributions were probably written by Monroe’s friend Norman Rosten. (Summers says that Conroy told him there were in fact no Eliot letters, just the marginal scribble he’d seen, but Conroy told Vanity Fair that he had just decided not to show Summers any more of the correspondence.)
Conroy made one last attempt to persuade Summers to come in on his and Anderson’s book project. Anderson recalls that Conroy led them upstairs to one of the two bedrooms and placed on a table an alligator jewelry case bearing the abbreviation “J DiM,” for Joe DiMaggio.
Earlier, Conroy had given the jewelry case to Bruce Matthews to sell, but Matthews had been so impressed by it, he’d returned it to Conroy—by hand—because “it seemed so personal, I didn’t want to exploit it.” Summers doesn’t recall ever seeing the jewelry box, but he does remember seeing articles of clothing Conroy said had belonged to Monroe in the closet of an upstairs bedroom, in which Conroy invited Summers to spend the night.
Too tired to object, Summers accepted the offer. Close to one a.m., he recalls, “I got up to use the loo and the only one I’d seen in the house was downstairs. There’s Millington, sitting up in the living room, watching TV.” Summers noticed that not far from where Conroy was seated, the “once neatly filed collection of papers lay scattered around—a blizzard of paper, strewn absolutely everywhere.” The two men exchanged a second cheerful good-night, and Summers left the following day, “doubting greatly that the Kennedy material had ever existed.”
But his saga with Mill Conroy was not over. On March 14, 2007, Summers received an e-mail saying Conroy no longer wanted any participation from him, and accusing him of plotting to steal documents and of “sneaking down stairs to look at my materials.” Summers was incensed. “My reputation as a biographer and a journalist was impugned when Millington accused me of pilfering documents.” He e-mailed Conroy the next day, refuting his accusations and cautioning him, “Please be aware that dissemination of scurrilous accusations may make you liable to suit,” thus ending his involvement with Conroy, Anderson, and the Monroe collection. (When asked about these accusations, Conroy refused to participate further in this article. “He went down a gopher hole,” Anderson explained. “You’ll never hear from Mill again.”)
The Two-Year Itch
“I don’t think Anthony Summers really cared about Marilyn Monroe,” Anderson says about the brouhaha. “You know, he published a picture of her in the morgue in his book. There’s no blood circulation, and she looks terrible.”
But by then Anderson was speaking as Monroe’s last photographer. He’d begun his career by taking pictures for Surfing World, and then for European Esquire and Premiere. By the time I first spoke with him, he had been photographing Monroe’s personal correspondence, her jewelry, her furs, and her handbags for almost two years, and he admitted he had fallen a little bit in love with her, just as all her photographers had. Like Dana Andrews’s infatuation with Gene Tierney’s portrait in Otto Preminger’s 1944 film Laura, Anderson was haunted by the ghost of Marilyn. He was having trouble sleeping at night, at one point he was drinking too much, and on occasion he called Marietta, his wife, “Marilyn.” He had decided that the best way to photograph the items in the archive—the 400 canceled checks, the ledgers and memos and letters—was to place them against a backdrop of rose petals. So he was spending his mornings at the Los Angeles Flower Market buying roses, like a hopeful suitor. “Imagine the power of this woman who has been dead for 45 years,” Marietta observed, “that I was becoming jealous.” Curiously, Laura was one of Monroe’s favorite movies. She once gushed to David Raksin, who composed the film’s famously seductive theme, that she had seen it at least 15 times. Raksin returned the compliment when he purchased some of Marilyn’s furniture at the 1963 auction of her personal effects.
After Summers left the house, Anderson recalls, Conroy turned to him and confessed, “By the way, I sold the rosary beads. For $50,000.” Anderson was horrified, and he began to worry about the fate of the collection. What else had been or was being sold off? And where were the Kennedy and DiMaggio letters—if they had ever existed? According to Anderson, Conroy claimed he had flown to Miami to search for them in Matthews’s garage. But Matthews says that, as far as he knew, Conroy had never come to Miami to search for letters. (Matthews did, however, sell the rosary beads for Conroy. “He was kind enough to entrust me with certain personal items of Marilyn’s,” he told Vanity Fair.)
