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Something Had To Give

© John McManamy

"The Marilyn captured on film completely belies the sound and fury behind the scenes."

On April 10, 1962, Marilyn Monroe arrived on the set of the bedroom farce, "Something's Got To Give," for costume and screen tests. Producer Henry Weinstein described her as "at her best," but later that same evening he found her unconscious from an apparent sleeping pill overdose. Weinstein pleaded with the executives at Fox to delay shooting, but with the studio teetering on financial collapse as a result of the white elephant, "Cleopatra," they badly needed their most bankable star to bail them out.

Marilyn suffered from bipolar, untreatable at the time. A recent AMC documentary, "Marilyn Monroe - The Final Days" recounts what happened next:

Shooting was delayed a week while Marilyn went to New York to be with her mentors, Lee and Paula Strasberg. She returned energized, but with a bad cold that rendered her cinematically hors de combat. The studio rejected their own doctor's recommendation that production be postponed a month. One week later, Marilyn reported to work, only to collapse on the set the next day.

A short time earlier, US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy had entered Marilyn's life. Marilyn confided in Weinstein of her impending first date and sought his advice on what kind of questions she should be asking. A week later, when Weinstein enquired how it was going, Marilyn cheerfully replied, "I don't need any more questions."

Then there was Robert's older brother, President John F Kennedy. Marilyn skipped a day of shooting to pant her famous rendition of "Happy Birthday, Mr President" in a gown that anticipated Jennifer Lopez by 40 years.

Meanwhile, the set at Fox resembled an armed camp, with director George Cukor at odds with both Marilyn and producer Weinstein, frustrated actors, an unhappy crew, and Fox executives on the warpath over Marilyn's absences.

But the Marilyn captured on film completely belies the sound and fury behind the scenes. The screen fairly lights up with her presence, and a nude pool scene, painstakingly reconstructed from footage in the vault 40 years later, stands as Exhibit A for why there has been no one like her before or since.

But soon after the pool scene, she disappeared for the weekend, then called in sick. When she returned to the set, she seemed to lack focus. Speculation has it that RFK may have broken off the affair.

By now, filming was 11 days behind schedule. Marilyn had worked for but 13 of 30 production days. When she called in sick for the 17th time, Fox fired her. Marilyn was humiliated and began believing reports that she was all washed up, but then she rebounded to wage a spirited public relations campaign which resulted in the studio doing a complete about-face, signing her to a $1,000,000 two-picture contract. With shooting on "Something's Got To Give" set to resume with a new director, Marilyn was back with a vengeance.

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