3
upon America like a meteor and burned up as quickly.
(ft
JM.V.WV JL (IPy
Jean1-Harlow's meteoric rise was ignited by her' mother (left)
and aided by stepfather (right) who posed as her chauffeur.
Hollywood's
Greatest
Glamonr Girl
She died 21 years ago this week, but
she has never been replaced and probably
never will be; her name: Jean Harlow.
by Bernard Asbell
Do you remember the day only yes
terday, it seems when the in
credible news broke that Jean
Harlow, the personification of Holly
wood glamour, was dead? Well, a baby
born on that day would be old enough
to vote next Saturday, June 7. It's
been 21 years!
In those years, motion pictures have
climbed progressively through Techni
color, Cinemascope, and Marilyn Mon
roe. The national culture has absorbed
the shock of a second world war, the
rise of television, the explosions of
rock-and-roll and the rocket age, and
the transplanting of the Brooklyn
Dodgers to Los Angeles. But we have
not yet produced another sex symbol
as durable and altogether demolishing
as Jean Harlow.
So it's fitting that we refresh our
spirits with the tantalizing memory of
the Blonde Bombshell, if for no other
reason than to pose before the new
generation the old track record.
In 1929, two major events rocked
America. One was the collapse of Wall
Street. The other was a scene in one
of the earliest talking pictures, "Hell's
Angels." No, not the scene where 90
airplanes roared through a thunder
storm, but the one where a lady with
a lightning-hued head of hair and a
low, low-cut evening dress slinked
quietly into the screen and cooed:
"Do you mind if I slip into something
more comfortable?"
While bankrupt executives every
where were leaping from penthouses,
an obscure - Hollywood extra, Jean
Harlow, had put herself in business.
Jean Harlow's arrival had been
piloted by a most able engineer who
could read a timetable, fix a desti
nation, and keep to both. This was her
mother the real Jean Harlow, in more
ways than one.
Mother's maiden name was Jean
Harlow when she married Monte Car
pentier, an easygoing dentist in Kansas
City. They named their daughter, born
March 3, 1911, Harlean Carpcntier. But
until the day their child died 26 years
later, Mother always called her "Baby."
Soon after Harlean was born, Mother
divorced Carpentier and married a
sombre but romantic-looking Latin
named Marino Bello.
Mother had always craved to be an
actress, but the opportunity had never
come. As movies and her daughter
Harlean began to develop into matur
ity, however, it became obvious that
these two could do interesting things
for each other. So Mrs. Bello moved
her daughter and herself to Hollywood.
There, the daughter took on a life
carefully designed by her mother, even
assuming her mother's name; and Jean
Harlow was born.
The way the story goes, her career
was launched near the soda fountain
of Kehoe's drugstore. A director is
supposed to have seen her and, as they
say in the trade, he flipped. According
to legend, some big director is always
discovering some raving beauty in a
drugstore, then rushing over to get her
name. This really is not true. He sends
an assistant over to get her name.
"Jolly Jewallopers!" this big director
is alleged to have spluttered. "Look at
that head of hair! Go get her name."
The hair wasn't quite silver and it
wasn't quite gold. It was quite in
describable, and perhaps this entire in
cident isn't quite true. It is predicated
on the idea that Jean Harlow was dis
covered by chance and Mrs. Bello war.
not likely to have left so critical an
event to mere chance.
rVURING AN EARLIER Visit to Hollywood,
Mrs. Bello had perceived that
it didn't matter so much who you
were as who you seemed to be. So.
this trip, she rented a spacious house
and threw generous parties, inviting
filmland people that Jean had met
working as an extra.
12 Family Wrekly. June 1, 1 95 J