These are signatures signed onto photographs by office staff working on behalf of Monroe and her employers. such as at 20th Century Fox Studios and Marilyn Monroe Productions, her own company she set up in 1956. The amount of fan mail to 20th Century Fox is what alerted Darryl Zanuck, the head of Fox, to her star power, and he was very slow on the uptake and to start putting her into more movies and better roles. She herself said "no studio made me a star, but the people".
To reiterate: all signings on this site are NOT Monroe's hand-writing, but written by others in her employment. Some are not photographs, some are seemingly personal notes, but all were written during the arc of her career, to meet a demand impossible for her to fulfill personally. The fans receiving these signed photos at the time had no real way of knowing it was not the star's actual hand-writing. So some people have onsold their autographed pictures without knowing this, whilst others make a career out of it. About 50% of the openly labelled reprint signatures on Ebay, are not her actual signature, but the hand of a 1950s Fox secretary. A far smaller percentage of items sold as original, authentic signatures are actually real, perhaps 5-10%, the rest are mostly forgeries with a small percentage of authentic secretarials.
To view her real signature please visit my other blog: Marilyn Monroe Autographs and Timeline
I am attempting to cover ALL known samples of secretarials to remove confusion from the ever expanding marketplace of Marilyn Monroe signatures, which includes forgeries based on secretarials and even possible creative artwork, such as the following book cover, which seems to have inspired several forgeries and bears no resemblance to her own hand-writing, but relates most closely to Style C below:
Not Monroe's hand at all on above book cover -
- and below, a blatant example of either a secretarial or forgery being passed off as Marilyn's own hand on a book by Bernard of Hollywood - it goes well with his ridiculous claims to her success "he taught her how to pose" etc., it is probably his own hand-writing as it doesn't resemble even any known secretarial styles.
The following is a selection of secretarials, the different hands of several secretaries at Fox which were busy signing on behalf of Marilyn. Most secretaries made no attempt to actually simulate Marilyn's own hand-writing, but there are the occasional exceptions. These are roughly chronological, with the earlier photos coinciding with the earlier secretarial hands, and known latter secretarials towards the end of the page.
Style A - ornate, with the most extravagant loops and swirls of all. I have seen many examples of this secretarial hand-writing:
Signed to Marguerite. The larger photo features Monroe in her "All About Eve" costume.
Below is possibly the most often seen Marilyn Monroe secretarial hand-writing, which I shall call Style B, the photo is from between 1950-52:
And another example of the Style B hand-writing:
Strangely, the above signing was featured in the 1992 issue of Autograph Magazine which discussed Monroe's signature - yet they didn't explain this was an example of a secretarial.
And again the same hand below - this particular example was pronounced as genuine on TV show "Antiques Roadshow" - because Marilyn always signed in red. The owner was pleasantly surprized with the news that it was genuine, but of course, the television expert was mistaken, which further confused the public. "Marilyn always signed in red" is another error.
And another very similar hand, perhaps the same secretary. Please note, Marilyn never broke up her name onto two lines, as below:
Below: Another common secretarial style, I shall call Style C:
And another of Style C
And below: a secretarial note in response to a query, possibly from a fan, a similar hand but a later period which may or may not be the same hand as above. The note below's context places it around 1960, after the release of "Some Like It Hot":
Style D: The following is another kind of secretarial, of which I have found four examples, and all re on original Fox Studio photos from the 1950s, bar one which has been torn away from the photo.
To know the different secretarial styles makes it easier to pinpoint time and place, and authenticate the photo and its origin. All of these photos are from photo sessions during 1950-1954 at 20th Century Fox and sent out in response to a huge amount of fan mail:
Above, another same hand secretarial - hard to detect as writer did try to imitate aspects of Monroe's own hand-writing.
Above: Three secretarial signings. A fairly talented 20th Century Fox secretary approximates Monroe's own hand-writing quirks (Style D).
Another hand below, I shall call Style E:
The hand-written note above, written on behalf of the star by her personal secretary most likely, between 1956-1960, when she was married to Arthur Miller. Note that the secretary has tried to include aspects of Marilyn's own signature features, like the "lyn" and the large, flourished loops.
Disappointingly "Profiles in History" auction house sold several similar such items worded in the description as Monroe's own hand on July 28th 2013. The items were practice runs for the above no doubt numerous "thank you" notes, most likely in response to many well wishers who wrote Marilyn in regards to her health concerns, as both miscarriage and operations occurred between 1956-1960.
Here below is one of the items as sold by "Profiles in History", clearly described as Marilyn's own hand, despite the fact they also had several genuine items handwritten by Monroe herself for sale on the same auction - for their own comparison.
Did they know the difference? yes they did, it was reflected in the price. The secretarial below started at $1,000 and the real hand-written letter to Mona Rae, Marilyn's niece, started at $4,000. Side by side they were auctioned.
"Profiles in History" made up a little story about how Marilyn "had to practice her new name" (absolute rubbish - they knew it was secretarial but chose to lie - as if Marilyn had to practice "Marilyn Monroe"). So-called respectable auction houses are as unscrupulous as certain Ebay sellers.
UPDATE : They eventually withdrew these auctions, as the price realized was 0.
Buyer beware - education is the answer.
Note that even the wording is the same as above.
Above: note and signature practices sold as Monroe's own hand by "Profiles in History" auction house July 2013.
Another similar to the above secretarial hand on a photo taken in 1955 (date of signing unknown, but obviously after 1955)
Even her secretarial writings are worth owning, as part of her history that continues to fascinate and attract collectors. A seller on Ebay continues to sell copies of what he is announcing to be her own hand-writing as per the thank you note two images up. He either doesn't know - or is dishonest.
Style F - Also a later period it seems. Neither of the following two samples are Monroe's hand, they may or may not be the same secretary's writing, but both are 1959 or later.
Style G: The following is an example of Pat Newcomb's hand-witing, who it seems, to my eye, signed the Bus Stop photo below on behalf of Marilyn. She was Monroe's assistant on "Bus Stop". They parted ways during this time but later Pat worked for Marilyn again and continued to right up until Marilyn died. Pat was also a close friend.
Pat's own hand-writing below:
MISCELLANEOUS NON AUTHENTIC SIGNING (Secretarial Style H?)
This is what I think is almost certainly a secretarial signing from the early to mid 1950s era. Both photos I have seen with this hand are from this era. The one further below is a spectacular and rare shot from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". The photo is the valuable part, the signings, both Jane & Marilyn in the same hand gives 100% indication of it being secretarial.
Secretarial Style H
Unfortunately the Ebay seller - both sellers in fact - are not exactly saying it's her hand, but obviously want buyers to think that, from the exorbitant price. The single shot of Marilyn (above) went for $4000 and the photo signed on behalf of Marilyn and Jane Russell (with different hands, but neither the star's own) priced as a starter at $1,500 - as if one should consider it authentically signed by her and Jane.
Close up of signature
Please refer to my other blog Marilyn Monroe Autographs for a huge collection of authentic Monroe signings.
And here is another great reference on http://www.isitreal.com/marilynmonroesecretarials
