{"id":113878,"date":"2026-03-03T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=113878"},"modified":"2026-03-02T13:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:38:07","slug":"conversations-with-mitchell-part-5-jean-harlow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=113878","title":{"rendered":"“I wasn’t born an actress, you know. Events made me one.” — Jean Harlow"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today is Jean Harlow’s birthday. Here is a discussion Mitchell and I had about her.<\/p>\n

The setup of the conversation (an ongoing series): I throw names of famous people at Mitchell, and ask him to describe each person in only “one word”. Then it goes from there. Enjoy.<\/h3>\n

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Sheila O’Malley:<\/big> Jean Harlow. One word. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitchell Fain:<\/strong><\/big> [thinks a bit<\/i>] Brassy! She had this beautiful almost pudgy face and this …<\/p>\n

SOM:<\/big> Luscious body.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MF:<\/strong><\/big> Crazy luscious body. Gowns cut on the bias were created for Jean Harlow’s body or, at least, she made the look popular. She had this gun-moll voice. Every generation has the dumb blonde, or The Blonde, and Harlow was the dumb blonde of that era, but what’s interesting is – whether it’s Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe<\/strong> – those dumb blondes are FUNNY. <\/p>\n

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SOM:<\/big> Goldie Hawn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MF:<\/strong><\/big> Goldie Hawn<\/strong>! Every generation has their version of that. <\/p>\n

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\nMF:<\/strong><\/big> I think unfortunately Harlow’s reputation has either suffered or … she’s not remembered right. First of all, she died so young, and there’s an atmosphere of scandal about all of it, and that’s unfortunate and unfair. She was so of her era. I would say that that was true of Joan Crawford<\/strong> too. Harlow is so of her era that she ends up being totally contemporary. I recently watched Red Dust<\/em>, with Harlow and Clark Gable<\/strong>. And Harlow comes across, once again – in the style of acting that we love – and the style that most people (who don’t watch old movies, or don’t understand that these people were inventing<\/em> screen acting) find dated … but you watch her in Red Dust<\/i>, and compared to the other actresses of her time, she’s making such – and I say this in a positive way – pedestrian<\/em> choices. She’s so tough. A tough chick.<\/p>\n

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\nSOM:<\/big> She wasn’t Garbo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MF:<\/strong><\/big> She wasn’t Katharine Hepburn.<\/strong> She didn’t use that mid-Atlantic speech that actors used back then. Harlow didn’t even try. As a result, she comes across as very real. And she’s funny. I guess Dinner at Eight<\/em> has become her legacy. There’s that moment in Dinner at Eight<\/em> where Harlow shows up at the snooty party, and says something like, “You know, we’re all going to be replaced by robots or machines some day …” and Marie Dressler<\/strong> says, “You have nothing to worry about, my dear.” And sometimes comments like that make it seem like she’s a whore, but she’s so adorable, you like her anyway. I wonder what Harlow’s goals were.<\/p>\n

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