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- [00:00]
Afua Hirsch
Wondery subscribers can binge seasons of Legacy early and ad free. Join Wondery in the Wonderry app or on Apple Podcasts.
- [00:08]
Peter Frankopan
A Contact Warning before we start, we should note that this episode contains some strong language wondry.
- [00:21]
Afua Hirsch
Welcome to Legacy and the third episode in our series on Marilyn Monroe. In the last episode we saw Marilyn's split from Fox Studios and from her husband Joe DiMaggio too, but she's on.
- [00:37]
Peter Frankopan
A massive career high. She's made the seven year itch with Fox just before she split from them. It's a box office success and a summer hit across the United States in the summer of 1955. Marilyn Monroe is a massive star, but she wants to be more than just the blonde. She wants to be known as a great actress.
- [00:59]
Ryan Reynolds
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Unknown
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- [03:08]
Peter Frankopan
From Wandering Goalhanger. I'm Peter Franklinpan.
- [03:11]
Afua Hirsch
I'm Afwahirsh.
- [03:12]
Peter Frankopan
And this is Legacy, the show that tells the lives of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived. And asked if they have the reputation that they deserve.
- [03:32]
Afua Hirsch
This is Marilyn Monroe, episode three drama Drink and Drugs.
- [03:49]
Peter Frankopan
So Marilyn begins 1955 in New York. She's Crit Fox. She set up her own company to make her own movies. But first she's going back to school. She joins the prestigious actor studio in February 1955.
- [04:02]
Afua Hirsch
The school's run by Lee Strasberg and his wife Paula. They're big believers in method acting, a technique where an actor seeks total immersion in a part.
- [04:13]
Peter Frankopan
We've talked already about Marilyn's nerves and her anxiety about acting in the previous episode. And although she's got lots of praise and success from directors and the general public, they're still there. And in fact, that anxiety will never go away. So in fact, Marilyn says when she enrolls with the Actor Studio, I knew how third rate I was. I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes I was wearing inside. But my God, how I want to learn to change and to improve.
- [04:41]
Afua Hirsch
This move towards method acting is a really serious attempt to raise the stakes. Her credibility, her legitimacy as an actor. It's still quite a divisive approach, method acting, it means really immersing yourself in a role, not even breaking character between takes, sometimes even between days, shooting fully embodying the character you're playing. And lots of actors still do method acting. And the those who do often get a reputation for being difficult because there are actors who, as soon as the camera stops rolling, they want to revert to being normal. People banter and enjoying themselves on set. A method actor takes the process so seriously, they won't switch to their usual personality. And Marilyn being Marilyn, she doesn't just do method acting, she becomes almost obsessed with it. She becomes very close to the Strasbergs who run this school. And I think for her, it's part of this mental shift of moving from la, which is all stardom and Hollywood, to New York, which is culture, which is stage and theater and intellectuals. And because she does have that insecurity, it feels like she's overcompensating slightly by going all out.
- [05:55]
Peter Frankopan
Do you think there's a gender element to this? To Afro? I mean, people Like Marlon Brando, who did method acting, or Paul Newman, they're always regarded as gray actors. And although maybe slightly difficult, that would be quite low down the list of their attributes. Do you think that the kind of the Hollywood way of looking at things tends to expect women to behave in different ways to men?
- [06:13]
Afua Hirsch
I don't think there's anything a woman in general, let alone Marilyn Monroe, could do in that world at that time in the 1950s, and it not be gendered. It was such an undiluted era of sexism, of patriarchal and patronizing ideas towards women and this contradiction that a woman could be so famous and so desired and so admired, but also be looked down on and held to a different standard. And I absolutely think this still happens. You know, that when a man takes his craft seriously and demands to be treated a certain way, he has prestige. When a woman does the same thing, she's difficult. And that is totally what happened to Marilyn. And I don't think people found it easy to reconcile the blonde bombshell that seemed all lightness and sex appeal with the serious actor she wanted to be. And I think her relationship with the Strasbourgs also complicated matters because there was clearly a blurring of boundaries with them, also with her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, who she met through them. And people perceived this clan that she was connected to as this kind of impenetrable, non negotiable aspect of her life, which people found inconvenient. And rather than just acknowledging that, I think they blamed her for it.
- [07:33]
Peter Frankopan
Well, I guess it's partly that they offer stability at a sort of functional family unit. So Marilyn stays with them for a while in their family home in New York. She's friendly with her children. And that's a pattern that gets repeated too with others. So for example, her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, she stays with his family in LA and seems to enjoy being part of family life, maybe because that's something that she missed out on herself growing up. But there's always that blurring, like you said exactly, of are you there as a friend, are you there to learn? Are you there because you're being taken advantage of? You know, obviously, as such a famous woman and as such a famous actor, the Strasberg gets a real feather in their cap to have Marilyn Monroe studying their method of their school in New York. But in return, what Marilyn gets from that is the kind of intellectual seriousness that appeals to her. And so too does an acquaintance that she meets again when she's studying, living.