Seven months later, Lois Banner entered the picture. Banner is a professor of history and gender studies at the University of Southern California. Born in Los Angeles, she is a lively woman with light-blond hair, a quick laugh, and an easy manner. She lectures on Monroe in her classes at U.S.C. and was quoted in a January 2007 L.A. Weekly story about the Marilyn Monroe fan-club phenomenon in Los Angeles. The article caught the attention of Conroy and Anderson, who invited Banner—“the Professor,” as Anderson calls her—to examine the archive and consider collaborating with them on their book project. They are an unlikely pair, this energetic 64-year-old professor with a shelf full of scholarly books and this photographer from Australia with his Mad Max swagger. Anderson “tried reading one of Lois’s books. I didn’t understand one word,” he says. “It was like ‘the idea of the concept was obtusely literal’ … that kind of thing. I fell asleep in a minute. But don’t get me wrong, I love her.” And Anderson’s work on the Monroe archive has earned him Lois Banner’s admiration. “Mark is very smart,” she tells me. “He’s an incredible researcher. He would’ve made a great scholar—he knows where to dig.” And so the two of them—the professor and the photographer—tunneled their way toward Marilyn’s buried life.
“The minute I saw Mark’s photographs,” Banner recalls, “I knew I wanted to be involved. What I saw in them was a kind of aesthetic beauty that could help put Marilyn into a realm where she would be honored and respected.”
The Misfit
On September 23, 2007, I returned to the Conroy house in Rowland Heights. This was my third visit to the archive, but Conroy, though we had spoken on the phone, had yet to make an appearance.
As on my previous visits, Marilyn’s artifacts were strewn throughout the living room and on the dining table, ready for their close-up: a diamond-encrusted wristwatch; a tiny porcelain parakeet; a small, army-issue sewing kit likely given to her in Korea; her last, nearly empty bottle of Chanel No. 5, which Inez Melson had plucked from her night table in the early aftermath of her death, according to Conroy. There, too, was a small, square, gold-plated compact, the remnants of her powder intact. The objects were beautiful and now seemed possessed of an eerie glamour.
Banner and I sat down at the kitchen table and began to peruse folders of Marilyn’s correspondence and documents while Anderson photographed in the living room. She had worked with him to preserve the entire collection—all 12,000 items—in Mylar sleeves, and had been impressed and unexpectedly moved by what she’d found there. As to the archive’s authenticity, she explains, “There’s no way one person could have put all this together. This is her handwriting, these were the people she surrounded herself with. Nearly every receipt is here—she kept them for tax purposes. This shows us Marilyn Monroe living her life, one day at a time. It shows us different sides of Marilyn that are not in the biographies. It adds depth and understanding of who she was as a private person.”
For example, asks Banner, who knew that Marilyn was planning to write and publish a cookbook? Mary Bass, executive editor of Ladies’ Home Journal, had sent her recipes for bouillabaisse and beef Burgundy. And many of Monroe’s thank-you notes (dictated by Monroe, with carbon copies on onionskin) reflect her charm and wit. To the German consulate general in Los Angeles, she wrote, “Dear Mr. von Fuehlsdorff: Thank you for your champagne. It arrived, I drank it, and I was gayer. Thanks again. My best, Marilyn Monroe.”
There are numerous receipts: for a black boa and a white ostrich boa for $75 each at Rex of Beverly Hills; for thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes purchased at the popular clothing store Jax (which specialized in tightfitting slacks that zipped up the back) and at Bloomingdale’s, two of her favorite stores; from the Maximilian Fur Company, on West 57th Street, in New York, made out to Mrs. A. Miller, for storing a “White Ermine coat and Black Fox stole trimmed with silk, Ranch Mink coat, White Beaver coat, White Fox stole, Black Fox stole, White Fox stole and White Fox muff,” etc. “All the checks she ever wrote are here,” says Banner. “You find narratives about her life simply from those checks. She was spending money like a drunken sailor. She loves furs.”
