This weekend I attended two very special events that celebrated the 100th birthday of Jean Harlow and the book, Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Captial 1928-1937, which was created and published specifically to commemorate this very special milestone.
On Saturday, the authors and their Angel City Press publishers unveiled the highly-anticipated book to family and friends at an exclusive invitation-only reception and after party at not one but two of Jean's former homes.
Easton Drive residence at Dusk Photo by Walter Acuña
The afternoon began at the Club View Dr. residence, hosted by owners Dr. Charles and Rebecca Chandler, and the party continued until after dark at the Easton Dr. residence, hosted by owners Dr. Ron and Maggie Hale.
Photos and more details will be forthcoming in a separate post. To be honest, I had such a great time talking with everyone, I didn't take many photos. Thankfully others did and have agreed to allow me to share them here, so stay tuned for that once I gather all the resources.
In the meantime, be sure to check out A Day With Harlean by Carley Johnson at The Kitty Packard Pictorial for her account of the Saturday experience.
Today the public got their first opportunity to see the book and meet the authors at a special screening of Bombshell at the historic Egyptian Theatre, home of American Cinematheque, in Hollywood.
Before the screening, Darrell gave an insightful presentation about Jean and the book, followed by a Q&A with the audience and both authors, and an introduction to the film by Mark.
After the film, Darrell and Mark signed books in the lobby, which were made available for sale by Larry Edmunds Bookshop.
I don't know about you, but I can find myself spending hours getting lost in time clicking from one Jean Harlow video on YouTube to the next. You can find tributes, filmclips, documentaries and other assorted materials devoted to Our Baby.
Having made three Jean Harlow-related videos myself (two tributes, Remembering Our Baby and A Dream In Color plus The Great Mausoleum Six which features Jean) I can thoroughly appreciate the thought, creativity and time it takes to put YTpresentations together.
Tributes that fans set to music are my favorite. I love seeing Jean from other perspectives. The crafted videos tell me a lot about the fans who created them ~ how they feel about Jean and how they want the world to see & remember her based on the photos, clips and music they've chosen and how they weave all the material together.
That said, The Platinum Page presents (in no particular order) some of our Favorite Jean Harlow Tributes found on YT:
Lots of people have asked me why in the world didn't Turner Classic Movies celebrate Jean Harlow's 100th birthday yesterday.
The short answer? Their annual "31 Days of Oscar" festival ran from February 1 to March 3 this year.
The bigger picture? TCM has named Jean Harlow its Star of the Month for March 2011. This means viewers will enjoy 20 of her films over the next four weeks, programmed in blocks of 4-6 at a time, each Tuesday night.
If my memory is correct, this is only the secod time that TCM has bestowed the honor on Jean since the cable network launched in April 1994. I didn't start getting TCM until 1999, so correct me if I'm wrong, please and thank you!
Back in 2001 they acknowledged her 90th birthday a month late, in April, because at that time "31 Days" was a March-long event. Then she was named Star of the Month in May. So, we've come a long way in ten years.
Host and film historian Robert Osborne wrote a great article about Jean for TCM's Now Playing viewer's guide magazine, which you can read online here.
TCM has also produced this great video, hosted by Mr. Osborne, to promote Jean's month-long tribute:
Alternatively, here's a direct link to the video on the TCM site.
*Drumroll* Here's the line-up for March. All times are US Eastern, adjust according to your local time zone. Canadian fans, see this schedule.
Tuesday, March 8
8:00 PM Red-Headed Woman (1932) - An ambitious secretary tries to sleep her way into high society. Cast: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Una Merkel. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-80 mins, TV-PG, CC
9:30 PM Three Wise Girls (1932) - Three models try to snag husband's but the ones they find are already married. Cast: Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, Marie Prevost. Dir: William Beaudine. BW-69 mins, TV-G
10:45 PM Riffraff (1936) - Young marrieds in the fishing business run afoul of the law. Cast: Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, Joseph Calleia. Dir: J. Walter Ruben. BW-94 mins, TV-G, CC
12:30 AM Suzy (1936) - A French air ace discovers that his showgirl wife's first husband is still alive. Cast: Jean Harlow, Cary Grant, Franchot Tone. Dir: George Fitzmaurice. BW-93 mins, TV-G, CC
2:15 AM City Lights (1931) - In this silent film, the Little Tramp tries to help a blind flower seller to see again. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-87 mins, TV-G (Note: not sure why they're including this in the mix. Jean worked as an extra in the party scene. Don't blink or you'll miss her!)
