by David Wayne
8:00 AM Saturday, August 4, 1962
Housekeeper Eunice Murray arrives at Marilyn’s home at 12305 5th Helena Drive in Brentwood, a classy suburb close to Hollywood. Mrs. Murray is a regular at Marilyn’s home (she also uses her son-in- law, Norman Jeffries, for small repairs at the property). At this moment, Marilyn is still in her bedroom and house guest Pat Newcomb, who spent the night, is still asleep in the guest room.
9:00 AM
Marilyn comes into the kitchen, Mrs. Murray gives her a glass of grapefruit juice, and the two start to chat. Marilyn explains that her publicist (and friend), Pat Newcomb, has spent the night because she is suffering from bronchitis (Pat had planned on checking into a hospital, but Marilyn convinced her to spend the night at her home instead, hoping that some good rest and lots of sunshine would nurse her back to health without hospitalization). So Marilyn says to let her sleep for her bad cold and then maybe in the afternoon she can “bake it out” at poolside.
9:30-10:00 AM
Marilyn meets at the house with Larry Schiller of Playboy Magazine regarding a proposal for a photo shoot and cover story on Marilyn. Schiller says Marilyn “looks fresh, unworried and without a care.”68 Even though it is Saturday, among her plans today, in addition to meeting with Playboy, include a designer fitting with the renowned Jean Louis, a meeting with famed actor/ dancer Gene Kelly regarding the I Love Louisa project (the name was later changed to What A Way To Go! when actually made), and making plans for her upcoming trip to New York City, during which she has planned a meeting with composer Jule Styne to work on Marilyn’s proposed musical version of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, an interview and photo essay with Esquire Magazine, meeting with executives from 20th Century Fox about resuming filming of Something’s Got To Give, and scheduling a meeting with Italian film producers on some possible future film projects.69
10:00-11:50 AM
A small piece of furniture, a nightstand that Marilyn had ordered, is delivered to her home and Marilyn writes a check for and receives it.70
Marilyn makes a phone call to friend Ralph Roberts, and they discuss a singer whom Marilyn is trying to help along in his career. Marilyn asks Ralph if he can try to locate an unreleased record of him. They also discuss a possible barbecue dinner at Marilyn’s home tomorrow (Sunday) and agree to talk again a little bit later.71
Marilyn receives a phone call from Sidney Skolsky. He asks her what her plans are for the evening and she says that she is expecting to see one of the Kennedys at a dinner at Peter Lawford’s home.72
11:00 AM
A helicopter arrives at the landing pad at 20th Century Fox movie studios. This has previously been the method that Robert Kennedy takes to visit Marilyn; landing at the helicopter pad at Fox, being driven to Peter Lawford’s beach home in Santa Monica, then visiting Marilyn either at her home or at Lawford’s. There are eighteen credible witnesses to Robert Kennedy’s presence in Los Angeles on August 4, 1962, from police officers, to neighbors who were familiar with his comings and goings. He was positively identified arriving at the 20th Century Fox helicopter pad, and also entering the homes of both Marilyn Monroe and Peter Lawford later that day.73
11:50 am-12:30 PM
Pat Newcomb wakes up and joins Mari-lyn and Eunice in the kitchen. Eunice prepares one of her fresh herb omelets for Pat, but Marilyn does not eat (this is confirmed by the fact that the autopsy also showed that she had not eaten anything on Saturday). Marilyn and Pat end up in an argument. Some of Marilyn’s biographers have theorized that the argument was because Pat had slept so well and Marilyn, who has difficulty sleeping, was jealous of that fact. That simply doesn’t hold up to scrutiny—the reason Pat spent the night to begin with was because Marilyn knew Pat had a terrible cold and wanted her to rest. Other reports from witnesses make much more sense—that Marilyn saw Pat as always defending the Kennedys (which was very true; she even went to work with Robert Kennedy after Marilyn’s death). Marilyn was becoming more and more convinced that those closest to her were not taking her side in matters related to the Kennedy brothers (which was also true).74
12:30-2:00 pm
The tension between Marilyn and Pat cools off and the two spend some time around the house. Pat rests and gets some sun for her cold. Marilyn occupies herself with a bunch of trees that have been delivered for her yard’s new landscaping. Furniture had recently been delivered (in addition to the nightstand that was delivered this morning) and Marilyn concerns herself with these matters around the house. She is in the process of redecorating her home, the first that she has ever owned.
