Today Show: Marilyn Monroe Photo Collection
Never-before-seen images of Marilyn Monroe, taken from some of her most famous roles in movies such as The Seven Year Itch, Bus Stop, and The Prince and The Showgirl, all taken by famed Hollywood photographer, Milton Greene, are all up for auction. The Marilyn Monroe photo collection will be going up for auction to the highest bidder.
Milton Greene became close with Marilyn Monroe first worked together in the 1950s on a magazine shoot, and that’s where they became close friends. The photographs are distinct because Marilyn looks relaxed and happy in all of the photos that were taken, and Joe Maddalena, head of the auction company Profiles in History, thinks that this is in part due to the fact that they were all taken by Milton Greene.
The Milton Greene Marilyn Monroe photo collection will be going up for auction soon. (Sergey Goryachev / Shutterstock.com)
Joe said that many of the 3,700 unpublished negatives have never been seen by the public, and that those that buy them get not just the pictures, but the copyright for these images. The fact that you also get the intellectual property makes this auction especially distinct, because, according to Maddalena, you simply never see the IP up for sale with something like this.
Today: Joshua Green Wants To Buy Pictures Back For Family
Milton Greene’s son, Joshua, plans to bid on his Milton’s photos, saying that he wants to try to bring back what he estimates to be 1/3 of his father’s collection back into the family. He feels that many of the pictures are important to the family and his father’s body of work, and is sorry that they became separated. His ultimate goal is to get all of the photos back under one roof.
It’s not just images of Marilyn that are up for grabs, though. There are roughly 75,000 photo negatives of other stars are up for auction as well. Mark Vieira, author of George Hurrell’s Hollywood, said that pretty much any important person from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s is represented here. It is more a chunk of American history than it is just a piece.
And “chunk,” indeed—some of these photos could go for as much as $1 million.
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