Enanched/Photo Source: The Films of Jean Harlow. Bonaza Books, NY: 1965
Tuesday, March 15
8:00 PM The Public Enemy (1931) - An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime. Cast: James Cagney, Edward Woods, Jean Harlow. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-84 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
9:30 PM Bombshell (1933) - A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on. Cast: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan. Dir: Victor Fleming. BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC
11:15 PM Libeled Lady (1936) - When an heiress sues a newspaper, the editor hires a reporter to compromise her. Cast: Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS
1:00 AM Reckless (1935) - A theatrical star gets in over her head when she marries a drunken millionaire. Cast: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone. Dir: Victor Fleming. BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC
2:45 AM Personal Property (1937) - The bailiff charged with disposing of a financially strapped widow's estate pretends to be her butler. Cast: Jean Harlow, Robert Taylor, Reginald Owen. Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II. BW-84 mins, TV-G
Tuesday, March 22
8:00 PM Wife vs. Secretary (1936) - A secretary becomes so valuable to her boss that it jeopardizes his marriage. Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-88 mins, TV-G, CC
9:45 PM Red Dust (1932) - A plantation overseer in Indochina is torn between a married woman and a lady of the evening. Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Astor. Dir: Victor Fleming. BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC
11:15 PM Hold Your Man (1933) - A hard-boiled babe and a con man wear down each other's rough edges. Cast: Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC
1:00 AM China Seas (1935) - A sea captain caught in a romantic triangle has to fight off modern-day pirates. Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery. Dir: Tay Garnett. BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC
2:30 AM The Secret Six (1931) - A secret society funds the investigation of a bootlegging gang. Cast: Wallace Beery, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow. Dir: George Hill. BW-84 mins, TV-PG, CC
4:00 AM Saratoga (1937) - A horse breeder's daughter falls for a bookie. Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-92 mins, TV-G, CC
Tuesday, March 29
8:00 PM Dinner At Eight (1933) - A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue. Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow. Dir: George Cukor. BW-111 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
10:00 PM The Girl From Missouri (1934) - A gold-digging chorus girl tries to keep her virtue while searching for a rich husband. Cast: Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Lionel Barrymore. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-72 mins, TV-PG, CC
11:30 PM Platinum Blonde (1931) - A heartless heiress seduces a hard-working reporter into a disastrous marriage. Cast: Robert Williams, Loretta Young, Jean Harlow. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-89 mins, TV-G
1:15 AM The Beast Of The City (1932) - A police captain leads the fight against a vicious gangland chief. Cast: Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford. Dir: Charles Brabin. BW-86 mins, TV-14, CC
One hundred years ago today, on March 3, 1911, little Harlean Harlow Carpenter entered this world where she would stay for only 26 short years.
She made such an impact, through her film work and stories about her loveable personality and life challenges, that for the following 74 years she has remained unforgettable.
We remember and love her as Jean Harlow the movie star, but today I'd like to take you back to her roots, in Kansas City, MO.
The best way to do that is to share with you these two wonderful site links:
KansasCity.com offers archived news stories and photos about Jean from her hometown perspective.
JeanHarlow.info is a loving website created by the Carpenter side of her family, appropriately titled Jean Harlow Otherwise Known as Harlean Carpenter.
Happy 100th Birthday, Baby! We love, remember and honor you today and always. Thank you for being you.
One of the centerpieces on display will be curiously infamous Paul Bern/Jean Harlow Mural that once hung in the couple's Benedict Canyon home. This will be the first time it's ever been available for public viewing!
Its theme is a medieval feast starring their famous friends including Joan Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Gilbert, Bebe Daniels, Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg, just to name a few.
This mural has an amazing, hidden-Hollywoodesque history. Read the details in this encore presentation of the story I wrote in 2006, and be sure to check out my Who's Who breakdown of the celebrities sitting around the fabled table.
Fans will also see at the exhibit Jean's personal and studio-related items (letters, contracts, autographs, photos, posters a fur coat, film costumes, etc.) which have been provided by various collectors, the equally infamous Grand Hotel movie premiere ledger (owned by Darrell) and Jean's 1932 Packard Phaeton, courtesy of Cliff and Janet Gooding.
The exhibit will run March 3 through September 5, 2011.
Save The Date Alert >>> Darrell and co-author Mark Vieira will be holding a Grand Opening Book Signing for Harlow in Hollywood at the museum on Wednesday, March 9 from 6:30-9:30pm.
Here's a sneak peek photo from Darrell:
Items on display are featured in the book, so this is will be a wonderfully unique opportunity to view the rare artifacts up close and personal, then take them home in book form.
