I've been collecting Marilyn Monroe memorabilia since 1985 or so. I've developed some opinions along the way, and this is the section of the site where I share them. (Some of these points are mentioned on other pages at the site.)

Companies who place their Marilyn collectible in clothing she never actually wore is one of my pet peeves.

Examples of this phenomenon can be found in several instances, such as the dolls by DSI and several of the Marilyn ornaments by Carlton Cards.

Please, if you're too cheap to buy the rights from 20th Century Fox or from her photographers to use actual costumes she wore in her films or in her photo shoots, don't bother.

Next on my list:

Dolls / figurines that don't look like Marilyn. Franklin Mint is somewhat guilty of this.

Look, when I pay $200 on a Marilyn doll, it had better look exactly like her. Of course, one site I visited says that Marilyn's estate would not allow Franklin Mint to make the dolls exact replicas of Marilyn -- if this is true, it's rather bizarre and still unfair.

Marilyn Doll: Bette Midler:

THE MARILYN DOLL THAT LOOKS LIKE BETTE MIDLER & OTHER ODDITIES

My latest complaint has to do with the 2003 doll released by Stronghold (and was made, apparently, in conjunction with Playboy).

In some of the initial photos I saw of this doll, it looked a lot like Marilyn.

However, in photos I've seen of this doll on e-bay auctions, the doll looks more like Bette Midler than like Marilyn ~

(see photos to left; the very top one is the Marilyn doll, the 3 photos below it are of Bette Midler)

~ I don't have anything against Midler, but as a Marilyn fan who is buying a Marilyn doll, I really don't want to pay $100 or more for a so-called Monroe doll that looks like Midler!

JAYNE MANSFIELD IS NOT MARILYN . . . and NEITHER IS JAY LENO

I also own a Marilyn water globe, made by Enesco, where the Marilyn figure inside the globe looks like Jay Leno in drag.

On a similar note, I get annoyed by people who confuse Jayne Mansfield with Marilyn. One Marilyn book I own has a photo of Mansfield in it and yet claims that it is Marilyn in the photo.

I have a shot glass made in the late 1990s with what is supposed to be Marilyn on it, yet it appears to be Mansfield (or some other 1950s starlet).

Yes, the "Marilyn bobbing head" by SAMS is quite rare, but there really is no justification in an asking price of $144 for it, as one individual did this month on e-bay.

Even though I've been looking to add this thing to my collection for the past five years, and even though I am a serious collector, I am not going to pay for overpriced items.

AND SPEAKING OF E-BAY.COM, PART 1: HOME MADE COLLECTIBLES

With maybe just a small number of exceptions, I do not like to feature "one of a kind" or hand-made Marilyn items in the collectibles section. I want to feature only professionally made, mass produced items.

Sometimes it is difficult for me to distinguish between the professionally created products and the hand-made ones, and the sellers on e-bay and other such sites do not always include this information in their descriptions.

I get so tired of seeing inferior- quality Marilyn mouse pads, mugs, and t-shirts that were made by some "Joe Blow" with a printer.

There are times, though, where it's hard to tell if it's a "Made by Joe Blow at home on his personal computer" item or if it's something from a company who paid Marilyn's estate to use her image.

AND SPEAKING OF E-BAY.COM, PART 2: IF IT'S BLONDE, IT MUST BE MARILYN

It's very irritating to find Marilyn search results by E-bay vendors who assume that a figurine or doll must be Marilyn Monroe because it has blond hair, when in fact, it's not Marilyn.

Then there are the sellers who stamp Marilyn's name in their headings even if their entry has nothing to do with Marilyn. They do this to get more hits on their e-bay page.

I came across one page this past week, for instance, where some lady was selling a dress that "looks like something Marilyn Monroe would've worn."

The dress itself did not have a print of Marilyn's face on it or anything like that, nor was it from a clothing line named after Marilyn.

If the thing you're selling doesn't actually have anything to do with Marilyn directly, please leave the "Marilyn Monroe" name out of your E-bay pages.

