By null — In 1962, during the filming of “Something’s Got to Give,” three photographers were invited to the set to shoot Marilyn Monroe as she swam in a swimming pool for a scene with Dean Martin. It would have been Marilyn’s last film but was never released because two months after the shoot, Marilyn was dead. "Marilyn may have had a reputation on screen for being a ditzy blonde, but she was an ambitious actress.” Lawrence Schiller was one of the lucky men chosen to photograph that day, and he,...

From Ruby Slippers to Kermit the Frog: Pop Culture Artifacts at the Smithsonian

By Maribeth Keane and Ben Marks — I’ve been at the Smithsonian for 28 years—I never thought I’d stay that long! The first job I had was as a producer and annotator of recordings. We used to have a very active program of archival recordings that we’d release. I came here to work on a set of American popular songs. I remained with the Division of Performing Arts until it was cast asunder and absorbed by the Museum of American History. Then I did public programs, and then I became curator of the Entertainment History...

Collecting James Bond, Doctor Who, and The Beatles

By Jessica Lewis — Ever since I was a child, I wanted to work in the auction business, specifically in the entertainment part. I liked the idea of handling, owning, and being a part of objects that were lynchpins in the history of music, film, or television. To accomplish my goal, I studied film, got an art-history degree, and earned an M.A. in fine-art valuation. I started out as a general auctioneer working with all kinds of antiques before moving into the entertainment field. I like film posters, but I...

Getting Close to Marilyn Monroe

By Maribeth Keane — I don’t actually remember exactly when I became a Marilyn Monroe fan, I’ve basically been collecting Marilyn items my entire life. I started collecting Marilyn Monroe personally owned items about nine years ago, which was when things started coming up on the market from her personal estate. Initially I started collecting books on Marilyn, biographies, coffee table books, any book I could get my hands on. One was the catalogue from the 1999 Christie’s sale, The Personal Property of Marilyn...