Marilyn Monroe – Something’s Got To Give

Something’s Got To Give Shooting Schedule

Thanks to James Hunter for this summary

-April 10th, 1962: MM completes hair, makeup and
costume tests. George Cukor declines to attend, which
Marilyn is offended by. Arthur Miller returns from his
honeymoon with his new wife, Inge Morath, who is
pregnant.

-April 11th, 1962: MM suffers a sleeping pill overdose
and is discovered in bed by SGTG producer Henry
Weinstein. Dr. Greenson is summoned and Marilyn is
successfully revived.

-April 13th, 1962: According to Barbara Leaming,
Marilyn travels to New York for a two day conference
with Lee Strasberg regarding the revised SGTG script,
which she did not like.

-Monday, April 23rd, 1962: SGTG officially begins
production. Marilyn notifies the studio that she is
sick and declines to work.

-Tuesday, April 24th, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Wednesday, April 25th, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Thursday, April 26th, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Friday, April 27th, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Monday, April 30th, 1962: Marilyn shows up at the
studio 25 minutes early for a 6:30 A.M. makeup call.
She works all day until 4:00 P.M.

-Tuesday, May 1st, 1962: MM “faints” half an hour
after arriving at the studio and returns home. Dr.
Greenson’s wife Hildi departs for Switzerland to visit
her sick mother. Dr. Greenson remains in Los Angeles
to attend to MM.

-Wednesday, May 2nd, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Thursday, May 3rd, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Friday, May 4th, 1962: MM declines to work.

-Sunday, May 6th, 1962: MM notifies the studio that
she will not be at work on Monday.

-Monday, May 7th, 1962: MM declines to work. Fox
suspends production.

-Tuesday, May 8th, 1962: MM declines to work,
production remains suspended.

-Wednesday, May 9th, 1962: MM declines to work,
production remains suspended.

-Thursday, May 10th, 1962: MM declines to work,
production remains suspended. Dr. Greenson departs to
join his wife in Europe.

-Friday, May 11th, 1962: MM declines to work,
production remains suspended.

-Monday, May 14th, 1962: Marilyn arrives at the studio
20 minutes early for a 6:30 A.M. makeup call and works
all day.

-Tuesday, May 15th, 1962: Marilyn reports to the
studio on time and works all day.

-Wednesday, May 16th, 1962: Marilyn reports to the
studio on time and works all day.

-Thursday, May 17th, 1962: Marilyn shows up on time
and works until noon. Disobeying a written order from
Fox, she departs by plane to New York where she plans
to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK at his gala birthday
party on Saturday.

-Friday, May 18th, 1962: MM is in New York City and
does not show up for work, despite the fact that
scenes requiring her presence are scheduled to be shot
that day.

-Saturday, May 19th, 1962: Marilyn performs at the
Kennedy Gala at Madison Square Garden, and then
attends a celebrity party at the home of United
Artists chairman Arthur Krim in Manhattan.

-Sunday, May 20th, 1962: Marilyn returns to Los
Angeles on an afternoon flight.

-Monday, May 21st, 1962: Marilyn arrives at the studio
at 6:05 A.M. and notifies George Cukor that she will
not do close-ups because she is tired. Dean Martin
shows up at the studio with a bad cold, prompting
Marilyn to refuse to work with him. Dean Martin is
sent home. George Cukor spends the day shooting takes
of Marilyn with Christopher Morley, the young actor
playing her son.

-Tuesday, May 22nd, 1962: Marilyn sends a memo to
George Cukor and producer Henry Weinstein: “I cannot
work with Mr. Martin until he’s well. I take this
action upon the advice of my physicians”. Dean Martin
is advised to stay home. George Cukor shoots takes of
a scene between Marilyn and Cyd Charisse, and Marilyn
leaves the studio in the early afternoon.

-Wednesday, May 23rd, 1962: Marilyn shoots the nude
swimming pool scenes. Marilyn remains in the pool for
four hours and swims for a total of 90 minutes.
Additional scenes of Marilyn sitting poolside are also
completed.

-Thursday, May 24th, 1962: Marilyn reports to the
studio on time and works all day.

-Friday, May 25th, 1962: Marilyn reports to the studio
on time and works all day.

-Sunday, May 27th, 1962: MM is treated at her home in
the evening by Dr. Milton Uhley, who was on call for
Dr. Engelberg. Dr. Uhley diagnoses Marilyn as having
“an ear infection and resulting insomnia”. {Source:
“Marilyn Monroe: The Biography”, by Donald Spoto,
hardcover, 1993, page 659}

-Monday, May 28th, 1962: MM declines to work. Donald
Spoto reports that she is suffering from an ear
infection which is “cured in record time with a
massive injection of penicillin”. {Source: “Marilyn
Monroe: The Biography”, by Donald Spoto, hardcover,
1993, page 525.} There are conflicting reports that
Marilyn did show up for work on this day, but all
footage was scrapped because she was in such bad shape
physically and emotionally {Source: “Marilyn: The Last
Take” by Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham}. Dr.
Milton Uhley again treats Marilyn at her home, this
time after midnight {Source: “Marilyn Monroe: The
Biography”, by Donald Spoto, hardcover, 1993, page
659}.

