Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, and a Winter Morning at the Plaza Hotel
On the morning of February 9, 1956, photographers crowded into New York's Plaza Hotel for what appeared to be a routine Hollywood press conference. It turned out to be anything but.
Marilyn Monroe had arrived to promote The Prince and the Showgirl alongside Laurence Olivier, one of Britain's most celebrated stage and screen actors. The film represented an important turning point in Monroe's career. Having recently formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, she was determined to prove she could do more than play the glamorous blonde roles that had made her famous. Working with Olivier was her opportunity to be taken seriously as an actress and producer, and newspapers around the world were eager to record every minute.
Then came one of those unscripted moments that photographers hope for.
The right spaghetti strap of Marilyn's black velvet dress snapped.
Rather than bringing the press conference to a halt, the moment produced a flurry of photographs as Monroe laughed, Olivier stepped in to help, and the event continued. The dress itself remained with Monroe for the rest of her life and eventually sold at auction for $56,250, with its broken strap helping identify it as the one worn that February morning at the Plaza.
Today, that press conference remains one of the better-documented appearances from an important period in Monroe's career. It brought together Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, acclaimed photographer Milton Greene, and dozens of newspaper photographers and journalists, all recording the launch of what would become Monroe's first production under her own company.
When the Back of the Photograph Matters as Much as the Front
Experienced collectors have a habit that surprises people who are new to Hollywood photography.
They turn the photograph over.
The image on the front may feature Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, or another famous star, but the back often answers the questions collectors care about most. Is it an original press photograph? Who took it? Which newspaper or publication received it? Has it been published? Are there photographer's stamps, newspaper file marks, typed captions, or handwritten notes that establish when and where the photograph was used?
This original 8 × 10 press photograph checks many of those boxes.
Photographed by Milton Greene, one of Marilyn Monroe's closest collaborators during the 1950s, it documents the Plaza Hotel press conference for The Prince and the Showgirl on February 9, 1956. Just as important, it comes from the personal collection of French-American journalist Leo Sauvage, whose handwritten pencil notation remains on the reverse. That small notation connects the photograph to the reporter who preserved it after covering the event.
The photograph remained with Sauvage's family for decades before being consigned to Britannic Auctions, where it realized $1,200. That provenance is part of what makes original press photographs so appealing. They often carry their own paper trail—photographer credits, editorial markings, publication notes, and ownership history that can sometimes be followed from the day the shutter clicked to the present.
Unlike modern photographic prints, original Hollywood press photos were working tools. Newspapers, magazines, and entertainment journalists handled them, filed them, mailed them, and occasionally scribbled notes on the back before returning them to a file cabinet. Those little imperfections are often exactly what collectors hope to find because they help document how the photograph was actually used during Hollywood's golden age.
Don’t Miss Out on Future Hollywood Memorabilia Auctions!
Get Alerts for Vintage Hollywood CollectiblesWhy One Marilyn Monroe Press Photo Brings $99—and Another Brings $1,200
Not every vintage Marilyn Monroe photograph was created for the same purpose, and that's one of the biggest reasons values vary so widely.
Movie studios produced thousands of publicity stills to promote their films. Many survive today, making some titles relatively affordable. Original movie stills from The Prince and the Showgirl, for example, often sell for $10 to more than $200 depending on the image, condition, and whether the photograph was used for domestic or international promotion.
Press photographs are a different category.
Rather than being staged publicity images created for advertising, press photos often document real events—premieres, studio visits, location shoots, interviews, award ceremonies, and press conferences like the one held at New York's Plaza Hotel in February 1956. Because they record something that happened only once, collectors sometimes view them differently than standard promotional stills.
Auction results reflect those differences. A vintage 8 × 10 press photograph showing Marilyn Monroe with Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier, and Vivien Leigh during filming in England sold for $99 in 2024. Another original 1956 double-weight silver gelatin press photograph from a British press reception for The Prince and the Showgirl, complete with its original photographer's credit stamp on the reverse, realized $1,104 in 2016.
Do You Own Vintage Hollywood Press Photos or Movie Stills?
Original press photos, publicity stills, Type 1 photographs, negatives, photographer archives, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and other vintage Hollywood paper can be surprisingly collectible. We'd be happy to review your material for potential auction consignment.
Those two photographs featured many of the same people from the same production, yet they brought dramatically different prices.
Why?
Collectors usually look at several things at once:
- Was it taken during an important event?
- Is it an original period press photograph rather than a later print?
- Does it have photographer or newspaper markings on the reverse?
- Is the photographer well known?
- Can the ownership history be traced?
- Does the image capture something that wasn't carefully staged for publicity?
The photograph from the Leo Sauvage collection brought those qualities together. It documented a well-known press conference, was photographed by Milton Greene, retained its connection to a journalist who attended the event, and remained with his family until it was consigned to Britannic Auctions. Those layers of provenance help explain why original Hollywood press photographs continue to attract serious collector interest nearly seventy years after the cameras stopped clicking.
Preserving Hollywood's Original Press Photography
Original Hollywood press photographs often survive in unexpected places. Some remain with the photographers who made them. Others are preserved by newspaper reporters, magazine editors, studio publicists, or entertainment journalists who covered the film industry during its heyday. Just as often, they stay stored away in family collections until someone opens a box and realizes those old black-and-white photographs tell a larger story.
If you've inherited vintage Hollywood photographs, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, original press photos, movie stills, publicity photographs, negatives, or other entertainment archives, it may be worth taking a closer look. Collections assembled decades ago frequently include original prints, photographer credits, editorial notations, and other details that today's collectors appreciate.
Britannic Auctions regularly works with longtime collectors, families, executors, estate representatives, and inheritors to evaluate Hollywood memorabilia for auction. Whether you have a single Marilyn Monroe photograph, a collection of press photos, or an archive assembled by a journalist, photographer, studio employee, or movie fan, we're happy to provide a free evaluation and help you better understand what you have.
If collecting is your passion, we invite you to sign up for our Hollywood memorabilia auction alerts. Our auctions regularly feature fresh-to-market photographs, movie posters, lobby cards, autographs, pressbooks, celebrity correspondence, and other original studio material from private collections and estates. Every auction offers another opportunity to discover the photographs, paper, and personal archives that continue to tell the story of classic Hollywood.
