Marilyn Monroe’s Personal Prescription Eye Drops

A plastic bottle containing eye drops prescribed to Marilyn Monroe (then Mrs. Arthur Miller) dated May 21, 1960 issued by Los Angeles’s Schwab’s Pharmacy, accompanied by Schwab’s Pharmacy box. The prior year, Marilyn starred in the Academy Award winning comedy romance “Some Like it Hot.”

Important activities in Marilyn’s life around this time include:
-Marilyn receives a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy, Some Like It Hot – March 8
-Psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson begins seeing Marilyn on a daily basis (June)
-Filming begins on the Misfits – July 18

Schwab’s Drug Store

8024 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood (Demolished in 1989)

Marilyn started going to Schwab’s Drug Store when she was a student at the Actors Lab. Many young actors and actresses used this coffee shop as a base to meet people and (they hoped) be noticed. It was, after all, the place where many people believed Lana Turner had been discovered.

The Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky had offices at Schwab’s Drug Store so that he could see the comings and goings of all the young actors and actresses. Marilyn became friends with him and was often seen driving him home from here after work.

Although there are varying accounts of how Marilyn found out about the small part in the film Love Happy, it is said that she may have heard about it while lunching at Schwab’s.