MARILYN MONROE LOVER HAL SCHAEFER 1961 LP -SIGNED- Music That Reminds Me Of You

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MARILYN MONROE LOVER HAL SCHAEFER 1961 LP -SIGNED- Music That Reminds Me Of You

MUSIC THAT REMINDS ME OF YOU
Hal Schaefer and his Orchestra
1961 / United Artists UAL 3136
Vintage 12" 33rpm Vinyl Record Album

Signed with inscription to pianist and The New School/Mannes Preparatory Division co-chair Esther Hoffman-Wexler (as "Esther"):

"To Esther -- A True Talent!
Thanks for enjoying this record.
My best always. Hal Schaefer"

Hal Schaefer (1925-2012) was an American jazz musician and vocal coach to world-famous movie stars such as Mitzi Gaynor, Betty Grable, Judy Garland, Jane Russell, Susan Hayward, a young Barbra Streisand, and -- most notably, Marilyn Monroe.

He met Monroe while giving her voice lessons for the 1953 film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and arranged the version of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" that she smolderingly delivered in the film -- and would become one of the defining moments of her career.

Their relationship took a personal turn when he coached her for the movie "There's No Business Like Show Business," released in 1954, the year she married and divorced DiMaggio.

It almost got him killed...

Monroe and DiMaggio had been divorced for more than a week when -- acting on a tip from a private investigator -- a group of men broke down the door of a West Hollywood apartment on Nov. 5, 1954, only to be greeted by a middle-aged woman screaming in her bed.

Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra were reportedly spotted scurrying away from the scene.

Nearby, Monroe was escaping through the back door of another apartment with Schaefer, who said decades later, "I think I'd be dead today if they had found me in there with Marilyn. They came in there and started destroying things. I mean, these guys were thugs."

The break-in that came to be known as the "wrong-door raid" led to state and local investigations into whether private detectives and others were leaking salacious details about celebrities to scandal magazines. Confidential's coverage of it was seen as contributing to the magazine's demise.

One wonders if this record's nude-look head-and-shoulders photo of a beautiful woman, and its title -- "Music That Reminds Me Of You" -- were intended as references to Hal Schaefer's intimate relationship with Marilyn Monroe.

Schaeffer never left the music industry, but even though he went on to distinguish himself as a jazz pianist, composer and arranger, his professional accomplishments were largely overlooked -- until recently.

In 2009, Hal Schaefer was nominated by Michael Feinstein for the nation’s most prestigious jazz award, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship.

Feinstein offered a theory as to why widespread fame eluded Schaefer. "He had a piano style and a musical palette that was possibly a little advanced for the average listener. He had a brilliant way of incorporating very modern musical language into his playing that was masterful, yet he also could instantly switch to creating a dance arrangement for Judy Garland or Marilyn Monroe."

Condition: Sleeve is very well preserved with great eye-appeal -- bright and retaining most of its original gloss with very little surface wear or soiling. All edges are in great condition -- no splits. Original inner sleeve is present and clean with a bit of paper damage to one corner but no edge splits. Record is in played condition with some scratches but not bad.

All photographs are of actual item.

Full refunds cheerfully given for any item that I have misdescribed.