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Losing Marilyn
by
Shar Daws
When I first
found Marilyn, I had no understanding of her death - I was a child and
my first introduction to her was as a living person, (even though she
had been dead for around 7 or 8 years by this time) in photos and on
TV/film, she was very much alive - singing and dancing, talking,
laughing and beautiful. Her death was a slow dawning on me, but as I
became a teenager I wanted to understand more.
When you
involve yourself with the facts of Marilyn's last year, ignoring all
the bizarre conspiracy theories, looking at plain documented facts, a
sense of anxiety and panic rises within you.
Marilyn Monroe
was a strong and wilful woman, she knew what she wanted and she knew
how to get it, she was focused and motivated. However, during her
career she found herself attracting people with dubious motives and it
seems Marilyn found it hard to distinguish from those who were her
genuine friends from those people that were looking for their own
advancement, dragging on the skirt tails of this famous woman.
In the end, these
people were like hounds baying for blood, chasing down a vixen, they
all wanted control, they all wanted a piece of the kill. At the end,
some of them got it.
***
By 1961, considerable
changes had taken place in Monroe's life and career, she was no longer
the Starlet climbing the ladder to fame and fortune, she was already
at the top, established and twinkling in a black night sky. Not all
the changes however, were positive ones. There had been a great deal
of upheaval during the last eighteen months, culminating in the death
of her third marriage to the playwright Arthur Miller, undoubtedly
leaving Monroe emotionally bruised and sore. Their divorce became
final on Tuesday 24th January 1961 and around this time it was
reported that Marilyn had said 'everybody I ever loved, I still love a
little'
this is echoed in the play After the Fall (a much denied but a
thinly disguised biography of his relationship with Marilyn) which was
written by Miller and first performed in January 1964, just under
eighteen-months after Marilyn's death. In Act One Miller's character
Quentin says 'Honey, you never stop loving whoever you loved. Why must
you try?'
Ironically, another of
Miller's plays had been transformed into a script as a 'Valentine' to
Marilyn. The Misfits premiered in New York on 31st January
1961, just a week after the dissolution of their marriage. The couple
had been estranged during the filming of The Misfits and
shortly after the film wrapped, her leading man Clarke Gable suffered
a fatal heart attack, which compounded Marilyn's misery around this
time as not only did she lose a good friend and someone she had
admired all her life, even seeing him as a father figure, she also
felt she was being held responsible by the Press, who claimed
Marilyn's behaviour on location put Gable under undue stress and
contributed to his heart attack.
Furthermore, the film was
not an unqualified success. Along with her previous film Let's Make
Love, it received more than it's fair share of negative criticism.
Also around
this time, negotiations were taking place for Marilyn to play the part
of Sadie Thompson in Somerset Maugham's Rain, which was to be
adapted for television. Marilyn was to end up withdrawing from the
project altogether as she wanted Lee Strasberg to direct her, but this
request was refused. Marilyn's loyalty to Lee was so fierce that she
pulled out completely, even though it was a role she was desperately
wanting to take on.
The effect of
this stress was that she became reclusive, taking sleeping pills,
spending her time listening to records in a darkened room and losing
weight. The activity she persistently pursued, were her visits to her
analyst Dr Marianne Kris. Kris suggested her patient needed rest and
so she checked her in to Cornell University Hospital, New York. On 5th
February 1961, Marilyn signed in under the name of 'Faye Miller'
However, on arrival Marilyn was not taken to a normal hospital room,
Kris had arranged for her to be admitted into the Payne Whitney Clinic
- the psychiatric division, where Marilyn was evaluated as extremely
disturbed and therefore, locked into a padded room.
She later told
Norman Rosten, Ralph Roberts and Susan Strasberg that she went into an
intense state of shock.
On Wednesday
8th, a sympathetic nurse agreed to give her note paper and delivered a
message to Lee and Paula Strasberg:
Dear Lee and Paula,
Dr Kris has put me in the hospital under the care of two idiot
doctors. The both should not be my doctors. I'm locked up with these
poor nutty people. I'm sure to end up a nut too if I stay in this
nightmare. Please help me. This is the last place I should be. I love
you both.
Marilyn
P.S. I'm on the dangerous floor. It's like a
cell. They had my bathroom door locked and I couldn't get their key to
get into it, so I broke the glass. But outside of that I haven't done
anything that is uncooperative.
The Strasberg's
did not acknowledge her letter and did not come to her rescue.
