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Life Magasine (June 22, 1962)

They Fired Marilyn: Her Dip Lives On

Tight security gripped Stage 14 at 20th Century Fox. The set was cleared of hangers-on. Electricians were asked to look away. A tense silence fell. Then out of the swimming pool and into a robe climbed a lovely mirage -- the bare, dimly lit figure of Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn was working on her latest movie, Something's Got to Give and two weeks later something did -- Marilyn was fired. What we'll all miss on the screen is the skinny-dip scene you see on these pages. Director George Cukor first decked out Marilyn in a flesh-colored bikini, but the subterfuge was so transparent that Cukor conned her into doing it for real. A year ago Marilyn would never would have agreed, for she was 15 pounds overweight. But she as trimmed down and is now back to her calendar-girl shape. As she finished the swimming scene, Marilyn, who just turned 36, exhaled, "It was like celebrating my birthday -- in my birthday suit."

"Please...it was not my doing"

In a telegram to the cast and crew, Marilyn wrote, "Please believe me, it was not my doing....I so looked forward to working with you." With that she signed off and out of Something's Go to Give. The happy mood of the skinny-dip was gone and so was she.

The company for this film had assembled in April. But out of 32 working days Miss Monroe, who many felt had never seemed lovelier or less confident, had shown up for only 12 -- to produce about 7 1/2 usable minutes of film. She was sick, she insisted.

She was reneging on her contract, said 20th Century-Fox. Already almost a million dollars over the budget and with the end nowhere in sight, Fox blew the whistle. They fired the star and filed a $750,000 lawsuit against her.

But the worst was yet to come. The film's co-star, Dean Martin, had been given the right to approve or disapprove any replacement for Monroe. Fox chose Lee Remick for the job. But Dean Martin said, "No Marilyn, no Martin," and with that Fox said "No Picture" and scrapped the whole thing.