The Platinum Page will be attending the exhibit and signing so stay tuned for additional reporting on this story.
Back in the day when The Platinum Page was just getting started the only photos I had to add to the site were in black and white, just like Jean's films. Who among us didn't watch her on screen and wonder what she looked like in real life?
Early on I met the very talented artist and fellow Harlow fan Victor Mascaro who felt the same way, and had begun to colorize her images.
A lot has changed on the world wide web and in digital image technology since then. What hasn't changed is Victor's love for Jean, as evidenced in each new amazing image he shares with her fans on his website Celluloid Legends In Color. It currently boasts six huge galleries devoted to The Baby.
For a bit of history on Victor and his work, be sure to read the past blog entries on the Colorized Images tag page. And check out his Platinum Page gallery, new items added this week!
Victor is my favorite Harlow color artist (I own several of his prints) and a true pioneer of this technique, and he remains the leader. One can hardly look at a YouTube video tribute to Jean without seeing his handiwork. (Please & thank you for remembering to credit him if you do use his images!)
Thanks to Victor and his lifelike colorization skills, we now have a better idea of just how lovely Jean looked in person. That's what I call Hollywood magic!
The Platinum Page is extremely pleased to be participating in the first ever Jean Harlow Blogathon this week!
Big thanks to Carley Johnson at The Kitty Packard Pictorial for bringing together a vast array writers who will be "Blogging For Baby" in honor of her centennial, March 3. Be sure to bookmark Carley's beautiful site to keep up with all the updates as we roll along.
This weekend I had my thinking cap on to come up with some article ideas, when my friend and fellow Harlow fan Reg Williams pinged me about his efforts to encourage fans to fill Jean's room in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale with flowers.
If you'd like to participate, contact The Flower Shop at Forest Lawn to place your order. Please note, Forest Lawn's $3 placement fee will apply. The delivery location is Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction, Private Family Mausoleum Room #34, Crypt B.
Heads up, local fans ~ Reg tells me he's researched prices, and arrangements are less expensive if you purchase them from the shop at the park in person rather than online or by telephone.
How will we know if the goal is met? Being a private room, special permission is needed to visit in person. The Platinum Page is on the case and will be working our contacts to bring you officially sanctioned updates, so stay tuned!
It's been a while since I've had anything newsworthy to share with Platinum Page readers and I'm thrilled to say that this year, which marks the Centennial of Jean Harlow's birth on March 3rd, there's a lot on tap to report!
Let's start with the forthcoming publication of a highly-anticipated, high-quality book worthy of The Baby.
Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937 (Angel City Press, 240 pp., hardcover) by Darrell Rooney and Mark Vieira, is just that book.
I've known Darrell and Mark for years. When they first started talking about writing this book in 2002, it was my personal opinion that Jean couldn't have been in more capable hands.
To me, they form the Harlow Dream Team, combining Darrell's 30-plus years studying Harlow (collecting unimaginable amounts of photos, news items and other artifacts) with Mark's (The Starlight Studio) photographic expertise and proven track record for producing exquisite, expertly researched and written cinema history books including the 1997 Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits which featured Jean. ("The Baby sold that book," Mark tells me.)
Mark Vieira and Darrell Rooney with cover art from their new book. Jean seems to approve!
That said, after getting a sneak preview of their work, I can honestly say that they went above and beyond my expectations.
Harlow in Hollywood is a must-have for everyone who loves Jean and Hollywood history in general, whether you think you know her well or are just starting to learn about her.
Why?
Let's start with the refreshingly unique focus of the book, which tells the story of Jean's years in Hollywood, specifically set against the backdrop of the city during her era. Instead of the traditional biography format, her tale is told visually and with a narrative that's from her point of view.
I recently sat down with Darrell and Mark to learn more about their journey with Jean.
"Her voice comes through strongly and clearly in this book, that's how I write," Mark explained. "The person's voice is so important."
Darrell agreed. "The key thing was to always come back to 'what is her point of view?' Don't tell her story from someone else's perspective," he said.
The authors utilized oodles of photos including studio-produced portraits, scene stills and publicity set-ups, and never-before-seen candid images, all published together for the first time in one high-quality hardcover book, stylishly designed by Art Director Hilary Lentini.
The page-turning text is based on copious amounts of source material culled from Darrell and other longtime Harlow collectors' archives that have never been made public until now.
Readers get a good dose of the fruits of this kind of collaboration starting on page one, referencing private letters and correspondences written by Jean's school friends from Ferry Hall who stayed in touch with her until her untimely death in 1937 at the age of 26.
