Something's Got to Give
Something's Got To Give (shot 1962, formally released June 1, 2001) is one of the most prolific unfinished films in Hollywood history. The light bedroom comedy, produced by a then-foundering Twentieth Century Fox and directed by George Cukor, featured an all-star cast including thirty-five-year-old Marilyn Monroe as a woman returned to her family after the Navy rescues her from a deserted atoll in the Pacific, on which she has spent 6 years. Dean Martin signed on to play her lawyer husband, as did Cyd Charisse to play his new wife whom he marries the day Monroe's character returns home unbeknownst to everyone.
Several weeks before principal photography began, the cast and crew gathered on a fully-lit recreation of George Cukor's Beverly Hills home. Production Designer Gene Allen had sent a crew of men to Cukor's home to photograph the entire estate. The final result was something Cukor and Allen were extremely proud of. In fact, Cukor was photographed legs-crossed, standing in front of the pool in the set's courtyard. Cukor intended this photograph to become his 1962 Christmas card, according to Allen, but considering what finally happened on August 5, he felt it would be tasteless.
Despite his pride for his set, and his apparently good-natured relationship with Monroe on the set of Let's Make Love (1960), Cukor's attitude seemed to change on this picture. The entire crew was present for the wardrobe tests that morning, except George Cukor. Marilyn Monroe had been absent from the screen for over a year. She had recently undergone gall bladder surgery, and had dropped over 25 pounds, reaching the lowest weight of her adult life. The baby fat was gone, according to her costumer, Marjorie Pletcher. The costume and hair style drawings depicted a new Monroe, much more sophisticated and stylish than any character depicted prior. No one would be ready for what walked onto the set that day. Wearing some of her own clothes, and some of those commissioned by Fox for the film, Marilyn garnered applause and wolf whistles from the catwalks above. If she had been feeling let down at the director's absence, she let no one know about it. Smiling and radiant, she posed before the Cinemascope cameras filled with silent color film for six hours of tests. She wore a thigh-length blonde wig meant for the beginning of the film, a two-piece black wool suit (also worn in Let's Make Love), a black and white spaghetti strap silk dress, and a lime green bikini with a bottom designed to cover her navel. All the actors participated in these tests. When the rushes were reviewed by Fox executives and the film's producers, they knew they had something good caught on film, and hoped against hope that this time, things would be different with Marilyn. Before shooting had began, Monroe had let Weinstein know that she had been asked by the White House to perform for President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in honor of his birthday on May 29, 1962. She had "give" costume designer, Jean Louis come to her home and design a stunning skin tight rhinestone convered dress that she would have to be sewn into before appearing onstage in New York. As evidenced by the expenditure of $30,000 ($185,256.32 in 2005 American dollars) on the dress, she was determined to go. The producer granted her permission to attend the gala believing there would be no problems on the set.
On the first day of production, Monday, April 23, 1962. Monroe telephoned producer Henry Weinstein from her bedroom at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Brentwood, California, very early in the morning to tell him that she had a severe flu and would not be on the set that morning. Apparently, she had caught the flu after her trip to New York City, in which she visited her acting coach, Lee Strassberg of the Actor's Studio, to go over the character of Ellen Arden). The studio sent staff doctor Lee Siegel to examine the star at her home. His diagnosis would have postponed Give for a month. Marilyn's personal internist, Dr. Hyman Engleberg, was not consulted.
George Cukor refused to wait. Immediately, the director reorganized his shooting schedule to film scenes around his leading lady. At 7:30am, actress and dancer Cyd Charisse was telephoned at her residence with a request that she come to the Fox lot as soon as possible. Later that morning, the very first scene captured on film involved Nick and Bianca Arden's return from Honolulu to San Francisco, and their encounter with children building a treehouse. Monroe showed up periodically on the set in the weeks to come, but the production continued to fall behind schedule. She would be present a day here or a day there. And by the time Tuesday May 29 came around no one really thought she would still go to New York and Miss almost a week of shooting. But she did.
Cukor was furious, but his crew seemed to take it in stride. They had dealt with the behavior of many a star in Hollywood. They were just mostly concerned with a project which seemed to be reeling out of control. Production costs were way over budget and there still wasn't a totally usable script despite writer Walter Bernsteins efforts. The continual script rewrites aggravated Monroe's well known issues with script memorization. Monroe seemed very deeply introspective and would spend all of her free time on the set in her dressing room with Lee Strasberg's wife, Paula. It was she whom Marilyn depended on for support and direction during a shoot, not the diector.