I resent my time being wasted by having to wade through auctions that are bogus.

AND SPEAKING OF E-BAY.COM PART 3: "HARD TO FIND! RARE!"

I know I sound like Andy Rooney of television's "60 Minutes" here, but have you ever noticed how some people on E-bay.com list just about everything Monroe-related as being "Rare" or "Hard to Find?"

I'm sorry, but no, your "Sultry Yet Regal" plate of Marilyn is NOT "rare," nor is it very hard to find elsewhere.

As of 2007, I'm still seeing people slapping the "rare" label on mass- produced Marilyn items that are easy to find.

(see section below for more on this)

When I first saw that purses with Marilyn's image were being made, I was thrilled. I always find it interesting when new and different types of Marilyn collectibles become available.

Now, however, I am less than thrilled. At first, there were maybe several different Marilyn purses / hand bags / wallets on the market, and now, just a couple of months later, I am seeing about a billion more on the web.

Aside from the novelty factor wearing off after seeing so many, there's no way I can afford to buy all of them, so the whole thing becomes an exercise in frustration.

Ditto with Marilyn Monroe cigarette lighters. I noticed after "Zippo" made a Marilyn lighter sometime in 2002, I believe it was, they came out with two more the following year, and now other companies are making them.

BRADFORD EXCHANGE RUNS IT INTO THE GROUND

And as for collector's plates... a note to Bradford Exchange: ENOUGH ALREADY!

While I own 50 or more different plates, most of them by Bradford, I have grown tired of collecting them, not to mention I have run out of room for them.

Bradford is just milking their Chris Notarile (who is a fine artist) Marilyn images for all they're worth.

First we got approximately 45,000,000,000 different series of 'regular' plates from them, starting back in the early 1990s. Series after series kept coming out through-out the '90s.

Then they combined the same Marilyn images from those plate on to oval shaped, smaller plates that have figurines glued to them (I think these began coming out around 2000 or 2001).

But they didn't stop there, oh no.

They went and slapped those same images on spiral-shaped Christmas tree ornaments, as well as flat, ceramic, die-cut ornaments -- I think that series contains roughly 800 trillion ornaments, doesn't it?

(A well-meaning family member bought me a subscription to that series of die-cut ornaments. That was a year ago, and I am still getting them.)

Next, good 'ol Bradford made a series of plates surrounded by faux diamonds (or jewels of some sort).

Then they came out with a montage of Chris Notarile-created Marilyn images on a larger (12 inch diameter) plate around 2003.

I'm just so burnt out by it, I'm not interested in collecting any more plates (at least not ones by Bradford).

FRANKLIN MINT: TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Kudos to the Mint for at least attempting to provide fans with a variety of Marilyn trinkets. They've made musical domes, bronze sculptures, and porcelain figurines of Marilyn over the years.

However, they are running dangerously close to becoming the "Bradford Exchange" of the Marilyn doll business, especially concerning the 18 inch tall (or taller) porcelain dolls.

At this point in time, they've produced at least 550 trillion such dolls. When I got my first one, the "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" doll, back in 1990 (or was it '91?) I was elated.

Yes, many of Franklin Mint's Marilyn dolls are lovely, but now, in 2003, and after seeing about 15 or so different 18 inch tall porcelain dolls from these guys, I've kind of lost interest.

Since 2003, Franklin Mint has continued cranking out vinyl Marilyn dolls, as well as two or three porcelain ones. Just this year, in 2007, I believe they've released two of the vinyl variety.

And they really ought to consider lowering the $205 price on the porcelain ones. At $100 some odd dollars, the vinyl dolls are also over-priced..

VANDOR

It's 2007 as I write this. The people at Vandor created some Marilyn merchandise going as far back as the early 1990s.

However, Vandor has, for the past few years, gotten worse:

Each year they produce a product line consisting mainly of a coffee mug, some address books, notebooks, and a trash can. The only thing that changes are the photos of Marilyn used on the items.

