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11/04/2003: "Dead Man Working"

For some reason, Forbes tracks the income of dead celebrities and posts an annual feature listing the top earners along with pictures and entertainingly written "obituaries" which include the annual take and who, if anyone, survives the dead celeb. They have this feature arranged in the form of a gruesome little slide show. Don't get me wrong; it's nice to see that someone like Jerry Garcia, who was probably only home about three days a year, still has a few million dollars a year coming in for his wife and kiddies. Especially since Jerry wasn't the type of guy to get himself mixed up in a lot of unnecessary paperwork and contractual complications. Click more.. below.

We can guess that Madonna, a "taking care of business" kind of gal, will be somewhere near the top of that list someday. But, what about people like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe? They died in the '60s, before lawyers had word processors and are survived by virtually no immediate family, and yet their legend, as a comodity, is towing in millions for somebody every year. Forbes' Lisa DiCarlo writes of Marilyn Monroe, for example, who is not survived by any immediate family:

"Elton John sung that Marilyn Monroe's candle burned out long before her legend ever did. That's more true than ever, as Marilyn's income surpassed last year's. Half of her $8 million earnings was derived from advertising deals, including two new ones with Chrysler and Volkswagen in Europe. Another third comes from merchandising--Marilyn Merlot, for example--and the rest is residuals from movies and other media."

What kind of process, performed by what kind of people, allows Marilyn, who never asks for a raise or gets involved in a scandal but has been dead for 40 years, to take huge advertising dollars away from Madonna, Britney Spears and many other hungry players, who wish to become cultural icons themselves? And, if we have evolved contracts into an art form where everyone gets his/her piece, dead or alive, then how can this square with legends of prizefighters who are punch drunk bums or with ex football players dying in gutters wearing their Super Bowl rings. OK, that last is overdramatization, but the fact is that a dead celebrity is a good celebrity. Ask any ghoulish lawyer with a word processor. Are these poor bastards still in the union?

If you would like to check out the Forbes "Dead Celeb Land" page CLICK HERE.

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