The objects of Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) will be placed up for auction at Julien's from March 28 to 30 in Los Angeles as part of a collection that spans his life and career. On sale are dresses, personalized lipsticks and photos of the actress on film sets. The most expensive heirloom in the collection is a black evening dress worn during the filming of the film “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) by Billy Wilder: it is estimated at $200,000. The auction will also include items belonging to the founder of “Playboy” magazine, Hugh Hefner, who died in 2017 at the age of 91.
One of Monroe's other dresses up for auction is a lavender satin bodysuit that she wore for a photo shoot in the December 1958 issue of Life magazine. The dress features a neckline adorned with a bouquet of fabric flowers and draped pink, lavender and cream chiffon sashes and will be offered with an estimate of $40,000. The auction also includes the original program and ticket stub that Monroe received when she attended American President John F. Kennedy's birthday gala in 1962. On that evening Marilyn Monroe famously serenaded the president with a rendition of ” Happy Birthday” while wearing a sheer, skin-tight Jean Louis dress that had been tailored for her shortly before the event.
Other items include photos of Monroe kicking a football and on the sets of the films “The Magnificent Catch” (1954) and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953) and a custom shade of Elizabeth Arden lipstick, in a gold case.
Hugh Hefner's collection includes artworks such as Andy Warhol's original “Playboy Bunny” screenprint and an original 1959 oil on canvas by LeRoy Neiman, titled “Romanoffs,” which could sell for up to $80,000. An original watercolor drawing by Alberto Vargas of a pin-up from the March 1967 issue of “Playboy” magazine is also up for auction and is expected to sell for between $60,000 and $80,000. Alongside the art pieces there are also clothes worn by Hefner, a smoking jacket, silk pajamas, slippers and a tobacco pipe.
Hefner and Monroe were both born in 1926 and the two Hollywood celebrities rest next to each other in the crypts inside the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park And Mortuary in Los Angeles, after Hefner purchased the grave next to it of the actress in 1992 for $75,000.
Over 1,000 items from the Monroe and Hefner collections will be displayed in exhibitions in Hong Kong and Shanghai in February, before being sold at auction in Los Angeles at the end of March with the catalog title: “Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe “.
(by Paolo Martini)
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