MM’s Unfinished Finale: ‘Something’s Got to Give’ 1962

Marilyn Monroe in "Something's Got to Give."
What should have been a quick dip turned into a debacle.

Marilyn Monroe, from her last, unfinished film, 1962's "Something's Got to Give."

This essay isn’t just about the making of Marilyn Monroe’s Something’s Got to Give or the partially finished results. What I find most fascinating is how this no-brainer, assembly line remake became so fraught with off-camera drama. Much has been said about the making of the ‘62 sex comedy, with wildly differing views, all of which would be worthy of a film in itself.

The title of Marilyn Monroe’s final, unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give, has long been a go-to reference point for the last year of her life. Less commented upon is that Marilyn plays a woman who everyone thought was dead!

Wardrobe tests showed Marilyn Monroe in fine form for "Something's Got to Give."

Something’s Got to Give was a 1962 remake of the classic comedy, 1940’s My Favorite Wife, which starred Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Gail Patrick. The new version cast Monroe in the Dunne role, with Dean Martin, Thomas Tryon, and Cyd Charisse replacing the above cast, respectively. Monroe’s missing wife is presumed dead after she’s swept away in a yachting accident. MM turns up five years later, just as her husband Martin remarries, to neurotic Charisse. Tryon plays the hunk that was stranded on a desert island with her.

Marilyn Monroe with friend/co-star Dean Martin in "Something's Got to Give."

While not the dramatic type of role that Marilyn craved, this George Cukor-directed froth was film fodder that was very much in style, thanks to the Doris Day/Rock Hudson sex comedy, Pillow Talk. Monroe owed Fox two films on her old contract, so Marilyn was assigned yet another sex comedy. And since Cukor also owed the studio a film, he accepted the directorial task. So what if Marilyn and George had already teamed up for 1960’s limp Let’s Make Love. Something’s Got to Give, indeed: A rehash of a classic, with talent that didn’t click, who took part only to fulfill old studio obligations—what could go wrong?

Ava Gardner once said, that in Hollywood, the only reason they kiss so much, is that
 otherwise, they'd be at your throat! George Cukor did both with Marilyn Monroe.

George Cukor was one of Hollywood’s most literate, intelligent directors, with a reputation for helping actors deliver award-worthy performances, especially female stars. But that old Hollywood line, you’re only as good as your last picture, aptly applied to aging talent like Cukor. Aside from winning a career Oscar for the piece of cake assignment, 1964’s My Fair Lady, Cukor had been on the decline for years, like many golden era directors. Still, George had much less at stake than Marilyn. I wonder why he didn’t take a pass on working with Monroe again, after enduring a low-energy Marilyn and her foolish affair with co-star Yves Montand, on the aptly titled Let’s Make Love. Still, George accepted, perhaps ready to clear the slate for better movie offers.

Making "Something's Got to Give" should have been a breeze for Marilyn Monroe.

As for Marilyn, her ambivalence over Something’s Got to Give seems symbolic of her attitude toward her own stardom. First, while not challenging, the film would have brought Marilyn closer to finishing with 20^th Century Fox. And SGTG was a way to prove to Fox and Hollywood that she could still work. Also, Marilyn Monroe, an icon of ‘50s sexuality, had recently slimmed down and gotten a makeover with her white blonde bouffant, looking the height of early ‘60s sexiness. Yet, Marilyn felt deflated that she was still appearing in the same type of sex comedies that made her famous a decade earlier. While Monroe blamed Fox for exploiting her as the sexy, dumb blonde, Marilyn also did the same, with her choices to film a skinny dip, pose nude again, and perform for the President of the United States wearing little save for sequins and see-through “soufflé” material. Marilyn yearned to move forward, yet when in doubt, she fell back on her sex symbol image, and 36 years was close to the sell-by-date for cinema cheesecake.

Marilyn Monroe looked '60s chic and sexy in "Something's Got to Give."

After cast-approving friends Dean Martin and Wally Cox, Marilyn was comfortable with the Nunnally Johnson script—he had scripted earlier comedy successes. Marilyn looked great in her elegant Jean Louis outfits. Plus, Monroe would play a wife and mother, a rarity for the sex symbol. And MM would speak in her normal voice and not the breathy bombshell shtick that Jayne Mansfield turned into a stale joke. There were some upsides to Something’s Got to Give.

Then the showbiz machinations began. And the chaos of Something’s Got to Give still gets big play today. After MM’s firing and shortly after her death, all the blame was laid at Marilyn’s pedestal. But like many other showbiz scandals and tragedies, the blame has shifted over the years, to the studios and their “suits.” Especially when Something’s Got to Give footage was discovered and restored, and showed Marilyn looking radiant and trying her best.

