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"Norma Jeane" autograph up auction
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Already lovely, the future Marilyn Monroe poses with her junior high classmates in 1941.
R. R. Auction, a company specializing in autographs, is offering an exceedingly rare find—the “autograph” of a junior high school student named Norma Jeane Baker, who just happened to grow up to be Marilyn Monroe.
The signature appears on the back of a vintage 23-inch by 7.5-inch panoramic photo of Emerson Junior High’s graduating class of 1941. The inscription reads, “To a super and swell friend (date at that!) I mean it Bobby! Norma Jeane Baker 3 ’41.”
No word on who Bobby is, but the back also features other students’ inscriptions, one of which overlaps Norma Jeane’s. (The company selling the autograph believes she spelled her name Norma Jean, but I think I see an “e” at the end.)
The handwriting is typical of her during that era. Later, when Norma Jeane became Marilyn Monroe, her handwriting also changed and turned into the loopy script typical of her autograph.
Not too surprisingly, the picture is expected to sell for a pretty penny; one estimate was $20,000.
Norma Jeane Baker attended Ralph Waldo Emerson junior high school on the west side of Los Angeles from September 1939 to June 1941 for 8th and 9th grade. She turned 15 on June 1, 1941, so she’s probably about 14, almost 15, in this picture.
I think there's an e there, with the n and e running together. Maybe I'm wrong.
It’s very likely she was living with "Aunt" Ana Lower, who lived about a mile and a half or so away from the school.
Norma Jeane started high school the following year and attended two high schools for 10th grade. She dropped out of high school at the conclusion of 10th grade in June 1942 to marry Jim Dougherty.
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