Resting eternally in the same cemetery where Marilyn Monroe's remains lie, and very close to her, is not impossible. It may seem like a joke, but this niche, located next to the actress, has been auctioned for more than 180,000 euros, this Saturday, along with a string of collectible relics of the Hollywood star, and Hugh Hefner, the founder of the first erotic magazine of the world, Playboy. The event, named Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe, has been organized in Los Angeles (California) by the iconic house Julien's Auctions, Known worldwide for organizing auctions of intimate objects that belong or belonged to celebrities, for three days and in which more than 600 items have been sold and more than four million euros have been raised. The jewel in the crown: a dress designed by Emilio Pucci, owned by the actress, sold for more than 300,000 euros, becoming the most expensive dress sold at auction. It is curious that the erotic magazine mogul and the artist never met, but, according to the organizers, “their legacies became inextricably linked when Monroe appeared in the inaugural edition of Playboy from 1953 by Hefner. At that time, they gained worldwide fame, becoming two important figures in 20th century United States and Playboy consolidating itself as an iconic global brand.”
The bidding included the most varied objects: from a burgundy dressing gown with pajamas and black silk slippers (including his tobacco pipe), the personal property of Hugh Hefner, with which the businessman walked around during his legendary parties at the Playboy Mansion (sold for 12,000 euros); to her own custom-made circular bed (also sold for 12,000 euros), or the lipstick, with a personalized shade for the actress, sold for 60,000 euros. The old tombstone that covered the artist's crypt – it was moved due to the damage that fans had left when visiting it – has been sold for 80,000 euros.
The investment magnate in technology companies, Anthony Jabin, was crowned as one of the big winners of the celebration, becoming during the bidding the owner of the mausoleum, in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery (Los Angeles), Hefner's bed or the swimsuit in which Monroe wore palmetto on the beaches of California and with which she was photographed on more than one occasion, becoming a sex symbols of the time. Additionally, this three-piece swimsuit was custom made as props for the musical There's no business like entertainment (1954). “I always dreamed of being next to Marilyn Monroe for the rest of my life,” she said just after the auction. to British television BBC.
The Hollywood star was one of the most photographed women of the time. She appeared in fashion and style magazines on a daily basis. The series of photographs of her taken for the magazine's photo report life In 1958 by Richard Avedon it was sold for 27,000 euros. In them, Monroe played personalities such as Theda Bara, Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich. A report that went down in history for capturing the artist's emotional decline: “Nothing and no one is going to bring me down. It really bothers me the way the press has been talking about me, that the studios don't like me, that I'm full of pills, that I drink a lot… It's all a lie!… Lately, I've been a little depressed and in low form, they are things of the heart…”. The thousands of photographs of Marilyn Monroe are part of the history of the Golden Age of cinema. The most expensive photograph of the actress, sold in 2011 for more than 25,000 euros, is legendary. It is a portrait of the actress from her early days, in sepia tones, signed by herself. Her dedication to her then-neighbor, Phil Hooper, reads: “To Phil, my best wishes always. Sincerely, Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean).”
It is not the first time that The objects of the late actress go up for auction. Everything that surrounds his figure always attracts thousands of mythomaniacs of the Hollywood star. In 2022, the same betting house, together with the TCM television channel, put 175 intimate items of the actress up for bid, with which they raised more than 75,000 euros. Among the notable objects of the latter, a handwritten dedication to the artist by Arthur Miller, who became her third husband, stands out. On a sheet of paper, torn from a spiral-shaped notebook, one can read: “This book is being written by the courage, the expanded vision of life, the awareness of love and beauty, that my love has given me, my future wife, my Marilyn. I bless her for this gift, and I write it so that she can have from me the only thing I know how to do. I bless her, I owe her the discovery of my soul.” The note was sold for almost 30,000 euros.
But another thing about the auction of his objects draws even more attention. In 2016, the Julien's house put on sale the legendary dress in which she sang. Happy Birthday Mr. President, to John F. Kennedy in 1962. Same year as his death. The piece, decorated with 2,500 sequins and sewn while he dressed it to fit his body, was part of the bag of 1,300 objects that were auctioned at the time. The dress had already been sold in 1999 for around one million euros to a collector named Scott Fortner who would later make the mistake of lending it to Kim Kardashian for the Met Gala. Everything that belonged or simply had something to do with the brightest star in the Hollywood universe is placed on the market at outrageous prices.
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