Co-star Dean Martin was a good friend, too. When Fox fired Marilyn Monroe,
Dean refused to continue film "Something's Got to Give" with anybody but Marilyn.

The thing is that both sides are right. Marilyn fans point to MM’s fine figure and game face while trying to put over familiar film material. And those who counter that Marilyn held up shooting over illness, while jetting across the country to JFK’s birthday bash, also have valid points. Marilyn looked great, performed well, with an impatient George Cukor—but also showed up for only 13 out of 30 shooting days. This caused Marilyn to rightly lose much good will to those who stood around and played the waiting game. In context, when the film was later revamped as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner, the total schedule was two months—standard for a non-epic film. After six weeks, Something’s Got to Give had only shot a handful of scenes. The unfinished compilation was just shy of 40 minutes, of which Marilyn appeared in about half of said scenes!

Waiting for Marilyn? Cyd Charisse & Dean Martin in "Something's Got to Give."

Director Cukor didn’t bother to oversee insecure Monroe’s wardrobe, hair, and makeup tests. The next day, when the new producer was to meet with MM over the results, she was the no-show. He went to her house, only to find her overdosed!

No wonder that the actual shooting seemed like a war of egos, with a bitterly complaining Cukor and a passive/aggressive no-show star. On the SGTG set, it was a contradictory but not unusual set of studio attitudes: the bottom line tunnel vision of time and money spent versus coddling the talent. On the one hand, studios long accepted granting the stars their favorite cameramen, designers, hair and makeup people, etc. But Marilyn went one further. MM’s final acting coach was Paula Strasberg, wife of Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio. Monroe paid Paula $5,000 per week, to offer Marilyn her acting expertise for a silly comedy like Something’s Got to Give. If Strasberg had worked the entire eight weeks, Paula would have made nearly half of Marilyn’s salary! Then Monroe’s latest analyst got into the act. Ralph Greenson recommended that producer David Brown be fired and replaced with Greenson’s friend, newbie producer Henry Weinstein.

This was director George Cukor's home. He had the exterior recreated for
 "Something's Got to Give." Why? That's show biz, baby!

Director Cukor had his demands, too. Instead of the Fox crew likely building or redressing an old set for such a modest film, Cukor had the crew create a lavish exterior set that was the exact replica of his own home. WHY? Perhaps for the same reason Cukor had Fox’s resident comedy writer Nunnally Johnson’s script tossed out. George insisted that Walter Bernstein re-write Johnson’s script, upsetting Marilyn. Bernstein had prior worked on two Sophia Loren film duds, Heller in Pink Tights (with Cukor) and A Breath of a Scandal. Fox should have titled this troubled comedy All About Ego.

When Monroe started missing work, nearly everyone started to turn against Marilyn, except Dean Martin. The cardinal rule in the movie biz is you don’t hold up the shooting schedule. About the time the filming was abandoned, Cukor banned celebrating Marilyn’s 36^th birthday until 6 p.m., after the work day was done—pennywise and pound foolish. Cukor didn’t help matters by anonymously dishing to gossip ghoul Hedda Hopper about Monroe’s behavior.

It must be 6 o'clock somewhere! Fox & director Cukor decreed that Marilyn Monroe's
 birthday could not be celebrated on-set until 6 p.m., to get a full day's work from her.
 Sadly, Marilyn's 36th birthday would be her last.

As for Fox, they blamed Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor for the chaos during the making of Something’s Got to Give and Cleopatra respectively. Yet, Fox was equally guilty—out of corporate greed. Both films went into production with dated, problematic scripts. And both projects started shooting with stars that were physically ill and emotionally precarious. Though Monroe hadn’t made a film in 18 months, her personal life had worn her down, and was going from slim to thin as shooting progressed. And Marilyn was physically ill with sinusitis right from the start. Fox was warned off of Monroe by the producer but they turned a deaf ear. As for Taylor, Elizabeth was seriously ill with a number of ailments before shooting commenced on the Egyptian epic during a cold, rainy, autumn in London. All that trouble for a tax break to film in England. The mantra was the same for both Fox productions: get the stars in front of the camera, no matter what.

While Marilyn Monroe would have been the first American film star to do a nude scene, her skinny dip in "Something's Got to Give" didn't send everyone into shock,
as has sometimes been reported. MM with Dean Martin & George Cukor.