Looking through the ledgers, Banner comments, “The amount that she’s spending is unreal. She’s spending on clothing, and then these salaries for all these people—there’s a registered nurse in here, September 26, 1961. That’s the point at which she’s in very bad shape [emotionally], and [Dr.] Ralph Greenson has private nurses for her around the clock. She fights with them. They all quit. That’s why he brings Eunice Murray in. Here’s Elizabeth Arden. She goes for facials quite frequently. And then her hormonal shot She goes to somebody’s clinic in New York on quite a regular basis.”
The ledgers show that Marilyn had a more than $4,000 overdraft when she died, though newspaper accounts at the time credited her with an estate worth roughly $500,000. An inter-office memo from her secretary, Cherie Redmond, reads, “The fewer people who know about the state of MM’s finances, etc., the better.”
Banner notes that Monroe was “spending outrageously in 1961 and 1962, and borrowing all over the place. She’s always on the edge of financial chaos.” In a letter dated June 25, 1962, her lawyer Milton A. Rudin warned Marilyn, “I feel obligated to caution you on your expenditures since at the rate you have been making those expenditures, you will spend the $13,000 in a very short period of time and we will then have to consider where to borrow additional monies.” According to a year-end cash-receipts-and-disbursements statement, in 1961 Marilyn paid Paula Strasberg $20,000 in addition to buying her 100 shares of AT&T for over $11,000. And a letter from Cherie Redmond notes that in April 1961, Monroe paid Strasberg $10,000 for “4 wks salary MISFITS.”
Banner also discovers from Monroe’s ledgers that “DiMaggio, as long as they were married, was really generous to her. He gave her money. And you can find that when she was married to Arthur Miller she gave him money. She was basically, for a while, supporting him.”
But perhaps the most curious ledger entries are two from May and June of 1953. The first one, for $851.04, was a payment made to Mrs. G. Goddard. Grace Goddard had been Marilyn’s legal guardian; she had been Gladys’s best friend, and it was she who had brought about Marilyn’s marriage at the age of 16 to James Dougherty. The second payment is for $300, and it’s also made out to Goddard. Both carry the notation “medical.” They could be medical expenses for Goddard—Monroe was generous to a fault—but the possibility does exist that these sums were used to cover an abortion, long a subject of speculation. As Banner noticed, the ledger-entry dates coincided with Monroe’s entering a hospital to be treated for endometriosis. In 1953, Monroe’s career was soaring; it was the year she and Jane Russell famously planted their handprints in wet cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The last thing she needed then was an unwanted pregnancy, in an era when an out-of-wedlock birth would have ended her career.
Other memos and letters settle scores or reveal just how much Monroe sought to be in creative control of her films. For example, Monroe and Tony Curtis were not simpatico on the set of Some Like It Hot; he described their steamy romantic scenes as akin to “kissing Hitler.” Apparently, Curtis also left her cold: she hadn’t wanted him as her co-star from the beginning. Minutes of a business meeting that took place on April 3, 1958, in her and Arthur Miller’s Manhattan apartment, in the Sutton Place neighborhood, describe a discussion with two of her agents, Mort Viner and MCA president Lew Wasserman, about casting preferences for Some Like It Hot: “She is waiting for Sinatra to enter the picture. She still doesn’t like Curtis but Wasserman doesn’t know anybody else.”
Also among her files are a handful of photographs. There’s a black-and-white snapshot of Norma Jeane—before she became Marilyn Monroe—at Emmeline Snively’s Blue Book Modeling Agency, taken in 1945 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Another snapshot shows a shy, slightly plump Monroe sitting on the floor, her legs tucked under her, in an informal class at the Actors Lab, a Los Angeles spin-off of New York’s Group Theatre. In 1947, she’s already taking her craft seriously, years before she enrolled in the Actors Studio, in New York. “It was my first taste of what real acting in real drama could be, and I was hooked,” she said about the experience.
Then there’s the dazzling, sun-drenched snapshot of her standing in the passenger’s seat of a Jeep. She is dressed in a bomber jacket and looking radiantly happy—as if she were made of light. The photo was taken in Korea when she traveled there to entertain the troops in 1954. “There’s no way in the world,” Anderson says, “you could know who took that picture.” Though she’d posed for all the important photographers of her day, Marilyn always kept this snapshot with her, moving it from handbag to handbag. On the back of the print, she wrote in her deeply slanting handwriting, “I like this one the best.”