- [08:22]
Afua Hirsch
In New York, Arthur Miller, the famous playwright. He represented the pinnacle of this intellectual, cultured New York seriousness that she now wanted to be part of. He was 10 years older than her, he was approaching his 40s. He was married at the time, she was just 29. But there was a connection there, a spark, and they started dating.
- [08:44]
Peter Frankopan
Yeah, and Miller is a kind of. Is a funny one. I mean, he was one of America's most famous contemporary writers. He'd won the Pulitzer for Death of a Salesman Afro in 1949 and then he'd written the Crucible, which is still a sort of famous and much studied text here in the uk. But he's complicated. Although Miller is an intellectual, he's been investigated by the House UN American Activities Committee because the 1950s, we're at the height of McCarthyism and Hollywood and the arts in general. It's a time which is a bit testy, where writers are being blacklisted and careers ended and lives ruined.
- [09:20]
Afua Hirsch
Obviously, Arthur Miller had a more public facing political identity, hence his investigation by the House UN American Activities Committee. He had attended a Communist meeting. He had friends who were left leaning. And when he was forced to testify before the House, he refused actually to betray any of his friends by naming them as communist sympathizers or other people who'd attended meetings. So he obviously had integrity and a lot of principles. But Marilyn really helps him out by lending her public support to him. She is a national treasure at this stage. She's the biggest. And to stand by him makes it much harder for this McCarthyist era of scapegoating and witch hunts to really cancel him over his politics. And I think she did that because of genuine political belief. She really, her whole life showed a tendency towards progressive movements, towards civil rights, towards politics that challenged the status quo. And I don't think you can credit that to anyone other than her. I also think Arthur Miller is a bit of a contradictory figure because he had these very progressive politics. But I think he also struggled with his 1950s masculine ideas about women and promiscuity and the female body. And he was disapproving of her. And it seems like such a contradiction for someone like him to be also quite conservative in his thinking about what his female partner's sex life should be like before him.
- [10:43]
Peter Frankopan
Well, so some biographies say that she had a photo of him by her bed. And like you said, Aphra, that political evangelism that Marilyn Monroe has is hardly ever mentioned. The fact that she was a vocal supporter of the civil rights movement and played a lead role in the Hollywood movement against nuclear weapons in the 1950s. But Miller is complicated. He was denied a passport when he tries to attend the London opening of the Crucible. We know the FBI had a file on him.
- [11:09]
Afua Hirsch
And she accompanied him to the House UN American Activities Committee hearings. When asked about her support, she said, some of those bastards in Hollywood wanted me to drop Arthur. Said it would ruin my career. They're born cowards and want you to be like them. That is brave. And she was not afraid to take a stance. There was a lot on the line for her at this stage and she was willing to stand by him and stand by her convictions. And after those hearings, Miller then did something a little left field. He, as you said, Peter had been denied a passport when he applied to go to the UK for the Crucible. He now holds a press conference and reveals he's going to apply for a passport again. And when a reporter asks why, he reveals, because he wants to go to England with the woman who's going to be his wife.
- [11:55]
Peter Frankopan
Yeah, so, you know, we don't know whether that was news to Marilyn Monroe. She reacts like it was. I mean, she says, have you heard? She says, he told the whole world he was Marilyn. Marilyn Monroe. Me. Can you believe it? You know, he never really asked me. So it's kind of strange way of playing things out of Miller, announcing it, whether it's stage managed or whether it really is news, but either which way it's guaranteed to get attention.
- [12:22]
Afua Hirsch
June 22, 1956. Sutton Place, New York. In a simple cream blouse and pencil skirt, Marilyn steps out of her penthouse apartment into the lift with Arthur. She knows the performance she's about to give is going to be important if they're going to have a future together. She can hear the noise of the crowd gathered in the street outside. Her neighbours are complaining that police have had to block off the road. Ice cream sellers have pitched up. Straightening Arthur's tie, she realizes how tired he looks. Yesterday he was grilled by the House UN American Activities Committee. Today they're announcing the details of their upcoming marriage. She smiles as she remembers yesterday's proposal, interrupted at lunch by journalists demanding her reaction to the news that Arthur Miller had announced he was going to marry Marilyn Monroe. Arriving in the lobby, she comes face to face with the scrum of reporters blocking the exit. Grabbing a firm hold of her fiance's hand, Marilyn prepares to play her part. She's half expecting to hear a shout of action. But this isn't a movie. It's real life. And the story has reached fever pitch. Everyone wants to get the Scoop. Letting Arthur lead the way, she steps out to face a barrage of questions. Mr. Miller and Ms. Monroe, yesterday you didn't know when you were going to get married. Do you know today? A reporter quizzes. Marilyn looks up in adoration at Arthur, acting as though she's hanging on his every word, as though she doesn't know what he's going to say. It'll be in July, before the 13th, he replies. Nestling her head on his chest, she smiles bashfully for the cameras. The House UN American Activities Committee might be gunning for Arthur, but they'll have to get through her first. And she knows they'll struggle to make an enemy of anyone who's loved by America's sweetheart.
