Mark Bellinghaus
Encyclopedia
Mark Bellinghaus is a Marilyn Monroe
activist and a collector of Monroe memorabilia. Bellinghaus is also a blog
ger, and "first rate skeptical investigator" of claims relating to Monroe. Before moving to the U.S., he was a film, TV and theatre actor in his native Germany
.
, Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany. His father, Meinhard Koenig, died at age 36 of heart disease
, when Bellinghaus was 2 years old. At age 6, he was sent to an Evangelical
boys-only boarding school
in Traben-Trarbach
. When he was 9, he saw a cut-out of Marilyn Monroe from How to Marry a Millionaire ("where she’s in front of those three mirrors and looks so magnificent").
At age 11, Bellinghaus became an ice- and roller-skater, but, five years later, gave up this career following a nerve infection in his back. He turned instead to acting, working in productions like the musical Fireworks by Paul Burkhard and the opera Lorelei by Alfredo Catalani at the Theater der Stadt Koblenz.
At 18, he moved to Munich
, studying at the Acting Academy for three years. He played the part of Jorge's novice in the 1986 film The Name of the Rose
. In 1986/87 Bellinghaus signed a guest contract at the Residenz Theatre
, home of the Bavarian State Theatre, next to the National Theatre in Munich, where he appeared in three theatre productions (Life of Galileo
by Bertolt Brecht
, Edmond
by David Mamet
, and Heinrich by Tankred Dorst
).
In 1988 he played Rüdiger Burkhard in an episode of the hit show Verkehrsgericht (Traffic Court). In 1989, he was the lead in Flaming Armadillo, a made-for-TV movie, produced by SRG. In 1990, he was the lead in Pal Erdoss' Pokok (Spiders), a German/Hungarian co-production, playing with Camilla Horn
and Alice Treff
. Also in 1990, he starred as Volodja in the play Dear Jelena Sergejevna, directed by Ute Richter, at the Zimmertheater in Heidelberg
. During this time, he guest starred in several TV shows.
In 1991 he played actress Meret Becker
's brother Kurti, in the multiple award-winning Fremde, liebe Fremde (Foreigner, Dear Foreigner). In 1993, he played Malte Borrell in the TV show SOKO 5113. He played Knut Sonntag in the hit TV show Immer wieder Sonntag, written by Herbert Lichtenfeld
.
in Los Angeles
, a city he chose because it was where Marilyn Monroe used to live (and the college because Monroe had attended the Lee Strasberg in New York
). His interest in Monroe grew to such an extent that he gave up his acting career, in order to concentrate full time on collecting memorabilia and campaigning against what he saw as abuses of her memory. His lengthy, scathing reviews of books he considers inaccurate have been regularly received, but not displayed, by Amazon.com
.
In 1999 Strasberg auctioned 575 lots from the Monroe estate at Christie's
for $13,400,000 — a move which offended many of Monroe's fans. There was a later 288-lot auction in 2005 at Julien's Auctions. Bellinghaus combined savings and a family inheritance, winning items at both Monroe auctions and acquiring so much material — such as furniture, paintings, light fixtures, Mexican tchotchkes and hangings — from her last Brentwood
home that he was able to faithfully reconstruct some of its rooms in his own home in the Cheviot Hills
. One of his most famous items is the white terry-cloth robe, in which Monroe was often photographed and which was discovered next to her bed on the night she died.
Parts of his collection were shown at the Hollywood Museum in 2001 for the 75th anniversary of Monroe's birth. In 2006, he curated the Monroe exhibit for the show Idols of Gay Hollywood at the Hollywood Museum. In September 2007, Mark Bellinghaus formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, LLC, with Ernest W. Cunningham and Jennifer J. Dickinson.
, including (jointly with Anna Strasberg) most Monroe images. One of Bellinghaus's goals is to make her images available to all and public domain
.
