Crypt 33

by Adela Gregory

  By that evening, Greenson called to give her notice that she had, indeed, been fired. Angry and confused by the decision, they met in her home to talk over the events. Whitey Snyder and Marje Plecher arrived immediately to comfort her. The devastated and disillusioned star needed her trustworthy friends. Now more than ever before, being hurt meant expressing her anger to all those whom she trusted around her. Even Greenson got a dose of it. She said he’d been acting beyond his capacity, that he and Rudin had mishandled her.

  The negative publicity wheel devised by the studio was instantly in gear. Her credibility, her emotional condition, her professional behavior, her acting ability, all were on the line. Her former ally Harry Brand had made an about-face and compared her to her “crazy mother.” Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper seized the opportunity for hot new stories, calling Marilyn “half-mad” and attributing the nude swimming scene to her use of drugs and alcohol. Sheilah Graham released a statement supposedly from Weinstein that “Marilyn is not ill—I have had no official notification of her illness. All I get from her is that she is not reporting for work. We can’t take it anymore—her absences have cost the studio more than a million dollars.” Later the producer would deny having made such a statement. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner appealed to compassion for the common man in its attack on her: “By her willful irresponsibility, Marilyn Monroe has taken the bread right out of the mouths of men who depend on this film to feed their families. ”

  Physician Lee Siegel denied that Marilyn had faked illness, but he was told to leave the matter alone. The publicity department went so far as to conjure up statements by George Cukor, Levathes, and Weinstein, denigrating the actress in every way. The footage of Marilyn singing at the birthday party for JFK was shown in full, the flacks declaring that while she had claimed to be ill, she had flown into New York to make an appearance “for the President of the United States.” Lee Remick’s name was bandied about as her replacement and rumor had it that costume fittings had already commenced.

  Taking a stand against the studio brass, her long-time friend Dean Martin refused to work opposite anyone else and quit. Lead articles in the New York Times told the complete story in Dean Martin’s terms.

  By the weekend the studio hacks were begging Martin to return, but with Remick as his lead. They even went around his agent at MCA directly to President Lew Wasserman, but all he would concede to was a meeting on Monday, June 11.

  During the weekend, Marilyn spent time trying to catch up to the President. She needed her powerful friends as allies. With no response from the White House, Marilyn sent a wire to her new lover at the Justice Department and one to his home in Arlington, Virginia. She also sent apologies to the cast and crew, defending her position.

  Within a few days Bobby phoned the actress promising to oblige her by calling upon family friends on the board of directors, including Zanuck. Then on her own she called her confidant, Skouras, but was told he had nothing to do with the decision and that, in fact, their attorneys were now empowered to run the studio. But it was Levathes and Gould primarily who made the final decision. By the weekend, she had mustered a good deal of strategy. Her old nemesis Darryl Zanuck called, distressed about the condition of the studio, while still in the throes of editing The Longest Day, which would eventually save Fox from bankruptcy.

  Whitey Snyder watched and waited while Marilyn made her play for continuing the picture. With all the “big guns” involved, he assured her she would be reinstated as even Bobby went into action on her behalf. Judge Samuel Rosenman, a former speechwriter for Franklin Roosevelt and a personal friend of Joseph Kennedy, was on Twentieth’s board of directors and assured the attorney general that he would have the chairman reconsider. But Gould was in charge, and Bobby had mucked his last exchange with him when seeking permission for Marilyn’s appearance in New York.

  Never really liking Monroe, but always grateful for her box-office revenues, Zanuck came to her defense. Fully aware that the board of directors could be destroying his carefully built studio with the mishandling of Cleopatra, Zanuck vowed to retake his position at the helm. His wrath would soon be felt by Feldman and Levathes.

