Page 88 of The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe

“Marilyn had a small accident in the shower,” Greenson says, explaining that she fell and hit the tiles.

Gurdin orders X-rays to determine the extent of the damage.

The doctor is skeptical of the situation. He tells a colleague that he thinks Marilyn “was beaten up.” Who did this to her? He’s suspicious of Greenson, who “did all the talking” and “didn’t seem anxious for Marilyn to speak.”

But while they’re waiting for the X-rays, Marilyn does speak, asking the doctor, “If my nose is broken, how quickly can we fix it?”

When a nurse delivers the films, Dr. Gurdin diagnoses “a minute fracture of the tip of the nasal bone.”

“Thank goodness!” Marilyn exclaims, sinking into Greenson with obvious relief.

Marilyn has missed seventeen of thirty shooting days onSomething’s Got to Give. Still, Dr. Greenson and Rudin are determined to save her job. On Friday, June 8, Greenson makes Fox executives a promise that he’ll have Marilyn back on set by Monday.

“I can persuade Marilyn to go along with any reasonable request,” Greenson brags. “While I don’t want to present myself as a Svengali, I can convince Marilyn to do anything I want her to do.”

While the negotiations are happening, Marilyn musters the energy to attend to another pressing piece of business.

She contacts celebrity investigator Fred Otash and asks him to install a bug on her telephone. She wants to record her own calls—as insurance against potential threats or blackmail.

The mini listening device is so small, Otash explains, “You could hide it in your bra.” What he doesn’t tell her is that recording devices have already been installed throughout 12305 Fifth Helena Drive … by Otash himself.

A letter on 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation letterhead is sent to Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc., putting her on notice that, effective Friday, June 8, she’s been terminated fromSomething’s Got to Givefor “the willful failure and refusal on Miss Monroe’s part to perform and render services in said motion picture.”

That same day, Fox announces: “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.”

Dr. Greenson is stunned to hear the news over his car radio. He rushes to check on his patient. Marilyn is shocked. She’sgoing to need careful monitoring to get through these next critical hours.

To Mrs. Murray, Greenson rails against the studio’s harsh actions. His patient has been ill. “You know, it isn’t as if she was goldbricking or out partying. They have acted in bad faith!”

Marilyn’s next visitor is makeup artist and friend Whitey Snyder, who observes, “She had never been fired before, so she was devastated. She couldn’t understand it.”

Less than a month ago, Marilyn’s picture was on the front page of every paper for bringing down the house at Madison Square Garden when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy.

Now her name is linked with failure and the threat of a lawsuit from her employer for the better part of fifteen years.

In a further betrayal, Fox names Marilyn’s replacement, Lee Remick, who starred in the 1960 Fox adventure dramaWild Riverand is billed as “America’s answer to Brigitte Bardot.”

But Dean Martin will accept no substitute. He voices his support for Marilyn: “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.”

Even Elizabeth Taylor is sympathetic. Marilyn is surprised to receive a long-distance telephone call from her Fox rival expressing support.

“I know we’re not friends,” Taylor says, “but what’s happening to you now has been happening to me for a long time over thisCleopatrasituation.”

The cost overruns on Taylor’s film have famously threatenedto collapse the entire studio. Nevertheless, theCleopatrastar offers Marilyn financial help. “If you’re in a bad position and you need any help,” Taylor says, “I will send some money to you. If there is anything you need—anything at all—call me and you will have it within twenty-four hours.”

Marilyn is touched by Taylor’s offer, as well as her willingness to stage a walk-out on Marilyn’s behalf.

“Well, thank you so much, Elizabeth. I’m okay financially. I don’t need money, although I really appreciate the offer. And I don’t want you to walk out of the movie. Neither one of us should damage our career any more than the studio already has.”

At the news of Marilyn’s dismissal, Joe DiMaggio leaves his European tour on behalf of V. H. Monette & Co. and on June 10 flies to be by her side. Though Marilyn is distraught that this may spell the end of her career, DiMaggio sees it as an opportunity, the removal of an obstacle that was preventing them from being together.

“He loved her a great deal,” Val Monette says. “He had decided to remarry her. He thought things would be different than they had been before, and that everything would work out well for them now.”

Marilyn isn’t expecting DiMaggio, but she’s delighted when he arrives, dropping her shopping and throwing herself into his arms.

She proudly shows him around her new house. He’s seen the house before—he helped her with the down payment,after all—but not the progress she’s made with her herb and flower gardens.

“I don’t know why but I’ve always been able to make anything grow,” she says.

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