In 2005 CMG backed a show called "Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit", consisting of 350 items owned by a Chicago collector, Robert W. Otto, although authentication doubts had caused the Hollywood Entertainment Museum to turn it down. The new venue was the liner Queen Mary
berthed at Long Beach
. It was promoted as the "biggest and best collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia on display, ever." The value of the exhibit was announced as $10 million, and the show was successfully inaugurated on 10 November 2005, with a panel discussion held by CMG CEO Mark Roesler, Hugh Hefner
, Robert Otto, Mary Jane Popp and June DiMaggio (DiMaggio had been the source for 30 of the show items). News coverage was positive, and an extension was announced, prior to a move to Las Vegas and a world tour.
Bellinghaus attended the launch with a Beverly Hills Courier
photographer's press pass. He became convinced that some memorabilia on display was fake. The exhibition's electrical hair curlers (which were billed as holding strands of Monroe's hair) were made of plastic. Bellinghaus' subsequent inquiries revealed that Clairol
had not manufactured such curlers until 1974, 12 years after Monroe's death.
Bellinghaus was joined by 68-year-old Ernest W. Cunningham, the author of a book, The Ultimate Marilyn, who feels equally strongly about Monroe ("It’s as though they’re talking about your mother or sister"), and says that they were brushed off by the Long Beach Police Department when they reported their findings. Bellinghaus went on to publish his views on Blogcritics
, in February 2006, with the title "Marilyn Monroe's Memory Defrauded in Long Beach - The Truth Is Here", stating that over 95% of the memorabilia on display was not authentic, and estimating its real value as $25,000 – $30,000. Two months later, Bellinghaus published his second blog, this time co-authored with Ernest Cunningham, and titled "Marilyn Monroe Exhibit Exposed As $8.75 Million Lie".
His blog was picked up and mentioned by other websites like Defamer and MetaFilter
. Michael Shermer
's eSkeptic magazine partly reprinted Bellinghaus' blog and also praised the author's debunking of psychic James van Praagh
.
Subsequently he was interviewed by KCAL-TV
news about his claims. The Clairol hair curlers were removed from the exhibition, as well as some other items he had named as fake. After this, the show's planned tour was canceled.
Bellinghaus said of the Queen Mary exhibit, "They are bringing down the value of my collection. That’s why I have to tear them down". He hired an attorney to file a lawsuit, but was not the plaintiff. On 26 May 2006, a class action lawsuit was filed by Cunningham and 63-year-old Emily Sadjady (an equally fervent Monroe fan), claiming damages for everyone who had bought a (nearly $23) exhibition ticket and alleging that the exhibition curator "knew when he purchased the items he displayed in the Exhibit, that the items were fake and did not personally belong to Marilyn Monroe". This lawsuit was scheduled to take place at Los Angeles Superior Court
on 7 May 2007, partly funded by Bellinghaus. The case was settled after the judge dismissed the class action claim and the claim against Mark Roesler.
A world tour of 'Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit,' which was originally planned to last twelve years, and tour at least 39 cities globally, was subsequently canceled. 15 June 2006 was the final day of the exhibition. Michael Shermer
called Bellinghaus's actions a "brilliant exposé".
Videos on YouTube, purportedly filmed at a memorial service on August 5, 2007, commemorating the forty-fifth anniversary of Monroe's death, show Bellinghaus "shouting obscenities at bystanders and demanding that the police be called".
In October 2007, Bellinghaus contested the authenticity of "The Lost Collection", an exhibit of seven dresses made by Marilyn Monroe's designer William Travilla
, which were advertised as worn by Monroe in her movies. The exhibition took place at the Brighton
Hilton Metropole, and then in Leeds
. It included the dress Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch
, also known as The White Subway Dress, valued at £1.5 million. Bellinghaus said the collection was not genuine and that the dresses were never worn by Monroe. The exhibition organiser, Andrew Hansford stated that the memorabilia are "100 per cent genuine".
In April 2008, Bellinghaus, Cunningham and Dickinson dismissed as fake the discovery of a Marilyn Monroe sex tape.
In October 2008, Vanity Fair
's 25th anniversary issue had Monroe on the cover and a feature article detailing the history of two filing cabinets full of Monroe documents and personal items. One of these was the typewriter, said to be used by her to write letters to leading figures: Bellinghaus wrote an article pointing out that Monroe could not type, as well as pointing out inconsistencies with other items featured.