And there’s the grateful letter from Mr. and Mrs. N. T. Rupe, of Tacoma, Washington, the parents of a soldier stationed in Korea, who recounted his words: “Two days ago, Marilyn Monroe played before 12,000 men of this division.… [S]he appeared in a low cut, sheathe dress of purple glittery sort of material. She is certainly beautiful!!! When she appeared on the stage, there was just a sort of gasp from the audience—a single gasp multiplied by the 12,000 soldiers present.” (It was upon her return from this exhilarating trip to Korea that Monroe had exclaimed to her husband, DiMaggio, “Joe, you never heard such cheering!” To which the fabled Yankee slugger replied, “Yes, I have.”)
Her correspondence reveals her genuine interest in politics. In the carbon copy of a March 29, 1960, letter written to Lester Markel, then Sunday editor of The New York Times, she playfully flirts with him while discussing various presidential candidates:
Lester dear, …
About our political conversation the other day: I take it back that there isn’t anybody. What about Rockefeller? … [Adlai] Stevenson might have made it if he had been able to talk to people instead of professors. Of course, there hasn’t been anyone like Nixon before because the rest of them at least had souls! …
P.S. Slo[g]ans for late ’60:
“Nix on Nixon”
“Over the hump with Humphrey (?)”
“Stymied with Symington”
“Back to Boston by Xmas—Kennedy”
Some of the most compelling items from the files are tender and funny letters she wrote to Bobby and Janie Miller, Arthur Miller’s two children from his first marriage. In one letter to “Bobbybones,” Monroe describes her first meeting with Robert Kennedy:
Oh, Bobby, guess what: I had dinner last night with the Attorney-General of the United States, Robert Kennedy, and I asked him what his department was going to do about Civil Rights.… He is very intelligent, and besides all that, he’s got a terrific sense of humor. I think you would like him. Anyway, I had to go to this dinner last night as he was the guest of honor and when they asked him who he wanted to meet, he wanted to meet me.… [A]nd he isn’t a bad dancer either.
Sometimes, Marilyn endearingly writes in the voice of Hugo, the family’s basset hound, as in the following letter to “Janie”:
How is my own Mommie? Boy, was I glad to get your letter written only to me! Of course Daddy and Marilyn have been telling me things from your other letters and Bob’s too, about what you have been doing at Camp … I have missed you something awful.… But Janie, I really am trying to be a good dog—one that you would be proud of.… I haven’t even set one of my four feet on any of the flowers that Daddy and Marilyn planted and I just love them. I sit in the sunshine just smelling them.
Neither letters from Arthur Miller, at one time said to have been contained in a locked brown suitcase, nor letters from DiMaggio have ever turned up. If such letters did exist, where are they now? Perhaps Lee Strasberg returned them to their authors, or Inez or her sister-in-law, Ruth, might have sold them.
But what does exist in the archive is an undated, typed transcript that seems to be recounting Arthur Miller’s musings about Marilyn. He recalls their first meeting, sometime in 1951, and goes on to describe her as a blessing in his life: “As a result of knowing her, I have become more of myself.” He describes their domestic life together, noting that she is a perfectionist, an inspired gardener, and “a marvelous cook, even though she never had any training.”
He also observes, “The extraordinary thing about her is that she always sees things as though for the first time.” It was her sense of wonder that made her so alive to millions of moviegoers, he believes. Miller considers it a misfortune that Monroe never had a great role to play, a dilemma he set out to correct with his screenplay The Misfits. “I did not write it specifically for her,” he notes, but he describes the role of Roslyn, the child-like divorcée Monroe embodies so passionately in the 1961 film, as a difficult part that would challenge the greatest actresses. “But I do not think of anybody who could do it the way Marilyn would,” he adds.
