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Category: How to Marry A Millionaire

Julien’s Auctions Hires Scott Fortner to Appraise David Gainsborough-Roberts Collection of Historic Marilyn Monroe Costumes and Artifacts

April 14, 2016
| 1 Comment
| Categories: Bus Stop, David Gainsborough Roberts, How to Marry A Millionaire, Julien's Auctions, Marilyn Monroe, Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, The Prince and the Showgirl, There's No Business Like Show Business

Julien’s Auctions, the auction house to the stars, will…

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Forever Marilyn: The Blu-Ray Collection

July 6, 2012
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| Categories: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry A Millionaire, Marilyn Monroe, River of No Return, Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, The Misfits., There's No Business Like Show Business

FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN WITH THE LEGENDARY…

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marilynmonroecollection

Official account for the Scott Fortner #marilynmonroe Collection, the world’s largest private collection of Monroe’s personal property & archives.

The Marilyn Monroe Collection
I said to her, “I’ve heard your childhood refe I said to her, “I’ve heard your childhood referred to as ‘the perfect Cinderella story.’”

“I don’t know where they got that,” she told me. “I haven’t ended up with a prince, and I’ve never had even one fairy godmother. My birth certificate reads Norma Jean Mortenson. I was told that my father was killed in an automobile accident before I was born, so that is what I’ve always told people. There was no way I could check on that because my mother was put into a mental institution when I was little, and I was brought up as an orphan.”

I had read that she spent her childhood being farmed out to foster parents and to orphanages, but, talking to her, I discovered that there’d been only one orphanage, although it was true about the foster parents. “I have had eleven or twelve sets of them,” she told me, “but I don’t want to count them all again, to see whether there were eleven or twelve. I hope you won’t ask me to. It depresses me. Some families would keep me longer; others would get tired of me in a short time. I must have made them nervous or something.”

Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

#marilynmonroe
I said to Marilyn Monroe, “Pictures of you usual I said to Marilyn Monroe, “Pictures of you usually show you with mouth open and your eyes half closed. Did some photographer sell you the idea that having your picture taken that way makes you look sexier?”

She replied in what I’d come to recognize as pure Monroese. “The formation of my lids must make them look heavy or else I’m thinking of something,” she told me. “Sometimes I’m thinking of men. Other times I’m thinking of some man in particular. It’s easier to look sexy when you’re thinking of some man in particular. As for my mouth being open all the time, I even sleep with it open. I know, because it’s open when I wake up. I never consciously think of my mouth, but I do consciously think about what I’m thinking about.”

Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

#marilynmonroe
Planing for the premiere of “The Prince and the Planing for the premiere of “The Prince and the Showgirl” at Radio City Music Hall on June 13, 1957. 

Shown here is an exceptionally rare photo of Marilyn in 1957. She’s with Russell V. Downing (left) Music Hall president, and Robert Taplinger, vice-president at Warner Brothers. They are meeting to plan for the premiere of Marilyn’s latest film, in which she costarred with Sir Laurence Olivier. This news item appeared in the May 18, 1957 issue of the Motion Picture Herald. 

Why is the photo and caption outlined in red wax pencil? Because Marilyn paid a service to “clip and highlight” all news articles where she was mentioned. This page from the Herald was part of her personal archive of clippings, and today it is part of the Marilyn Monroe Collection, along with several hundred other newspaper and magazine clippings. 

#marilynmonroe
“I’ve heard that in Asphalt Jungle you displ “I’ve heard that in Asphalt Jungle you displayed a highly individual way of walking that called attention to you and made you stand out. I’ve heard a lot of people try to describe the way you walk, and some of those descriptions are pretty lurid. How do you describe it?”
She leaned forward, placed her elbows on a table and cupped her chin in her palms. She was very effective that way. “I’ve never deliberately done anything about the way I walk,” she said. “People say I walk all wiggly and wobbly, but I don’t know what they mean. I just walk. I’ve never wiggled deliberately in my life, but all my life I’ve had trouble with people who say I do. In high school the other girls asked me, ‘Why do you walk down the hall that way?’ I guess the boys must have been watching me and it made the other girls jealous or something, but I said, ‘I learned to walk when I was ten months old, and I’ve been walking this way ever since.’”
Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

#marilynmonroe
“I’ve been told that you devote hours to selec “I’ve been told that you devote hours to selecting and editing pinup pictures of yourself,” I said.

“I haven’t so far,” she told me. “But maybe it’s time I did. At least I’d like to have my pictures not look any worse than I do. I’d like them to resemble me a little bit. With some photographers, all they ask is that a picture doesn’t look blurred, as if you’ve moved while they were taking it. If it’s not blurry they print it.”

“Somewhere,” I said, “I’ve read that at least half of the photographs taken of you are killed because they are too revealing.”

“That’s the Johnston Office for you,” she sighed. “They’re very small about stuff like that, and what the Johnston Office passes, the studio ruins with retouching. After one sitting of thirty poses, twenty-eight of those poses were killed. The Johnston Office spends a lot of time worrying about whether a girl has cleavage or not. They ought to worry if she doesn’t have any. That really would make people emotionally disturbed. I don’t know what their reasoning is,” she went on with a puzzled air. “They certainly can’t expect girls to look like boys.”

Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

Marilyn actually did require approval of images taken of her. In these shots, the markings and scratches were made by Marilyn herself because she didn’t approve the photos for publication. Stern published them in his book, “The Last Sitting.”

#marilynmonroe
“I’ve read that your measurements are 37-23-34 “I’ve read that your measurements are 37-23-34,” I told her.

“If you’re talking about my lower hips, they’re thirty-seven inches,” she said. “If you’re talking about my upper hips, they’re thirty-four.” Eying her, I tried to decide where “upper” hip left off and “lower” began. I gave up.

“Nowadays,” she said, “there’s a vogue for women with twenty-twenty-twenty figures. Models in the high-style magazines stick out their hipbones and nothing else. But I’m a woman, and the longer I am one the more I enjoy it. And since I have to be a woman, I’m glad I’m me. I’ve been asked, ‘Do you mind living in a man’s world?’ I answer, ‘Not as long as I can be a woman in it.’”

Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

#marilynmonroe
“One of the things about leaving Hollywood and c “One of the things about leaving Hollywood and coming to New York and attending the Actors’ Studio was that I felt that I could be more myself,” she said. “After all, if I can’t be myself, who can I be?”

Marilyn Monroe to Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published on May 19, 1956.

Marilyn on the set of Bus Stop, 1956. Photo by Milton Greene. #marilynmonroe
I’d think it’s safe to say that the world cont I’d think it’s safe to say that the world continues to be shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of Lisa Marie Presley at just 54 years of age. News of her passing continues to dominate headlines. There are stories, reports, and tributes on social media, online news outlets, and now magazines in the grocery store. 

On August 5, 1962 it was reported that Marilyn Monroe had passed away at just 36 years of age. Much like Lisa Marie, Marilyn’s death and life story made headlines for days, and extending into weeks. By comparison from today’s news about Presley, shown here is a select portion of the Marilyn Monroe Collection’s original 1962 newspaper archive, which includes papers from around the country, with stories about Marilyn’s life, death, funeral, and her will.

#marilynmonroe 
#lisamariepresley
#elvispresley
Beautiful Marilyn at a party for Photoplay, Octobe Beautiful Marilyn at a party for Photoplay, October 3, 1952. Another rare shot. 

#marilynmonroe
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