It’s official – Hollywood’s legendary golden girl Marilyn Monroe was a New Yorker.
That ruling from a Manhattan federal judge is worth more than just bragging rights – it effectively ends years of litigation between the screen siren’s estate and the heirs of the photographer who took some of the most memorable shots of the star.
Judge Colleen McMahon’s decision is a major victory for the children of Sam Shaw, the late photographer who captured countless pics of MM, including the iconic shot of the sexpot in a billowing white dress over a New York City subway grate.
Because Monroe died a New Yorker, the Sam Shaw Archives benefits from state laws that prevent anyone from licensing the rights to dead celebrities.
If the court found that she died as a Californian, Monroe’s estate, managed by Anna Strasberg, widow of her acting coach, Lee Strasberg, would have been able to OK all of the images sold and get a cut of the proceeds.
Strasberg had sued Shaw’s heirs for selling T-shirts emblazoned with their copyrighted pictures of the star.
But the Shaw family archives maintained that since they owned the copyright, they could license the images out as they pleased.
“They don’t own the rights to publicize [Monroe], and the family business can move forward,” said David Marcus, one of the lawyers for the Shaws, as well as the grandson of the shutterbug.
In finding that Monroe was a New Yorker, the judge said she took into account that her last income-tax filing was from New York, as well as the fact that she kept a fully furnished Manhattan pad.
Monroe told one friend that “she considered her trips to California merely as visits for the purpose of appearing in various motion-picture films and for the conduct of business interests,” according to the court papers.
Martin Pollner, a lawyer for Monroe’s estate, released a statement saying New York needs to change its laws to protect dead celebrities’ licensing rights.
“Without this protection, irresponsible opportunists can continue to exploit the names and reputations of deceased New York celebrities for their personal gain,” he said.