  As the fan mail and phone calls deluged the studio in favor of Marilyn, Feldman soon discerned a mistake. Their well-planned publicity blitz simply had not worked. Marilyn was informed of the overwhelming positive response from her fans. Marilyn’s new lover, not quite able to wheel and deal as he had bragged, flew into town to meet with her anyway. Bobby reminded Marilyn to desist from trying to reach Jack at the White House, instead offering her his own private phone number in the Justice Department. Dressed like a college boy, Bobby had increased ardor for Marilyn, who had gone to great lengths to be perfectly groomed and coiffed for his visit. Hand-in-hand they strolled around the pool as another romance bloomed.

  John Kennedy had no trouble integrating new women into his life. While a Georgetown debutante, Pamela Turnure had been a secretary at Kennedy’s senatorial office. Later she joined his presidential campaign. Being “bright, attractive, well-groomed, well-spoken and looking a good deal like Jackie,” Turnure had kept her romantic involvement under wraps for quite a while. Finally, Jack moved Pam out of her apartment house, where her landlords had spied on the couple and photographed them together. Leonard and Florence Kater did their best to humiliate the President by sending the photographs to the FBI, magazines, and the press, but virtually all their efforts were in vain. Hoover retained the photos in his files “just for the record.”

  Wishing to continue their relationship, Jack moved Turnure into the home of Ben Bradlee’s sister-in-law, Mary Pinchot Meyer. Seeing Jack on the side, Pam remained friendly with Jackie and until Jackie became First Lady took long morning walks with her. Mary watched the shenanigans. Then once JFK won the election, in a desire to keep Pam close, he suggested to his wife they hire Turnure as her press secretary. Jackie suspected the affair and resisted his demands. She did not believe Pam was qualified without previous experience, but she hired her anyway, just to keep an eye on his new “girlfriend.”

  By January 1962, Jack had replaced Pam with the beautiful Mary Meyer, a descendant of the Pinchot family of Pennsylvania, which had produced a dynasty of state governors. The affair even surprised Toni Bradlee, her sister. But the beautiful blonde with chiseled features, a swift mind, and a penchant for experimental drugs enticed the young President into an affair that lasted until his assassination. Meyer made LSD and marijuana available to the President. The running joke became what would happen to the world and the “button” if the President was hallucinating on LSD.

  Having been with the President many times, Mary jotted down events carefully plotting their relationship, with notes on their affair and the affairs of State. The President even went so far as to travel with Toni Bradlee and Mary to meet her mother in Pennsylvania, a well-known staunch archconservative and Barry Goldwater supporter.

  After the President was assassinated, Mary Meyer made plans to write a book about their relationship. On October 12, 1964, Mary Meyer was shot to death, gangland style, twice in the head while walking on the towpath in Georgetown. Although a black laborer was apprehended, he was later acquitted. Her book might have brought the Kennedy administration low. And Bobby Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency, as the primaries were nearing, would have been sorely devastated by her allegations! After her death, the CIA supposedly found and destroyed her diary.

  Slowly JFK integrated Mary more into his life while giving Judy Campbell the slow treatment. Meanwhile, Marilyn was being wined and dined in Los Angeles by brother Bobby. In efforts to dazzle her man, not only with her stardom, but with her political knowledge and expertise, she began to question Pat Newcomb for poignant topics to discuss, and regularly read newspapers for current events.

  Marilyn ultimately won her battle for power and control against the studio. Having recently wished the President happy birthday, she had also gained status among the American people. Word was out that Twenti
eth wanted to renegotiate, and she would be the one to gain financially. But hampering immediate action, Fox had already filed suit against Dean Martin for $3 million for unprofessionally refusing to approve a substitute for Monroe. His attorneys countersued for $6 million for the damage to his reputation.

  The negotiations took place with Levathes in Monroe’s home. With the grace and style of an executive of her own movie company, Monroe impressed the studio boss with her vast knowledge of filmmaking. In exchange for dropping Paula, Levathes agreed to incorporate Marilyn’s ideas in a rewrite of the screenplay. Cukor would be replaced if she dropped Greenson out of the negotiations. The new salary of $500,000 would be added to her income if she agreed to star in another Fox venture, making her contract a two-picture deal totaling $1 million. With the promise that Marilyn would be on time and ready to work, the studio attorney drafted the agreement.