- [14:20]
Peter Frankopan
So Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe have Got married in June 1956 in upstate New York, and as one very famous headline puts it, egghead Weds Hourglass. You've seen that picture Afoul. That's quite a good headline, isn't it?
- [14:34]
Afua Hirsch
It is one of the world's great headlines. I mean, they always problematic. That's what makes them good. And it captures the widespread puzzlement over their relationship because they're not from a superficial gaze, obvious match in terms of looks, in terms of background, and actually in terms of faith, because Miller is Jewish and Marilyn converts to Judaism for the marriage.
- [14:58]
Peter Frankopan
But I mean, what's interesting is Marilyn Monroe, she pushes back about the fact that her husband is considered a neghead. She says, I'm in love with the man, not his mind. The Arthur Miller who attracted me was a man of warmth and friendliness. Arthur has helped me to adjust myself. I guess it's sort of the predictability of expecting that somebody knock out a beautiful, would marry somebody else knock out beautiful, rather than taking each other on their own terms. But it's kind of one of the great Hollywood fairy tales in history, isn't it? The marriage of Marilyn Monroe to Arthur Miller gives hope to playwrights around the world.
- [15:28]
Afua Hirsch
It doesn't necessarily have a fairytale ending, but we'll come to that. I for now, I love this Arthur Miller quote. In 1987, long after he said, the very inappropriateness of our being together was to me the sign that it was appropriate that we were two parts, however remote, of this society, of this life. And he also said I loved her. It does seem like a happy match at the beginning. I'm still a little stuck on the proposal. I don't know everyone celebrates that as such a great, funny story, but I think it's kind of disrespectful. To announce you're going to marry someone before you've actually asked her or given her the chance to say whether she agrees. Once you've announced it to the world, it's hard to back out. And she. There's no sign that she was unhappy about it. But to me that was a bit presumptuous to say the least.
- [16:16]
Peter Frankopan
I suspect you're probably right aphwa that it would feel more naturally that he kind of was bouncing her into it. But you know, I think that she's not unhappy about the domestic life that she settles down into with Arthur Milley. And although Mariners often plays the I'm no intellectual line, you know, she's well read. You know, she's read Keats and Shelley and Dostoevsky. But having said that, the question is, is the relationship with Arthur Miller something that's part of Marilyn under his self improvement process? Is he trying to improve her? Is that his role? Is that what she's marrying him for?
- [16:47]
Afua Hirsch
I think she's trying to improve herself. She has this awareness that she wants to assimilate into this intellectual world. And she left high school to get married at 16. She hasn't completed her formal education. I think a cynical interpretation of their relationship is that in some ways they were using each other. Her relationship with him helped her achieve more belonging in a world in which she was a natural outsider. And he definitely benefited from being attached to this American sweetheart when he was being accused of un American activities. So I think that there were some reciprocal benefits. For now she's putting her personal life back together and enjoying again finding a sense of family. This quest that never ends in her life. She wants to feel part of something, actually. She becomes close to his parents and stays close to his mother even after they later get divorced. So this is real for her, this sense of wanting a family that she can attach herself to.
- [17:44]
Peter Frankopan
That gamble that she's made in quitting Fox and doing things her way, including choosing Miller, has really paid off. So at the end of 1955, the studio say they want her back and she gets another seven year deal. This time she's going to get $400,000 to make full films of her choice with directors of her choice. And best of all, her company is going to make a film for Fox. So who's laughing at her now? I mean, can it get any better than this?
- [18:11]
Afua Hirsch
It really feels like a total role reversal. Now she is in the position of power supplying the studio that had such control over her career. And her next movie, Bus Stop does well, it hasn't necessarily stood the test of time, I would say. But her performance of a saloon singer dreaming of stardom attracts glowing reviews at the time. And a critic says Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress, which is an interesting thing to say because I would have assumed she's already proved herself an actress by now. And I think what it speaks to is this perception, both of the media and also of hers, that she was constantly having to prove herself, this idea she has that she needs to work at showing the world she's an actress to be taken seriously. It's not fictitious. It's real in the perceptions that exist of her. And now she's finally nominated for a Golden Globe, which is one of the signs of recognition that she'd been looking for.
- [19:10]
Peter Frankopan
So, I mean, she's a critical success, she's a commercial success. She's incredibly popular despite two divorces, which in the United States in the mid 20th century is a challenge for some people to look past. She's got a husband that she loves and everything seems to be totally, totally great.
- [19:26]
Afua Hirsch
Except unfortunately, it's not. Behind the scenes, she's still battling insomnia, fueled by her insecurities and anxiety. And worse still, she's dealing with these issues through medication taking pill after pill, and it's beginning to affect her work. Those around her won't be able to turn a blind eye to it for much longer.
