Marilyn Monroe dress, which prompted veteran star Joan Crawford to describe her behavior as "unbecoming an actress and a lady" to the press. While "Niagara" made Monroe a sex symbol and established her "look", her second film of the year, the satirical musical comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", established her screen persona as a "dumb blonde". Based on Anita Loos' bestselling novel and its Broadway version, the film focuses on two "gold-digging" showgirls, Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, played by Monroe and Jane Russell. The role of Lorelei was originally intended for Betty Grable, who had been 20th Century-Fox's most popular "blonde bombshell"
Todd Fisher generated to pay off their creditors. In statements made to the press, Fisher announced that his mother was "heartbroken" to have to auction off her collection, which was valued at $10.79 million in the bankruptcy filing. The collection was sold in a series of auctions from June to December 2011. On June 18, 2011, Marilyn Monroe's "subway dress", whose skirt is raised by the updraft of a passing subway train in "The Seven Year Itch", sold for $4.6 million, far in excess of pre-auction estimates of $1–2 million. Another Monroe dress, worn in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", fetched $1.2 million; it