Marilyn Monroe Christmas Card and Pencil she chewed while making the Prince and the Showgirl

I have this Christmas card Signed by Marilyn Monroe and a pencil she chewed on while arguing which

Scenes to use in the film the Prince and the Showgirl

The items came from the estate of Des Saunders a film director who worked with Gerry Anderson on Thunderbirds, UFO, space 1999 and many other programs. Early in his career he worked as a Film Editor for Sir Laurence Olivier, on the Prince and the Show Girl, which is when he received the Christmas Card, and retained the pencil . the pencil which hasn’t been removed from the case since he sealed and labelled it reads, ‘Marilyn Monroe’s chewed pencil, used at a critical private viewing , a disagreement about use of the best takes.

On Des’s death in 2018, The Times Obituary States As a junior member of the crew he was surprised on day to receive a summons to her dressing room. Monroe opened the door not wearing a stitch and invited him in. The vision was somewhat lost on Saunders who was gay.

These were brought at auction when his estate which included lots of film related items and signed photo were sold at his death. I would be interested in your groups opinions as I know fakes abound

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on January 6, 2022 at 6:43pm

Hi Tim

Sorry for the delay. This is definitely not real. The ole "not a stitch on" at the door story. Hmmm

Anyway, this is a secretarial at best. As she was not in Hollywood for this one film, none of her usual secretaries would have been available, so just someone on hand signed it to get someone off her back.

I used to be in contact with someone who played rehearsal piano with her for this film, she sang one song. His only memento, as his house burned down and his proper autograph was burned, was her pencil writing on a sheet of paper here:

And this is a good comparison with any purported signature, it is the exemplar from PSA DNA