Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow [Hardcover]

Eve Golden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1991

A detailed biography of 'The Blonde Bombshell', Jean Harlow - the talkies' first major sex symbol.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The movie star whose hair inspired the phrase "platinum blonde," Jean Harlow had a sexy, comic reputation on screen but was, as Golden emphasizes, more comfortable in casual clothes, relaxing with family and friends. Harlow packed a lot of living into a short time: after her career took off in 1930 with the release of Hell's Angels , she was Hollywood's blonde bombshell (the title of one of her movies) until her sudden death of kidney failure in 1937 at age 26. She also married three times and was involved with William Powell when she died. New York City freelance journalist Golden presents an appealing portrait of Harlow and sets a few inaccuracies straight. (For example, it was rumored that she died because her second husband, Paul Bern, beat her in the kidneys, but, according to medical authorities, the effects of such a beating would be instantaneous--and Bern committed suicide five years before her death.) Unfortunately, the text occasionally slips into fanzine style. (Concerning MGM's decision to shave Harlow's eyebrows, Golden writes, "She and Marlene Dietrich led the eyebrow brigade, which left fashionable women all over the world looking like startled drag queens.") This elegantly designed book includes many representative movie stills and publicity shots.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In his notorious Harlow: An Intimate Biography ( LJ 8/64), Irving Shulman portrayed Harlow, the platinum blonde screen idol of the 1930s, as a drug-addled sex-fiend. Journalist Golden tries to salvage Harlow's reputation with this new biography, priding herself on good taste and careful research. Unfortunately, Golden's "nice" Harlow isn't anywhere near as interesting as Shulman's. Golden's portrait of the actress is a vague, colorless assemblage of data that doesn't quite add up. For instance, how does Harlow's avowed detestation of her sex-bomb image mesh with her passion for flashy diamonds and transparent dinner dresses? It's tempting to guess that the truth about Harlow falls somewhere between Shulman's Hollywood Babylon version and Golden's sanitized one. For large film collections.
- Anne Sharp, Ypsilanti Dist. Lib., Mich.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press; 1st edition (December 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558592148
• ISBN-13: 978-1558592148
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After 20-some years in magazine publishing (including a stint writing "The Bottom Shelf" for Movieline, and as copy chief at More), I now work as a photo archivist in New York. I have several new book ideas on the back and front burners, and a proposal currently making the rounds.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth having, but Golden Misses the Gold., January 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow (Hardcover)

I much prefer David Stenn's "Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow" over Ms. Golden's biography. While her book has a wonderful array of sumptuous photos, it is not enough to make up for factual errors and there are numerous factual errors in this book. She states that Marino Bello was in Los Angeles during the 1920s with Mother Jean but that was a totally different man. Bello did not enter into Mother Jean's life until Harlean (Jean Harlow) was at Ferry Hall School for Girls in Lake Forest, Ill. Golden consistently refers to Harlow's big white house on Beverly Glen Boulevard as the house on Club View Drive. I cannot help but to find this as inexcuseable. Mother Jean, as she was called, was never called Mama Jean. Yet, Golden uses "Mama Jean" throughout the entire book. Harlow called her mother Mother or Mommie. Everyone else referred to her as Mother Jean or Mrs. Bello.
There is too much gleaned from movie magazines from the 1930s. I have had contact with several women who attended school with Harlean at Ferry Hall and the school was far too strict to allow the pranks that Ms. Golden writes about. They never happened! I cannot imagine where such information was ever obtained.
This is in no way the definitive biography on Jean Harlow. The defamation of Jean Harlow by Shulman's fictitious and lurid tome is insightful. "Platinum Girl" has its moments but the tangents of Hollywood History seem to this reader as easy filler. Jean Harlow had a tragic life. She was a kind and sensitive girl and was dominated by her Mother. This biography misses that fact and calls Harlow's life a "success story". In terms of becoming a greatly beloved star who transcended her sex symbol image, then it is a success story. Jean Harlow was insecure and passive. She did what the studio told her to do because it was what her mother wanted her to do. Jean Harlow didn't long to become a big star--her mother wanted her to become a star because Mother Jean wasn't able to break into films during the years of 1923-1925. Mother Jean lived vicariously through her daughter, whom she called The Baby. Thus, Jean Harlow never really knew who she was. She was unlucky in romantic love and when told to fight to live, she said, "I don't want to." She died shortly after uttering those words.
Jean Harlow was MGM's most beloved star by the cast and crew and all who knew her. Yet she was plagued by a domineering stage mother, drank to excess, and gave less love to herself than she deserved. Statistical errors aside, Golden paints a far more happy story of Jean Harlow than what was actually true. Read both and decide--but don't bother with Irving Shulman's so-called biography!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gives some misinformation, but still captures Jean's spirit., November 3, 2003

By 

Carrie Elizabeth (Washington state) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow (Paperback)

I thought Platinum Girl was well written, in that it is easy to read, and draws you into the life of one of the greatest stars of all time. However, Ms. Golden does give some incorrect facts; as one reviewer pointed out, Jean Harlow's mother was called "Mother Jean" and not "Mama Jean," as Ms. Golden constantly refers to her. Also, when she talks about Jean's grave, she says her name is written in Jean's handwriting. I have visited Jean's grave, and that is not true. She also says that the people who work at Forest Lawn will tell you where she is buried. Again, not true. The employees at Forest Lawn will NOT tell you anything about the location of any celebrities buried there.
Misinformation aside, this book is still a good read. I loved the pictures and how they were placed throughout the book. One photo in particular stood out and still stays in my mind weeks after I read the book; a photo from Jean's second wedding, to Paul Bern. It is a group photo, and her mother is in the photo, absolutely glowing on her daughter's happy day. What shocked me was how much she looked like her daughter. It was like seeing what might have been, had Jean not died so tragically at 26.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Platinum Girl gets the Golden touch, May 3, 2003

By 

Wendy-Marie Chabot "The Bad Gwen" (Central CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow (Hardcover)

Eve Golden is a writer who knows Hollywood, especially classic Hollywood in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. For anyone who read Moveline magazine back in it's heyday, Eve Golden wrote witty video reviews along with other contributions.

Golden turns her attention to Jean Harlow and the result is stunning. The tragic, short life of the wisecracking blonde from the Mid-West is told without being too sugar-sweet and refrains from wallowing in gutter like a cetain 1960s biography of Harlow. Jean Harlow was a nice person with a longing to be more than just the blonde bombshell the public saw, not a nymphomaniac who needed a navy fleet and an ocean of booze to get through the night.

The layout of the book and the photographs are amazing. Reading this in hardcover is knowing you're reading some very special beyonf the usual as-told-to film/tv/ star tat that crowds the Biography sections.

For the film buff or newbie that wants a worthwhile read that's not hard on the eyes, "Platinum Girl" is a clear winner.