$5,000
Two menus dated March 26, 1952, featuring notes on verso in blue ink in Monroe's hand that appear to have been taken during a meeting with someone advising her about her career. The menus are dated just 10 days after Monroe's nude modeling shots were made public by the media. Monroe had recently appeared in a number of films in small parts and had received positive mentions from critics. Monroe had just started dating Joe DiMaggio, and she was to appear on the cover of LIFE magazine the following month. This was clearly an important and pivotal period in her career, and it appears as though she was meeting with someone in the industry who gave her counsel. One of the warnings appears to come from Johnny Arnez; Monroe put's his warning in quotations: "you'll have to protect yourself or your throat will be cut/ watch out for Jerry Webb." It continues, "you'll prepare the test & Webb shoots it and if something is wrong it will [be] your fault." A great deal of the notes reference Webb and things he has said behind her back. Berniece Miracle mentions seeing Webb, the test director, in the Fox commissary in the late 1940s when she snuck onto the lot with Monroe to spend the day with her half-sister. The notes also contain thoughts from Monroe reading in part, "I need a great deal of work - and will always/ its the right kind of work/ -the more I will be able to stand on my feet." and "think with your body/ let go physically to ick up emotionally" and "you want me to Read more…
Auctioneer:
Juliens Auctions
Date:
2016-11-17