On Thursday 9th
February, Marilyn was permitted to make a phone call. After trying two
or three friends, she got no reply. Eventually she reached Joe
DiMaggio in Florida. DiMaggio dropped everything he was doing and
arrived that same evening demanding Monroe be released into his
custody. According to Marilyn he told them he would 'take the hospital
apart brick by brick'
After consulting with Dr Kris, Marilyn was released.
Leaving hospital it was
obvious Marilyn was in a terrible state, she was unhappy, shaking, and
anorexic. Joe arranged for her to check into a private room at the
more comfortable and less threatening Neurological Institute of the
Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital Medical Centre on 10th
February. Here Marilyn was able to regain her strength, she was
discharged on 5th March. During her stay she wrote to Dr Greenson:
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Click to see letter in full |
Joe had visited
the hospital every day, and when she left on March 5th she looked
healthier and happier. Sadly, three days later she attended the
funeral of Augusta Miller, Arthur's mother. At the end of March, she
went to stay with Joe in Florida.
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Marilyn Leaving
the Columbia University Presbyterian
Hospital Medical Centre 5th March 1961 |
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Attending the funeral of Arthur
Miller's Mother 8th March 1961 |
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Florida with Joe
1961 |
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***
During April,
Marilyn returned to L.A. feeling bright and well, however, she was
experiencing a nagging pain in her stomach and right side. She began
seeing Dr Greenson as her regular analyst and Dr Engelberg who
Greenson recommended, by now she was very dependent on Nembutal for
sleeping, Marilyn was extremely sensitive to ambient noise and light,
which aggravated her insomnia.
Within days of attending the
Christening of the late Clarke Gable's son, Marilyn was admitted to
Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, for an operation to relieve her chronic
endometriosis. The operation was performed by her trusted surgeon Dr
Leon Krohn.
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Marilyn attends
the Christening of Clark Gable's son John Clark |
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On the 1st June, her 35th
birthday, she told a London reporter
'I'm very happy to have reached this age, I feel
I'm growing up. It was wonderful being a girl, but it's more wonderful
being a woman'
Around this time it has also
been suggested, allegedly, that Marilyn began a brief affair with
Frank Sinatra.
Back in New York, on the
28th June she found herself in abject agony with digestive tract
illness. Marilyn entered the Manhattan Poly Clinic - this was to be
her fifth admission to hospital in ten months. On 29th June a
successful two-hour Cholecystectomy (Gallbladder surgery) was
performed and Marilyn was able to leave hospital on 11th July. Joe was
with her throughout, and they remained in constant contact thereafter.
At this time, Pat Newcomb
arrived from L.A. and had brought with her a puppy, a gift from Frank
Sinatra - Sinatra had a reputation for having friends of dubious
character, allegedly with Mafia contacts, this prompted Marilyn to
call the puppy 'Maf Honey' a light-hearted joke, in honour of Frank.
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Maf-Honey |
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During July, Marilyn also
collected some personal items from the former home she had shared with
Arthur Miller, this was a very painful time for her.
In early August, Marilyn
returned to L.A.
It was noticed by her
friends that the more she saw of Dr Greenson, the more miserable she
became. Her friend and masseur Ralf Roberts recalled:
'it
did not seem to any of us that he was good for her. He began to exert
more and more control over her life, dictating who she should have for
friends, whom she might visit and so forth. But she felt it was
necessary to obey.'
Her relationship with
Greenson was a complex one. Greenson himself, was soon regularly
cancelling appointments with other patients in order to see Marilyn,
and he was unethically meeting Marilyn at his home for private
sessions.
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Dr Ralph Greenson |
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Towards Christmas '61,
Marilyn again told Ralph Roberts that she was having a miserable time
in therapy but she was determined to stick it out, she was dreaded
starting her new movie. Marilyn had reluctantly accepted the script of
Something's Got To Give the Fox Studio co-starring Dean Martin, with
filming due to commence on 23rd April 1962. She also
told Ralph she was desperately missing her Manhattan friends but that
she was looking forward to sharing the Christmas holidays with Joe,
who arrived in L.A. on 23rd December.
Greenson had
begun taking control of all aspects of Marilyn's life. He advised her
to buy a house in L.A. even though (or perhaps because?) he knew she
wanted to head back to NY and he wanted to prevent this. He also
engaged a personal assistant/housekeeper for Marilyn by the name of
Eunice Murray. Eunice was charged with the job of finding a house. As
with all things to do with Dr Greenson, his relationship with Eunice
was a tangled and complex one, which will be explored more deeply in
Influential People.
