Updates
Marilyn Monroe’s original nude photos
Never-before-seen negatives and color separations from Marilyn Monroe’s iconic naked calendar shot have been released, revealing another side to the blonde bombshell.
Gentlemen who love blondes have long flocked to Marilyn Monroe’s classic nude portrait, in which the actress poses naked on a red velvet sheet, her knees curled and her arm lifted.
Limited Runs, a vintage poster and art reseller, will exhibit the 1949 nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe, as well as 21 large size separations, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, and New York.
Some versions had clothes added as sending nudes in the post was illegal at the time (Picture: Limited Run)
Monroe consented to pose naked for photographer Tom Kelley in 1949, after being out of work (she had recently been dismissed from Columbia Pictures) and broke. Monroe stipulated that Kelley’s wife be present for the session. She was only compensated $50.
Trending:
The 22-year-old was having difficulty finding job and was in dire need of cash. She’d been let go from both 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures, and had to go to modeling in order to make ends meet.
The two were completely oblivious of the historical importance of what they were doing.
Just as Monroe’s reputation was beginning to soar, the John Baumgarth Firm, a Chicago-based printing company, bought several of Kelley’s pictures of Monroe to include in what would eventually become the classic “Golden Dreams” calendar.
She signed the photo release as ‘Mona Monroe,’ and requested that Kelley make sure she was unrecognizable since she was embarrassed to pose naked.
Marilyn Monroe’s nude photos are going on tour (Picture: Limited Runs)
Marilyn herself said in the book Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words that she only consented to Mr. Kelley’s request out of ‘desperation,’ since she felt that ‘nice girls did not pose in the nude.’
She allegedly told him, “You must promise to never tell anyone about my posing for you in the nude.” ‘I want you to promise me that you will take the pictures so that I wouldn’t be recognisable in them.’
The pictures were sold to the Western Lithograph Company for $900, and Marilyn was included in the Golden Dreams calendar in 1951.
Marilyn was resuming her acting career at the time. She had starred alongside Bette Davis in the blockbuster film All About Eve, as well as in a number of other films. Her looks were becoming increasingly recognizable.
Marilyn had signed a seven-year deal with 20th Century Fox when the nude photos surfaced, and many realized it was her. She was pushed by the studio to deny the photographs were of her, claiming that they would damage her career.
Instead, she chose to come clean in an interview, admitting that she was broke at the time.
One of the photos from the session landed on the desk of publisher Hugh Hefner, who picked Monroe’s portrait for the cover of Playboy magazine’s first issue. Playboy sold almost 50,000 copies of Monroe’s issue in its initial printing, allowing Hefner to continue publishing the famous magazine and helping him become the publishing tycoon he is today.
The original color separations were long assumed to be lost, despite the fact that the sensuous image has become legendary. Color separations are employed to ensure that the exact colours contained in an image are reproduced accurately in the final print.
To add extra layers to the image, such as clothing, ‘touch plates’ were utilized.
Popular Posts:
- Queen’s damning reply to Prince Harry’s ‘what Meghan wants, Meghan gets’ outburst
- Here’s Why Meghan Markle Cannot File Harry Divorce In US
- Meghan Markle ‘escorted out of Prince Charles’ garden party’ in unearthed video
- Here’s Why Meghan Markle Cannot File Harry Divorce In US
- Prince Harry ‘kept asking for more money’ and Prince Charles got ‘fed up’
- Prince Charles ‘deliberately’ left Meghan out of Archie’s birthday message
- Prince Harry and Meghan ‘blamed staff when they didn’t get their way’
- Prince Harry has been ‘brainwashed’, says biographer
- Meghan Markle blogged about Kate’s wedding before claiming she ‘didn’t know much about royals’
- REVENGE: Beatrice’s pregnancy announcement total dig at Meghan Markle
- Damage is done: Prince Harry warned rift with Prince Charles is widening beyond repair
- Meghan Markle Oprah interview claims debunked by own blog post
- Prince Harry faces Backlash for podcast interview, Duke ‘making too much noise’
- Queen and Charles deeply upset with Harry’s rants
- Harry and Meghan are ‘trolling the world’ with hidden photos Archie, says their biographer
- Prince Harry Demands wife Meghan Markle Be Part Of Princess Diana’s 60th Birthday Tribute Or He Won’t Show
- Harry and Meghan are ‘trolling the world’ with hidden photos Archie, says their biographer
- Meghan Markle’s Plastic Surgery
- Meghan and Harry CAN’T do another bombshell interview – ‘Can only do one’
- How Kate Middleton earned the Queen’s respect
- William and Kate prove they are NOT ‘trapped’ despite Harry claims
- Kate Middleton ‘won’t be walked over by Meghan Markle,’ says Jenny Eclair
- Meghan ‘wasn’t too keen’ on living in smaller place than Kate and William after royal wedding
- Meghan Markle was a ‘failure’ in Hollywood, biographer reveals
- Meghan and Harry are trying to start ‘alternate woke Royal Family,’ Expert says