Charisse stated in 2001 that she believed Marilyn had a lot of psychological problems. She was backed up by Monroe's Internist, Dr. Engelberg. Engelberg finally disclosed to fans also in 2001, that Marilyn was known to have Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depressive Illness). At that time, the only known treatment were brutal anti-psychotic drugs like Thorazine and Millaril. These would have left Monroe unable to live with a very high quality of life or even think about working. There is some speculation that she did recieve some experimental injections that led to her apparent slurred speech and groggyness at the 1962 Golden Globes Award where she won an award. The first effective treatment for Bipolar Disorder was released by the FDA in 1970, it was called lithium. The medicine she really needed came eight years too late.
Upon her return from New York, Monroe realized she was making a pipcture that was going to be reponsible for paying Cleopatra's bills. She decided to give the film a boost by doing something no other American actress had up to that time. There was a scene where she was to jump into the Arden swimming pool at night and try to lure Dean Martin's character away from Cyd Charisse's character. "Come on in the water's so refrshing, after you've done- oh you know!" She play calls fully up to his bedroom window. Martin tells her to get out of the pool and then realizes she is nude. A body stocking was made for her, but monroe stripped it at the side of the pool after she got in and swam around nude the whole day. The entire set was closed down to all but necessary crew and still photographers Monroe had asked to come in, like William Woodfield.
On June 1, 1962 Monroe, Martin and Wally Cox shot a scene in the court yard set. The day marked Monroe's 36th birthday. Nothing lavish happened. The studio didn't even buy a cake. But they did provide coffee which they later billed to Monroe. Monroe's stand in, Evelyn Moriarty, bought a 7 dollar sheet cake at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market. A studio illustrator drew a card of a cartoon of a nude monroe holding a towel. It read, "Happy Bithday Suit". The cast and crew signed it. The crew made sure the cake was locked up until 6:00 and then it was brought out. It would be Monroe's last day on the set of Something's Got To Give. SHe left the party with co-star Wally Cox. She borrowed the fur trimmed suit she had worn while filming that day because she was to attend a Muscular Dystrophy Fund Raiser at Dodgers Stadium that evening with Joe Dimaggio Jr.
On Monday morning, producer Henry Weinstein got the call he dreaded. Monroe was on the other line telling him she wouldn't be there again that day. She had apparently caught cold at the Dodgers game. A meeting of studio suits quickly assembled. Director George Cukor strongly endorsed her release from the picture. Marilyn's absence of 17 out of 30 shooting days led to her termination from the project on Friday, June 8, 1962. She was replaced with actress Lee Remick, who was fitted into Monroe's costumes and photographed with Cukor. Dean Martin cited his contract, saying he had leading lady approval and stated, "No Marilyn, No Picture." The project seemingly ended there.
Monroe gathered the press and anyone who would listen to her story. She felt betrayed by the system. The system felt betrayed by her. She launched a campaign to win her job back. She contacted Cyd Charisse, and asked for her assistance and support in getting the film back on track. Charisse agreed to be part of the effort. Monroe eventually met with studio heads. They agreed to hire her back due to the publicity she has raised against the studio which had always remained "nameless" in her interviews. They agreed to pay her more than her previous salary of $200,000. But first she had to agree to two more films for Fox. She accepted the offer on the condition that George Cukor was replaced with Jean Negulesco, who had directed her in How To Marry A Millionaire.
Filming was planned to resume in October. Unfortunately, the lights never came on again on the set of Give. On Sunday, August 5, 1962, Marilyn's life was gone. She was the victim of what Los Angeles medical examiners Dr. Thomas Noguchi and Dr. Theodore Curphey ruled to be an apparent barbituate overdose involving chloral hydrate and nembutal, based on previous suicide attempts and threats of self-harm.
Nine hours of footage from the film sat in the vaults at Twentieth Century Fox until 1999, when it was digitally restored by Prometheus Entertainment to form a semi-coherent, 32-minute segment for the two-hour documentary, Marilyn: The Final Days. It aired on American Movie Classics on Marilyn's birthday, June 1, 2001.