Late January 1962, Eunice
located a house in Brentwood as she and Greenson felt it would be the
best area for Marilyn.
The house, a
mock Spanish Hacienda style property, at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive,
Brentwood, was purchased from William and Doris Pagen for $77,500. The
sale of the house was straightforward. For a brief moment Marilyn
hesitated to sign the contract, saying afterwards 'I felt badly
because I was buying a house all alone'
Marilyn
moved in to her new home, with the help of Joe on 8th March 1962.
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The only home Marilyn ever owned
- 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Brentwood, CA |
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According
to her biographer Donald Spoto, it was during this time that there
may possibly have been a couple of sexual encounters between Marilyn
and John F. Kennedy, but Spoto asserts that it was highly unlikely
that this was more than a few brief episodes, and comments that no
serious biographer of Marilyn Monroe can identify Marilyn and JFK as
partners in a love affair.
He goes on
to maintain all that is known for certain is that Marilyn and
Kennedy met four times between October 1961 and August 1962.
Marilyn
had told Ralph Roberts that Saturday 24th March, was the only
ocassion she had been intimate with the President. Her fourth and
final meeting with Kennedy took place at JFK's birthday celebration
gala, Madison Square Gardens on 19th May 1962, where she famously
sang Happy Birthday to the President. According to Susan
Strasberg, Marilyn told her that she enjoyed the secrecy and drama
but would not want that kind of man for life, she was very adament
about this.
Shortly
after moving into 5th Helena, Marilyn contracted a virus. Pat
Newcomb, who was her publicist and friend aggitated Eunice Murray,
Greenson became involved and demanded that Marilyn doubled Eunice's
salary to $200 per week to keep her from leaving. Unwell, and under
the enduring influence of Greenson, Marilyn agreed. Eunice then
engaged her son-in-law Norman Jefferies, his brother and two friends
to do work in Marilyn's house, but she neglected to tell Marilyn of
her personal relationship to Jefferies.
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Eunice Murray
with her son-in-law and Marilyn's handyman Norman Jefferies
leaving Marilyn's house after her death |
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The start
of filming for Something's Got To Give was postponed to
April. The Studio also forbid her to go to New York for the
Presidential Gala as they feared a reoccurrence
of her illness.
During
this time Lee Strasberg negotiated a fee of $5000 per week for
Marilyn to have Paula on board as her coach for the film. The studio
agreed but Marilyn had to pay half of the fee out of her own pocket.
'Once an ardent Socialist, Lee now knew the value of the dollar'
Marilyn
was receiving just $100,000,00 for this movie compared to Dean
Martin and George Cukor who were both receiving $300,000,00 each!
Marilyn's
daily schedule at this time was as follows:
Mon to
Sat:
Facial at
Madame Renna's on Sunset Blvd around noon.
Followed
by a session with Greenson at his Beverly Hills office.
Script
reading with Paula, who was in residence at the Bel-Air Sands Hotel
on Sunset.
Marilyn
then visited Engelberg, Seigel or specialists treating her for other
ailments - she would receive injections and prescriptions during
these visits.
After
visiting the doctor she would then be driven for food shopping at
the Brentwood Mart on San Vincente Blvd or Jurgensens, Beverly
Hills.
Late
afternoon she would be driven back to Greenson for a session at his
home.
This
routine was only broken for costume fittings and makeup tests.
Marilyn
began each day groggy and confused due to the pills she was taking
to deal with her insomnia. However, she appeared at the Studio word
perfect and willing to work.
***
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Marilyn on the
set of Something's Got To Give with her Co-Star Dean Martin
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Shooting
finally began on 23rd April 1962, Marilyn was ill, she had awoken
with a headache, no voice and impaired respiration. Seen by her
dentist (the only physician she could reach at 5am) who
diagnosed acute sinusitis. For the rest of the week she was ordered
to rest at home, visits from Greenson being the only exception.
April 30th, she appeared
on set prompt at 9am but she was still suffering from the severe
sinusitis and a temperature of 101°. Forcing herself to work until
returning home at 4pm, where she collapsed in bed. Dr Engelberg
pronounced her unable to work and ordered her to bed for the rest of
the week. The Studio did not believe her, each evening at 10 or 11pm
the Studio sent a messenger with revised scripts, confusing and
panicking Marilyn even further, in the end there were only four
pages left of the original script.
