ABOUT THE COLLECTOR

Ray's Marilyn - not just a collector.

In the early 1950's, when I was about 9 yrs old, I fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. When she and Jane Russell stepped out in the opening credits of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', singing "We're Just Two Little Girls from Little Rock" I was smitten. I thought then, that wherever this Little Rock place was must be pretty special. The reviewers said, "Monroe looks like she would glow in the dark", and she could. I was instantly hooked and followed her career avidly from that point on.

In those years, movies cost only cost 10 cents, and for a quarter, you not only got the movie, but also a box of salty popcorn and a sugary sweet orange drink. And the movie played continuously throughout the day, so I watched Marilyn over and over, never tiring of her image, or of her on-screen character.

She followed that film with 'There's No Business Like Show Business' holding her own with screen greats Donald O'Connor and Ethel Merman, and shocked the world with her rendition of "Heat Wave". She even came to Vancouver, Canada, my home town, to promote 'River of No Return', filmed in Alberta. Although she was supposed to arrive by train, true to form, she missed the train and she had to be flown in for her appearance.

I announced, at age 10, that I was taking the day off school to go meet Marilyn, when my mom informed me that; "Marilyn doesn't like little boys, she likes big men". Heartbroken I trudged off to school ... to return home to a personally signed autograph by Marilyn! My mother had gone down and got it for me.

Even though Marilyn was known as a sex symbol and considered to have little regard for children, she did in fact, like kids very much. Being brought up in an orphanage gave her a special bond with children that I, and many other kids, sensed from the beginning. She seemed a frightened child looking out through adult eyes. (Marilyn's impact on kids continues today. She passed away over 45 years ago, yet recently in the news we read that in 2009, a 14 year old girl has had a tattoo of Marilyn on her ankle.)

The years passed by, and I started collecting Marilyn items, photos, bric-a-brac, anything with her name and image. I had by now dozens of rare magazines, and when I was 17, just like the lyrics in the Elton John song "Candle in the Wind"; I was just a kid when I learned of her tragic and untimely death. My mother duly marched me to the incinerator and insisted I burn most of my collection. However, the collection was about to continue.

Throughout my early adulthood, I carried my Marilyn autographed picture wherever I went. Fortunately I was working for an international company, and wherever I was transferred, so was Marilyn, and one by one the collection grew, not only by my own hand, but by other's as well - coffee tins, cigarette boxes, lighters, books would appear on my doorstep bolstered by my own keen interests of finding rare and unusual photograph poses from Marilyn's early days as a model to the infamous "Last Sitting", weeks before her death.

In the late 1980's, in Capetown, South Africa I opened a restaurant, called "Marilyn's" where my many framed pictures of her adorned the walls. My collection was featured on television, in newspapers, and an in article in a leading magazine entitled "Hopelessly Devoted". In time, my home became known as the "Marilyn" house and virtual strangers would telephone and ask to see my collection.

After many, many years of traveling, around the world, I finally settled outside of Capetown, South Africa and bought a gigantic house, to showcase the now burgeoning collection which again became the focus of newspaper articles and a radio interview. In 2006, I had the entire collection carefully packaged and shipped to North America, and have now decided to offer the collection for auction.

Her public interest has not waned in the 47 years since her untimely passing. Recently, it was reported that the crypt above Marilyn's, was sold for $4.5 million, the memory and myth lives on.

I'm very proud of the time and effort I've put into my collection and sincerely hope someone will appreciate, and enjoy it as much as I have.

Ray Rosse