Marilyn's Manse: To Save Or Not To Save

More than sixty years after her death, actress Marilyn Monroe is still making headlines. The one residence that she owned (and where she passed) at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, California was destined for demolition by its current owners. The one-story, 2,900 square foot Hacienda-style home was built in 1929, three years after Marilyn was born.



According to Architectural Digest:

The 2,900-square-foot, one-story, L-shaped, Spanish colonial-style home had adobe walls and a red-tile roof and was protected by a high wall. It had two bedrooms, a small guesthouse, an oval swimming pool and a large garden. The interior had white stucco walls, white carpeting, cathedral beam ceilings and tiled fireplaces in both the living room and master bedroom. Monroe bought some essential furnishings on shopping trips to Tijuana and Mexico City: tiles for the kitchen, tin masks and mirrors for the walls, and textiles depicting Aztec figures. But the house was sparsely furnished, and her phonograph remained on the floor.



She called it “a cute little Mexican-style house with eight rooms” and regretfully added, “I live alone and I hate it!” She loved animals and had always been fond of pets, who soothed her loneliness. Frank Sinatra gave her a white poodle called Maf (short for Mafia), whose name referenced his mob connections. Proud of the house and the improvements she made, she keenly showed visitors around and called it a “fortress where I can feel safe from the world.”

In an eerie case of foreshadowing, the tiles on the front doorstep say, “Cursum Perficio,” which translates to “I have completed my journey.”



From Curbed LA, April 20, 2017, when the house was put up for sale:

Before her death, a reporter with Life magazine spent a day with Monroe in the home, telling him, “Anybody who likes my house, I am sure I will get along with.” She had “[thrown] herself into making a home for herself. She planted an herb garden and in early 1962 traveled to Mexico to purchase authentic furniture, art and tapestries for her new home,” according to Variety. Listing agent Lisa Optican said it, “retains many of the design elements selected by Monroe.” “When you walk the house and grounds, you’re immediately struck by its serenity and warmth,” she said. “Every owner who has called this property home has been drawn to the same character ... The property is romantic, intimate and private.”

The now defunct Mercervine brokerage website (due to bankruptcy), reported the sale on June 23, 2017:

Mercer Vine’s Lisa Optican has sold 12305 5th Helena Drive in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood for over asking price at $7.25 million.
 
Considering Marilyn bought the house for $77,500, that would have been quite an investment for her!



Set back from the road enough to make it difficult to view, Marilyn’s house was still a place where fans would do their “looky-loo” thing to the annoyance of the owners and neighbors. And then the unthinkable happened — the threat of demolition. Edited from the Robb Report on September 6, 2023:

It’s another sad day for fans of historic architecture and Old Hollywood lore alike. As first reported by the New York Post, the house located at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood, a 1920s Spanish hacienda-style structure, may soon be demolished by its new owner. Despite its modest scale and unpretentious nature, the 2,600-square-foot bungalow gained worldwide fame in 1962 as the location of Marilyn Monroe’s sudden death. The walled and gated property was also the only house ever owned by the legendary actress, and in the six decades since the half-acre estate has become one of the city’s most famous local landmarks.…While the home’s exterior architecture remains incredibly alike how it appeared in 1962, the interiors have been significantly altered. Most notably, the kitchen and bathrooms have been modernized, and the estate’s formerly detached guest casita has been merged into the main house. Still, numerous original features — casement windows, terracotta tile floors, wood-beamed ceilings — happily hark back to Golden Age times. Out back, a brick patio spills out to a notably large swimming pool; beyond that, a grassy lawn is surrounded by mature trees, tall hedges and a citrus orchard. Out front, bountiful bunches of bougainvillea arch their way across the home’s façade, and there’s a two-car garage. Teardowns have become increasingly commonplace in the area surrounding Monroe’s former home, as soaring property values and record-breaking sales entice developers to build ever bigger and fancier. That this particular property survived intact is a testament to the hacienda’s enduring charm, and to Monroe’s legendary status, of course. Back in 2014, Emerald Lake hedge fund manager Dan Lukas and his wife Anne Jarmain paid $7.3 million for the Monroe estate, and have lived at the property in the years since. Six months ago, however, the couple paid $13 million for a larger home in the same neighborhood. Last month, Lukas and Jarmain quietly sold the Monroe house to a buyer who has not yet been publicly identified. That person paid nearly $8.4 million for the property, in cash, and almost immediately applied for a demolition permit. The L.A. Department of Building and Safety recently approved the request for a “plan check” of the proposed work, though an official permit has not yet been issued. But if similar situations in the recent past are any indicator of this property’s future, it seems likely that the Monroe hacienda will soon be added to a long list of historical real estate treasures that continue to be lost.

