Marilyn Monroe: gentlemen still prefer them posthumous

“Hollywood is that place,” Marilyn Monroe once said, “where they pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”. More than six decades after his death, the first value that the star of “One Eve and two Adam” has climbed to the heavens, but the second remains more or less stable.

Since the 80s, not even his remains can rest in peace. Today, at an auction held by the house Julien’s Auctionsa distant crypt one row up and four to the left of his sold for $195,000 to the Beverly Hills technology executive Anthony Jabinwho He intends to spend eternity as close as possible to the unfortunate actress who died in 1962, at the age of 36, in circumstances that have never been fully clarified.

The old plaque in the niche also sold for almost $90,000 at the auction., which was very worn out and was replaced by a new one some time ago, in addition to a large amount of memorabilia that included dresses, jewelry, furniture, etc., but which is not the subject of these lines. What is striking here is that, in the case of Marilynthe American necrophilia has nothing to envy of ours.

Anyone who has visited, in Los Angeles, the grave of Marilynyou will have been in for a surprise: the modest, democratic space that occupies the niche in the Westwood Village Memorial Park, on Wilshire Avenue, a cemetery of also small dimensions, although other figures such as Natalie Wood, Truman Capote, Roy Orbison, Dean Martin, Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon and Kirk Douglas.

The effect of stopping in front of the niche Marilynthe most visited by tourists, It is similar to that of María Callas in Père-Lachaise, in Paris, which, in addition, is inside a dark and humid gallery (Marilyn’s, at least, is in an open-air space). Funerary sculptures such as, for example, that of Jim Morrisonhave no comparison with those of two of the greatest divas of the 20th century.

The bids to rest eternally with Marilyn Monroe

However, The bids to lie next to the protagonist of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” did not begin today at all. It all started in the early 80s, when Richard Ponchera colorful businessman, wig maker, bought from Joe DiMaggiothe famous baseball player and Marilyn’s ex-husbandtwo graves in Westwood: one of them was above hers.

Mr. Poncher died in 1986 and his posthumous wish was fulfilled, at least in part: to be buried above his idolized actress.. No one could verify, however, whether the other half of his wish was also respected: He wanted his body to rest face down, that is, so that the love between them would not be interrupted until the end of time.. They say that even Mr. puncher He threatened his wife with extraterrestrial persecution if she did not comply with that other part of his will. Those who have tried to find out in Westwood that part of the procedure (the disposition of the body, of course) only receive a smile from the caregivers in response.

The second chapter of this story occurred in 1992 when Hugh Heffnerthe founder of the magazine Playboy, whose first issue (December 1, 1953) featured Marilyn as its cover girl, He bought the grave adjacent to hers (on the left) for $75,000. And there he was buried Heffner when he died in 2017, so there is no way today to honor him. Marilyn without seeing the niche of who would enter, in this century, in the index of the #MeToo movement for their treatment of “bunnies”.

Marilyn Monroe

More than six decades after her death, there are still fans who follow Monroe to her grave.

However, the most bizarre part of this macabre series would occur in 2009, when Mr. Poncher’s widow, Elsie, put her husband’s grave up for sale on eBay because he could no longer afford the mortgage on the house where he lived in Beverly Hills. Fifteen bidders appeared, and The highest figure was that of a Japanese merchant: 4.6 million dollars. When the lady puncher was celebrating the result of the auction, the unforeseen happened: the Japanese recanted, claiming that he could not raise that money. And the worst thing is that the rest of those who had bid for the niche behaved similarly, which led to the assumption that they were false bidders, placed by her to raise the final value.

The press continued to cover the matter since a few days later it was discovered that The Ponchers had been divorced since 1982.in such a way that the ownership of Elsie on the grave in question. The scandal, like all scandals, dissipated over time, until one day, During the pandemic, the greatest of mysteries took place: next to Mr. Poncher’s grave, that is, on top of the Heffner, the plaque with the name Elsie Poncher appeared.

With the restrictions that existed at that time, it was impossible to confirm whether it was a farce, a macabre joke or just another tourist attraction, because the plaque does not record the year of birth or death, and in Nowhere did an obituary of the former Mrs. Poncher appear. Are there remains in there? This is what many asked themselves, because nothing was ever heard from the woman, nor from family or friends. She vanished. The inevitable bad taste joke also began to circulate: had she been buried facing Heffner? What Marilyn said: millions of dollars for bodies, pennies for souls.