Miller had a profound influence on his wife, reflected in a receipt found in the archive. It was not “Marilyn Monroe” who had walked into Martindale’s Book Store in Beverly Hills and bought The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud in three volumes; it was “Marilyn Monroe Miller.” She was proud of being the wife of one of America’s most respected intellectuals.
Also found in the archive is a letter from Grace Goddard that describes Gladys’s confusion and paranoia: “She thinks she was sent to State Hospital because years ago she voted on a Socialist Ballot Sleeps with her head at the foot of bed so as not to look at Marilyn’s picture—they disturb her Wishes she never had had a sexual experience so she could be more Christ like.” Also preserved is an envelope addressed by Gladys to Christian Science Nursing in Boston, containing three razor blades. Why had Monroe kept these reminders of her mother’s mental illness?
There is a letter from Inez Melson to Joe DiMaggio, dated September 6, 1962—a month after Monroe’s death—which questions the circumstances surrounding her last will. She asks DiMaggio to help her find out where Marilyn went on January 14, 1961, “the date on which our baby purportedly executed her will,” by tracking down car-rental charges. “I know it sounds like a ‘Perry Mason’ television script but I am (between thee and me) very suspicious about that will.”
Marilyn never completely stopped caring about DiMaggio. In a letter found on a dresser top or in a drawer near her bed (she often jotted down her thoughts on fragments of paper before going to sleep), she wrote, “Dear Joe, If I can only succeed in making you happy—I will have succeeded in the bigest [sic] and most difficult thing there is—that is to make one person completely happy.” Lois Banner believes, however, that the DiMaggio letter “proves nothing. Marilyn had a major habit of telling people what they wanted to hear.”
Something’s Got to Give
On September 4, 2007, Mark Anderson drove downtown to the Los Angeles Superior Court Archives & Records Center, those cavernous, sub-basement storehouses, to look through the summaries of a 1994 lawsuit by Anna Strasberg over Monroe memorabilia that Conroy had given to an auction house to sell. Conroy had claimed the suit was settled in his favor.
The previous day, September 3, Anderson had gone to Conroy’s house and found the alarm off, the door to the filing-cabinet safe ajar, and papers strewn on the floor. His stomach lurched—had there been a robbery? But on closer examination he found that all the binders were intact, and that the documents on the floor referred to the court case. Looking through them, he discovered that Conroy had in fact lost that suit. He had been ordered to hand over his collection to the legal heirs of Monroe’s estate, now represented by Anna Strasberg’s 37-year-old son, David. But, after testifying that he had “no other documents or items relating to Marilyn Monroe,” Conroy had kept back the two filing cabinets and their contents, as well as furs, jewels, and handbags that he believed were rightfully his. After all, Conroy told Vanity Fair, as a teenager he had helped Joe DiMaggio “unload the brown file cabinet in ’69 when he brought it up to my aunt’s house.”
Anderson’s trip to the records center confirmed his suspicions: it seemed to him it was all supposed to have been returned to the Strasbergs. He was furious with Conroy. “I felt like going over there and just doing something bad to him—I know martial arts, I hold several belts,” Anderson says, his voice getting louder as he relives the moment.
Anderson says he confronted Conroy at the Rowland Heights house. “So this shit isn’t yours?” he demanded.
“Oh, yes, it is,” Conroy insisted, according to Anderson. “Other stuff I had at the time the court decided I had to hand back, but I got to keep all of this. Basically, there was an estate sale, and my cousin went down to the auction and bought the gray cabinet. The brown cabinet, the one in the garage, was a gift from Joe DiMaggio.”
That night Anderson called Dr. Banner. “They’re going to come after him,” he told her. “The Strasbergs don’t know Mill has this stuff. They’re going to nail him to a cross.”
It was at that point that Banner approached the Monroe estate, requesting a meeting. “The meeting with David [Strasberg],” she said recently, “was triggered by the letter I wrote to him and to Anna Strasberg on U.S.C. letterhead, about the Conroy collection. I enclosed my vita with all my scholarly credentials. That was our first official communication to them. I subsequently called Anna Strasberg on the phone. She was very gracious, but she had bronchitis and sounded weak. She told me that David was in charge, so I called him and set up the appointment for Mark and me.”