In November 2008, there was a dispute between Bellinghaus and the son of Jeanne Carmen
over claims that Carmen was a confidante of Monroe. Carmen's son questioned Bellinghaus' credibility and motivations.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
activist and a collector of Monroe memorabilia. Bellinghaus is also a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger, and "first rate skeptical investigator" of claims relating to Monroe. Before moving to the U.S., he was a film, TV and theatre actor in his native Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Early life in Germany
Mark Bellinghaus was born in KoblenzKoblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany. His father, Meinhard Koenig, died at age 36 of heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
, when Bellinghaus was 2 years old. At age 6, he was sent to an Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
boys-only boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Traben-Trarbach
Traben-Trarbach
Traben-Trarbach on the Middle Moselle is a town in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde and a state-recognized climatic spa .- Location :...
. When he was 9, he saw a cut-out of Marilyn Monroe from How to Marry a Millionaire ("where she’s in front of those three mirrors and looks so magnificent").
At age 11, Bellinghaus became an ice- and roller-skater, but, five years later, gave up this career following a nerve infection in his back. He turned instead to acting, working in productions like the musical Fireworks by Paul Burkhard and the opera Lorelei by Alfredo Catalani at the Theater der Stadt Koblenz.
At 18, he moved to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, studying at the Acting Academy for three years. He played the part of Jorge's novice in the 1986 film The Name of the Rose
The Name of the Rose (film)
The Name of the Rose is a 1986 film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the book of the same name by Umberto Eco. Sean Connery is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Christian Slater is his apprentice Adso of Melk, who are called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval...
. In 1986/87 Bellinghaus signed a guest contract at the Residenz Theatre
Residenz Theatre
The Residence Theatre or New Residence Theatre of the Residence in Munich was built from 1950 to 1951 by Karl Hocheder...
, home of the Bavarian State Theatre, next to the National Theatre in Munich, where he appeared in three theatre productions (Life of Galileo
Life of Galileo
Life of Galileo , also known as Galileo, is a play by the twentieth-century German dramatist Bertolt Brecht. The first version of the play was written between 1937 and 1939; the second version was written between 1945–1947, in collaboration with Charles Laughton...
by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Edmond
Edmond (play)
Edmond is a one-act play written by David Mamet. It premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, on June 4, 1982. The first New York production was October 27 of the same year, at the Provincetown Playhouse. The play consists of twenty-three short scenes. In the original production, each of the...
by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, and Heinrich by Tankred Dorst
Tankred Dorst
Tankred Dorst is a German playwright and storyteller.Tankred Dorst currently lives and works in Munich. His farces, parables, one-act-plays and adaptations are inspired by the theatre of the absurd and the works of Ionesco, Giraudoux and Beckett...
).
In 1988 he played Rüdiger Burkhard in an episode of the hit show Verkehrsgericht (Traffic Court). In 1989, he was the lead in Flaming Armadillo, a made-for-TV movie, produced by SRG. In 1990, he was the lead in Pal Erdoss' Pokok (Spiders), a German/Hungarian co-production, playing with Camilla Horn
Camilla Horn
Camilla Horn was a former German dancer and a film star of the silent and sound era. She starred in several Hollywood films of the late 1920s and in a few British and Italian productions.-Biography:...
and Alice Treff
Alice Treff
Alice Treff was a German film actress.She appeared in over 120 films between 1932 and 2001.She was born and died in Berlin, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Der Auftrag Höglers...
. Also in 1990, he starred as Volodja in the play Dear Jelena Sergejevna, directed by Ute Richter, at the Zimmertheater in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
. During this time, he guest starred in several TV shows.
In 1991 he played actress Meret Becker
Meret Becker
- Life and career :Becker was born in Bremen, the daughter of the actors Monika Hansen and Rolf Becker. She is the sister of Ben Becker, stepdaughter of Otto Sander and granddaughter of Claire Schlichting....
