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Lot #917
Marilyn Monroe

Monroe partners with William Morris in 1949

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Estimate: $10000+
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Description

Monroe partners with William Morris in 1949

DS, two pages, 8.5 x 14, March 2, 1949. William Morris Agency management contract in which Monroe agrees to engage the company as her "sole and exclusive personal representative and adviser in the television field throughout the world for a period of three years…for a sum equal to ten percent (10%) of the gross return from the television field earned and received by me during the term." Beautifully signed at the conclusion in green ink by Monroe, and countersigned by an agency representative. In fine condition.

Following an uneventful six-month contract with Columbia Pictures, Monroe signed on with the William Morris Agency and began dating the firm’s vice president, Johnny Hyde. Smitten with the young actress, Hyde purportedly paid for her to undergo minor plastic surgery, and was then instrumental in landing Monroe a walk-on part in the Marx Brothers’ 1949 musical comedy Love Happy. With Hyde’s persistence, Monroe appeared in a total of six films the following year, including memorable parts in John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve. Monroe’s incredible sex appeal enabled Hyde to negotiate a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox in December 1950, a deal that soon made her a household name. A remarkably early Monroe contract.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: August
  • Dates: #527 - Ended May 09, 2018





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