The meeting took place at one p.m. on October 10, 2007, at David Strasberg’s office at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. On their way to the meeting, they walked past the Marilyn Monroe Theatre—part of the institute. At the meeting, Strasberg surprised Anderson and Banner by telling them that he already knew about Conroy—he had received an anonymous letter about him several weeks earlier.
Strasberg went on to explain that the estate received many such letters from envious collectors, trying to knock one another off by informing them that, in Anderson’s words, “such and such a collector is in possession of stolen property.” At one point, Strasberg asked Anderson if he had written the letter. “I could see that he suspected Mark had sent it,” Banner recalls, “but he didn’t seem to mind.” Anderson said no, he hadn’t.
The Strasbergs must have been grateful to learn about the existence of the file cabinets, because they were having their own troubles regarding the Monroe estate. As recently as October 28, 1999, the estate earned more than $13.4 million in sales from a two-day auction of Monroe’s personal property at Christie’s International at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, in Manhattan. A standing-room-only crowd had filled the 1,000-seat James Christie Room for an auction known as “The Sale of the Century.” Marilyn’s beaded Jean Louis gown, worn when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy, went for $1,267,500, including commission, setting a record for a single item of clothing (outdistancing the paltry $222,500 paid for one of Princess Diana’s gowns in 1997). Monroe’s wedding ring from DiMaggio (a platinum eternity band with 34 diamonds) sold for $772,500, and Marilyn’s treasured piano—a white lacquered grand that had been rescued by Marilyn from an auction house after her mother was institutionalized—went for $662,500 to Mariah Carey. Anna Strasberg had sipped champagne and watched the feeding frenzy on closed- circuit television while collectors and celebrities—including Demi Moore, Tony Curtis, designer Tommy Hilfiger, Massimo Ferragamo (chairman of Ferragamo USA), at least one Marilyn Monroe impersonator, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!—ogled and bid on Marilyn’s treasures.
But by October 2007 the estate was embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with the heirs of some of Marilyn’s photographers over licensing rights to thousands of photographs of Marilyn. Crucial to the suit was the question of her legal residence at the time of her death—the answer to which the Strasbergs hoped was in the file cabinets.
(A photograph by Milton H. Greene taken at his house in 1956. Monroe lived there during the filming of Bus Stop.By Milton H. Greene/© 2008 Joshua Greene/ archiveimages.com).
The California Senate Bill No. 771, jokingly known as “the Dead Celebrities Bill,” was passed without objection and signed into law in October 2007 by another former movie star, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, extending the ability of all celebrities to confer publicity rights for their image after their death, provided they were residents of California. (Prior to then, judges in two federal cases had ruled that only those who died after December 31, 1984, could bequeath rights of publicity.)
The New York State legislature had tabled a similar bill, despite support from Al Pacino and the widow of baseball legend Jackie Robinson. So establishing Monroe’s legal residence—whether 444 East 57th Street in New York City or 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Los Angeles—became critical in determining whether the Strasbergs had the right to control Marilyn’s image.
At this point Anderson and Professor Banner became concerned that Conroy might attempt to sell the archive rather than risk having to surrender it to the Strasbergs. In late October, Anderson explained, “David Strasberg went around to Mill’s house with two lawyers, and apparently Mill was upset and kept saying, ‘I don’t know why Mark and Lois did this to me. I’d never sell! Why would I do that?’ It was really funny, because there was a little note in his handwriting on the back of a white envelope that said, ‘Sell to [autograph dealer] Todd Mueller for 3 million.’ ” At one point, Anderson claims, Conroy “looked me straight in the face and told me to kill the Vanity Fair piece. That meant only one thing: he was going to sell [the collection].”