I wouldn't be surprised if, in 2008 or 2009, they trot out another slew of Marilyn address books, notebooks, mugs, and a trash can.

Marilyn Monroe lunch boxes. Lunch boxes. Lunch boxes that even come with a matching thermos. Why?

A Marilyn Monroe 'window waver?' Shower head? Couch? Air freshners and incense?

I can see making Marilyn posters, t-shirts, and dolls, but some things manufacturers come up with to slap Monroe's face on are just bizarre.

I enjoy collecting unusual Monroe items as much as the next fan, but I sometimes think we'd be better off without some of these weird products.

And yes, I'm guilty of owning some of the more odd-ball collectibles myself.

I'm all for "affordable" collectibles because goodness knows some companies go the other route and (in my opinion) over-charge Marilyn Monroe fans (the $200 dolls by Franklin Mint being one such example. I have never felt that these things were worth the $200 price tags, even if they are nice).

As far as your more shoddy Monroe merchandise - the lower class, "cheesy looking" items which sometimes only share a passing resemblance to her - the biggest culprits in this category would probably be "Clay Art" and "Vandor." (I still own trinkets made by each company, however.)

I just look at some of these things, such as the 'head-shaped' Clay Art Monroe mug, and even I find it tacky.

Don't even get me started on Clay Art's first Monroe salt and pepper shaker series. Each piece looked like a little blob of ceramic with some yellow painted at the top (for Monroe's blonde hair), and black dots for eyes.

I know these are not great works of art, but, c'mon, I think these guys can do a little better.

We have an over abundance of Marilyn products where Marilyn is depicted in the white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch.

I would be thrilled if no more Seven Year Itch white halter dress items were ever made.

Why not make dolls, Christmas tree ornaments, and what have you, of Marilyn wearing the "tiger" dress from Seven Year Itch, or even the white pant suit?

As for other ensembles from The Seven Year Itch, how about the dress she wears when she's carrying a fan into the apartment building, or the outfit from the "Dazzle Dent" toothpaste commercial scene? Why do all the dolls and all the other Marilyn items have to wear the white Itch halter dress?

I'd also like to know why are there no - or only a small number of - products of Marilyn as Cherie from Bus Stop?

Would it kill Carlton Cards, Vandor, Bradford Exchange, or Hallmark and all other Marilyn merchants to have Marilyn in the green peasant blouse with black skirt, or in the green (with gold trim) leotard on their purses, buttons, key chains and mugs?

Why no Marilyn dolls of Marilyn in cowboy boots, jeans, and pigtails from her role as Roslyn in The Misfits? How about the white halter "Roslyn" dress with the cherries on it?

Other than a few Eve Arnold postcards, I've not seen any Misfits- based Marilyn collectibles. How can companies ignore Marilyn's last film?

Then there's Marilyn's last incomplete film, Something's Got To Give. Even though I'm not fond of the hairstyle Marilyn had in the picture, I'd still like to have a doll or set of salt and pepper shakers of her in some of the dresses she wore in Something's Got To Give.

Granted, Let's Make Love is not one of Marilyn's better films, but why no collectibles of her in the "Specialization" dress, or in the black leotard with the heavy sweater?

One rarely sees any Sugar Kane (Some Like It Hot) based collectibles, either. There's been an ornament by Carlton cards, a doll by Franklin Mint, and a small sculpture, and that's all.

Marilyn Monroe fans are already familiar with The Seven Year Itch: the skirt blowing up midair is Monroe's most iconic moment, we get it already.

So please, please, give us a respite from the Seven Year Itch white halter dress key chains, mugs, dolls, ornaments and whatever else.

Diversify. Give us dolls, cigarette lighters, watches, and water globes of Marilyn from her other films. The Seven Year Itch is not Marilyn's only movie.

Remember, I am your demographic: a Marilyn fan. I know more about her than the average guy on the street, and the average guy on the street most likely won't buy any Monroe- related merchandise, even if she's shown in the Seven Year Itch white halter dress. I want variety.