This rare image of a young Marilyn (in a 1980s print) is among various Monroe-related items going under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions on Friday, June 20, as part of a 3-day Hollywood Legends event.
The photograph was shot by Erwin Steinmeyer at ‘Steinie Studios’ in 1946, with Marilyn wearing her own yellow string bikini used in many of her early modelling shoots. She was then under contract to the Blue Book Agency based at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and may not yet have changed her legal name, Norma Jeane Dougherty.
SOLD for $455
Marilyn photographed in September 1954, while shooting exteriors for The Seven Year Itch at 165 East 61st Street, a brownstone house in Manhattan. This original print’s verso features handwritten text denoting photographer Walter Jacobsen‘s name, and (presumably) his address.
SOLD for $1,300
A 1970s print, together with the original negative and a tiny contact sheet cutout, showing Marilyn shooting the famous ‘skirt-blowing scene‘ from The Seven Year Itch over a subway grate on the corner of 52nd Street and Lexington Avenue.
SOLD for $3,900
A Christmas card with handwritten inscription, sent to Marilyn from Saratoga, California by the pianist and entertainer, Liberace, on December 16, 1954.
SOLD for $650
Another Christmas card with handwritten inscription, from jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald; probably sent in 1954, shortly after Marilyn watched Ella’s show at the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles. (Last sold at Julien’s for $1,875 as part of the 2016 auction, ‘Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg’.)
SOLD for $2,275
An original print of Marilyn serving as celebrity usherette at the East of Eden premiere in New York on March 10, 1955.
SOLD for $325
At left: an original print of Marilyn entering Beverly Hills City Hall on February 29, 1956, where she had been summoned to pay traffic fines from 1954.
SOLD for $585
At right: an original print showing Marilyn disembarking an American Airlines flight at Sun Valley, Idaho, where she had arrived to shoot scenes for Bus Stop, on March 26, 1956.
SOLD for $195
“A red leather clamshell box with gilt designs, title on spine and a simple ‘MM’ on the lower right corner. The ivory-colored 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.” (Last sold at Julien’s for $25,600 in 2016.)
UNSOLD
A ‘lightweight but sturdy’ chaise lounge owned by Marilyn, with caning and a wood-turned frame.
SOLD for $3,900
A 1950s rhinestone choker marked ‘Trifari’ on the back.
SOLD for $16,250
Sold separately, an elegant opera cape made of black velvet; and a day skirt made of black nubby raw silk, with the letter F handstitched on the inside waistband. (One of many hand-tailored, straight skirts from Marilyn’s wardrobe.)
Cape SOLD for $10,400; skirt SOLD for $5,850
At left: “A group of approximately 100 fan letters; all housed in a vintage brown accordian file; mostly addressed to the star at either Doctors Hospital in NYC or Warner Bros in Burbank, CA; including many get-well cards (from when she suffered a well-publicised ectopic pregnancy in August 1957), birthday cards, handwritten and/or typed letters, and postcards from fans all over the United States as well as the rest of the world; content ranges from young kids asking for a signed photograph to adults pouring out their hearts and souls to this woman they never met but felt like they knew personally — the power of Marilyn which still resonates today, 60+ years after her death.”
SOLD for $6,500
At right: Richard Avedon’s iconic ‘Sad Marilyn‘ photograph from May 1957, in a 1998 print.
SOLD for $29,250
“A c.1979 xerox of Paddy Chayefsky’s original 132-page first draft script of The Goddess (Columbia Pictures, 1958) with original date of April 1, 1957 … Laid in is a note from agent Paul Schwartzman on ICM notepaper that reads, ‘After 22 years! Paul.’ Revised scripts for the film are 126 pages so this first draft features additional scenes and dialogue.” (Chayevsky was nominated for an Academy Award for his story of a doomed film star, loosely based on Marilyn Monroe.)
SOLD for $1,300
A framed photographic portrait of actress Kim Stanley, who starred in The Goddess, and a framed movie poster. An Actors Studio member described as ‘the female Brando’, Kim had previously played Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, and worked mainly in theatre and television.
SOLD for $325
Sold separately, billboard concept art for The Goddess on draft paper, seemingly based on the photograph shown above. The drawing is annotated, likely by the artist or a marketing executive: ‘Paddy, You can imagine the way a Billboard would look at night with the face against the sky. Regards,’ (signed illegibly) and ‘Suggest head be done by Joe de Mers n.y.c. / Austin Biggs n.y.c. / Rene Robert Boreche n.y.c.’
SOLD for $125
Sold separately, two lesser-known poses of Marilyn – wearing a black sequinned ‘mermaid gown’ by Norman Norell – from a photo shoot with Richard Avedon, whose estate stamp appears on the verso of these 1999 prints.