On January 9, Todd Mueller, president of Autographs by Todd Mueller, Inc., confirmed that Conroy had indeed contacted him about selling the collection. “It sounded like he had some amazing stuff,” said Mueller, “including the half-drunk bottle of champagne she used to wash the pills down that night. But I told Mill, ‘Make sure you have clear title to all this because I don’t want to deal in stolen products. I don’t want Anna Strasberg to come after me.’ ”
Let’s Make It Legal
On October 25 the Monroe estate sued Conroy in Los Angeles Superior Court. They got a court order to take possession of his entire collection: the two file cabinets and their contents, the furs, jewelry, and handbags. They carted everything away—in a scene not unlike the unforgettable image of Marilyn’s body being wheeled out of her house on a gurney 45 years earlier. A few months after the archive was removed from his home, Conroy finally made peace with the Strasbergs, settling on undisclosed terms with his former adversaries. Mueller believes “Mill realized that he would die with this stuff still in his house if he didn’t come to some understanding with the Strasbergs. Because I told Mill, ‘I’ve never seen a U-Haul truck following a hearse.’ ” The collection now sits in a bank vault in downtown Los Angeles, under 24-hour armed guard.
Anderson and Conroy have completely fallen out. “If this were Reservoir Dogs,” Anderson says in his last shot against his nemesis, “Mill wouldn’t be Mr. Pink or Mr. White. He’d be Mr. Greed.” Anderson told Vanity Fair in late summer that he and Conroy are hoping to come to an agreement of some kind where Conroy will share in the profits of the planned coffee-table book. But Conroy feels betrayed by Anderson. “It was Mark who acted shamefully, betraying my trust when he called in the Strasbergs,” he told me in a phone call shortly after New Year’s. What he didn’t know, however, was just how far Anderson had gone to establish the rightful ownership of the collection. On January 11, I received a phone call from Anderson, in which he somewhat sheepishly admitted, “I’m going to tell you something. I wrote that anonymous letter to David Strasberg. I was scared, and I was furious at Mill.”
As for Professor Banner, caught in the middle, she hopes that the collection will eventually be housed in a university library or a museum: “I like to think that Marilyn would be grateful to us for preserving all this material and not having the vultures go after it.” Anna Strasberg agrees with Banner that, “as more material is collected that belongs to her estate, we can see more of the real Marilyn and not the caricatures.… My husband, Lee,” she adds, “was her teacher, her mentor, but most of all Marilyn’s friend. I am not only protecting her legacy and image; I am honoring my husband’s wishes.”
As of March 2008, however, a ruling was issued in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that may curtail the Strasbergs’ control of Marilyn Monroe’s posthumous image. In the suit brought by photographers hoping to reproduce images of Monroe without paying licensing fees, Judge Margaret Morrow decided that because in the 1960s the Monroe estate had claimed New York residency for tax purposes she became subject to legislation in New York, where her “right of publicity” ended with her death. The Strasbergs plan to appeal the ruling, but until then, Marilyn Monroe—at least in California—seems to belong freely to the public.
It’s possible that the letters from T. S. Eliot to Marilyn Monroe—though still missing—are genuine. The great poet, after all, was also a playwright who loved the theater, and he met and corresponded with Groucho Marx. Could the signature “Gookie” or “Googie” have been a playful reference to Eliot’s cat Georgie?
The Kennedy letters remain a mystery. Mark Anderson insists that he once held them in his hands, describing them as “polite, practically bread-and-butter notes from Hyannis and the Kennedy White House.” He also recalls reading a letter written by Marilyn to President Kennedy, about how handsome he had looked on television, in his presidential leather jacket, watching naval maneuvers from the deck of a ship. If there are Kennedy letters to Marilyn—and I believe that there might well be—they have been kept safe by someone in Marilyn’s circle. Because—come closer—when Inez Melson was going through Marilyn’s papers in the house on Fifth Helena Drive, Marilyn’s New York apartment was absent its famous tenant, and papers kept there were similarly removed after her death. Could one of Monroe’s New York friends have entered her apartment on August 5, 1962?
Like a movie run backward, we always begin with Marilyn Monroe’s death. It throws its eerie light on everything that came before it—it might even be how we’ve come to watch her films and study her in still photographs. But, for now, the last clues to Marilyn Monroe’s life—and to the mystery of her death—remain locked in a bank vault in the city of lost angels, the city of her star-crossed birth.
Sam Kashner has written about Sammy Davis Jr., Natalie Wood, and the movie The V.I.P.s for Vanity Fair.