  Dragging his feet on finalizing the lucrative contract, Milton Rudin’s behavior was bewildering. His excuse that he did not believe Marilyn possessed the fortitude to live up to her contract was clearly a smokescreen for his resentment of her superior negotiating power. Marilyn Monroe had outnegotiated both Rudin and Greenson. And Rudin was embarrassed for his brother-in-law, who after all his hard work with Marilyn was barred from the contract talks completely.

  Family man Bobby Kennedy fell for Marilyn Monroe much harder than his brother had. The attorney general not only made love to the actress, but engrossed himself in preserving her career. Advising her on the early studio negotiations and buoying her confidence, he was impressed by her sincere desire to learn and grow in other areas besides filmmaking.

  Bobby was a good listener, too, and for that and his caring support, Marilyn fell hard, too. While publicizing his book The Enemy Within, Bobby frequented Los Angeles. Spending time in the presidential suite at the Beverly Hilton, with alternate stays in the luxurious home of Peter Lawford, Marilyn and Bobby engrossed themselves in a variety of activities. The relationship flourished. The two strolled hand in hand on the beach in casual clothing, Levi’s and a T-shirt for Bobby and white slacks and a white shirt for her. By the third week of June, they were seen dining in Beverly Hills, then at a barbecue at Lawford’s with over forty guests. Peter Lawford’s home was a sprawling mansion with over twenty-five rooms and many private suites. And privacy was what the two would retire to after the party.

  Whenever Bobby returned to Los Angeles, Marilyn would ask her housekeeper to leave for the afternoon. Set on endearing herself to the attorney general, she kept notes about their affair and what he revealed to her about the presidency. He bragged to her that it was actually he who had run the Bay of Pigs invasion, as Jack’s back was then giving him a great deal of pain. Bobby told her about how the Mafia was involved in the CIA plot to assassinate Fidel Castro and that President Trujillo had been assassinated by a CIA contingent. As she read the newspapers and current magazines, the situations Bobby discussed with her began to make more sense, and she continued recording everything in her notes. When rereading them, if she still had some questions, she would ask Bobby for answers. In this way, she helped herself to understand politics and expand her knowledge. She enjoyed his unique interpretation of the major events. Bobby was educating her about his career and position. She began to believe that he wanted a continuing relationship.

  Marilyn flaunted the affair to anyone who would watch or listen. She was proud that she was so seriously dating the attorney general, a Kennedy, and their relationship reinforced and bolstered her own sense of power. He was much more willing to show off his affair than Jack had been, even, while she was present, calling a friend to brag to him that he, in fact, was dating Marilyn Monroe.

  But soon another bomb would drop. Marilyn missed her period. Rarely on time and usually late, at first she ignored the signs of pregnancy. But once she found out that she indeed was pregnant, she was more exhilarated than anything else. After her ectopic pregnancy, the loss of a fallopian tube, and the last miscarriage, Marilyn had virtually given up all hope of ever becoming a mother.

  Now, with love thriving, marriage and motherhood seemed to be on the horizon. Bobby was proclaiming his love, so there was no other choice but for him to divorce his wife, Ethel. Marilyn held on to the secret for days; impregnation by a married man was trouble. But lately things had been going Marilyn’s way. The question was what to do and when to tell the attorney general.

  20

  The Fatal Decision

  Soaring with confidence after her successful negotiation with Levathes, Marilyn closely guarded her summer surprise. With the contract not yet signed, Marilyn feared that any hint of her pregnancy might make the studio renege. She was sure she could complete the picture before her pregnancy showed, then have the baby and finish the second feature after she married Bobby and their child was born.

  Marilyn was betting her pregnancy would be the “timely excuse” Robert Kennedy had been searching for to extricate himself from his marriage with Ethel. Greenson was not so enthusiastic about her plans to keep the baby and marry Bobby Kennedy. Neither was he so sure that Bobby was likely to agree. Secure in their love and believing that this was her last heaven-sent chance to have the baby she had virtually given up dreaming for, Marilyn would not hear of an abortion. Regrets regarding the abortion with Joe DiMaggio still lingered during the course of her analysis. She was determined to avoid making another irreversible decision. Even if Bobby didn’t marry her, she planned to have the baby anyway—she could well afford to raise the child alone. She would tell him the pregnancy was nonnegotiable and it would force the issue. What could he do?

