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47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tarnishing all in sight, May 24, 2009
This review is from: Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel (Hardcover)
This unfortunate biography is another scurrilous slander-fest by the notorious David Bret, [...]
This book, "Tarnished Angel", is basically a copy-and-paste job from a fictionalized, borderline-pornographic tell all on Harlow written in the 1960s by Irving Shulman, called "Harlow". This is because all the information presented in Bret's book mirror the fallacies in the Shulman book.
Harlow was no slut, she had no filthy secrets to conceal. She was a caring, loving young woman, partial to fuzzy sweaters, golf and kittens, who died tragically of kidney failure. Her mother, known as "Mother Jean" (NEVER as "Mama Jean" as is presented in the Shulman/Bret books) never denied Harlow medical care. She received round-the-clock care on her deathbed.
In 1937, when Harlow died, there was no such thing as dialysis or a kidney transplant. Harlow was doomed. She was not doomed because her mother prevented her from medical care, as Bret foolishly states.
I shan't go on because I need not to; I need only inform you, the reader of this review, to skip this tarnished book and instead read the truth on Harlow - read "Bombshell" by David Stenn, a meticulously researched and accurate book on Harlow's life (and death).
In conclusion, what truly astounds me is not slandering Harlow, but slandering a woman who has been dead for 70+ years and whose small community of fans already know the truth on her, and will NOT be pleased by a book like this.
What did Bret hope to achieve by writing this book? What reaction/sales did his publisher expect to receive? None of the stars from Harlow's day are still with us. The small community of fans classic stars do have know the truth about their idols. Bret is only going to make more enemies by continuing to write these trashfests and more trees will be cut down to provide fodder for lies.
Please read this book for the truth on Jean Harlow: Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your money!!!, May 21, 2009
This review is from: Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel (Hardcover)
This book is just very bad. This book is full of major untruths, errors and spelling mistakes. Mr Bret gives Jean a 'grand chapeau bas to Jean Harlow, for having lived' in this book, but he seems not to be a fan of hers. This is pretty much a rehash of Irving Schulman's trashy and much discredited "Harlow: An Intimate Biography". What little reaserch was done can be seen in the rather skimpy bibliography. If you want to read a good biography of Jean Harlow, read Eve Golden's "Platinum Girl" or David Stenn's "Bombshell". Both of these books are excellent and well researched. The photographs are nice, but all are just scene stills we've all seen a thousand times before. There are no childhood or candid photographs at all. This book is just trashy. I haven't read any other of Mr. Bret's books, but after reading this one, I'll pass on his others.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing and Often Unbelievable Bio of Jean Harlow, June 2, 2009
This review is from: Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel (Hardcover)
I had such high hopes for this book. It actually started out pretty neutrally and seemed like a most promising biography of the beautiful star. Once it started getting into her early career, however, this book became more and more of an opinionated diatribe, usually disparaging, of Jean. While there is a bounty of information available about Miss Harlow, which generally follows along the same basic biographical lines, this book degenerates into a lambasting of Jean, her co-stars, her admittedly obnoxious family (Mama Jean and Mario Bello) taken to new heights--or lows--of distaste. So many things are stated as FACT with nothing to back it up--that one begins to take almost every statement with a decided grain of salt. Or, maybe a salt-shaker. It is stated as virtually a fact that Jean slept with her oily step-father. Nothing to back it up. Just the author's opinion. Also, the author made numerous distasteful references to Irving Thalberg's reaction to Paul Bern's death--implying that Thalberg's grief was purely staged. Of the many bios I have read regarding Thalberg, and other MGM stars and studio personnel of the 1930's, this does not ring true at all. The author freely intersperses his own opinions, usually unkind, on virtually ever person mentioned in the book. He states as fact many rumors that have certainly not proven to be true--often, over and over again...By the time you are finished this book, should you take the author's opinions as truth, you'll believe that every major leading man in Hollywood is at least bi-sexual, if not gay, and every major leading woman in Hollywood is lesbian.
One thing particularly distasteful is that in every single recap of Harlow's films, her character in the film is described as 'slutty,' 'whore' 'tramp' or worse...for a biography of an actor or actress, one would expect a more neutral recap of their major motion pictures.
Bret freely disparages and insults everyone mentioned equally--an equal opportunity insulter--whether it's L.B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Hedda Hopper, Howard Strickland, etc. ....All are accordingly disparaged and deprecated. The only cast member in this book who receives a halfway decent mention is William Powell.
All in all--this book is like a giant train-wreck...You are appalled as you read it, but have to follow thru til the very end....Based on that it gets 1 star. What a hugely disappointing bio of Jean Harlow. Bombshell, by David Stenn, is by far a much better biography of this beautiful young woman.
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