In the December Playboy interview, June DiMaggio claims to have attended the funeral of Marilyn Monroe ("as I was riding along with my uncle Joe in a limousine..."). There are numerous photos of Joe's limo for that day - none include June DiMaggio.
(Photo: Inside the limousine the day of the funeral: Joe DiMaggio, his son, Joe Jr, unidentified driver and passenger, but where is June DiMaggio? She claims to have been riding with her famous uncle that day. Maybe she was in the trunk)
We also have a witness who can testify to June’s absence: funeral director Allan Abbott, 68, was a pallbearer at Marilyn’s funeral. At Joe DiMaggio’s request, he also stood at the door checking off the names on the brief guest list, handing programs to each person on the list. He told me he’d never heard the name June DiMaggio in his life. Ernest Cunningham’s book The Ultimate Marilyn identifies the small group of invited guests - June is missing.
(Photo by Leigh Wiener: as Marilyn Monroe’s casket is being introduced to her final resting place, Allan Abbot on the corner to the coffin, Joe DiMaggio and his son are sitting in the second row. Again: where is June DiMaggio?)
Allan Abbott was 24 at the time Monroe was buried, but his memory is still fresh. This man’s statement was the true reason I continued in my investigations. My deepest appreciation goes out to him, a man who had the honor of carrying Marilyn Monroe’s casket to her crypt where we can still visit her, pay tribute, and weep.
(Photo: The lipstick and flower-covered crypt of the Hollywood legend)
June is the latest in a long line of Marilyn frauds: men and women coming out of nowhere, claiming to be Marilyn Monroe's son or daughter (or husband or lover, whatever). There’s a man claiming to be the illegitimate son of Marilyn and JFK, insisting that the three of them had lived openly in Marilyn’s Brentwood home. There was Robert Slatzer, who passed away last year, who claimed (with nothing to document it) that he had been married to Marilyn.
(Photo: The cover of THE NATIONAL TATTLER on Jan. 26, 1969 - June DiMaggio is just one in a long list of people who claim a dubious connection with Marilyn Monroe)
Publicity for the Queen Many exhibit states that 90% of the Monroe memorabilia was bought from June DiMaggio and Joe Franklin. June says she got her items directly from Marilyn. The problem is that there’s nothing to prove that any of the June junk is authentic - no photos, no documentation. (Unless you’re willing to accept the word of the ET psychic.) The other items are from eBay and from questionable sellers, some of whom are being investigated by the FBI.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Rene
Very interesting post Mark. I was wondering if you have shopped your investigative story to the news media? I would think that most would be very intersted in telling your findings.
2 - Susan Reno-Gilliland
Mark, I was hanging on every word. I have been a MM fan for as long as I can remember, and devour any and all information I can find on her whenever I can find it. I appreciate the time, energy and effort you took to write this in-depth expose' of this fraudulent exhibit, and this woman's claims to be, not only Joe's niece and MM's friend, but someone who is going to write a memoir detailing her time with MM and secrets surrounding her life and death.
I support your fight to bring as much attention to this defrauding of the public, and shameless disrespect of MM's memory.
I would like to submit this to whichever one(s) of the sources that we submit to as I feel it would be most appropriate as a noteworthy news story. I think it is very important that this story reach as many people as possible.
3 - matthew
This a great investigation to uncover the truth. Keep up the good work to save Marilyn Monroe's Legacy.
4 - Matt Largo
Very intriguing article. It's a real "page turner". I think Rene is right. You should shop it around to the news media.
-Matt L.
5 - Mark Bellinghaus
Thank you so much Rene, Susan and Matthew! Please spread this story to as many people as possible. We can make a difference, and the REAL LEGACY of Marilyn Monroe needs to be defended against people who use her, over and over! If you need more facts, feel free to contact me. This exhit truely is a huge scandal. I have worked on this ever since I set foot on that Queen Mary, 11/10/05! How many more people, do they think they can fool?!