  By early July, Bobby returned to Los Angeles and she had her chance. Wanting to look her best, Marilyn hoped to snatch her man. Careful not to gain weight to avoid detection, she worked hard to keep her waistline trim. Her fabulous body had recently renewed her popularity, and now it would sell a wife.

  The preparation to look her best completely occupied her staff. She took long baths and deep massages, dreaming all the while of the possibilities of marriage. Whitey and Marjorie would start early on her makeup and hair and Ralph would be certain there wasn’t an ounce of tension in her shoulders before she “broke the news.”

  Standing in front of the mirror, she reminded her friends that this time it was for keeps. Finding the right dress seemed impossible to Marjorie, who suggested studio fare. Trim as Marilyn appeared to be, her stomach had already started to expand and her breasts were swollen and hard. Maintaining a flat, irresistible stomach meant everything to her. She starved herself for several days before, with only a piece of steak and her customary champagne and barbiturates.

  The limo ride to Peter Lawford’s house seemed much longer than usual. Whether her queasy stomach was due to her anticipation of the upcoming “negotiation” or simply the pregnancy itself, nothing could stop Marilyn from indulging heavily in champagne.

  The Santa Monica sun had not yet set and the early evening air was balmy as the actress’s car pulled into Lawford’s driveway. More than eager to see Marilyn Monroe again, Bobby was hooked on her particular beauty. He cherished the thrilling nights spent with the most famous woman in the world. Their young-at-heart love play seemed totally incongruous and drew jealousy from the boring, staid married couples at Lawford’s dinner party. Hungry for each other, the pair retired early to their suite.

  After they made love, Marilyn told him about the baby. Hoping to elicit a positive reaction, she had been especially seductive and accommodating, hoping to “soften him up.” But Bobby was not pleased; his reaction was shock. After fathering seven children, Bobby seemed to have forgotten that sex could sometimes mean pregnancy. He saw Marilyn as his perpetual sex toy, or the means to a movie deal, but definitely not his “wife.” Pregnancy was outside the realm of possibility.

  Her well-planned seduction had fallen flat. Bobby did not want to have a baby with Marilyn. He demanded that she think about all the repercussions. His less than enthusiastic reaction confo
unded her. Had she misjudged his affection? He had continually reminded her he wanted out of his marriage only he couldn’t find a way out. Now that she was giving him a way out, he had rejected it. But Bobby played smart by telling Marilyn they would discuss it the following day. No decision would be final until he could resolve the problem with his wife.

  Bobby Kennedy was ashamed to tell his brother about Marilyn’s pregnancy. Always the more “moral” of the two, Jack criticized him for his stupidity. But he saw no alternative; Marilyn had to abort. There would be no divorces in the Kennedy administration. Joseph Kennedy was the last to know, and he was even more adamant. The weekend in Hyannisport seemed longer than usual. Jack persuaded his younger brother to promise Marilyn anything to convince her to terminate the pregnancy. Their father had taught the boys well—“get laid as much as possible” and if in trouble, buy yourself out of the mess.

  But money was definitely not what Marilyn Monroe was after, as the attorney general would find out. There was only one way to get Marilyn to budge: he had to promise to marry her. But there had to be a preface. He was to say, “If my wife were to find out about the baby, she would never consider a divorce in the Catholic Church. In short, she would take me for everything I’ve got.” The only immediate solution was termination of the pregnancy. Then the two could take their time in waging a campaign for divorce, and, in time, and with “dignity” the pair could wed. Bobby went the extra length to allay her fears about not being able to get pregnant in the future. He consoled her by saying the pregnancy proved she was, in fact, still fertile and, within a short time, they would try again.