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Marilyn Monroe

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:18,000.00 - 22,000.00 USD
Marilyn Monroe

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Auction Date:2017 Jun 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Marilyn Monroe’s personally-owned and -used final draft script for the unfinished 1962 film Something’s Got to Give. The brad-bound draft is housed in its original blue Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corporation folder, 9.5 x 11.5, with the front cover bearing the movie title and date “March 29, 1962,” and is labeled in the upper right corner, “Final, Confidential, For Planning Purposes Only.” The Nunnally Johnson screenplay consists of 149 total pages, with 18 of those pages bearing approximately 200 words written in either pencil or green ink in the hand of Monroe. The majority of Monroe’s annotations occur between pages 71–84, a revised section of blue sheets dated April 18–20, 1962, and consisting of various dialogue notes, changes, and line strikes.

Of particular interest are a pair of sheets tipped in between pages 107 and 108, which focus on an emotional reunion between Monroe’s character Ellen, returned from several years lost at sea, and her two young children, who are no longer capable of recognizing their mother. Monroe adds copious pencil notations to the upper portion of the first sheet, apparent acting techniques gleaned from talks with her acting coach Lee Strasberg, including: “Real thought,” “Mental Relaxation,” “Place the pain, feeling where it is not in the brow,” and “Substitute children—B & J, if necessary,” which perhaps is a reference to Arthur Miller’s children, Bobby and Jane. The script also bears numerous pencil notations by an unknown hand, offering critical assessments and insights to various scenes, with the initial page of the script reading: “Note for Marilyn: He has to woo her. Not the way it is, new blue pages.” Includes several loose memos from the production, including two addressed “To All Secretaries,” and then an additional six blue revision sheets for pages 91 and 92. In very good to fine condition, with moderate wear, toning, and paper loss to the covers; interior are generally fine, with expected handling wear.

After six years on the East Coast, Monroe moved back to California, purchased her first home, and began filming Something’s Got to Give in the spring of 1962. A remake of the Cary Grant and Irene Dunne comedy My Favorite Wife, the George Cukor–directed film cast Monroe as Ellen Arden, a woman who returns home after five years of being shipwrecked on an island. On the first day of production, Monroe called out sick with a sinus infection, a diagnosis that would have postponed the film a month. As a response, Cukor filmed scenes around his leading lady. Monroe’s irregular on-set presence caused further delays, and her trip to New York City to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to President Kennedy further vexed the Fox studio heads. On June 8, 1962, Monroe was released from the project, a decision influenced by the exorbitant and rising costs of the epic historical drama Cleopatra. Although Monroe showed to only 12 of the initial 33 days of shooting, her marketing prowess—most notably her press-invited poolside skinny dip—surely should have assuaged any doubts of a box-office bomb. Co-star Cary Grant managed to have Monroe re-hired under the stipulation that Cukor be replaced with Jean Negulesco, but production was finally canceled upon news of Monroe’s tragic death on August 5th.