2:00 PM
Joe DiMaggio, Jr. telephones for Marilyn; Joe Jr. is the son of Marilyn’s former husband, baseball hero, Joe DiMaggio, and she remains close with both of them. The call is “Collect, for Marilyn” and is operator-assisted. Joe Jr. states that Mrs. Murray (Eunice) answered the phone and told the operator that Miss Monroe was not in to take the call.75
Shortly after 2:00 PM
Mrs. Murray’s car is delivered. It had been in the shop for repairs, and a man from the repair shop had dropped her off at Marilyn’s earlier today. She then drives to the market to stock up on some supplies that are needed for the house.76
(Here, it should be noted that one of Marilyn’s chief biographers, Donald Spoto, injects that Dr. Greenson, Marilyn’s psychiatrist, arrives at her house shortly after 1:00 pm. Spoto is the only biogra pher who makes this assertion and it seems highly unlikely-to-impos sible. The purpose appears to be the “cleansing effect” pertaining to the presence of Robert Kennedy at Marilyn’s home. Spoto states that Robert Kennedy was never there and changing this point in the timeline facilitates it. However, Robert Kennedy quite definitely was there, as we shall soon see.)
Approximately 3:00 PM
Elizabeth Pollard, Marilyn’s neighbor across the street in the cul-de-sac, later reports that while she and her friends are playing cards as they often do on Saturday afternoons, they clearly see Robert Kennedy get out of a parked car. She vividly recalls one of her guests remarking excitedly “Oh look, there’s Robert Kennedy!” and that they all watched as he and two other men then walked up the drive to Marilyn’s home.77
(We examined this account and it is highly credible. Some authors have tried “pushing” it to later in the evening, putting it closer to the time of death, but Pollard’s original statement was that it actually occurred at about 3:00 PM—that would also coincide with the timing of Ward Wood’s testimony and with other credible sightings of Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles that day.)
(Caretaker Norman Jeffries tells a different story many years later, however, being Eunice’s son-in-law and on very bad terms with her in later years, he clearly has an axe to grind and his account has been determined not credible.)
Approximately 3:00 PM
Years later (not at the time of questioning), housekeeper Eunice Murray admits (on more than one occasion) that Robert Kennedy was indeed at Marilyn’s home that afternoon. She says it was a surprise visit, that he wasn’t expected, which was evidenced by the fact that Marilyn wasn’t “ready” for him; she hadn’t had her hair, makeup, and nails done, and wasn’t dressed up as she normally would be. The autopsy photos confirm that her dark roots were showing, and she hadn’t shaved her legs or done her nails, so there was no way she was expecting a visit from Robert. The exact words of Eunice regarding his presence that day and its ramifications, are: “Oh sure, yes—I was in the living room when he arrived. She was not dressed. It became so sticky that the protectors of Robert Kennedy had to step in.”78
4:30 PM
After Robert Kennedy’s visit, Eunice finds Marilyn very upset and she calls Dr. Greenson, Marilyn’s psychiatrist, who is basically on-call to handle her “issues.”79
4:30 PM
Joe DiMaggio Jr. again calls collect for Marilyn and the operator is again told that Miss Monroe is unavailable to take the call.80
“Late afternoon”
Marilyn telephones her good friend Sidney Guilaroff, the world-renowned ha
irdresser. She is in tears and tells Sidney that “Robert Kennedy was here, threatening me and yelling at me.” He asks her why he was there, and Marilyn answers because “I’m having an affair with him.” She told Sidney that he then left with Peter Lawford. Sidney consoles her a bit, and she is less depressed, but the visit quite obviously upset her.81
“Late afternoon”
Ward Wood, next-door neighbor of Peter Lawford’s Santa Monica beach home (which the Kennedys are known to frequent), later tells police that Robert Kennedy arrives at Lawford’s late in the day, and that he clearly remembers seeing him as he steps out of a Mercedes. He makes the identification with informed certainty.82
5:00-5:10 PM
Peter Lawford states that at this time he phones Marilyn and invites her to a dinner party he is having this evening at his home in Santa Monica. Marilyn answers that she’s not sure, but she’ll think about it. Lawford tells Marilyn he hopes to see her there.83
