THE MIRACULOUS RESURRECTION OF A LOST TREASURE
Way back in 1953, when I was still in my teens, I worked in New York as a second assistant to the famous photographer Richard Avedon. Besides his fashion photos, Dick (as he liked to be called) was noted for his portraits of celebrities, so I got to meet more than a few of them.
A particularly exciting moment came when he was to photograph Marilyn Monroe for Harper's Bazaar magazine. She was a delightful person and offered to sign one of the pictures to me. I gave her a large mounting board on which she wrote "To Earl, Love and Kisses, Marilyn Monroe." After the photos were developed I made a 9"x12" print (photo, above) and mounted it on the autographed board. This I displayed prominently in my tiny Manhattan apartment.
When my military service began in January 1957, I moved everything back to my parents' house in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Upon resuming civilian life in 1959, I only took the most needed items to New York as it took a while to find a decent apartment. Somehow, this photo got overlooked and then disappeared.
Flash forward to 1985, when my parents moved into an assisted-living community. As their old house got cleaned out, lots of stuff was put into boxes and stored at my brother's house.
Recently, in December 2006, my lovely sister-in-law Linda came across the photo and returned it to me. Once again it is back on display, now in my abode in suburban Philadelphia.
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