Customer Reviews

Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow

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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!

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.

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.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and know I'll read it again very soon. Eve Golden is a talented biographer, with her succinct writing style and plain English- the prose is so casual as a matter a fact it's like she's speaking to you personally. The pictures of course are stunning, and I loved the way they are distributed throughout this sturdy book, making things more visually appealing, instead of sticking them together all in one or two clumps. The only thing I didn't like was Golden constantly quoting movie reviewers, which I thought got monotonous after a while. Simply putting "reviewers hated/loved it" after a while would've been enough for me. Other than that, Golden doesn't try to get all melodramatic when Jean dies in her book; she doesn't try to extract sympathy for Jean when she experiences tragedies, and I like that. What she does is presents facts and dispels myths and let you make your own opinion about this young woman. Not that she's detached, Golden apparently likes her subject a lot, but mostly, she lets the people who knew Harlow best say who she was.

If only more biographies were like this! Eve Golden's "Platinum Girl: The Life And Legends Of Jean Harlow", should be held up as an example of how to fairly write and research a biography. By shooting down the oft-repeated, sensationalized Irving Shulman version of Harlow's short life with fact after sobering fact, Ms. Golden gives the reader the rare opportunity to get a true glimpse of the woman behind the Bombshell image. And what's most revealing is the fact that for the first time, an author has focused more on Harlow's startling career rather than her (often fictionalized) sex life. This, on top of the lush photographs, telling anecdotes and clear writing, make this a must read for both diehard Harlow fans and those who just want to know more about who this vital, silver-haired star of the screen was.

In this quick-moving and well-researched biography, Ms. Golden paints a compelling picture of Jean Harlow's short life. Though her life was tragically short, the story itself isn't short, and is never uninteresting. As with many stars over the years who have died before their time, there have been numerous rumors and urban legends about Harlow, particularly in a trashy 1964 "biography" written by Irving Shulman. Ms. Golden debunks all of them, such as how she was allegedly beaten by her second husband Paul Bern on their wedding night, that Bern killed himself because he was impotent, that Jean had orgies and drug parties, and that she died because her mother was a Christian Scientist and kept her imprisoned at home as she was dying. She keeps a professional tone throughout, never descending into either of the two extremes of fanatical fawning and sugarcoating or mean-spirited degradation and slander.

Jean comes across as one of the more normal celebrities, someone who was more like the girl nextdoor in real life than a glamorous sex kitten. She had a relatively stable normal childhood in spite of her parents' eventual divorce, and was first bitten by the acting bug during her family's first stay in Hollywood. She eventually broke into the business after her return in the late Twenties, but the disapproval of her husband and grandfather compelled her to cancel the contract she'd been offered by Hal Roach Studios; luckily, she was able to return to acting not too long afterwards and got another big break, and this time wasn't forced to abandon her career just as it was starting. Though she wasn't always given stellar material to work with and grew to resent how she was more often than not cast as a ditzy blonde or a dangerous or "immoral" type of woman, she proved that she was capable of serious acting and was more than just another blonde. In addition to covering her acting career, Ms. Golden covers how she was also very devoted to her mother, had three marriages and a possible fourth on the horizon, became close friends with many of the other stars of the time, was an animal-lover and a passionate Democrat, and did some writing on the side, even writing a novel that was posthumously published. One can only speculate on how her career might have continued to soar had she lived past 1937. The book is also full of gorgeous photographs.

However, the book isn't without its errors, such as how Jean's mother is constantly called "Mama Jean" instead of "Mother Jean" and the misidentification of the 1931 Laurel and Hardy short 'Beau Hunks,' which Jean appears in via a photograph (and is soon revealed to have broken the hearts of all of the men in the Foreign Legion), as 'Beau Chumps.' There were also some subjects that perhaps could have been delved into a little more deeply, such as Jean's stepfather Marino Bello, the non-acting part of her life (particularly since Ms. Golden emphasises how normal she was), and some of the apparent contradictions in her life, such as how she sought to live a normal life and to be seen as more than just a blonde bombshell, while maintaining a taste for things such as expensive jewelry and clothing. All in all, though, I found it to be a fast-paced compelling biography.

Eve Golden writes a philisophical and theoretical book on one of Hollywoods most enigmatic personalities. Golden has done away with old myths, and has shaped a fine biography which exposes the truth, and through her unique style of writing manages to offer the reader a wide range of theories and opinions to choose from. This is truly a non-one sided book which reveals not only much about the main subject, but of the extravagant framework of 1930's Hollywood.

She became famous for playing a smoldering succession of bad girls, and the platinum look now mainly favored by Gwen Stefani. But Jean Harlow wasn't the person the public believed her to be, as revealed by "Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow." It's serviceable, but not too much more.

Jean Harlow was born into an unhappy but not horrific family (her original name was Harlean) and jumped into a teen marriage while still at school. Her marriage disintegrated as her star rose (nude photos didn't help), where her striking face and platinum hair made her a fashion icon -- something not hurt by legendary weird rich guy Howard Hughes. Two marriages, one husband's mysterious suicide, one scam and many movies later, the Platinum Girl suddenly died of kidney failure.

Eve Golden keeps a professional attitude towards Jean Harlow. There's plenty of focus on her mind, fears, hopes and her professional life. On the other hand, there's little of her sex life, and what Golden does dip into, she does to debunk (the freaky story about Harlow's brief marriage to her second husband). A tone of professional and personal respect -- but not fannishness -- permeates the book. A particularly nice touch is her emphasis on Harlow's early love of writing, which prompted her to write a novel later in life.

Harlow lived a comparatively peaceful life, with some tragedy and scandal but not a huge amount. A really good writer could manage to keep it moving. But Golden isn't a particularly adept writer; she gets rather tedious at times (enough about bleaching hair!), and fails to elaborate about some points like Harlow's slimy stepfather. She emphasizes Harlow's "normality" in the opening chapter, but doesn't really follow up on that. It seems like she's trying to get us to continue reading.

"Platinum Girl: The Life of Legends of Jean Harlow" is a nice but unimpressive work that describes the basics of Harlow's life. While the professional attitude towards Harlow's too-short life is refreshing, the mediocre writing bogs it down.