The key to a room at the Connecticut inn where Marilyn Monroe stayed in 1956 while dating playwright Arthur Miller has sold for $131, today. The key was sold on Friday to a woman who lives in the town, reported antiques dealer Loretta Kretchko. This was the time in 1956 when Monroe dating playwright Arthur Miller.
Two years ago, Kretchko, who runs Bob Kretchko Antiques with her husband bought the inn's keys when the property changed hands. There were different keys for various other rooms however, only one for Monroe's favourite - No. 22, Loretta Kretchko said. But after they saw interest generated by the recent auction of a dress Monroe wore, as she famously sang "Happy Birthday" to President John Kennedy. The dress sold for $4.8 million, this month. "I did think the key would have gone for a little more money to a Marilyn Monroe collector," Loretta Kretchko said. "It went to a local person for nostalgia." The world knows the American actress' story, the once famous figure became a cult in the history of Hollywood. During the 1950s she became one of the most popular sex symbols, emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. Although she was a top-billed actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962. She continues to be remembered as a major popular culture icon. She spent most of her childhood in an orphanage and married at the age of sixteen. She later became a successful model and actress.
