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!