6 - Dave Nalle
I believe P.T. Barnum had something to say on that last subject.
I would think there would be a magazine that would be glad to publish this article in print.
Aren't there some auction-oriented publications which would be interested in it from the fraud angle?
Dave
7 - Karen Motherway
Hi Mark! Great work here!
As a matter of fact, I myself own the red dress pictured here, it is most definitely not vintage or ever belonging to Marilyn.
Add to you fraudulent accounts the producer of "Marilyn's Man" who used a photo of me in his documentary, claiming it is Marilyn. How did he get the photo? Why, from a dvd of photos and video of me, posing and performing as Marilyn, which I gave to Jimmy Dougherty!
Why can't people just TELL THE TRUTH?
8 - Angie
I knew it !!!! I was really surprised by that exhibit also, I just saw it a few weeks ago, what a JOKE, I am so glad you wrote this article, my friends didnt believe me ! Mark , I dont know you, but I was at the auction in LA last year, and still have the article in the LA times which mentions your name ! I am not quite the collector you are (YET), but will try to catch up, I will tell everyone I know about this article, and see you at the next auction !
-Angie
9 - Eric Olsen
excellent job Mark - your very hard work and diligence has paid off. I hope we can get people to take notice. Thanks to you and Ernest!
10 - Mark Bellinghaus
Eric! I really Thank you for believing in this and opening your ears, when others, including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Moore, and many others did not even reply to my letters or emails(this is not an Oscar acceptance speech{yet})! lol I called Ernest and he also is happy with the final results. From here we hope that destiny will take it's course. I never lost faith to bring this story out there and warn the world about this disgusting money making, off a tragic movie star's back! If Anna Strasberg doesn't want to lose her face in front of the MM admirer( who ultimately pay her bills, by buying all the copyrighted photos and memorabilia), she will have to dump that Mark Roesler guy who is in with them all together! She has to finally SPEAK! I entrusted her my entire life savings by buying at auctions for hundreds of thousands of $, my money I made as an actor, and my dead father's inheritence! I feel betrayed(by the estate) and I am very very angry that the ESTATE OF MARILYN MONROE would something like that let happen and even SPONSOR!!! This is a huge scandal! So much bigger than the mentioned Oprah/Frey story! We are talking about millions and millions of $ they are trying to make - from people all over the world! If Martha Stewart went to jail for a phonecall - what is going to happen to Otto, June & Co?!
11 - Jill Adams
Mark, as always I applaud your heartfelt efforts. I am doing my best to continue to spread the word that a HUGE FRAUD is continuing in the name of Marilyn Monroe. It concerns me greatly that new and old fans of Marilyn's are being RIPPED OFF even by the people like CMG who are suppossed to be there to protect them! I am forwarding your article to my online clubs and have notified a writer at the LA Times in hopes that this can get to a larger audience. I only that 48 Hours will get a chance to see this article before their piece airs. WELL DONE MARK... keep up the good fight! XoXo Jill www.ForeverMarilyn.com
12 - Mark Bellinghaus
www.mmfraud.com Thank you so much, Jill! This is finally the moment we were waiting for! Fans, admirers, lovers and just onlookers, who somehow watched this aweful "Circus" going on at the Queen Mary and anybody who had the chance to meet June DiMaggio in person would agree on my article! We are in 2006, the year our idol, our beloved Star, would have turned 80! You know that I would give all my items I collected of her and trade them in, to meet her alive! To speak to her, as she would be, an old lady with a lot of stories to tell, maybe she would have had kids and a great family, just like Jane Russell. I am excausted from this research, but I really put my heart into it! We can NOT let them get away with this! Enough is enough of the tale telling of Ottom June and Co! Fabricating sweet stories over an former eBay item, sold by a guy we all know who he is(but are HELPLESS thanks to our system...) is just CRIMINAL!Speaking about 48 HOURS: I left three messages for Anthony Vendetti on his cell, that he gave me; he never called me back or looked into this!I wanted to tell him my facts, but: no interest in the TRUTH! (as June DiMaggio over and annoyingly pitched her book with!) The CBS in general will have to apologize in the long run, and start an investigation! But not about how MM died, but how Otto&Co committed this unbelievable scam; this sad hoax, this very very hurtful plan of scamming the world over the course of 12 years!!! That is insane.
