Marilyn Monroe Photo Restoration: This photo was brought to me by a friend. One of his relatives had it hanging on the wall for over 50 years. He says the photo was signed, "Marilyn...

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

This photo was brought to me by a friend. One of his relatives had it hanging on the wall for over 50 years. He says the photo was signed, "Marilyn Monroe Some like it hot". The inscription has faded away with time. Does anyone know if the signature can be recovered. Obviously it will not have the value it would have had if the original was in good condition.

I can make the photo look very good, but can barely find any evidence of the writing on it. Feel free to do what you can with it. If you can restore the inscription, that would be awesome.
Thanks,

Dave

MM

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Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

You can have fun doing retouching to restore this interesting pinup photo, and yes, you can make it look much better, but even zoomed in, I find no trace of any inscription. If you can, your eyes are better than mine. Good luck!

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

You can't prove that was a signed copy by me, I Could only fine scratches and few breaks in the finish from bending or miss use. I tried several different spectrum light on it. Without sending to a lab I would have to say it was just a promotion photo. Nice by no prize. Sorry.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Could you point out where you think you see writing?

Accelerator

Looks like there might have been something written in the bottom right corner margin. Not where I would imagine someone like MM signing anything.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Thank you all for looking at it. I agree with everyone here. I can't see any writing either. My friend swears it was in the area indicated here. Maybe he is nuts?
I think it is a cool photo, but if there was any writing, I guess it is lost forever.

Dave

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Dave Chinn

Sorry, I can't see any evidence of any writing.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Quickflash wrote:

Thank you all for looking at it. I agree with everyone here. I can't see any writing either. My friend swears it was in the area indicated here. Maybe he is nuts?
I think it is a cool photo, but if there was any writing, I guess it is lost forever.

Dave

I think you nailed it just like it is. I would give it back to him with the wording exactly as you put it there. Honestly, I can't imagine that there isn't even a trace of witing if it were there. Usually you can tell, even if it is faded there is a ghost or something. Oooooh Marilyn's ghost :idea:

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

And if Dave doesn't see it, it's not there!! LOL
Even if she signed with the crappiest of dye type ink, if it had enough sun/air/moisture contamination to completely disappear, the halide print would show considerable fading, and the print still has pretty good tonal range.

MCHUGH Loc: Jacksonville, Texas

If you have access to a darkroom you might try something I use to do when a customer brought in a photograph so faded that you could see little detail. I would copy it using Ortho film and develop the film in Dektol developer. The print made from this negative showed detail and damage (cuts, scrapes, dents, etc.) that you could not see even under magnification. I always was amazed at what showed up. The retouching was a nightmare for these in those days restoring to a quality print. Don't know if it would work on this but it would be interesting to try.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Once again, I thank you all. At least now I know what for sure that there is nothing there to work with. McHugh suggested a darkroom technique. I don't have access to one, but I will tell my friend to seek out someone who does.
So instead, I just decided to work with what is there. I now have an unsigned, restored copy of a vintage MM photo. If he wants it, I'll print him a copy. If anyone here wants it, I'll post it.
Thank you all all again for your efforts and advice.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Australis wrote:

Once again, I thank you all. At least now I know what for sure that there is nothing there to work with. McHugh suggested a darkroom technique. I don't have access to one, but I will tell my friend to seek out someone who does.
So instead, I just decided to work with what is there. I now have an unsigned, restored copy of a vintage MM photo. If he wants it, I'll print him a copy. If anyone here wants it, I'll post it.
Thank you all all again for your efforts and advice.

Australis,

If you and your friend are sure there used to be a signature on this print you can try photographing it under different light spectrum, and back lighting as well. If there is any residue from the original ink it may show up.

Michael G

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Quickflash wrote:

Once again, I thank you all. At least now I know what for sure that there is nothing there to work with. McHugh suggested a darkroom technique. I don't have access to one, but I will tell my friend to seek out someone who does.
So instead, I just decided to work with what is there. I now have an unsigned, restored copy of a vintage MM photo. If he wants it, I'll print him a copy. If anyone here wants it, I'll post it.
Thank you all all again for your efforts and advice.

That photo doesn't seem to have anything to do with the movie "Some Like It Hot." It's a pinup. Even if it was once signed, it was probably a promotional photo signed by an assistant, not by MM herself. I'd love to see what you did to restore the photo, please do post so we can see the renewed Marilyn.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Thanks, but I give up. I think I'd have a better chance of finding Nemo than I would MM's signature, but thanks anyway.

Armadillo wrote:

Australis,

If you and your friend are sure there used to be a signature on this print you can try photographing it under different light spectrum, and back lighting as well. If there is any residue from the original ink it may show up.

Michael G

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

You may be right. After that much time has passed, like ink on a photo, memories also tend to fade. Perhaps my friend has confused this photo with another. He got it from a relative that had a large collection of similar memorabilia. Anyway, this is my best effort to just restore it as a pinup photo. Thanks for asking for it, but from what I've seen of some of your stuff, you could probably do better.

Heirloom Tomato wrote:

That photo doesn't seem to have anything to do with the movie "Some Like It Hot." It's a pinup. Even if it was once signed, it was probably a promotional photo signed by an assistant, not by MM herself. I'd love to see what you did to restore the photo, please do post so we can see the renewed Marilyn.

MM Restored (my best effort)

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