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- [21:20]
Peter Frankopan
Two weeks after tie the Knots, the newlyweds are heading for London at a date with acting royalty. Marilyn Monroe is going to make a new movie alongside Sir Laurence Olivier. This is the movie that will have the name of our own company on it. Marilyn Monroe Productions.
- [21:36]
Afua Hirsch
Everything's in place for her to get what she's been fighting for. Marilyn Monroe, movie star and movie maker. But it's not turning into the honeymoon in England she'd hoped for.
- [21:49]
Peter Frankopan
August 1956 Pinewood Studios, London in her dressing room, Marilyn concentrates as she pricks holes in her barbiturate tablets. She's learned that they dissolve faster this way, even faster in a glass of champagne. In the distance, she can hear the director and co star, Lawrence Olivier. Larry. He is furious again. But his concerns about her lateness and her inability to remember her lines feel unimportant right now. She had hoped that filming in London would be the answer to at least some of her problems. A new project, a fresh start. But recent events have made her feel more desperate than ever. She dropped two tablets into a glass and tosses them back. Marilyn is reeling from discovering devastating notes that Arthur has written about her, so being treated like an imbecile by Larry isn't going to upset her. With the tablets starting to soothe her worries, she makes her way onto set. She knows her acting process is very different to Larry's. A veteran stage actor, he's trained to deliver the same immaculate performance again and again, where she keeps everyone waiting and then forgets her lines again and again. But somehow it all comes out great on film. Larry is unable to trust in that process. The other day, he told her to try to be sexy. Marilyn muses that if she's not doing a great job as an actress, Larry isn't doing brilliantly as a director either. She watches him storm over and he barks at her, why can't you get her on time, for fuck's sake? Marilyn lets his anger bounce off her as she quips, oh, do you have that word in English too? As the crew suppress laughter, she takes her spot. Marilyn isn't just starring in this film. It's been made by the production company she set up. The studio is furious with her. The rest of Hollywood think Marilyn Monroe Productions is a ridiculous idea. She just hopes she isn't about to prove Them. Right.
- [23:51]
Afua Hirsch
Well, the movie's released in 1957 with her company's name on it, and it's the lowest grossing film of her career. But again, she receives good reviews, better reviews than Olivier. This is actually the film I rewatched before we made this series, Peter. I don't know why this was the one I chose because it was definitely not her most successful film. And actually I didn't think Olivier's performance was very good. And I heard that when he was so frustrated with her and angry, but when they watched the rushes, he couldn't believe how good she was on camera and was actually upset by his own performance. So I wonder if his anger at her isn't a little frustration that she's maybe outshining him in this production.
- [24:34]
Peter Frankopan
That might be part of it. I mean, it's a slightly odd film. I mean, it's about sort of the plot to take over a Carpathian nation by a son trying to depose his father and the dowager king's mother, et cetera, et cetera, all playing out at.
- [24:47]
Afua Hirsch
This coronation in 1911 London. It's not the best.
- [24:52]
Peter Frankopan
It's not the best because you can't see quite why anybody would watch or what you take away from it. It's not a particularly great love story. But you're right, the fact that she glows through the, through the film, it's kind of amazing. And it's a testimony to not just how magnetic she is, but about how good an actor she is. But she has got reputation for being difficult on set. Is that. I mean, it is annoying to be late, says Peter, who's been late for the podcast this morning, and not for the first time. So it is annoying when you make people keep waiting for you. But is she difficult or is she a star of difficulty?
- [25:21]
Afua Hirsch
I mean, let's think about the context here. It's Lawrence Olivier's town. He is a London actor. A lot of the crew and fellow cast were people he'd worked with on stage. She's very much the outside outsider in this camaraderie of this whole group of people who know each other well. So that already puts her at a bit of a disadvantage. And then of course, she's got these problems. She's got serious medical issues at the time. She's basically reliant on pills to sleep. Her use of barbiturates and other pills is increasing. She's drinking as well. She's self medicating on top to dull her nerves, her anxiety. And when you watch that film, and as we've said it really isn't great, but it is astonishing to realize what a bad state she's in because you really can't tell from her on screen performance when the camera is rolling. She really pulls it off.
- [26:10]
Peter Frankopan
Well, I think anybody who's in public life who has to sort of pop up on stage in front of the cameras, you know, from politicians to making speeches, there's a difference between butterflies in your stomach and nerves and then having to get it right. And when you. When you have one of the world's most famous actors directing you, too, that's extra pressure. When you got lots of money being thrown at you by your studio to make films, that's a lot of pressure. Your production company, too. You've got your acting coach watching from the wings. So you know that that dovetails into a terrible cocktail that Marilyn starts to resolve and try to improve by taking increasing amounts of medication. And after filming the Prince of the Showgirl, Marilyn returns back to New York, and she and Arthur Miller move into an apartment on East 57th street, where she's now 31. And she just wants a break from making movies.
- [26:55]
Afua Hirsch
Okay, let's dig in a little bit because we've referenced the difficulty she's facing in her private life. Let's just look at what those are. So these notes that Miller wrote, I read that it was entries Miller wrote in his diary that he then deliberately left out so that she could read them. And she found them incredibly hurtful.