5:00- 5:10 PM
While Marilyn is on the phone with Law- ford, on the other line, Marilyn gets a call from Isadore Miller (father of playwright and Marilyn’s former husband, Arthur Miller. Marilyn has remained close to Isadore. He was even her escort to the JFK birthday gala at Madison Square Garden earlier in the year). Eunice tells Isadore Miller that Marilyn is busy, and she’ll have to call him back. Marilyn does not return Miller’s phone call.84
Note: Marilyn’s home has two separate phone lines (two different phone numbers) and her closer friends are aware of both. Both of the phones are kept in the guest room. The home has two guest bedrooms. The one that Pat Newcomb slept in last night (and that Eunice Murray is in tonight) is at the end of the hall, which is up from Marilyn’s bedroom. The other guest room, the one where the telephones are kept, is near the first, and the two guest rooms are connected via a joint bathroom.
5:15 PM
Dr. Greenson arrives and confers with Marilyn in her bedroom. He spends a long time in her room, only exiting occasionally, coming out into the hallway and appearing deep in thought, then returning to her room.85 He later states to a close colleague who had also once treated Marilyn that she was distraught at the time that he arrived, but had clearly settled down during their long session and was okay by the time that he left. However, Greenson later tells the “Suicide Prevention Team” that Marilyn was “depressed and drugged,” “furious” and “in a rage” this afternoon due to her having been involved sexually with “important men in government” and that she was “feeling rejected by some of the people she had been close to.”86
6:00 PM
Dr. Greenson is nearing the end of a therapy session in Marilyn’s home and telephones Marilyn’s personal physician, Hyman Engleberg, asking him to come over and give Marilyn an injection of a sedative so that she can get some rest. They are in the process of “weaning” Marilyn off her reliance upon the sedative Nembutal, so there are apparently none in the house. Marilyn only had a prescription for twenty-five Nembutal, and she can’t find them, apparently accusing Pat of flushing them down the toilet. Dr. Engleberg had only given Marilyn this prescription to stave off any withdrawal symptoms because he knew that he was going to be unavailable in the short term to give her any injections. In any case, since she was disturbed by the visit from Robert Kennedy, Greenson thinks she needs something to calm her. However, Engleberg declines because he has his own dramas to deal with (his wife was in the process of leaving him).87
6:30 PM
Ralph Roberts, Marilyn’s friend and masseur, telephones. Roberts is on his way to the grocery store to pick up some things that he and Marilyn need for a barbecue they have scheduled the following day. Dr. Greenson answers the phone, telling Roberts that Marilyn isn’t there and then hanging up on him (Roberts recalls the event specifically and remembers wondering why Dr. Greenson would be at Marilyn’s house at all if Marilyn wasn’t there).88
6:30 PM
Pat Newcomb, Marilyn’s press agent, who had spent the night at Marilyn’s house, now leaves Marilyn’s home. There is an undercurrent of suspicion between Marilyn and Pat—even though she is supposed to be looking out for Marilyn as her publicist, Marilyn accuses her of being a watchdog for the Kennedys and reporting everything back to them (which was true). Earlier in the day, Marilyn had ordered Pat out of the house, but Pat had stayed there anyway. Dr. Greenson eventually comes out of their closed-door session in Marilyn’s bedroom after calming her down, and he pointedly addresses Pat with a rejoinder to the effect of: “Are you leaving now, Pat?” (This is apparently letting Pat know that Marilyn has confided in him that she had ordered Pat out of her house, and that Pat didn’t leave). Pat then apparently leaves the house in a huff without saying a word to anyone (according to the housekeeper, she is quite indignant in her exit).89
Dr. Greenson is still at Marilyn’s home when Pat Newcomb leaves, along with Marilyn and housekeeper Eunice Murray. Newcomb later states: “When I last saw her, nothing about her mood or manner had changed ... she even said I’d see her tomorrow.”90
