Merry Merry Marilyn is an online event at Julien’s Auctions, with bids closing on Tuesday, January 6. In my second post on this sale, I’m looking at more items including this 1970s print of a test shot for Marilyn’s unfinished last film, Something’s Got to Give – from the collection of celebrity makeup artist Kim Goodwin.
SOLD for $768
At left: the April 1953 issue of Films in Review, the monthly magazine published by the National Board of Review. Marilyn is pictured reading a previous issue, and while there are no articles about her inside, she is credited as the cover girl – and her 1952 film, O. Henry’s Full House, is mentioned on the letters page. (The photo was taken in February 1953, when Marilyn was presented with the Redbook award for Best Young Box Office Personality.)
SOLD for $125
At right: Marilyn covered an October 1972 edition of Newsweek, with a 1958 photo echoing nostalgia for that era. Inside, a page-long article by Harry Waters, headlined ‘Taking a New Look at MM’, includes direct quotes from Milton Greene, Lee Strasberg, and Pat Newcomb. The cover was signed by photographer Richard Avedon in 1993.
SOLD for $256
A five page document penned by Marilyn’s acting coach, Paula Strasberg, on personalied notepaper, and addressed to Joseph Carr, bookkeeper at Marilyn Monroe Productions. The document outlines expenses related to Paula’s work on Bus Stop (1956), which totalled $1,020 (the equivalent of about $11,000 today.) A paycheque for this amount – dated April 20, and written and endorsed by Paula herself – is included.
On the first page she writes in part: ‘…things are at a standstill until Marilyn recovers. She’s been a really sick girl.’ Marilyn was hospitalised for a week after contracting pneumonia, and production was shut down while she recovered.
SOLD for $3,520
From a group of 11 small prints shot by Milton Greene in February 1956, when Laurence Olivier and Terence Rattigan arrived in New York to discuss their upcoming film project with Marilyn. After completing Bus Stop and marrying Arthur Miller, Marilyn flew to England in July to shoot The Sleeping Prince, as noted on the verso with the initials ‘SP’.
SOLD for $576
At left: a 1980s print with editing mark (plus negative) of a Milton Greene still photo from The Prince and the Showgirl, as The Sleeping Prince was renamed upon release in 1957.
SOLD for $576
At right: a 1980s print of Marilyn, photographed by Carl Perutz in 1958 for a magazine illustration by Jon Whitcomb. Not seen in Marilyn’s lifetime, the Perutz session was later unearthed in the pages of Playboy.
SOLD for $1,152
At left: a colour slide showing Marilyn with Tony Curtis at the Beverly Hills Hotel on July 8, 1958, during a press party ahead of the Some Like It Hot shoot.
SOLD for $320
And at right: a ‘file copy’ screenplay for The Billionaire, dated February 20, 1959. Although marked as ‘final,’ the musical would not go into production for another year. It was later retitled as Let’s Make Love, per the handwritten correction. Another annotation reads ‘MM’, though this wasn’t Marilyn’s script.
SOLD for $4,480
A receipt from the Doubleday Book Store in New York, dated June 30, 1960, noting the purchase of Democracy in America by the 19th century French diplomat, Alexis de Tocqueville, for $5.98.
The first volume was originally published in 1835, with the second following in 1840. The Millers’ edition was published by Knopf Doubleday in 1958. Although the receipt was addressed to Arthur, Marilyn kept the second volume after their divorce. It was sold for $4,370 at Christie’s in 1999, as part of a lot containing eighteen political books from her personal library.
SOLD for $384
From a group of seven colour slides showing Marilyn and Clark Gable on location for The Misfits in Nevada, shot by Magnum photographers Eve Arnold, Cornell Capa, Erich Hartmann, and Dennis Stock in 1960.
SOLD for $1,024
A postcard sent from the Musée Rodin in Paris to Marilyn at the Mapes Hotel in Reno by her friend Norman Rosten. Postmarked 19 July, 1960, the card was produced by the Musée Rodin, and features a sculpture of two joined hands. The text reads in part: ‘Dear M – / …wish you could see it (not me) in original white marble. Next year??’ Rosten signs off as ‘Claude,’ a nickname inspired by his resemblance to actor Claude Rains. Sadly, Marilyn never went to Paris; but when Rosten visited her in Los Angeles in February 1962, she purchased a bronze Rodin sculpture from a local art gallery.
SOLD for $2,880
At left: a colour slide showing Marilyn during a private moment on the set; and at right, a cast photo by Elliott Erwitt used on a poster for Misfits, Alex Finlayson’s play going behind the scenes of her last completed film, staged at Manchester Royal Exchange in 1996.
Slide SOLD for $896; poster SOLD for $256
At left: an invoice from 444 Management addressed to Arthur Miller at his residence with Marilyn on East 57th Street in Manhattan, detailing a rental payment of $388.82 due for the month of September 1960. This is equivalent to around $4,200 today, although that apartment would probably command a monthly rent of at least $10,000. Ironically, Miller moved out in October when he and Marilyn separated.
SOLD for $576
At right: a colour slide showing Marilyn leaving her apartment on November 12, 1960, where she was accosted by reporters following the announcement of her impending divorce. Accompanied by publicist Pat Newcomb, Marilyn was then driven to an appointment with her New York psychiatrist, Dr. Marianne Kris.
This candid image was most likely shot either by a press photographer or a member of the Monroe Six, a group of young fans who trailed Marilyn from coast to coast.
SOLD for $512
At left: a colour transparency showing Marilyn’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr President‘ dress ahead of its sale at Christie’s in 1999. And at right, Marilyn with celebrity promoter Earl Blackwell Jr. after her historic performance on May 19, 1962. This print was signed by photographer Victor Helou in 2000.
SOLD for $192 (left) and $256 (right)
And last for now, a 1990 print of a previously unseen photo showing Marilyn at home in July 1962; and one of two flyers advertising a 1987 retrospective for photographer Allan Grant, as redistributed by his widow Karin Grant during the 2025 annual service hosted by Marilyn Remembered at Westwood Memorial Park.
SOLD for $8,960 (left) and $256 (right)
You can read all my posts on Merry Merry Marilyn right here.
The Marilyn Report 