- [27:14]
Peter Frankopan
So she reads these notes and it says that he's sometimes embarrassed by her. And those are incredibly hurtful, whether they're deliberately left out or not. But there are a lot of the biographers are questioning her mental health around this time anyway, and she tries to take it all in her stride. She goes to parties. They go to parties together. They're described as being obviously in love. But there's real speculation, anticipation about what's going on in their marriage. Some are saying that she's going. Wants to have a child. And then it's reported in August 1957 that she's had an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage.
- [27:47]
Afua Hirsch
Some of the biographers really emphasize how much having a child was important to her. She definitely seems like somebody whose own childhood was cut short, troubled as it was anyway. And she was often described throughout her life as someone who loved children, who was able to really tap into her own inner child, played with children like another child, and that she was desperate to have children of her own. So that ectopic pregnancy, if it is what happened. And it's a very dangerous thing for a woman. It can't produce a viable pregnancy would have been really devastating for her. So we don't know categorically whether that's true, but it certainly seems that she did want to have children and that she had at least one miscarriage, which would have been really destabilizing. And another sign to her that her dream of having this happy marriage and a family of her own just wasn't going to be allowed to play out how she'd hoped.
- [28:45]
Peter Frankopan
And it's all played out in public. So the front page of the Detroit Free Press in March 1958 headlines, Marilyn loses second baby. And although there are quotes from Marilyn Monroe's representative, you know, the idea that you're having to talk about your fertility and to either confirm, deny, or give comments on things in your life, you know, that pressure for someone who's already anxious is debilitating. She solves it by going back to work. And from July 1958, she returns to Hollywood to shoot one of her most famous roles, one that's going to win her a Golden Globe.
- [29:19]
Afua Hirsch
In Some Like It Hot, she plays Sugar Cain, a singer, and stars alongside Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, two musicians on the run from gangsters who disguise themselves as women. And written and directed by Billy Wilder, it's considered a Hollywood great. It's probably the Marilyn Monroe film that's still most watched today, certainly one of her best known performances. You're a fan of this movie, Peter?
- [29:43]
Peter Frankopan
I love this film. I mean, I've seen it so many times. But what I didn't realize is that it is one of the most famous films for being a terrible production to work on. You know, the friction between all the actors is terrible. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon fall out with Marilyn Monroe. There are frequent confrontations with the director, Billy Wilder. There's one scene that's apparently required, somewhere between 30 and 80 takes. Depends exactly who you believe. Where she just has to say the line, where's that bourbon? In another scene, the shot on a train, which is supposed to be one of the trickiest, she nails it.
- [30:18]
Afua Hirsch
First time Curtis accused her of vicious arrogance, vindictive selfishness, she demanded that Wilder rewrite her opening. She said, I'm not going back into that fucking film until Wilder reshoots my opening. When Marilyn Monroe comes into a room, nobody's going to be looking at Tony Curtis playing Joan Crawford. They're going to be looking at Marilyn Monroe. Always a slight alarm bell when people talk about themselves. In the third person, all is not well.
- [30:43]
Peter Frankopan
The terrible thing is that because I've seen this film so many times and I loved it, I'd never been able to detect it. I'd have thought that would mean a hoot to shoot. I mean, it's such an amusing, funny film. You know, there are gags and twists and turns the whole way through. And, you know, not surprising it's a massive hit when it's released in March 1959, and it's the highest grossing movie of her career. It underlines Marilyn's status as a great sex symbol, as a comic actor and as a power broker in Hollywood. I mean, amongst the downsides, apart from falling out with the other actors, she falls out with Billy Wilder, like you mentioned. But he's completely scathing about her. He says she has breasts like granite and a brain like Swiss cheese, full of holes. But, you know, he's also got no doubt about her ability once the camera is running. So he says she was an absolute comic genius as a comic actress. Nobody else in that orbit, everybody else is earthbound by comparison. She has something really special.
- [31:36]
Afua Hirsch
It's so emblematic of the way people talk about her. They are so scathing about her often and then deferential to her talent or her on screen beauty. And I do question the language that's used around her alleged difficult behavior. I think that we have much more sophisticated attitudes towards mental health and addiction now. And I wonder, Peter, if you think that the way that there was so little tolerance for her alleged lateness and unreliability was really a failure to address that this was a woman who really needed help, she needed an intervention. She wasn't well. Now, we would see that as treatable health issue. But at the time, women were expected to be functional and there wasn't any bandwidth to accommodate the idea that a woman could be in mental health crisis. You really question the doctors. I mean, if somebody's become dependent on sleeping pills to sleep and on uppers to be able to function after having taken so many sleeping pills, that's obviously a vicious cycle that can't be sustainable in the long term. And these doctors continue to prescribe these drugs for her year after year. Although in fairness, by this stage now, in the mid to late 50s, she is way beyond the prescription drugs, as biographers point out, that she had all kinds of other substances that she was using. And obviously they have a devastating effect on her mental and physical health. You just wonder how somebody to whom so much value was attached, who had so many people around her. Nobody was really asking the right questions about the help that she needed or what would happen if she continued in this vein.