Shortly after the news broke, a Change.org petition started, requesting that the City convert the house to a museum:

This house should become a museum in memory of Marilyn Monroe for visitors, tourists and fans. Like they did with Elvis Presley’s house named “Graceland,” who has been transformed into a museum in his memory.

The news even made it to Vanity Fair. Edited from their September 9, 2023 article:

…[I]t’s a building that a shadowy and nameless owner almost destroyed until the Los Angeles City Council stepped in to stop it. News that the owner of 12305 Fifth Helena Drive wanted to destroy the home spread quickly this week after the New York Post reported that it was in “the initial stages of the demolition process.” The four-bedroom, three-bath Spanish Colonial hacienda, which Monroe bought for $75,000 as her third marriage, with playwright Arthur Miller, came to its end, had been evaluated for landmark status in 2013, but that process stalled, despite it being—as movie producer and neighbor Rodney Liber put it to the LA Times—“one of the most famous houses in the world.” That famous house was sold in 2017 to an LLC called Glory of the Snow for $7.25 million; in July, it was sold to the similarly named Glory of the Snow Trust for $8.35 million, the LAT reports. However, the actual humans behind the company names are unclear. The LLC was managed by Emerald Lake hedge fund manager Dan Lukas and his wife Anne Jarmain. The trust names a person called “Andrew Sahure” as its trustee, but that's a moniker which boasts no Google or public records results beyond this matter. (Gardners will note, however, that “glory of the snow” is the common name for chionodoxa luciliae, a spring-blooming perennial known for its purple flowers. Do with that what you may.) It’s unclear if anyone currently lives in the house, or why its owners want to destroy it, but as news spread of the plan, neighbors and preservationists sprang into action. A spokesperson for LA Councilwoman Traci Park says that their office received “hundreds of calls” asking her to step in, Reuters reports. And step in she did, introducing a council motion Friday asking the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) to consider the home for inclusion in LA’s list of historic cultural monuments. The motion was approved unanimously, giving the CHC 75 days to evaluate and approve the house as a landmark.



In response, LA’s Board of Building and Safety Commissioners paused any potential work at the site, saying in a letter to the owners that the preliminary approval for demolition was “issued in error.” “Under the Cultural Heritage Ordinance, this action immediately triggers a temporary stay on all building permits while the matter is under consideration by the Cultural Heritage Commission and City Council,“ KTLA reports the letter as reading. “Also, the property, regardless of whether a permit exists or does not exist, shall not be demolished, substantially altered or removed.”“This will be the first step in ensuring that we can protect this home against demolition,” Park told ABC 7. “The overwhelming sentiment here is clear. This home must be preserved as a crucial piece of Hollywood’s and the city of Los Angeles’ history, culture and legacy.”

Nearly a year later on June 26, 2024, Variety reported an update on the situation:

Marilyn Monroe‘s house in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood was approved in its historical cultural monument nomination by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday, a designation which is intended to help protect the landmark from demolition. “The Marilyn Monroe Residence in Brentwood is now a Historic-Cultural Monument! Today, L.A. City Council unanimously approved the nomination for Marilyn Monroe’s final home. Thanks to all who voiced their support and a HUGE thanks to Councilwoman Traci Park & team!,” wrote the L.A. Conservancy on X. …Owners Brinah Milstein and her husband, reality TV producer Roy Bank, bought the house last year for $8.35 million and planned to demolish it to expand their property next door. They waged a year-long battle to stop the historical designation, which they said would lead to more nuisance visitors. The owners have sued the city, accusing officials of “backroom machinations,” and the case is due to get a trial date on Aug. 13. In the suit, the owners say that the house has been substantially altered and that there is no evidence remaining from the time when Monroe lived there, so they contend it does not meet the criteria for a historic cultural monument.



