# Speculating on the Monroe Sex Tape **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366 "2008-04-14T22:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/1 "2008-04-14T22:57:12Z")
This is GQ-ey but I don’t think there is a GQ answer so I put it here. [Besides President Kennedy](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24112286/) has anyone read of who else Marilyn was performing oral sex on? Who did this and why? It seems almost certain - since it has been kept under wraps for 40 years that it must be for blackmail purposes - disagree? Does anyone know when it was filmed and is it for 100% real? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/2 "2008-04-14T23:06:57Z")
> [@The article cited in the OP](#): > > Memorabilia collector Keya Morgan said he recently arranged the sale of the silent, black-and-white film…to a wealthy Manhattan businessman who wants to protect Monroe’s privacy. “The gentleman who bought it said out of respect for Marilyn he’s not going to make a joke of it and put it on the Internet and try to exploit her" One might think that if protecting Marylin were his priority, the buyer would destroy the film. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/3 "2008-04-15T01:19:10Z")
But if he destroyed the film, he’d in fact open her legacy to rampant specualtion about the film’s contents, no? You can’t destroy the singular evidence as to a time in history any more than you could a work of art because you judge it to be something less. It happened, it was documented and we’ve all gotton along just fine without knowledge of either it or its content for all these years. If that’s what the buyer did (buy it to protect, not exploit), then I like his approach. I’m not much on invasions of privacy but even more distasteful I think would be destroying whatever redeeming value we may one day think it’s capable of sharing. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/4 "2008-04-15T01:28:43Z")
Someone’s son or daughter, or grandson or granddaughter is going to need money someday, and this tape will go into the the public domain when that happens. Assuming this is some private detective style film the quality is likely to be extremely poor given 60’s portable movie camera technology, and the fact that (assumedly) the film was being made surreptitiously. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/5 "2008-04-15T01:38:12Z")
As to the quality, it was good enough that J. Edgar brought alleged past Kennedy relations in to attempt positive determination of, presumably, whether the manhood in question had CiC potential. Furthermore, ex-husband DiMaggio offered $25K for it why? T’wernt because the participants were overly grainy. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/6 "2008-04-15T01:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=astro] Someone’s son or daughter, or grandson or granddaughter is going to need money someday, and this tape will go into the the public domain when that happens. [/QUOTE] I don’t think you meant to say what you said there, but I could be wrong. How would putting it into the public domain make anyone any money off it? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/7 "2008-04-15T01:41:26Z")
There’s a Zapruder film joke in here somewhere… The head goes back and to the left. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/8 "2008-04-15T01:46:21Z")
_“My name is Abraham Zacooter and…”_ ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/9 "2008-04-15T01:52:59Z")
[QUOTE=jimmmy] This is GQ-ey but I don’t think there is a GQ answer so I put it here. [Besides President Kennedy](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24112286/) has anyone read of who else Marilyn was performing oral sex on? [/QUOTE] Interesting question. Some bios and movie histories have her as having an epic sexual appetite, and others as quite demure despite her sex appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/10 "2008-04-15T01:55:38Z")
A million and a half for a BJ wank flick! Someone needs to introduce this guy to the internet! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/11 "2008-04-15T01:56:56Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I don’t think you meant to say what you said there, but I could be wrong. How would putting it into the public domain make anyone any money off it? [/QUOTE] The money will be paid by the entity that wants to charge for access, or flog it for publicity, or whatever, and 10 minutes later it will be on the net. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/12 "2008-04-15T02:10:11Z")
[QUOTE=Gatopescado] A million and a half for a BJ wank flick! Someone needs to introduce this guy to the internet! [/QUOTE] Clothed even! Unless there’s some amazing skills being demonstrated it doesn’t even sound particularly erotic. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/13 "2008-04-15T03:37:08Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] You can’t destroy the singular evidence as to a time in history any more than you could a work of art because you judge it to be something less. It happened, it was documented and we’ve all gotten along just fine without knowledge of either it or its content for all these years. If that’s what the buyer did (buy it to protect, not exploit), then I like his approach. I’m not much on invasions of privacy but even more distasteful I think would be destroying whatever redeeming value we may one day think it’s capable of sharing. [/QUOTE] I’m having trouble understanding what redeeming value there is in a film of Marylin sucking on an identified (and apparently unidentifiable) man’s dick. But in any case, my post above was mocking the buyer’s motives of keeping it private to “protect” Marylin. He’s going to preserve it for for whatever unstated reasons he has, and that’s fine. But tossing out that he has a pure reason for doing this, completely altruistic, is laughable. If he wanted to protect the woman, he’d destroy the film, end of story. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/14 "2008-04-15T03:48:21Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] I’m having trouble understanding what redeeming value there is in a film of Marylin sucking on an identified (and apparently unidentifiable) man’s dick. But in any case, my post above was mocking the buyer’s motives of keeping it private to “protect” Marylin. He’s going to preserve it for for whatever unstated reasons he has, and that’s fine. But tossing out that he has a pure reason for doing this, completely altruistic, is laughable. If he wanted to protect the woman, he’d destroy the film, end of story. [/QUOTE] You might be surprised. MM and the preservation of her memory and quasi-worship of her (mainly as a gay icon) is still a big deal for some people. I have no problem believing some rich old guy who cherished her memory would buy the tape to keep it from being exploited as vintage porn. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/15 "2008-04-15T03:55:42Z")
[QUOTE=astro] I have no problem believing some rich old guy who cherished her memory would buy the tape to keep it from being exploited as vintage porn. [/QUOTE] Right, but… maybe you misunderstand, or maybe I misunderstand you, but wouldn’t he be doing an _even better_ job of keeping it from being exploited as vintage porn if he destroyed the tape rather than preserving it? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/16 "2008-04-15T04:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] … You can’t destroy the singular evidence as to a time in history any more than you could a work of art because you judge it to be something less. … [/QUOTE] Well what you’re saying is that _you_ can’t. Many many others can and do destroy documents and art they don’t like. Book burnings, smashing rock & roll albums, desroying the ancient library at Alexandria – they’re all akin and seem to be wildly popular events to a certain crowd. Though I don’t recall someone paying a million bucks for the privilege, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Personally, though, I think it’s not being released now because that would destroy its financial value – copies would be made and be all over the world in minutes. The guy will jerk off to it until it doesn’t give him a rise anymore, and then sell it off to the next millionaire wanker. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/17 "2008-04-15T04:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=astro] mainly as a gay icon [/QUOTE] MM is a gay icon? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/18 "2008-04-15T05:07:18Z")
This is where the story lost all credibility to me: > [@](#): > > “The FBI agent that I interviewed said J. Edgar Hoover was completely obsessed. A team of nine individuals were analyzing the tape inside a lab. J. Edgar Hoover brought in a few prostitutes who allegedly had been with President Kennedy and they tried to … see if that was really President Kennedy.” ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/19 "2008-04-15T14:49:08Z")
I’m sure that everybody here agrees with me that there aren’t already several hundred copies in somebody’s possession, even as we speak! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366/20 "2008-04-15T16:58:33Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive] There’s a Zapruder film joke in here somewhere… The head goes back and to the left. [/QUOTE] Kennedy got a shot off but it was Marilyn’s head that went back, and to the left. Of course, most films have some form of foreshadowing… The worst part was Jackie climing over the coffee table to wipe up the spill. Edit - I didn’t even notice your “back and to the left” comment at first. So do you hear it in Kevin Costner’s nasally voice as well? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-the-monroe-sex-tape/445366.md?page=2)