- [33:17]
Peter Frankopan
And it's a stupid business model as well as being unkind and unsupportive. You know, if you kill the golden goose, you know the eggs stop coming. So she seems to have it all. Marilyn Monroe's got it all. She wants to keep it. But her physical and mental health problems are growing, and the studio that should be most invested in keeping her healthy, happy, and in the right possible mental state is increasingly impatient with her behavior. And that's going to make things even worse still. This episode is brought to you by Columbia Sportswear. From snowy trails to city streets, Columbia has you covered. Their Omni Heat Infinity jackets are the gold standard in warmth, pushing the boundaries of innovation. Feel the difference as thermal reflective technology wraps you in warmth, whether you're hiking mountains or conquering your daily grind. Visit Columbia.com to learn more.
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- [35:23]
Afua Hirsch
We've reached the late 1950s in the story of Marilyn Monroe. She's in her 30s and she's making great movies. Her latest, Some Like It Hot, is.
- [35:33]
Peter Frankopan
A huge hit, but she's really struggling with health issues, mental health issues, addiction issues, and they're just getting worse. And in July 1960, she begins shooting what will prove to be her last completed movie, the Misfits, in which she co stars with Clark Gable, the man Afro, who we spoke about in the first episode that she once wished was her father.
- [35:53]
Afua Hirsch
This is a troubled production for Marilyn. In fact, she had been looking at Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Capote novel, which was being adapted at the same time and was being seriously considered for the lead role in that film, something she desperately wanted to do. But she was persuaded by her husband, Arthur Miller, who'd written this part for her, that she should do this, to support him and see through this project instead. But it was a decision that I wonder if she regretted because she never believed, really in this story. And she hated the part that her husband had written for her. A vulnerable woman who persuades a group of male misfits to stop hunting horses. She said, if that's what he thinks of me, well, then I'm not for him and he's not for me. So as well as taking on this film project that she didn't like, it also damaged what was left of her marriage by this stage.
- [36:46]
Peter Frankopan
And she has health problems during the shoot, too. So she's struggling to sleep, and her dependency is getting worse and increasingly being noticed. In fact, there are stories of her makeup being applied while she's still comatose or asleep. And it's a complicated and slightly strange film. I know it's highly regarded by film lovers for its cinematography, but it is a difficult part to play, and it's an unkind one. I mean, I'm not surprised that Marilyn Monroe reacted to the fact that this is what her husband had written for her. And at the end of the production, she and Miller fly home to New York on separate flights. The Misfits is released in January 1961, and that same month, Marilyn and Arthur Miller announce their divorce.
- [37:25]
Afua Hirsch
Perhaps the only silver lining is her being able to co star with Clark Gable, because, of course, when she was a child, he was the actor she fantasized about as her father. And apparently he was very kind to her on set, even though he, like everyone else, was frustrated with the production process. That meant a lot to her to have that connection with him, except that he died before the movie's even released. That would have been extremely painful for Marilyn. And on top of the whole experience, which she didn't enjoy, the medical and mental health problems spiraling out of control and her divorce from Arthur Miller, this is becoming a really bad time for her. And within weeks of the breakup, in January 1961, she checks herself in to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York on the advice of her psychoanalyst, who's concerned by the deterioration in her mental health.
- [38:20]
Peter Frankopan
So she checks into Payne Whitney as Faye Miller, and she finds herself locked in a padded cell. And when she screams to be let out, she's threatened with a straitjacket.
- [38:30]
Afua Hirsch
This is actually the second time she's checked into a mental health facility. And the first time it was actually quite a pleasant experience. I think more of the celebrity type rehab clinic we've grown used to in recent times. So when she checked into this psychiat facility, I think she was expecting more of the same. But it couldn't have been more different. I mean this really is padded cell territory, this really bleak hospital with sounds like it had very Victorian ideas about dealing with women with psychiatric issues, straitjacket, the lack of visitors or phone calls. And after three days she's finally able to get to a phone, having been barred from doing so earlier. And of course the person she calls in her hour of need is her ex husband, Joe DiMaggio. Get me out of here, Joe. She pleads. And he doesn't hesitate. He comes good, flies to New York from his home in Florida and he gets her out.
- [39:23]
Peter Frankopan
And I guess that what must be preying on her mind too is that her mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized for most of the rest of her life. And in fact at this time is in medical mental health care. So it's a terrible situation for Marilyn Monroe to be in. And needless to say, it's played out in the public eye too. So when she checks out, there are crowds, there are newsmen, there are camera crews gathering to see her leave. And of course from the outside it all looks absolutely fine. It's all hidden beneath the surface.