Having coerced Marilyn
into being wholly dependent on him, Greenson decided, on 10th May,
to take his wife on a five week trip to Europe, leaving Marilyn the
drugs Amobarbital and the antidepressant Dexamyl (which was later
removed from the drug market in the 1970s) Before leaving, Greenson
told Marilyn to dismiss Paula but by the time he left she had
decided it would be Eunice that would be sacked, she had always been
uncomfortable around her and felt that her meddling and interfering
snooping was offensive.
On the 17th May, Marilyn
left for New York. Whilst initially she was given permission to
attend the Gala, Fox had since changed their minds and filed a
Breach of Contract notice on Marilyn for her failure to work.
Marilyn was furious with the Studio. However, on 19th May to a
packed celebrity audience, she was introduced as 'The late Marilyn
Monroe' by Peter Lawford. The crowd went wild for her as she sang
Happy Birthday to the President, wearing a flesh coloured sheath
dress covered in rhinestones.
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Marilyn after
performing at Madison Square Gardens with John F. Kennedy and
his brother Robert |
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Back in L.A.
on the 20th of May, Eunice Murray had taken the cheque and dismissal
as a paid holiday and was cheerfully back at her post, cooking for
Marilyn at Fifth Helena. Marilyn had returned tired and was just
grateful that someone was there, so for the time being she let it go
and things went on as normal.
On the 23rd
May, the famous nude scene of Something's Got To Give, was shot and
used as a publicity stunt. The constant swimming contributed to
Marilyn spiking another temperature, the sinus infection took hold
again and Marilyn was unable to report to work for Monday 28th May,
despite a huge dose of Penicillin.
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The Famous Nude
Scene in Something's Got to Give |
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Finally, by
the 31st May Marilyn felt able to return to work. 1st of June
heralded Monroe's 35th birthday. Cukor refused to have any
celebrations on set, he wanted a full days work in the can before
allowing any celebrations. At
6pm Evelyn Moriarty was
allowed to bring in a cake. Eunice arrived and a tense atmosphere
prevailed. Marilyn had no plans for the rest of the evening. Joe was
on business in Europe but he did call her. Marilyn accepted an
invitation to appear at a charity baseball game, retiring alone at
10pm that evening.
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Marilyn's last
Birthday - 1st June 1961 |
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Saturday
morning, on the 2nd June, weeping uncontrollably she phoned
Greenson's son and daughter. They came to her and found signs of a
Dexamyl overdose. They called Milton Wexler on their father's
instructions, removing all the medication. On the 3rd June, Wexler
was again summoned and provided medication.
By 4th June
Marilyn was sober but angry to the core with Greenson. Eunice called
Greenson who had not yet arrived in
Switzerland. Marilyn refused
to report to work on 5th June, Fox decided to file a lawsuit against
her. On the evening of the 6th June Greenson arrived at Marilyn's
having come directly from the airport and having abandoned his wife
abroad.
On the 7th
June, Greenson took Marilyn to see the eminent Dr Gurdin. Monroe had
black and blue marks on both lower lids, Greenson told Gurdin that
she had slipped and fell in the shower. Dr Gurdin felt that Marilyn
was under the influence of drugs. Fearful she had broken her nose,
all questions Gurdin put to her about her injuries were answered by
Ralph Greenson. After examination Gurdin found no evidence of a
fracture. Greenson never mentioned this 'accident' and Eunice was
told to forget it. Spoto puts Greenson forward, as being responsible
for Marilyn's injuries.
Whilst the
injuries were visible, Greenson sedated her and kept her friends
away.
Greenson
attended a meeting with the Fox executives on 8th June. He told them
that Strasberg and Newcomb were dispensable, but that he would get
Marilyn working again, as he had done during The Misfits. He
further astonished everyone by telling them he would assume
responsibility for all creative areas of the picture, selecting a
new director, camerman etc and to decide what scenes Marilyn would
or would not perform and which takes would finally be printed. That
evening Fox filed their suit again Marilyn Monroe Productions for
$500,00.00.
It can only
be imagined how this news made Marilyn feel, the evidence is that
she sank further into depression and misery.
During this
time, Marilyn received and invitation from Pat and Peter Lawford,
who were to be guests of honour at the home of Robert and Ethel
Kennedy in Virginia. Marilyn's response was to send the following
Telegram:
13th June 1962
Dear Attorney General and Mrs
Kennedy:
I would have been delighted to
have accepted your invitation honouring Pat and Peter Lawford.
Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss
of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound
stars. After all, all we demanded was our right to twinkle.
Marilyn
Monroe.
A second
visit to Gurdin, on 14th June, confirmed all would soon be well.
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