Famous Marilyn Monroe Nudes Fail to Attract Minimum Bids

World-famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe went on the auction block Thursday but failed to meet minimum bids, keeping the early nudes of the blond bombshell in the hands of Ventura photographer Tom Kelley.

In slower-than-expected action, five bidders offered to pay a total of $840,000 for the five images during the auction held simultaneously at Butterfields in Hollywood and online by its parent company, EBay.

That amount did not meet an undisclosed minimum price set for the photos, which were shot by Kelley’s father, Tom Kelley Sr., in 1949 and helped rocket the Hollywood icon to stardom, said Gary Saal, Kelley’s Northern California agent.

Saal said he and his client will meet in coming days to discuss options, but noted that it’s possible the images could soon end up on the block again.

“Tom is obviously disappointed that they didn’t sell at what we thought was a right price, but on the other hand they are still his,” Saal said. “We’re going to have to reevaluate, because we still have some of the most famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe ever taken.”

The auction did not feature the most celebrated image to come out of the so-called “Red Velvet” session, a glamour shot of the not-yet-famous starlet lounging against a blood-red curtain and used as the centerfold in Playboy’s inaugural issue.

However, Kelley did put on the block the five other photos generated during the session, as well as all copyrights, trademarks and Monroe’s signed release to the images.

Kelley said before the auction he expected the final sale price to exceed $1 million because those so-called intellectual property rights would have allowed the high bidder to use Monroe’s name and likeness for trade and advertising purposes.

Auctioneers first offered the photos as a collection, but the high bid of $475,000 was rejected. The photos were then auctioned separately, drawing a total of $840,000 in bids. That, too, was rejected as too low.

Both Saal and Butterfields spokeswoman Catherine Williamson said it’s possible that potential buyers didn’t fully understand what they would be getting by purchasing all rights to the photos.

“Obviously we wish these would have sold, but this is an area that is new and different for us,” Williamson said. “We knew it was risky, but we decided to do it anyway.”

Along with the Red Velvet series, Butterfields auctioned off a range of other Monroe memorabilia, including the floor-length silk-and-chiffon gown she wore in “The Prince and the Showgirl” and a handwritten note on her reasons for seeking a divorce from her first husband, Jim Dougherty.

The dress fetched $23,375, and the note went for nearly $3,000.

Kelley also put other items up for bid, including the camera and tripod used for the session and his father’s appointment book, which listed the 7 p.m. meeting with Monroe and the amount she was paid: $50.

The date book was purchased for $1,500 by the elder Kelley’s former secretary, Sherman Oaks resident Kitty Criswell.

“This whole book is filled with my writing,” she said after the auction.

Monroe was still a struggling model and actress when Tom Kelley Sr. met her. He had witnessed a minor car accident she had on Sunset Boulevard. He gave her $5 for cab fare and a business card from the Hollywood photography studio where he did advertising work.

Kelley used her for a couple of modeling jobs before asking if she would be interested in posing nude for the kind of cheesecake calendars popular in auto shops and garages.

*

When he died in 1984, the Monroe photographs became part of the studio’s archives. The younger Kelley said he considered selling them for several years, even as he relocated the studio to Ventura in 1992, but the timing was never right.

However, it wasn’t until recently, as advances in computer technology made it possible to make commercial use of the images, that the 49-year-old decided to auction them away.

He said he also hoped to share the images with a larger audience, and bring long-overdue recognition to this area of his father’s work.