- [39:55]
Afua Hirsch
And it's tragic that these opportunities to really tackle her health problems don't result in any long term change. Instead she decides it's time to leave New York and go back to Los Angeles. So she returns to California and buys the only home she ever owned. I was actually really surprised that she'd never owned her own home before this point. So now she's going it alone. She buys a house at 12305, this is a very LA address, 12305 5th Helena Drive in Brentwood, a fancy neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles.
- [40:29]
Peter Frankopan
And she becomes close to Frank Sinatra and others. Frank gives her a white poodle which she calls Math Maf, as is short for Mafia.
- [40:37]
Afua Hirsch
It's so interesting because I'd always thought that Frank Sinatra's alleged connections to the mafia were this kind of closely guarded secret at the time. But it sounds like everyone was quite comfortable with it.
- [40:47]
Peter Frankopan
I think everyone was not just comfortable with it. I think they made all the casinos and lots of Hollywood take and run too. So it was a glamorous world. You know, the Frank Sinatra and the Bratback, all those around them. So as well as bumping around with the circle around Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack, she soon comes into contact with one of the most famous family in the 20th century in the United States, the Kennedys, which is about as close as the United States has to a royal family. And it's a sign of how far the working class foster kid growing up in an orphanage, Norma Jean, had come. In October 1961, she meets Bobby Kennedy for the first time, and he is Attorney General at that time. You told us before AFO, that she'd met JFK, John F. Kennedy before, in the 1950s. There's murmurs and rumors about them having had an affair. Do you buy any of that?
- [41:34]
Afua Hirsch
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Palm Springs, literally around the corner from the house that Frank Sinatra owned, which is where she allegedly spent a weekend with JFK having a steamy affair. There's so much speculation about whether or not they did have a sexual liaison, how deep, or how long that may have gone on for. She was certainly closer to Bobby Kennedy and had at least friendship, if not relationship with him over a longer period of time. But it just speaks to this era and this pack that she's in now with Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, the Kennedys. She is the most famous woman in America, and they are this glamorous political dynasty. It kind of makes sense.
- [42:23]
Peter Frankopan
And what happens next is one of the most famous, maybe even notorious moments in the history of the last hundred years. And it starts with a very simple song. But this song is going to get Marilyn to big trouble with her Studio. Fox.
- [42:41]
Afua Hirsch
May 19, 1962. Madison Square Gardens. Marilyn stands backstage, ignoring the fact that what she's about to do could get her fired. Once again, she's back in the studio's van books, this time for running out on the shoot of her latest movie. The studio claims she's wasting valuable time, their valuable time pushing down the worry that being here tonight could end her career. Marilyn reminds herself why she's come. She's here to celebrate the birthday of the President of the United States of America, a man who Marilyn calls Jack. As the host announces her arrival, she darts across the stage. No one would know her dress is so tight she's had to be sewn into it. Peeling off her white ermine fur coat, she hands it to the host. The audience gasp in shock at the dress. Her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, told her it was too revealing. A sheer, nude fitted slip covered in diamante. Be brave, Mrs. Murray. Be brave, she replied. Now she's following her own advice. Launching into an intimate performance in front of 15,000 people, Marilyn sings with a halting, breathy voice in the near naked dress.
- [44:00]
Peter Frankopan
Happy birthday, Mr. President.
- [44:06]
Ryan Reynolds
Happy birthday to you.
- [44:13]
Afua Hirsch
The shocked crowd laugh along, unsure what they're watching, if they should be watching. As the song ends and the orchestra kicks in, Marilyn jumps excitedly up and down, pleased with her performance. She realizes she's past caring what happens with the studio. She knows people don't flock to see her films because she turns up on time and does what she's told by her bosses. They come because she's a star. And she hopes tonight Jack has noticed that.
- [44:44]
Peter Frankopan
Wow. I was wondering whether you might give the song a go. Afwa.
- [44:48]
Afua Hirsch
Do you know, if it wasn't for my croaky voice, which I'm sure everybody has noticed by now, I absolutely would have that image.
- [44:56]
Peter Frankopan
It's captured on film of Marilyn singing with a very breathy rather than a croaky voice in that simmering sheer dress that's more or less invisible. It's kind of one of the great moments of drama because trying to work out what's actually going on. Why is this woman singing like that, obviously in the role of a seductress or in the role of someone who has a very, very close relationship with the President. And people in the audience not knowing whether they're watching an affair play out in front of them. Not clear whether this is supposed to be funny, but why do you think she went to New York to go and do it? To risk everything and to antagonize the film studio.