6:45- 7:00 PM
After spending almost two hours at the house, most of it alone with Marilyn, Dr. Greenson then leaves. Before going, he tells Eunice that Marilyn is much calmer now, but to keep an eye on her, suggesting she spend the night there (which she did not ordinarily do on Saturday nights). Eunice agrees to do precisely that. Dr. Greenson later characterizes Marilyn’s mood that day by saying that she was a bit depressed, but that he had “seen her many, many times in much worse condition.” Eunice later confirms that there was no serious concern about Marilyn at this particular point. Dr. Greenson tells Marilyn to give him a call in the morning, but also adds that he will be available again in a few hours and that she can call him later at home should she need him.91
7:15 PM
The son of Marilyn’s former husband Joe DiMaggio, Joe DiMaggio Jr., again telephones Marilyn and the two converse amiably for quite some time (his father, the baseball hero, had become very disturbed at the fact that medical types, whom he considered detrimental, had attached themselves to Marilyn. He reportedly quit his job with a military supplier a few days earlier on August 1, planning to ask Marilyn to remarry him, a rumor that had been spreading nationally after the two had again become close). Joe, Jr. tells Marilyn the “big news”—that he has broken off his engagement to be married—and Marilyn is thrilled to hear it because she had been against it all along. DiMaggio, Jr. later states that, during their phone call, Marilyn sounded fine.92Housekeeper Eunice Murray also states that Marilyn was in very good spirits both during and after the call, her bubbly laughter ringing through the whole house, which Eunice greeted with relief after the day’s earlier events. Eunice describes her right now as: “Happy and in good spirits; gay, alert. Anything but depressed.”93
7:40 PM
Marilyn phones Dr. Greenson, who has already arrived at his home and is now shaving because he is getting ready to go out to dinner with his wife. Marilyn informs him of the good news that Joe Jr. has broken off his wedding engagement and Greenson welcomes her enthusiasm. Later during the call, Marilyn asks Dr. Greenson if he took her Nembutal and he answers that no, he hasn’t. Dr. Greenson is a bit taken aback by the question, but recalls being relieved by the fact that Marilyn obviously didn’t have any Nembutal at the house. Greenson says Marilyn sounded “quite pleasant and more cheerful.”94
Note that Marilyn does have access to at least two bottles of Librium, a potent tranquilizer that she has been prescribed—she does not take any (there was no Librium in her body at autopsy). The following morning, the two bottles of Librium are found on the table near her body: one contained twenty-seven capsules, the other contained seventeen.
7:45 PM
Marilyn says goodnight to Mrs. Murray and tells her that she is retiring early. She is still in an excellent mood (two hours later, she is dead). As was her regular custom, she takes the telephone from its table in the guest room and brings it with her into her bedroom, closing her door with the phone cord beneath
the door. Typically, she later replaces the telephone in the guest room as part of her nightly ritual, at the point when she is ready to go to sleep—as Eunice later puts it, “Putting the phones to bed was one of Marilyn’s nightly habits.”95 Before going to sleep, she would return the telephone to the guest room and cover both telephones with pillows to muffle the ring and not disturb her sleep. On this night, Marilyn does not return the phone to the guest room which, later, reportedly alerts the housekeeper that something is amiss—because “she hadn’t put the telephone to bed.” From this point forward, Eunice Murray does not hear anything further from Marilyn. Eunice soon retires to the guest room and is in bed, reading. The next time that she hears the telephone ring will be a bit after 8:30 when Marilyn’s attorney, Mickey Rudin, calls (Rudin is also Dr. Greenson’s brother-in- law). Bear in mind that Eunice will hear the phone ring on the second line, not on the telephone which Marilyn has taken into her bedroom. Also note that Eunice does not pass by Marilyn’s bedroom to answer the phone in the guest room— she simply walks through the bathroom which adjoins the two guest rooms.
8:00 PM