's brother Kurti, in the multiple award-winning Fremde, liebe Fremde (Foreigner, Dear Foreigner). In 1993, he played Malte Borrell in the TV show SOKO 5113. He played Knut Sonntag in the hit TV show Immer wieder Sonntag, written by Herbert Lichtenfeld
Herbert Lichtenfeld
Herbert Lichtenfeld was one of the most successful television screenplay writers in Germany. He wrote over 300 film scripts. Many of his scripts were successful in Germany.-Life:...
.
The U.S. and Monroe
In 1995 Bellinghaus emigrated to the United States to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film InstituteLee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute
__notoc__The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute is an acting school located at 115 East 15th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, as well as at 7936 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, a city he chose because it was where Marilyn Monroe used to live (and the college because Monroe had attended the Lee Strasberg in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
). His interest in Monroe grew to such an extent that he gave up his acting career, in order to concentrate full time on collecting memorabilia and campaigning against what he saw as abuses of her memory. His lengthy, scathing reviews of books he considers inaccurate have been regularly received, but not displayed, by Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
In 1999 Strasberg auctioned 575 lots from the Monroe estate at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
for $13,400,000 — a move which offended many of Monroe's fans. There was a later 288-lot auction in 2005 at Julien's Auctions. Bellinghaus combined savings and a family inheritance, winning items at both Monroe auctions and acquiring so much material — such as furniture, paintings, light fixtures, Mexican tchotchkes and hangings — from her last Brentwood
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
home that he was able to faithfully reconstruct some of its rooms in his own home in the Cheviot Hills
Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, California
Cheviot Hills is a small residential district on the West Side of Los Angeles, California. It served as the location for the Three's Company spin-off The Ropers.-Geography:...
. One of his most famous items is the white terry-cloth robe, in which Monroe was often photographed and which was discovered next to her bed on the night she died.
Parts of his collection were shown at the Hollywood Museum in 2001 for the 75th anniversary of Monroe's birth. In 2006, he curated the Monroe exhibit for the show Idols of Gay Hollywood at the Hollywood Museum. In September 2007, Mark Bellinghaus formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, LLC, with Ernest W. Cunningham and Jennifer J. Dickinson.
Queen Mary exhibition
CMG Worldwide is a licensing company that owns the rights to a number of past stars such as James DeanJames Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, including (jointly with Anna Strasberg) most Monroe images. One of Bellinghaus's goals is to make her images available to all and public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
In 2005 CMG backed a show called "Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit", consisting of 350 items owned by a Chicago collector, Robert W. Otto, although authentication doubts had caused the Hollywood Entertainment Museum to turn it down. The new venue was the liner Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
berthed at Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. It was promoted as the "biggest and best collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia on display, ever." The value of the exhibit was announced as $10 million, and the show was successfully inaugurated on 10 November 2005, with a panel discussion held by CMG CEO Mark Roesler, Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
, Robert Otto, Mary Jane Popp and June DiMaggio (DiMaggio had been the source for 30 of the show items). News coverage was positive, and an extension was announced, prior to a move to Las Vegas and a world tour.
Bellinghaus attended the launch with a Beverly Hills Courier
Beverly Hills Courier
The Beverly Hills Courier is a free weekly tabloid-sized print newspaper of circulation in Beverly Hills and the surrounding communities, and a daily web newspaper. The publication was founded by now-publisher emeritus March Schwartz in 1965 with the editorial guidance of his managing editor Arthur...
photographer's press pass. He became convinced that some memorabilia on display was fake. The exhibition's electrical hair curlers (which were billed as holding strands of Monroe's hair) were made of plastic. Bellinghaus' subsequent inquiries revealed that Clairol
Clairol
Clairol is a personal care products division of Procter & Gamble. The Clairol company was started in 1931 by Lawrence M. Gelb and wife, Joan, who named their enterprise after a hair-coloring preparation they found while traveling in France....
had not manufactured such curlers until 1974, 12 years after Monroe's death.
Bellinghaus was joined by 68-year-old Ernest W. Cunningham, the author of a book, The Ultimate Marilyn, who feels equally strongly about Monroe ("It’s as though they’re talking about your mother or sister"), and says that they were brushed off by the Long Beach Police Department when they reported their findings. Bellinghaus went on to publish his views on Blogcritics
Blogcritics
Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site—a self-proclaimed "sinister cabal of superior writers"—was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn...