- [45:29]
Afua Hirsch
She was never not going to do it. It's Marilyn Monroe at the height of her fame and JFK at the height of his. He's asked her to sing Happy Birthday to him in front of 15,000 people. But really the world. And it's so Marilyn Monroe because it seems so breathy. And I just got up like this and decided to sing this song. Actually, she'd been practicing for weeks to get this performance exactly how she wanted it. She understood the power of this moment for her iconography, for her brand, for the way she'd be memorialized. And she was completely right. I guarantee everyone listening to this has at some point seen or heard or read about that moment. Even if they've never seen a film she's in, even if they couldn't name a single policy that JFK ever stood for. They know that those two people coexisted and shared that moment in front of the world. And it's such a paradox because it was so intimate that I read someone said it wasn't like she was singing to the president. It's like she was making love to the president, but at the same time, it was in front of everyone. The other thing I would just say about the legacy of that moment is in a kind of sequel. Kim Kardashian wore that dress to the Met Gala and the outrage it provoked by people who felt that the sacred nature of that moment precluded anyone from ever wearing that dress again. And there were all these allegations that there was a slight tear in the dress or some secret, and people were so emotional about it because they care about that moment. They wanted it to be preserved exactly as it was, forever. I found that so interesting that it aroused so much feeling.
- [47:16]
Peter Frankopan
I guess there's also the contrast of that gilded golden world of Camelot exemplified by the Kennedys, but of the power of the United States, of the permissiveness on the one hand, and yet on the other, the idea that, you know, not anything goes. This is the height of the Cold War, where the reality is of global mass destruction and the permissiveness. It's one way of looking at the United States in the early 1960s. But this is a deeply conservative society that's very shockable, highly evangelical, very Christian. And the ways in which the people at the top of the tree, not just in Hollywood, but actually the White House, are more or less showing off about an affair or suggesting an affair, even if it didn't happen in front of wives and families. You know, I think that there is a kind of darker side to that chance taking, that risk taking that Kennedy was very, very good at doing. I mean, we used to think of JFK as a sort of fantastic leader who had a problematic personal life. Now I think there's legacies of JFK which are much, much more complicated, because we can see that that space that he gives to self indulgence also can lead to opportunities for other people, other states, to attack, too. And, you know, it's not surprising, I think, if you're watching this in other parts of the world, the Soviet Union, for example, that, you know, the court of Kennedy looks like one that's dominated by sex rather than by people who are being serious about things. So that birthday celebration of birthday song, I think it's a kind of challenge to family life. It's a challenge to conservatism, but it's a way of saying this is another side of the United States where anything goes, things can be permissive, and I guess also play with the fact that Marilyn Monroe is a film star. Of course, her job is to make things look one way rather than being like that for the reality. But that's not what the President is supposed to be doing.
- [48:54]
Afua Hirsch
And she is also supposed to be jobbing as a film star. So she's been on set for Something's Got to Give. It's not been going well. She has been battling with her addiction, health and mental health problems. On top of that, she's now disappeared for a few days to go to this JFK birthday celebration. So when she gets back to the set, she doesn't turn up for another five days claiming she's not feeling well. And that's the final straw for Fox. They fire her. And being Marilyn Monroe, she doesn't take it lying down. She launches right back at them. Peter that's right.
- [49:32]
Peter Frankopan
She does a series of interviews and photo shoots where she looks a million dollars, doesn't look like a faded star at all. And again, Fox figure out that they're the ones losing out. So they offer her a new deal. And according to a documentary made by fox themselves in 2001, the studio offers her a $1 million two movie contract. They still want her. So Marilyn Monroe has got what it is that she wants. She signs the deal on the 1st of August 1962 and she's not giving up. Her career is back on track.
- [50:04]
Afua Hirsch
She's battled the studio and yet again it looks like she's won. But it will prove a short lived victory. That's next time on Legendary Legacy. Follow Legacy on the Wondery app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast. You can binge seasons early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey@wondery.com survey.
- [50:57]
Peter Frankopan
From.
- [50:58]
Afua Hirsch
Wondery and goal hanger. This is the third episode in our series about Marilyn Monroe.
- [51:02]
Peter Frankopan
A quick note about our dialogue. We can't know everything that was said or done behind closed doors, particularly when we go far back in history. But our scenes are written using the best available sources. So even if a scene or conversation has been recreated for dramatic effect, it is still based on biographical research.
- [51:19]
Afua Hirsch
We have used many sources for this series, including Sarah Churchwell's Many lives of Marilyn Monroe. Legacy is hosted by me, Afua Hirsch.
- [51:27]
Peter Frankopan
And me, Peter Frankopone.
- [51:29]
Afua Hirsch
Scene writing by Kirsty Smith for Gold Hagger.
- [51:31]
Peter Frankopan
Our series producers are Kate Taylor and Leo Schick. Robin Scott Elliott is associate producer. Our production managers are Izzy Reid and Alex Hack Roberts. The executive producers are Tony Pasta and Jack Dunaport.
- [51:43]
Afua Hirsch
Legacy is sound engineered by Nathan Copeland.
- [51:46]
Peter Frankopan
Our sound designer is Joe Richardson. Music supervision is Scott Velasquez for Prison Sync.
- [51:51]
Afua Hirsch
Our producer for Wondery is Emanuela Quinnote Francis and our managing producer is Rachel Sibley.
- [51:57]
Peter Frankopan
Executive producers for Wondery are Estelle Doyle, Chris Bo Bourne, Morgan Jones and Marshall Louis.