“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Jean Harlow has been the Star of the Month on my favorite television channel TCM. I have been a long-time fan of Dinner At Eight, which put the actress over the top in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Watching these Harlow films has been a visual delight, between the sets and the gowns by Adrain, but besides that, it is the first time that I got to see how amazing Jean Harlow was as an actress. Granted, the penciled in eyebrows are somewhat distracting or disturbing even, but MGM was keen on shaving off eye brows in order to re-frame the face. (Spend ten minutes with Debbie Reynolds and you will hear about how Louis B. Mayer did that to all the contract players.) Jean Harlow is mesmerizing and steals every scene that she is in. There were two biopics made of Jean Harlow’s life, neither of which did the screen legend any favors, although Carrol Baker was stunning as Harlow, but the acting chops are not there. Wikipedia tells the sad, true story of her death, which was due to renal failure. The biopic eludes to her cause of death due to drinking and falling asleep near the ocean causing pneumonia. Truth is, that the 26 year-old sensation died because she was misdiagnosed, although kidney failure could not have been cured in the 1930’s.

Do yourself a favor and rent a few of Jean Harlow’s best movies such as Platinum Blonde, Libeled Lady, Bombshell, Hold Your Man, Suzy, The Girl From Missouri, and more. There is a fabulous video rental place near me called Allen’s Alley that is one of the last holdouts, which boasts the largest collection of old movies. I recently found a Bette Davis movie that I never saw, thinking I had seen them all, called That Certain Woman, which is fantastic.