Customer Reviews

Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

David Stenn's book is a meticulously researched, superbly written biography that answers the questions that inevitably pop up when we encounter Jean Harlow's image on screen -- and simultaneously contemplate her early death: Who was she? What was she really like? Was she happy? Why did she die at 26 years old? Stenn provides the answers, some of which are quite sad, all of which are true. He is also an artist with a real feel for Harlow's achievement as an artist. This is not the standard Hollywood biography, which lists one movie and then another. Stenn provides the sweep of the brief but extraordinary life of this young woman who was easily one of the most likable and adorable human beings of the twentieth century.

I read the paperback edition of this book at least 2 years ago. And I was stunned to learn absolutely unknown facts about the following: Jean Harlow's outstanding acting ability; her hilarious sense of humor; how beloved she was by everyone (except Joan Crawford...) including Clark Gable and virtually every guy on the set from cameramen to gaffers; she was so endearing and kind to everyone that she was called "Baby"...in the most heartrending and respectful way; she was tiny - barely 4 feet 11 inches tall and despite her incredible beauty did not take it seriously; she tried desperately to please everyone and above all perhaps she was the most loyal friend anyone could have. The end was so heartbreaking, it still makes my eyes brim.

For any fan of Jean Harlow, this is the book to buy. David Stenn's exhaustive research paid off as this is a very objective and fair book about a subject who has now been dead for over 60 years. Fortunately for the author and his readers, when Mr. Stenn did his research many friends and acquaintances of Jean Harlow's were still with us and lucid enough to provide good information about the life and career of Harlow.
This book is very easy to read and chronicles a short life which was probably as interesting as any character Jean Harlow played in the movies. The anecdotes provided made me feel as though I knew Harlow personally and the end result was that I walked away from this book really caring about the subject and finding that I also really liked her a lot as a person. I have also found that I appreciate her artistry even more each time I watch one of her movies.

This is just what you want from a Biography, where the research has been done carefully and pieced together so well, so it reads straightforward it just gives you what you want to know. Question that went unanswered on this beautiful star for years have now been answered and sometimes the truth can be a tragic thing to know. The words that came to myself all the way through this book "if only". You are shown in all the right words this star as being just the real person she was, full of life inner spirit on screen and the plain truth off. At 26 it finished so sudden, this is incredibly sad for someone so young "if Only" Jean Harlow could have been strong enough to break free from her mother's grip, Just to find that happiness she needed for a short while, I believe she would have found it given more time, but time tragically once again, just wasn't on her side.

This is just incredible to read, very strong, she could have been your friend someone you cared about, because you are filled with sadness by the time you reach the end. Very well written.

A great deal has been written about Jean Harlow,and it is a tribute to her that her colleagues have always defended her memory. David Stenn is to be commended for painstakingly researching Jean Harlow and representing her in all fairness. It is fortunate he was able to interview numerous individuals before they were gone.Stenn's book is a fast read, a bit too fast for me. I would have liked some of the anecdotes I have read elsewhere. Nonetheless, I find his book far superior to Eve Golden's "Platinum Girl," which has a wealth of superb photographs, but reads too much like a fan magazine. Stenn's notes are meticulous and worth reading themselves. He is fair to Jean Harlow the star and the woman. Due credit is given to her talent in comedy, although I have found some of her earlier film performances quite convincing (ie "The Iron Man","Platinum Blonde"). He has done what no one else has done, he has solved the mystery that has surrounded her early demise at the age of 26 with substantial evidence. Myrna Loy once claimed she would never forgive Jean's mother for killing her daughter. Thus, it is a myth that penetrated even those who knew Jean Harlow well that no doctors were present. Stenn solves it thoroughly and I commend his fine research and his writing style. I am glad this book on a fine person and a gifted actress is in print again. I hope it will remain in print. David Stenn is a fine biographer as he proved years earlier with his book on Clara Bow. I recommend both books because Stenn does his research and treats his subjects justly. Such biographers are all too rare. I look forward to further works by this fine author. "Bombshell" is the best book on Jean Harlow to date. Her story is an intriguing one. Stenn's book is the one to read to learn about this amazing star whose career and life were all too brief.

Kudos to David Stern for another carefully researched and well-writen biography of a classic Hollywood legend.

Jean Harlow's white blond hair and smoldering looks on screen promised a good time. But under that cloud of hair was a charming and witty person who if she was alive today, I would love to listen too. David Stern shows the young woman who was under her mother (Mama Jean)'s thumb but not completely down-trodden. In her brief life, Jean Harlow made several classic films (Bombshell, Dinner at Eight, Red Headed Woman), endured a string of marriages and even wrote a book that was published many years after her tragic death.

David Stenn connects with his subject... well researched, well written, and a real enjoyment to read, it gives you Jean Harlow as others close to her knew her, and dispels a lot of the myths about her that the Hollywood rumor mills and others have kept alive over the years. Fascinating portrait of an interesting woman whose career was much too brief, and to whom others to this day owe their livelihoods because she went there first. Highly recommended, along with his other book on Clara Bow, "Running Wild."

Author David Stenn, whose intricately researched, and footnote-heavy, biography of the shy young woman from Kansas City, Missouri who rose to become "the" sex symbol of the 1930's, is probably the last biographer to have been accorded access to so many friends, relatives, and co-workers of the well-remembered and still-beloved actress. Using new material, gathered from contemporaries who had never previously spoken intimately of Harlow, Stenn presents a balanced tale of a stagemother-driven, "child-like", star whose notoriety has eclipsed her talent for decades. Because so many of Stenn's primary sources have died since the book's publication, it is unlikely there will be another author with the same opportunity to access, first-hand, so many facts and anecdotes of such interest to fans, and others, intrigued by MGM's "Blonde Bombshell". It is a great pity this succinct and frank work concerning the archetypal Hollywood sex goddess, known to all her friends as "Baby", is now out-of-print and, unlike Eve Golden's beautiful, but less factually accurate biography, "Platinum Girl", is no longer readily available.

I love this book on harlow above all else that is written about her! It showed a side of harlow alot of people is not aware of it and showed the struggle jean had to suffer through not only with her mother but with other people in her life who meant her no good! This book made me cry in the end it was tragic and I don't feel that she fought as hard as she would have to live because her spirit was broken from her struggles. It was a good book and I recommend it!

From what I've read so far, it's the best of what is available. However if you are looking for in-depth information on her work experiences then you will come away disappointed. However Stenn has done wonderful research on her personal life and backs up what he states. But it's all about her personal life and a little on her work, so if you are after more than her personal stuff, you will be disappointed. And for heavens sake, don't pay hundreds of dollars for it, wait until it turns up second hand somewhere or check out ebay like I did.