"Dennis Lee Cleven actually interviewed all these people from her Midwest life in the 1980s and we made arrangements to access his audio interviews and written correspondences," said Darrell who added that "Dennis was an enormously helpful resource."
"That became the basis of the first chapter which tells the story of how she came to Hollywood the first time. Because of these materials the truth about her early life turned out to be very different than what we've ever known it to be. All the dominoes still fall the same way, but the first one is very different. That informed everything that came after it, and brought new insights into Harlow's life and better explained some of the choices she made," he explained.
Another example of fresh material is a photo of starlet Rosalie Roy (photograph by Max Munn Autrey), Jean's friend who asked for a ride to Fox Film studio casting call in 1928 which resulted in Harlow getting tapped for work instead. Along with the photograph is a 1928 Christmas card sent to Rosalie and her husband from Jean (still going by her birth name, Harlean) and her husband Chuck McGrew.
"David Stenn (Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow laid the groundwork for that story by finding and interviewing Rosalie Roy, and it's really gratifying to finally put a face to the name. That that becomes part of the Harlow story, publicly," said Darrell.
An additional key angle of the book is how Hollywood and the forces of the studio system shaped Jean's screen image and in turn how she personally affected the city. "She was a part of the whole nightclub scene of the 1930s and she was photographed everywhere, the Cocoanut Grove, The Biltmore Bowl, The Miramar, all of those hotels," said Darrell.
Dick Powell, Mary Carlisle (who was interviewed for the book), Jean and William Powell caught on the town in a candid moment.
It's a world that doesn't exist anymore, although some of the locations she was photographed at still stand such as Bullocks on Wilshire where the book's cover portrait was taken by George Hurrell in 1935.
Although the book had been worked on for years, the changing book market landscape made selling the idea a challenge. When Mark and Darrell realized that 2011 was Harlow's centennia, that became the goal: to release a book that year. Darrell began transcribing and annotating all of the written material in his massive collection. "I worked for three solid years putting the reference material together so that when we got a pubisher we would be ready," he said.
Writing was a collaboration, with Darrell writing first drafts of each chapter, Mark writing the second draft, then passing it back and forth until both were satisfied.
Once they joined forces with Angel City Press, and with the story structure in place, Darrell and Mark worked together for six weeks on the task of going through Darrell's collection of approximately 5,000 images to come up with photos that would best illustrate the narrative.
Together they looked for unique photos that would tell the story as visually and succinctly as possible, using the most viable images, from both a collector's and a photographer's perspective.
"It was an education for me," said Darrell. "As a photographer, Mark was looking for things that I wasn't aware of, such as middle tones and starting with a good original."
"Because this is a very high-quality printing, you can't use digital copies or re-strikes, but at the same time there were certain images that were very important to the story that we had to consider," said Mark of the editing process.
"With that in mind, we had to branch out and go to other personal collections," added Darrell.
One of those images (a personal favorite of mine) is an extremely rare photo of Jean caught in a casual moment at a lodge, reading, from the collection of James Kaufmann. "It captured the real Jean Harlow," said Mark, who noted that because of the quality of the image, it was most likely taken by a staff photographer and not a personal camera.
Another of Mark's favorites was taken by an MGM photographer in 1933 at the Los Angeles Air Races. "She's with a car and an airplane and all three of them look like art deco icons, all streamlined. To me it's the knockout picture in the whole book," said Mark.
For Darrell, it was less easy to choose a favorite. "I have certain favorites and I wanted to try and get as many of those in the book as possible but in the end it came down to whether or not it served to advance the story," he said.
That they had so many images to choose from is a testament to how photogenic Jean was, and how much of her short life was lived in front of cameras. Each image is stare-worthy. "She had a quality that you can't define and yet you can't ignore," said Darrell.
"Starlets coming up in the studio system were all shot by Hurrell with the same camera and the same technique, but some jump out at you from the photos while others do not. That's because it was their personality jumping out at you," explained Mark.
"Jean had the personality, she was aware that that's the thing you need to register on film and that it wasn't just your looks," added Darrell.
Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937 will be available March 1st. Angel City Press is offering a 25% discount off the $50 cover price through this link for pre-ordered copies and the price also includes personalized inscriptions by the authors.
Pre-orders are also available from Amazon, discounted as well.
If you're in Los Angeles the first week of March there are two special Harlow events you won't want to miss:
Sunday, March 6 - Jean Harlow Presentation and Q&A with Mark and Darrell along with a special screening of "Bombshell" at the American Cinematheque, Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Stay tuned for more details on these two Centennial Celebration Events!
