Marilyn Monroe | Handwritten "Something's Got To Give" Script Notes

A Millers Falls EZERASE pad of typewriter paper on which Marilyn Monroe has handwritten note in pencil regarding the script for the comedy Something's Got To Give, which remained uncompleted at the time of her death in 1962. The cover is detached but present, and the three hole-punched pad contains four pages of notes in Monroe's hand in pencil outlining her issues with the script for the film. The notes and criticisms include "logical drama but doesn't move on the screen/ leads him on than [sic] said not until"; "instead using the talents/ he's stuck/ imagine being married to MM and she comes back and he is stuck/ he'd dying to go Bed with her but can't because"; "more entertaining/ keep it on an edge/ if it isn't that kind of picture it won't go -/ only if script is acceptable." Then come Monroe's suggestions for a scene with checkmarks next to the ideas: "When Dean first see's Ellen -me- in nurses uniform - (as nurse) he could say - upon arrival - slouching ‘I don't feel so good nurse (weakening in the knees how could she do this to me/ I am telling her/ Beanka kind of stiffening up to hold him & the situation (the nite [sic] before) together he then pulls up but Dean will do this superbly/ He sings little song when drunk & frustrated." She also lists specific passages: "Page 73 (yes? - No? you understand Dean!)/ Page 76 children scene (in comparison to rewrite)." A small note on the last page of notes reads "Funny line writers Herb Gardner / Mel Brook [sic]."

These notes present a very astute Monroe who clearly had serious concerns with the quality of the script, demonstrating that her refusal to appear on set was grounded in these concerns and not simply the actions of a petulant star.

8.5 x 11 inches

PROVENANCE Lot 580, "Property From the Estate of Lee Strasberg," Julien's Auctions, Beverly Hills, November 17, 2016