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A selection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, including iconic outfits and items from the films ‘The Seven Year Itch’ and ‘Bus Stop,’ sold for nearly £1 million on Heritage Auctions over the weakened.
The starlet’s costumes included a top and silk skirt she wore in the film ‘Bus Stop’ and a polka-dot dress from ‘The Seven Year Itch’.
One of the more fascinating items sold was Monroe’s annotated script for ‘The Seven Year Itch,’ which included her own notes to ‘swing hips’ to seduce a love interest in the movie.
The iconic silk polka-dot dress from ‘The Seven Year Itch’ had been dyed lavender by 20th Century Fox for other productions
Monroe’s script of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ sold for £59,000. It holds dozens of the actress’ personals notes on how she wanted to play her role
The black lace over green mesh top and black silk wraparound skirt from Bus Stop (1956) sold for £290,000.
The famous dress was the most expensive item sold in the auction. Other Monroe dresses have sold for millions of dollars
The most expensive item in the auction was the black lace over green mesh top and black silk wraparound skirt from Bus Stop (1956) that fetched £290,000.
The ensemble was lent to Madonna in 1991 for a Vanity Fair photo shoot.
The silk polka-dot dress from The Seven Year Itch (1955), which has a label with ‘M.Monroe’ handwritten on it, went for £154,000.
The starlet, known as ‘The Girl’, is seen wearing it when she first meets her love interest, played by Tom Ewell, in the 1955 romantic comedy.
It was created by American costume designer William Travilla, who designed outfits for eight of Monroe’s films.
He made it with a series of strategically placed weights sewn in to help it mold around the actress’ famous curves.
The dress was white on screen but later dyed lavender when re-used by a different actress for another production.
Monroe’s pearl-encrusted mermaid gown from The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) sold for £113,000.
A silk dress she wore to promote Some Like It Hot (1959) made £86,000, while her heavily annotated script for The Seven Year Itch fetched £59,000.
The pearl-encrusted mermaid gown from ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ sold for £113,000
Monroe left many notes on her copy of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ in order to try and bring out the best performance she could
Among her notes, she included the way she wanted her character, ‘The Girl,’ to walk in order to seduce her co-star.
‘The Seven Year Itch’ premiered in 1955 and is iconic for the scene depicting Marylin Monroe’s dress wavering in the wind above a subway grate in New York City
On the final page, she jots down how she will portray the part of ‘The Girl’ in the film, stating she will be ‘free, direct, open, honest, frank, charming’.
The full note reads: ‘Make only little effort… giving it away – yourself – not keeping anything in myself… What is the quality of the electricity…. only thru him… there is nothing else any where… open to him, my destiny to him (help carry the burden)… play the girl open and free, and it shall help me.
‘Marilyn to be free, direct, open, honest, frank, charming – fresh, a twinkle, only morality, nature, a moral child.’
A moment of passion in the script is annotated: ‘My body into his – sliding to him as if I want to sleep with him right then & there. Swing hips again..’
A self portrait from her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller sold for £91,000, while a letter she wrote to her acting coach Michael Chekhov made £26,000.
One of the quirkiest items in the sale was a bottle of nasal drops prescribed to Monroe in 1959, which went for £4,000 as it has ‘Marilyn Miller’ written on it.
The memorabilia went under the hammer with Heritage Auctions, which said the prices achieved showed her ‘enduring popularity’ with collectors 59 years after her death.
Joe Maddelena, executive vice president of Dallas-based auction house, said: ‘Of all the Hollywood immortals, Marilyn Monroe continues to stand alone.
‘She not only endures. Decades later, she grows even more popular.’
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