Marilyn Monroe — MGM’s Rising Star, 1950

Rare Large-Format Publicity Negative from The Asphalt Jungle, 1950

An original vintage large-format black-and-white publicity negative depicting Marilyn Monroe during her breakout Hollywood years at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Research indicates the negative is associated with the promotional publicity campaign for The Asphalt Jungle, the landmark 1950 crime drama directed by John Huston that helped introduce Monroe to a national audience. Comparison with surviving archival examples published through Getty Images and Corbis Historical strongly suggests this negative originates from the same MGM glamour portrait session created during the film’s promotion.

The image captures Monroe in an elegant off-the-shoulder black evening gown posed against flowing studio drapery — a timeless example of classic Hollywood glamour photography from the golden age of cinema. The negative retains visible studio archive markings, including the reference code “C1479-62,” and exhibits authentic vintage handling and retouching characteristics associated with working Hollywood publicity negatives used for reproduction and press distribution.

Large-format vintage negatives from Marilyn Monroe’s early MGM years are increasingly scarce, particularly those connected to important early productions such as The Asphalt Jungle.