, in February 2006, with the title "Marilyn Monroe's Memory Defrauded in Long Beach - The Truth Is Here", stating that over 95% of the memorabilia on display was not authentic, and estimating its real value as $25,000 – $30,000. Two months later, Bellinghaus published his second blog, this time co-authored with Ernest Cunningham, and titled "Marilyn Monroe Exhibit Exposed As $8.75 Million Lie".
His blog was picked up and mentioned by other websites like Defamer and MetaFilter
MetaFilter
MetaFilter, known as MeFi to its members, is a community weblog whose purpose is to share links and discuss content that users have discovered on the web.-Community:MetaFilter was founded by Matthew Haughey in 1999...
. Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
's eSkeptic magazine partly reprinted Bellinghaus' blog and also praised the author's debunking of psychic James van Praagh
James Van Praagh
James Van Praagh is a self-proclaimed medium who has written several books on spirituality and spirit communication.-Early life and career:Van Praagh was born in Bayside, New York and is the youngest of four children...
.
Subsequently he was interviewed by KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
news about his claims. The Clairol hair curlers were removed from the exhibition, as well as some other items he had named as fake. After this, the show's planned tour was canceled.
Bellinghaus said of the Queen Mary exhibit, "They are bringing down the value of my collection. That’s why I have to tear them down". He hired an attorney to file a lawsuit, but was not the plaintiff. On 26 May 2006, a class action lawsuit was filed by Cunningham and 63-year-old Emily Sadjady (an equally fervent Monroe fan), claiming damages for everyone who had bought a (nearly $23) exhibition ticket and alleging that the exhibition curator "knew when he purchased the items he displayed in the Exhibit, that the items were fake and did not personally belong to Marilyn Monroe". This lawsuit was scheduled to take place at Los Angeles Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
on 7 May 2007, partly funded by Bellinghaus. The case was settled after the judge dismissed the class action claim and the claim against Mark Roesler.
A world tour of 'Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit,' which was originally planned to last twelve years, and tour at least 39 cities globally, was subsequently canceled. 15 June 2006 was the final day of the exhibition. Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
called Bellinghaus's actions a "brilliant exposé".
Other disputes
In December 2006, Bellinghaus and Cunningham questioned the authenticity of Marilyn, Joe and Me, a book and prospective movie by June DiMaggio and Mary Jane Popp, who deny they were involved in the Queen Mary exhibition.Videos on YouTube, purportedly filmed at a memorial service on August 5, 2007, commemorating the forty-fifth anniversary of Monroe's death, show Bellinghaus "shouting obscenities at bystanders and demanding that the police be called".
In October 2007, Bellinghaus contested the authenticity of "The Lost Collection", an exhibit of seven dresses made by Marilyn Monroe's designer William Travilla
William Travilla
William Travilla , who went by the professional name of Travilla, was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television. He is perhaps best-known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films....
, which were advertised as worn by Monroe in her movies. The exhibition took place at the Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
Hilton Metropole, and then in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. It included the dress Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
, also known as The White Subway Dress, valued at £1.5 million. Bellinghaus said the collection was not genuine and that the dresses were never worn by Monroe. The exhibition organiser, Andrew Hansford stated that the memorabilia are "100 per cent genuine".
In April 2008, Bellinghaus, Cunningham and Dickinson dismissed as fake the discovery of a Marilyn Monroe sex tape.
In October 2008, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
's 25th anniversary issue had Monroe on the cover and a feature article detailing the history of two filing cabinets full of Monroe documents and personal items. One of these was the typewriter, said to be used by her to write letters to leading figures: Bellinghaus wrote an article pointing out that Monroe could not type, as well as pointing out inconsistencies with other items featured.
In November 2008, there was a dispute between Bellinghaus and the son of Jeanne Carmen
Jeanne Carmen
Jeanne Carmen was an American model, pin-up girl, trick-shot golfer, and B movie actress.-Early life and career:...
over claims that Carmen was a confidante of Monroe. Carmen's son questioned Bellinghaus' credibility and motivations.