By Ina Jaffe

People will spend a lot of money to live near the rich and famous. For the dead and famous, arguably no neighborhood is more desirable than the mausoleum at the Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles.

Among the many stars resting there is the iconic Marilyn Monroe, and the crypt directly above hers was recently auctioned on eBay. A Japanese man bid more than $4.6 million to spend eternity as Monroe’s upstairs neighbor. But the Los Angeles Times reports that he reneged on the deal in an e-mail, saying, “I need to cancel this because of the paying problem.”

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I just read the news that photographer Joe Jasgur passed away. It’s sad to see that everyone who was in contact with Marilyn slowly moves to the other side… I am fortunate enough to own an original picture of Jasgur and he signed it too. I feel very fortunate to own that bit.

This is what the The Orlando Sentinal writes about it:

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Wow, long time no see. Sorry about that fellow fans! My job is taking its toll.
I hope you can forgive me and will continue on the follow this fansite.
I do have some exciting news: a Cecil Beaton exhibition in London! I went to the exhibition in 2004 and I must say: it was amazing. I enjoyed it so much and I highly recommend it to all the fans that are able to see it!

This is what the press wrote about it:

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I was always a bit bothered when I read, years ago, that Tony Curtis said that kissing Marilyn was like kissing Hitler. I thought it was very unproffesional. But now it turns out he regrets saying that, as you can read in the following article. The thing that bothers me now is how he did a 180. Now he says he was arroused by Marilyn. Why? I still think it’s unproffesional. You just don’t say that you were arroused by your collegue.

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Rare behind-the-scenes footage of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1959′s Some Like It Hot has sold for $17,500 at an auction in Melbourne.
The two-and-a-half-minute amateur film, featuring Monroe with co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, was taken by a US naval officer invited onto the set after Monroe visited his base in San Diego.

Still in its original box, the eight-millimetre film was found among the sailor’s possessions after he died and brought to Australia by his daughter when she moved here.
The footage, which was bought by an unnamed private collector from Sydney, had been expected to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000.

“We’re surprised there weren’t more bidders, but we are happy that it sold,” said Charles Leski of Leski Auctions. “Marilyn Monroe memorabilia is always in demand, but rarely do we get one-off material like this. It is also extremely rare for such important archival footage to be auctioned outside of the US before its domestic release and for that we are extremely proud,” he added.

The footage shows Monroe surrounded by sailors on a visit to the naval base and later features moments of Monroe acting “playfully” on the set with Lemmon and Curtis.

“It’s a couple of minutes of colour footage of Marilyn Monroe and her co-stars from Some Like It Hot. The film was made in black and white, released in black and white, and to the best of my knowledge – except for a few studio photographs – nothing survives in colour,” Mr Leski said.

A 47-minute amateur film of Monroe and Clarke Gable on the set of her last completed movie, The Misfits, sold in the US recently for $US60,000.

“Considering what Misfits reached in the US, we are happy, as this means we got $7,000 per minute,” Mr Leski said.

Monroe died aged 36 in August 1962 after an overdose of pills that was ruled a suicid
Curtis is the only surviving key member of the cast of Some Like It Hot, a cross-dressing comedy directed by Billy Wilder.

Source.