-Tuesday, May 29th, 1962: Marilyn shows up late for
work.

-Wednesday, May 30th, 1962: Memorial Day. Cast and
crew are granted the day off.

-Thursday, May 31st, 1962: MM reports for work on
time. George Cukor films scenes of Marilyn with Wally
Cox in the shoe store.

-Friday, June 1st, 1962: Marilyn’s 36th birthday. She
reports to the studio on time and scenes between
Marilyn, Dean Martin and Wally Cox are filmed. A
birthday party is held for Marilyn on the set after
work for the day is completed. Marilyn attends a
charity baseball game in the evening where a
children’s choir sings Happy Birthday to her in front
of the audience.

-Saturday, June 2nd, 1962: Marilyn suffers a sudden
emotional breakdown. Dr. Greenson’s children, Joan and
Danny, are summoned to her home in the evening. Danny
Greenson recalled Marilyn in bed wearing a sleeping
mask and looking like “the Lone Ranger”, and stated
that she complained of feeling ugly and unwanted, and
that the only people who were nice to her were people
who wanted to use her. Danny also recalled that after
reciting a litany of other complaints, Marilyn
declared that her life wasn’t worth living. {Source:
“Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe”, by
Anthony Summers, UK/Canadian hardcover, 1985, pages
273-274}. Unable to console Marilyn, Greenson’s
children summoned one of their father’s psychiatrist
colleagues, who immediately confiscated all of
Marilyn’s sleeping pills. Later, during the early
morning hours of Sunday, June 3rd, Dr. Milton Uhley is
again contacted and he treats Marilyn at her home
between 1:00 and 4:00 A.M. Donald Spoto states that
Dr. Uhley was summoned to “provide sedation”. Spoto
also states that the events of this day were the
result of a “Dexamyl overdose”. {Source: “Marilyn
Monroe: The Biography”, by Donald Spoto, hardcover,
1993, pages 527 and 528}

-Sunday, June 3rd, 1962: Marilyn prepares a list of
“urgent questions” in the evening for Dr. Greenson.
She asks Mrs. Murray to contact Dr. Greenson in Europe
to have the questions answered.

-Monday, June 4th, 1962: MM declines to work. Donald
Spoto reports that Marilyn was “angry”, Barbara
Leaming describes her as “paranoid”, but both agree
that Marilyn flew into an unreasonable rage and
accused Milton {Mickey} Rudin {her lawyer} of being
“with them” after he tries to coax her to return to
work. Rudin was alarmed by Marilyn’s behavior and
immediately contacted Dr. Greenson in Europe. Dr.
Greenson agreed to return to Los Angeles on Wednesday.

-Tuesday, June 5th, 1962: Marilyn declines to work and
remains at home in bed. Fed-up with MM’s repeated
absences, Dean Martin declares “That’s it!” and stalks
off the set. Production is temporarily suspended by
Fox. Concerned about Marilyn’s precarious emotional
state, Mrs. Murray and Pat Newcomb join forces to look
after her. Pat spends the night sleeping on the floor
at the foot of Marilyn’s bed.

-Wednesday, June 6th, 1962: Marilyn declines to work
and remains at home in bed. Fox continues to suspend
production. Dr. Greenson returns to Los Angeles and
immediately rushes to Marilyn’s side where he finds
her heavily sedated. Dr. Greenson contacts Fox and
states that he will have Marilyn back on her feet and
at work by Monday, June 11th.

-Thursday, June 7th, 1962: Marilyn declines to work
and remains in her bed. Production remains suspended.
Dr. Greenson and Milton Rudin attend meetings with
20th Century Fox executives. Dr. Greenson attempts to
persuade Fox from firing Marilyn.

-Friday, June 8th, 1962: Marilyn declines to work and
remains in her bed. Production remains suspended. An
emergency meeting is declared at Fox which Dr.
Greenson and Milton Rudin both attend. Deciding that
they cannot rely on Dr. Greenson’s promises that
Marilyn will return to work, Fox decides to fire
Marilyn from SGTG and launch a lawsuit against her in
order to recoup their losses. Fox releases a statement
to the press which reads: “Marilyn Monroe has been
removed from the cast of Something’s Got to Give. This
action was made necessary because of Miss Monroe’s
repeated willful breaches of her contract. No
justification was given by Miss Monroe for her failure
to report for photography on many occasions. The
studio has suffered losses through these absences and
the Twentieth-Century Fox Film Company will take legal
action against Miss Monroe”. Fox also announces that
they have hired Lee Remick to replace Marilyn in SGTG,
prompting Dean Martin to quit the production. Martin
releases a statement which reads: “I have the greatest
respect for Miss Lee Remick and her talent and all the
other actresses who were considered for the role, but
I signed to do the film with Marilyn Monroe and I will
do it with no one else”.

Monday, June 11th, 1962: Fox officially cancels
production on SGTG.

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