The fur has really been flying lately at Amazon UK over reader reviews for Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel by David Bret, which began popping up earlier this month.
Why all the hub-bub? Apparently, even more controversial than the author himself, are the accusations made by Bret that reviewers never actually obtained and read the book before offering
negative feedback.
According to Bret, who on May 11 responded to a two-star review posted the same day:
"You are reviewing a book, you moron, which has not even been published!
Serialisation has held back publication until after 14 May, so you
cannot possibly have seen it. Reviewing a book before its time, let's
hope you die prematurely too."
Oh dear.
Bret further clarified his point in the form of a five-star review of his own book, which has since been removed:
"I would just like to make this very important point about any reviews for this book PRIOR to 14 May. No one who has reviewed this book before this date has seen it--IT IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED UNTIL 13 MAY, and because of serialisation rights will be kept under tight wraps until this date. As usual, these are a group of fake reviewers, some from the Carole Lombard Forum, some from Lanza Legend, out to discredit me--you can therefore expect to see much of the same over the coming weeks, and they will all mention David Stenn."
On May 12 he was apparently further compelled to make his point (in all caps no less, the equivalent of screaming on the internet) on the Amazon UK page for Stenn's biography of Clara Bow of all places, ignoring the page for Stenn's Harlow biography which would seem to be a more logical place to vent:
"WHILE I HAVE NO COMMENTS TO MAKE ABOUT THIS BOOK, I WOULD LIKE TO POINT
OUT THAT FANS OF THIS AUTHOR ARE BEING VERY UNFAIR TO REVIEW MY
BIOGRAPHY OF JEAN HARLOW, BAD REVIEWS WHICH BEGAN APPEARING 1ST MAY,
PARTICULARLY AS THE BOOK IS UNDER EMBARGO (SERIALISATION) AND CANNOT
POSSIBLY BE SEEN BY ANYONE UNTIL AT LEAST 14 MAY!!!"
Apparently several reviews posted before mid-May have mysteriously disappeared from Amazon's site after Bret's outbursts.
Yet, according to Amazon, the book's publication date from JR Books Ltd. was slated for April 16, 2009, a date that remains on the site today. If an embargo was put into place, someone forgot to tell their distributor.
One UK customer confirmed to The Platinum Page that she ordered the book in late April and was notified by Amazon that it would be dispatched by April 27 and delivered by May 2.
I asked one of the reviewers who posted his comments on May 4 (after ordering the book on April 27 and receiving it on May 1) to send me photographic proof that he owns a copy of Tarnished Angel. Here's what he promptly sent back:
Now, not having read Bret's book yet (making me Rennell's target audience) but having some knowledge of Harlow's life and personality, this piece left me feeling like I was having a 1965 flashback to Irving Shulman's highly fictionalized rendition that caused equal amounts of controversy back in the day.
On a side note, three paragraphs in, Rennell writes:
"The original 'blonde bombshell', with peroxide platinum locks and a sassy face that sent men wild and women racing to their hairstylist to copy her look, is barely remembered now. Not one of the three dozen films she starred in would figure in even the most arcane cinema buff's top 100 list."
Maybe it's a UK thing, but I don't consider the American Film Institute, who ranked Harlow #22 in its Top 100 Legends, arcane. A simple Google search of her name yields 689,000 internet references. We should all be so forgettable. But I digress.
It's very easy for any knowlegable Harlow fan, myself included, to get caught up in reading or participating in a passionate online rhubarb over the actions and reputations of both the author and his subject. It's become practically unavoidable. And nothing of real value can be gained by simply highlighting the mudslinging. So what's the alternative here?
Call me crazy, but I say try to be objective and go on a fact finding mission.
In the interest of the fairness that Bret has adamantly stated he's not been afforded, I recently emailed his publisher's publicity department to request a review copy of Tarnished Angel and a opportunity to conduct a professional, legitimate interview with Bret about his work.
The story here, when I look at it not as a Harlow fan but as an experienced journalist and researcher, isn't necessarily the content of the book or the author's reputation. Although that's certainly a part of it. It's more about finding out why and how the book was conceived and written, what is its purpose, how were conclusions made and what, if any, new information the book brings to the table.
The only person who can answer these types of questions, hopefully without the previously demonstrated anger and insults, is the author.
The offer is out. Will my request be granted? Stay tuned....
Welcome to the companion blog for The Platinum Page, a non-profit fansite dedicated to keeping my favorite classic film actress Jean Harlow's memory alive.
Here you will find news items, posts based on my own research, plus links to Jean-related products and fan-networking opportunities.