The suit also says that several neighborhood groups and the Monroe estate did not support the historic designation. The council’s vote was 12 to 0 in favor of adding the house to properties of historical significance. The decision was backed by the City Council’s land use management subcommittee and the Cultural Heritage Commission. While the designation doesn’t completely stop a property from being demolished, the status subjects it to a stringent review process if demolition were proposed. L.A. City Council member Traci Park said before the vote, “We have an opportunity to do something today that should’ve been done 60 years ago. There’s no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home.” In response to the vote, Milstein’s attorney Peter C. Sheridan, who also represents the owner’s Glory of the Snow 1031 Trust and Roy Bank, released the following statement. Council Member Traci Park, in bringing a motion to designate the former home of Marilyn Monroe as a Historic Cultural Monument, said she has “worked closely” with the owners “throughout this process” to relocate this house to allow for public access. This is not true. Neither she nor her staff have worked closely with the owners, throughout this process or anytime else, to relocate the house to allow for public access. In fact, the opposite is true. The owners have made countless attempts to work with Ms. Park and her staff to find a solution that would work for everyone, only to be met with non-responsiveness by Ms. Park and her staff. Ms. Park has ignored the fact that her constituents — civic and homeowner’s groups in the community — are adamantly against the designation of the home. Ms. Park has also ignored that the City granted dozens of permits to over 14 different prior owners to change the home through numerous remodels, resulting in there being nothing left reflecting Ms. Monroe’s brief time there 60 years ago. The designation today was yet another step in an admittedly biased, unconstitutional and rigged process, as set forth in the owners’ lawsuit. Traci Park’s actions today and throughout the process, disregarding the interests of her constituents and the facts and merits, demonstrate that no one’s home or investment is safe.



Although there was an online celebration about the landmark status being achieved, it would seem that the home is far from being safe. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Marilyn doesn’t live there anymore, and based on photos and what I have read, a lot of work would need to be done to return the home back to the state it was in when Marilyn lived there for six short months. The quiet neighborhood would not be an ideal place for a museum, where traffic and tourists would be a constant annoyance. If the home is to be moved elsewhere, then it loses the geographic significance that attracted Marilyn in the first place. Even if a group was able to buy the home, would they also have the money to keep it going?

Time will tell, and within a month we should all know more.

See more Marilyn photos at my main website.

Monday with Monroe, McKay, and Martin

One of my recent rabbit hole excursions involved Gardner McKay. I first heard about him through a book and a documentary on writer Dominick Dunne. McKay was a somewhat lost soul who was picked by Dunne to star in the 1959-1962 TV series, “Adventures in Paradise” for his looks and knowledge about sailing. But mainly the looks. In Dunne’s own words from a 1999 Vanity Fair article:

In 1959, I was the co-executive producer of a television series called Adventures in Paradise, created by the late James Michener and starring the then unknown Gardner McKay as the captain-for-hire of a schooner called the Tiki, which sailed the islands of the South Pacific. There are several versions of how Gardner got the part, but I was there and this is the correct one. We were screen-testing all the best-looking young actors in Hollywood for the coveted part of Captain Adam Troy. Ron Ely, who later played Tarzan on TV, had the inside track on the part, but we were still testing. One day in a coffee shop, I saw, sitting at a nearby table in a languid pose, reading a book of poetry, a startlingly handsome young man with attitude, whom I later described to Martin Manulis, the head of television at Fox, as “a little Gary Cooper, a little Cary Grant, a little Ty Power and a lot of Errol Flynn.” He was at the time, in the parlance of the town, nobody, absolutely nobody, but his attitude declared that he was somebody. I dropped my Fox business card on his table and said, “If you’re interested in discussing a television series, call me.” He did, and we tested him. Gardner’s test was certainly not among the top three or four in the acting department, but as the production staff sat in the projection room, we’d keep going back to it, and one of us would say, “This guy’s got something.” Finally, we gave him the part. 

McKay even landed a 1959 LIFE magazine cover before the show was aired:



Dunne would go on to comment about how McKay gave up Hollywood:

The series lasted three years. Then Gardner did a very interesting thing: he ended his acting career ... the very next day he had a call from George Cukor, who ... asked Gardner to play the romantic lead opposite Monroe. It was the dream of an actor’s lifetime — the great George Cukor, the legendary Marilyn Monroe — but it came a day too late. Gardner had made up his mind. He declined the role. Cukor was flabbergasted.



How did I not hear about this? As far as I knew, Dean Martin was the one and only consideration to play opposite Marilyn in her ill-fated/unfinished final film, “Somethings’s Got to Give.” In his autobiography, Journey Without a Map, McKay gives his version:

You have to know when to discard. Stand up and step away from the table. Push away from it. The table will always be there. Marilyn Monroe would call. Not because I was a star but because I didn’t want to be one anymore. I was leaving. I didn’t want to be in Hollywood. And by not wanting to be there, I had turned her down. She would call. She seemed so intelligent. She sounded like a jilted lover, she spoke clearly and well. I was the only one who could play the part. I felt that I had dislodged something balanced in her. But I was leaving. The director George Cukor, legends galore, did not call. But he was livid. He told someone, “McKay doesn’t even know how to walk.” Which meant, I imagine that I was not a proper star, which I wasn’t, and that I shambled which I did. And, anyway, television did not turn down features. After a hundred of these episodes [Adventures in Paradise], when Frank Neill [public relations man at 20th Century-Fox assigned to McKay] found out I was quitting Paradise, he thought it odd. He came to me and told me that because it had been such a hit and had meant so much to so many people and that because I was getting more fan mail at 20th Century-Fox than anyone, including Marilyn Monroe he would tell me, that he could arrange for me to have my name set in brass letters, in terrazzo, bordered by a brass star and placed on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard. On the sidewalk! He said it would cost $640. I don’t know if I was expected to grab the check.