Much was made of “fading” Marilyn working at her home studio for $100,000 while Fox made Elizabeth Taylor the first star to earn $1 million dollars per film, with all the contractual trimmings. The media picture painted Marilyn as Cinderella, scrubbing floors, while Elizabeth was the belle of the ball. However, before Taylor could accept the Cleopatra offer, Elizabeth had one more film to make on her old MGM contract, a similarly paltry $125,000, to make the boring soap, BUtterfield 8. The big difference between the two, as always in Hollywood, was profits. Both Marilyn and Elizabeth had major career breakthroughs in 1956, Bus Stop and Giant, respectively. Both stars made five films by ’62. The difference was Elizabeth’s films were all smash hits, two of which were epics. Marilyn had a hit with Bus Stop and a smash hit with Some Like it Hot, but The Prince and the Showgirl, Let’s Make Love, and The Misfits, were considered “disappointments.” Also, while Taylor could be spoiled and difficult toward MGM brass, she was “One-Take Liz” on the set. Also noteworthy is that Elizabeth was a trouper during this time under trying circumstances: new friend James Dean died in his car crash near the end of Giant’s shooting; best friend Monty Clift nearly died a car accident in the midst of making Raintree County; Elizabeth’s beloved Mike Todd died in a plane crash near the start of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Taylor was unhappily married to Eddie Fisher and trying to keep the suits from firing Monty Clift on Suddenly, Last Summer; and Elizabeth was forced to make BUtterfield 8 or stay off screen for two years. And finally, Taylor herself nearly died while making Cleopatra, topped by her scandalous affair with Richard Burton. Yet, ET got the job done, no matter what was going on. And these films all made a pile of money—the true bottom line in Hollywood. Marilyn by contrast, got by with minor skirmishes over co-stars in Bus Stop, but clashed with Olivier on The Prince and the Showgirl, along with director Billy Wilder and Tony Curtis on Some Like It Hot, was a total mess on the set of The Misfits, and got mixed up with married Yves Montand on Let’s Make Love. These last two films got horrible publicity and while MM had her moments in each, her lethargy showed in both her film performance and figure.

Marilyn Monroe's skinny-dipping scene was more like a slow strip tease
in "Something's Got to Give." MM started with flesh-colored garments,
but gradually peeled them off.

Interestingly, when Monroe was fired from Something’s Got to Give, she gave a flurry of interviews and photo shoots, as a rebuttal to the bad studio publicity. Marilyn’s mantra was that it was okay if fame as a sex symbol was passing her by, that she was ready for something new. Yet, at the same time, her photo shoots were often scantily clad, along with the barrage of nude skinny dipping photos. Once again, Marilyn was sending out mixed signals.

Marilyn Monroe in her only scene with both co-stars at the same time,
Cyd Charisse and Dean Martin in "Something's Got to Give."

I have wondered what would have become of Marilyn Monroe had she lived, and embraced maturity. This is unlikely, as the general consensus now is that Marilyn was an untreated bi-polar personality. Yet, could she have become an enduring star no matter what, like Elizabeth Taylor? Could she have become a star character actress like Shirley MacLaine or Lauren Bacall? Or could she have found happiness and solitude by leaving Hollywood, like Kim Novak? I think she could have opted for any of these possibilities, but given her instability, would she have? Instead Monroe became part of the trio of legendary slow suicides who died in the ‘60s: Marilyn, Monty, and Judy …sad, sad, sad.

Love this shot of Marilyn Monroe, with the family dog in "Something's Got to Give."
The pooch is the only one who remembers her!

As for the finished product, Something’s Got to Give, if it had been made and released in a timely manner, it might have been a modest hit. At the very least, it would have shown Marilyn Monroe in a fresh, modern light, and having completed some contractual obligations. I found Marilyn’s scenes to be warm and natural with the children, and amusing as the “Swedish” servant. But the few scenes MM performed were undemanding, with little dialogue. And Marilyn’s performance was at odds with the typical, stylized comedy performances of Martin, Charisse, and the character actors—funny, but in a more ‘50s way. There are literally two different movies going on in Something’s Got to Give.

Whatever else happened during Marilyn’s last summer, at least Monroe knew that her studio still wanted her. After friend Dean Martin refused to work with anybody but Marilyn, Fox had hired her back, to complete SGTG, and at a higher pay rate. The studio also offered their star a big salary increase to make her final picture for them, What a Way to Go! Another ironic title, this lavish comedy was later made with Shirley MacLaine. Realistically, the outcome probably would have been the same, regarding Marilyn and movies. But on a positive note, what there is of Something’s Got to Give shows off Marilyn, who looks and acts incandescently, a goodbye gift for her fans. 

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

Would Marilyn Monroe have ever been ready for her close-up in
"Something's Got to Give?" Probably not, but isn't it pretty to think so?