13 - Mark Bellinghaus
To: Angie #8 Thanks, but I think until the ESTATE OF MARILYN MONROE is not taking action in that matter, I will never ever buy from (Anna Strasberg) again! If they will somehow actually leave this state in order to scam others, I will simply kiss MM Good Bye, sell ALL my treasured MM items at auction, and move back to Germany and try to have some small cameos in a small town theatre, until I am old and grey and die! Of course I hope that won't happen...but you never know how powerful Roesler is, since he seems to know even god(well, yeah~ close to it:Bill Gates!) But maybe even Mr. Gates, and I hear his wife is an admirer of our Marilyn, so maybe they will be our helping hand after all?!
But for now- until this is clear: no more auctions at all!!! Boykott Marilyn Monroe~ to save her from her users!
14 - Jenniffer
Hi Mark,
I always love talking with you at the Marilyn Remembered Meetings about your extensive knowledge of Marilyn and your wonderful collection.
I did have the opporunity to visit the exhibit on the Queen Mary. I questioned so many items, since I was able to only attend the Julien's Auction. I was lucky to buy the Christie's Auction book and have looked through it extensively. Those curlers!! As soon as I saw them, I thought this isn't right. I'm not as knowledgeable as most Marilyn collectors, but I had a sense of something just not right with this exhibit. I'm glad you are trying to get this out there and to keep Marilyn fans from being taken advantage of.
I'll help out anyway I can. See you at the next Marilyn Remembered Meeting. :-)
15 - Michael Shermer
Mark,
A brilliant debunking of that most obnoxious James van Praagh, who now appears to be talking to a Marilyn Monroe look-alike who "passed over" to the other side some time after 1974. One would think that he could tell the difference! Of course, while he's chatting it up with Marilyn on the other side, now that Jolt'n Joe is there perhaps he can ask him about those pesky rollers, and did Marilyn really proclaim that Joe was the only man who ever gave her an orgasm? Inquiring minds want to know...
16 - grammercy5
A job well done , Mark. It looks more to me like a thrift shop window display than an exhibit of Marilyn's belongings.Why would anyone pay to look at some's DOLL collection.Most of the clothes look like holloween costumes!Maybe they should serve the wine with cheeze & crackers?!
Most definately a 3 ring circus, but costs ALOT more to get in & Otto is laughing all the way to the bank!I'm sure he has some help , of course!
17 - Caren
You are RIGHT ON, Mark. I have always been sickened by these crooks, and I'm thrilled to see that someone is finally taking them on. You've got a strong supporter in me!!!
18 - Mark Bellinghaus
to#15:What a honor~Michael Shermer! I still can not believe how many people bought that psychic's "stick"! And they probably it is entertaining and funny! But not so, if you take $ for displaying (JUNE)"JUNK"! If ANYBODY needs proof that van Praagh is a phony~ I have that ET show saved! He really needs to be exploided, just like Otto, June & Co!
19 - Sam
I knew Mr.Otto_ I know much about 'The Exhibit.