This just didn’t sound right to me. Further digging showed that James Garner had been the original choice by Fox, but he chose a different project. Marilyn’s top choice was always Martin.



The May 9 publicity blurb that accompanied the below shot:

Funnymen Dean Martin (left) and Phil Silvers pretend to watch the other actors at work as they clowned at the door of Martin’s dressing room between scenes of “Something’s Got to Give,” at Hollywood at 20th Century-Fox studio. Silvers, returning briefly to the studio where he spent eight of his youthful years, is playing a cameo role in the film.



So where did McKay fit in? In the same film, there was a much smaller role of Stephen Burkett, the hunky man who was stranded on a desert island with Marilyn’s character, Ellen Arden. This role was played by Tom Tryon.



It would be a stretch to call this role the romantic lead, but based on what was required of the character (looking good shirtless), this was most likely the “romantic lead” that McKay and Dunne were referring to.

If you’re considering reading McKay’s book, I can’t say I would recommend it. He comes off as a somewhat self-centered yet un-centered soul who experienced a lot of adventures but rarely had happiness. The memoir is somewhat rambling, which could be explained by the fact that he died before it was published, so that task fell to his widow, Madeleine.

See more classic Movie & TV photos at my main website.

Marilyn: Something's Got to Give

One of my Marilyn Monroe obsessions concerns her final and unfinished film, “Something’s Got to Give.” These wardrobe test shots show a slimmed-down star at her peak, alternating between serious, smiling, and sultry.



The outfit shown below was for Ellen Arden’s (Marilyn) reunion with her children after being separated from them for a number of years.



Just in case you wanted to see the United Air Lines Hawaii bag in color:


Presuming his wife dead, Nick Arden (Dean Martin) moves on with his life and remarries. Oops. He finds it difficult to tell his current wife Bianca (Cyd Charisse) that Ellen is still alive, so Marilyn pretends to be a new nanny for the children. Are you following so far? This is the outfit Marilyn wore for that scene:



Just in case you wanted to see the wardrobe slate up close:



Here is Dean Martin and Phil Silvers, who plays an insurance agent in a brief cameo.



From the vintage publicity blurb:

(LA2-May 8) HOLLYWOOD, May 9—COMICS AT PLAY—Funnymen Dean Martin (left) and Phil Silvers pretend to watch the other actors at work as they clowned at the door of Martin’s dressing room between scenes of “Something’s Got to Give,” at Hollywood at 20th Century-Fox studio. Silvers, returning briefly to the studio where he spent eight of his youthful years, is playing a cameo role in the film.



All of the footage Marilyn shot survived and was edited together into a truncated version in 1990. Marilyn sparkles but the film seems overly contrived. Director George Cukor did not seem to have control of the production, often losing his temper with the kids that were portraying Marilyn’s offspring.



The set for the Arden home was an exact recreation of Cukor’s own home, which seems like an odd choice as to the type of home that the Arden family would have inhabited. Monroe was plagued with illness, which forced filming delays. This did not endear her to Cukor or the Fox higher-ups, who were losing their shirts from an out of control budget for Elizabeth Taylor’s “Cleopatra,” filming overseas at the same time. Bitchy Cukor forced the cast and crew to delay Marilyn’s onset birthday celebration until he could get “a full day’s work out of her.”



I adore this photo of Marilyn giving Wally Cox the whammy in between takes of the movie:



Marilyn took her profession quite seriously, as you can see from the detailed notes written on the script:



Monroe was fired on June 8, 1962. Martin refused to continue filming with Lee Remick, who the studio attempted to recast the Monroe role with. For him, it was Marilyn or nobody. Smart man. While Remick was a good actress, she definitely lacked the star wattage that Marilyn exuded.



HOLLYWOOD, June 11—MISS REMICK REPORTS TO THE STUDIO—Actress Lee Remick, who was named to replace Marilyn Monroe in the movie “Something’s Got to Give,” has a big smile for director George Cukor in Hollywood today as he goes over the script with her. Studio officials said Miss Remick was given a copy of the script and is expected to begin filming soon. Meanwhile officials at 20th Century-Fox faced another crisis: If Monroe’s out and Remick’s in, Dean Martin says he’s out too.