SOLD for $585 (left) and $780 (right)
Another stamp dates the shoot to May 6, 1957. However, this is probably incorrect due to Marilyn wearing a similar blue Norell gown in the 1957 shoot (above left.)
Her hair is shorter in these later photos, and a variant image from this sitting (above right) was printed in colour in the December 1958 issue of LIFE magazine.
SOLD for $585 each
A Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP) cheque for $70, made out to secretary May Reis on January 22, 1960, with Marilyn’s signature.
SOLD for $5,200
Another MMP cheque for $61.69, made out to Hedda Rosten – wife of poet Norman Rosten, and part of Marilyn’s secretarial team – on May 14, 1960. The cheque, also signed by Marilyn, is housed in a display case alongside a descriptive plaque, and a 1953 photo by Frank Powolny.
SOLD for $3,900
“A group of 12 receipts from Jurgensen’s Grocery; all noting Marilyn’s name and address of ‘Beverly Hills Hotel’, all from the fancy supermarket on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, dated from April 20 to May 25, 1960 during the time when Marilyn and Arthur Miller were living at the hotel in ‘Bungalow 16’ during the production of Let’s Make Love; Marilyn appeared to order delivery from the market almost daily and sometimes even twice a day; she also requested pick-up service as evidenced by Hazel Washington’s [her longtime Los Angeles maid] name on the bottom of many of the receipts; Marilyn was buying standard staples like bacon, cheese, and lemons, but she also glammed it up with fresh caviar, among other items; further included are two separate cash register receipts (five others are stapled to the actual receipts from the store).”
SOLD for $780
“An original gouache and ink drawing created by the art department at Twentieth Century-Fox; depicting character actor Wilfrid Hyde-White at a cab stand next to a sign reading ‘Let’s Make Love/Cukor Co.’, further text on the left side reads ‘Happy Show From the Kids’, signed in various colors and types of ink by his cast and crewmates including: Marilyn Monroe who added ‘Love and Kisses’, Yves Montand, Tony Randall, George Cukor, Arthur Miller, Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder, Agnes Flanagan, Evelyn Moriarity, Paula Strasberg, and Kenneth Kendall [famous for the sculpture he created of James Dean at Griffith Observatory which is still there today], among others; included with a black and white image showing this piece resting on a table as Marilyn and other cast members stand right next to it.” (Presented to Mr. Hyde-White on May 12, 1960, for his 57th birthday.)
UNSOLD
“A sterling silver-engraved cigarette box, with inside lid engraved in Marilyn’s hand ‘Dear Dave, Cut me up – but oh soooo gently / Love Marilyn’; gifted to David Bretherton, the film editor on Let’s Make Love; Marilyn was known to give engraved sterling silver gifts such as this, but only to very close associates or friends, so not many pieces like this are out there.”
SOLD for $11,700
A photograph of Marilyn on location for The Misfits at Pyramid Lake, Nevada in 1960, taken by Thomas ‘Doc’ Kaminski. This 2022 print is from the collection of French author and film historian Sébastien Cauchon, and was displayed as part of Marilyn Monroe 1962, an exhibition he curated in Lyon on the 60th anniversary of Marilyn’s death.
SOLD for $325
At left: a circa 1962 white eyeshadow by Michel Cosmetics. Marilyn wore white eyeshadow in her ‘last sitting’ for photographer Bert Stern, shot in June 1962.
SOLD for $5,850
At right: a blue eyeshadow by Elizabeth Arden, labelled ‘bleu lavande.’ Marilyn was a regular patron at Arden’s Fifth Avenue salon during her New York years.
SOLD for $3,575
And finally… ‘The President’s Birthday Party,’ a 1989 print signed by artist LeRoy Neiman, depicting Marilyn’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ performance for John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962. (Presented in a white mount with a black wooden frame.)
SOLD for $1,300
UPDATE:
With a final bid of $29,250, Richard Avedon’s ‘Sad Marilyn’ print was the top-selling item among the Monroe-related lots, and came second only to Judy Garland’s microphone (which fetched $52,000) on the Hollywood Legends auction’s third day. Marilyn’s rhinestone choker, the cigarette box she gave to film editor David Bretherton, and her black velvet cape were also highly ranked.
A pair of andirons from Marilyn’s estate, and a 1994 Fender – with an image of her nude calendar pose, marking Playboy‘s 40th anniversary – rounded off the top twenty at $7,800 each. Her personalised copy of Arthur Miller’s collected plays, and the Let’s Make Love team’s birthday gift to Wilfrid Hyde-White, were among the most valued items not to meet their reserves.
The Marilyn Report 