As many of the Vintage Came from my Collection _
Mark' Is Right _______________
20 - Mark Bellinghaus
to: #16 & #17 Caren: wonderful, I am absolutely happy to have support from the people who care, who seem to love MM, even though, so many decades after her tragic death, we feel she is here (sorry Mr.Shermer)!
grammercy5: believe it or not~ they did serve crackers and FREE MARILYN MERLOT at the press opening and while I stood in line (for almost 1 hour) cause Hef was in there with his "blonde chickletts" and his E entourage for his reality show! And they just let the ordinary people, like us, wait, wait and wait! My colleagues and I got ready, to take pics of the display cases - filled with the tackiest MM stuff you can imagine! I was asked THREE TIMES to proof my press credentials, which was very annoying! I was legal and did not steel my pictures "under cover" but I got the shut I needed (of the rollers).but: NOT ONCE anybody asked "JUNE DIMAGGIO" for hers!(credentials) Who is next? Maybe the next person who is "stepping forward" actually "is" Marilyn (and the ESTATE will make us believe that she is still alive and simply took off with "JUNIE" to make Anchovy Pizza, wild rice and laugh at the world and the people that they seem to believe a crook psychic and an crazy old lady with trademark bangs?) But I am sure that idea would be sponsored by the Estate of her as well, in order to cash out on that plan "B", now since June's promised book does not seem to ever being published!(I am so sorry Mary Jane Popp & Robert W. Otto!) you must have spent month' over month in the kitchen, all together and "cooked" on the most silly story anybody ever tried to make the American puclic believe! You almost succeded~almost! www.junedimaggio.com
21 - Kay W
I read your story regarding Marylin Monroe. I believed every word. However, as I came to one of the last paragraphs I got a little queasy.
Please explain this:
You said, and I quote "The highlight was the presentation of the "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" gown - which was rolled out in dimmed light, with the familiar voice of Marilyn singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President . . . and when spotlights hit the rhinestones, still sparkling after 37 years, I got goosebumps all over. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Now at the end of the column, you say "We know her styles and colors and sizes and designers and flavors. She sang songs about rhinestones, but she didn't wear them."
Well, we all KNOW she wore them...???????
22 - Kayla
I am shocked and appauled, as well as ashamed of myself for believing that all the "artifacts" I saw at the exhibit were real. I have just begun to appreciate Marilyn Monroe, researching about her for a report and becoming a big fan of her movies and music. I can't believe that these sick people would take advantage of her death and popularity just to make a buck. I am further shocked that my beloved Queen Mary would let such a scandal take place within its hull! Thank you for revealing the truth. I would really like to help bring this to light. If there is anything I can do, please let me know! Perhaps you could send your story to The Smoking Gun. Good luck!!
23 - Mark Bellinghaus
To#21 Kay, Marilyn Monroe did not wear rhinestones in her personal life, only for her public. I am sorry, but if you look at all the plastic necklaces or the glass beat necklace, she did dress very much so "down" simple colors, and always her favorite brands. She was not like Jane Mansfield who would have a "pink palast" and a heart shaped pool! Anything else unclear? I would recommend to you maybe to read the intro for the Christie's catalog; that says a lot about what she wore and her favorite brands, too! I am not trying to convince you, but Otto & Co are trying to make MM look like she apeared in her movies, but in private, MM was Norma Jeane! Still after all these years...as Susan Strasberg writes in her: " Marilyn & me" (maybe that is where June got her stupid and outrageous idea for her title), "Marilyn could click it on or off! She was able to create"Marilyn" in an instant! Anything else? Hope that is of help...
24 - Mark Bellinghaus
to #23 Dear Kayla! That happened to me as well, I saw a photo my older brother had of her, and I was "hooked"! You are a nice person, as some people have insulted me before for even thinking that the items are fakes! I should do a follow up, as I can explain what originated from where, including names from where he bought items; It really is sad, the whole thing, and I am not trying to put anybody, like the people who work for the Queen Mary and just want to survive, out of work, but it is a criminal act, and there is a law agaisnt those doings! You are doing it already, just by writing about it! Trust me, I also wish the things were real!!! I went back and took notes (and paid the fee of $22,95 myself!) If you want to help me and persue this matter, maybe you can send this story to The Smoking Gun and others; anybody can make a difference. Thank you so much!
25 - Stephanie
Kay, the rhinestone dress was a ballgown. A fancy dress. A costume, even.
She didn't wear them in her everyday life, at home or in general.