Fox backed down on their decision and hired Monroe back, agreeing to her demand that Cukor be replaced by Jean Negulesco. I’ll bet nobody from the film celebrated Cukor’s July 7 birthday! Moral of the story: don’t f$%^ with Marilyn Monroe! Filming was slated to begin again in October, with the substandard script getting an overhaul in the meantime. Marilyn’s unexpected death on August 4, 1962, obviously ended that.

See more Marilyn “Something's Got To Give” photos at my main website.

Marilyn, Kim, Mary, Dick, and Fred

Despite the war in the Ukraine, COVID, inflation, rising oil prices, supply shortages, and an unsettling amount of civil unrest, somehow, the Kardashians managed to break through the headlines. In case you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably aware that Kim Kardashian squeezed her curves into a dress that was custom-made for Marilyn Monroe in 1962 by Jean Louis to wear on the occasion that she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy.



As you can see by the photos, this gown was designed to fit Marilyn. Not the average housewife, not soprano Maria Callas (on the left), and not Kim Kardashian.



Monroe's gown wasn’t just skin tight; it was more like a second skin and hugged every curve of the actress.  Jean Louis’ creation was an engineering feat of epic proportions that accentuated every curve but also kept those curves in place. The illusion of being nude without actually being so.



Years ago, the Franklin Mint attempted to capture that evening with a 16" doll.



Not quite the same.



This post was not designed to weigh into the controversy about whether Kim should or shouldn’t have worn the historic gown, nor will it delve into what damage may or may not have occurred because she and her handlers had to tug the delicate fabric over her rear end. But before I get to the point of the post, I will share Joan Cusack’s wise words from the film “Working Girl” (1988):



Now we get to the meat of the matter…the controversy that has been kept secret for years. Any Disney fan worth their salt will remember the “Jolly Holiday” number with Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews from “Mary Poppins” (1964):



Here’s Dick Van Dyke wearing his striped suit and straw hat from the animated musical sequence:



Seven years later, the TV show “Green Acres” was airing its last season.



You remember the classic comedy about a New York city socialite (Eva Gabor)



…who gives up her penthouse apartment to live in a dilapidated house so that her husband (Eddie Albert) can become a farmer.



On January 12, 1971, the season six episode “Son of Drobney” was broadcast. The premise was that the town was waiting to greet Lisa’s Hungarian war hero who was flying into Pixley to visit her. The welcoming committee was surprised to discover that he was a duck. When watching this the other night, I saw Fred Ziffel (Hank Patterson) wearing what looked to be Dick Van Dyke's jacket from “Mary Poppins.” 



If you compare the placement of the stripes, it’s a perfect match.



Here’s how the jacket looked when it came up to auction:







The ribbon on the hat does not match though; in the shots of Van Dyke from the movie, the top stripe is red; on Ziffel’s hat it’s gold. Apparently “Green Acres” used Western Costume for some of their wardrobe.

I’ll leave you with this question; why aren’t Disney fans up in arms about Fred Ziffel wearing Bert’s jacket? This information needs to be brought to the headlines!

See more Pop Culture photos at my main website.

Let's Make Love at Grauman's!

How about this gorgeous shot of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre forecourt from September 1960? Even if the slide hadn’t been date stamped, the larger-than-life cutout of Marilyn Monroe on the left-hand side advertising her latest movie, “Let’s Make Love” would have been a tip-off, since the movie was released September 8, 1960.



Here’s an onset celebration of Marilyn’s 34th birthday photo, with costar Yves Montand. From the Marilyn Monroe collection website:

A receipt from Gill’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream, dated June 1, 1960, for 100 ice cream treats, together with a receipt from Paper Unlimited, Inc. for forks, spoons, napkins, plates and a tablecloth, dated May 24, 1960. Both receipts are addressed to Hazel Washington, Monroe’s studio maid at Twentieth Century Fox. Monroe celebrated her 34th birthday on the set during filming of Let’s Make Love. It’s compelling that Marilyn, one of the biggest film stars at Twentieth Century Fox, would have to provide supplies and refreshments for her own birthday party on the set of her current film project.



Compelling? I find it quite sad. A closeup of her “Happy Birthday” card:



Back to the 1960 Grauman’s set, our vintage photographer captured a few of the celebrity cement prints as well:



Zooming in you can see one for Jean Hersholt, right next to Lana Turner:



Hersholt is known for playing Shirley Temple’s beloved grandfather in “Heidi” (1937):



See more Grauman’s Chinese Theatre photos at my main website.