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00:04Géné Harlowe est l'original Blonde Bombshell.
00:07Vous êtes choqués si je voulais mettre quelque chose de plus confortable?
00:12Géné Harlowe est la première actrice de film que nous voyons sur le cover de Life magazine.
00:17Elle a devenu l'icona de la Blonde Bombshell.
00:21Géné Harlowe est une icon. Elle a créé cette look.
00:25Elle a mis en place blondes actrices sur la map.
00:29Et dres, ça veut dire, en français.
00:32Je ne sais pas si j'ai fait le français.
00:36Géné Harlowe initially found fame playing the vamp role,
00:39mais au cours de sa career, elle a commencé à montrer la vraie depth de son talent.
00:45Elle représentait quelque chose qui n'a jamais été montré sur la scène.
00:50Elle n'était pas juste une vixem.
00:52Elle avait comedic chops, elle pouvait vraiment acter.
00:54Elle était très gentil en la vie.
00:56Et nous avons commencé à voir des sortes sweet roles pour elle.
01:02En une career qui a duré juste 10 ans,
01:06Harlowe forever lefte la marque sur Hollywood.
01:09Il ne savait pas à moi, si il ne savait pas ce que j'ai vraiment aimé.
01:13En suivant, il y a des autres stars qui ont essayé de faire le même.
01:17N'a rien fait de la réussite.
01:19Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:34Harlowe was born March 3, 1911.
01:39Jean Harlowe was born Harleen Jean Carpenter.
01:42Her mother's name, in fact, her mother's unmarried name was Jean Harlowe,
01:46which is where, obviously, she finally got it from.
01:48She grew up in Kansas City.
01:50She had quite a well-to-do family.
01:51It wasn't a kind of the poor childhood story.
01:54But it wasn't a very happy parentage.
01:57Her mother was a real estate heiress,
02:00and her father was a dentist,
02:02and they didn't really get along that well, this couple.
02:05So they separated when Harleen was quite young.
02:09And she always sort of sided with her mother.
02:11Her mother was obsessed with her daughter.
02:15Her mother had always wanted to be an actress.
02:18And so I think clearly she had invested something into her daughter,
02:24which finally took flight.
02:26From a young age,
02:27Harlowe's mother would call her daughter The Baby,
02:30a nickname that stuck for life.
02:35In 1923, Harlowe's mother moved with her daughter to Hollywood
02:39in pursuit of her own ambitions to become an actress.
02:43The mother decided, at the age of roughly, I think, 34,
02:46it was about time she became an actress.
02:48She desperately wanted to be an actress,
02:50but she was found to be too old to start out then.
02:53And so she poured all her affection onto Harleen,
02:59who didn't want to be an actress at all.
03:03Harlowe's mother struggled to find work in Hollywood.
03:05Whilst back in Kansas City,
03:07her father had started legal proceedings to see his daughter again.
03:11The money ran out
03:14and Jean and Harleen were kind of forced back to Kansas City
03:17by Jean's father.
03:19Her father, estranged father,
03:21had threatened to sort of cut off the family
03:24if he didn't get to see more of his daughter.
03:26The mother had been trying to block him seeing her.
03:28So they moved back.
03:29At that stage, you can see a young lady, I mean, her teens,
03:33who had no interest in becoming an actress at Stardom.
03:36She'd kind of seen it.
03:37She hadn't sort of particularly liked what she'd seen,
03:39and I think she'd felt very oppressed by her mother's desires,
03:43and a kind of different life beckoned.
03:48Several weeks after returning to Kansas City,
03:51Harlowe was sent to a summer camp in Michigan.
03:54Unfortunately, she became seriously ill with scarlet fever.
03:59Her misfortunes really began at a summer camp she went to,
04:04and she got scarlet fever.
04:05Well, in those days, this was quite a serious condition.
04:09They didn't have the antibiotics to deal with it.
04:12Her mother went to fetch her,
04:14and actually rode across the lake,
04:16so legend has it, to retrieve her daughter,
04:20and wasn't allowed in, wasn't allowed to see her.
04:22She never really got over the scarlet fever.
04:25Whatever happened to her at that time
04:27left an indelible physical mark on her,
04:31because I think that was the beginning
04:33of many of her physical problems.
04:36She was never really a well person.
04:42Following her illness,
04:43Harlowe was moved by her mother once again,
04:45settling in Lake Forest, Illinois.
04:48She attended the Ferry Hall School,
04:50where Jean Harlowe met 19-year-old Charles McGrew.
04:54She was just 16 when she met 19-year-old Charles McGrew,
04:59and he sort of swept her off her feet.
05:01They were married almost immediately,
05:03and he was coming from a very wealthy family,
05:05and he had a large inheritance.
05:07So very quickly after they married,
05:09they moved to Los Angeles.
05:10They sort of bought this mansion,
05:12and sat around, and were socialites,
05:13and drank a lot,
05:14and just sort of lived the good life for a few years.
05:16She was introduced when she went back to L.A.
05:20to all sorts of parties,
05:21and became what she wanted to be,
05:24was a sort of a high-class girl.
05:27The problem was that because Chuck McGrew was so rich
05:31that neither of them had to work.
05:33They lived an enjoyable life, but purposeless.
05:36They obviously both drank rather too much,
05:39and inevitably what happened was
05:41that the marriage just sort of foundered on the rocks.
05:44It was a short-lived marriage.
05:46They only stayed married about three years.
05:51In Los Angeles,
05:52Jean Harlow had become friends
05:54with aspiring actress Rosalie Roy.
05:57Harlow unexpectedly started her own screen career
05:59when she gave Roy a ride to the Fox Studios,
06:02and was spotted by executives.
06:05Jean Harlow, still Harleen at that point,
06:07takes her friend, drives her to an audition,
06:09and I imagine didn't sort of stay in the car.
06:12You know, the story sort of goes
06:12that the executives discovered her in a car.
06:14I think she probably went in and waited
06:16and was in some kind of way available for executives to see.
06:20And by then, you know,
06:21she kind of matured into, to a certain extent,
06:23the kind of the blonde bombshell that was to come.
06:26So if you are a Fox executive walking past
06:29and she's sitting there in a waiting room
06:30waiting for her friend to finish auditioning,
06:33and you're going to go, well, who are you?
06:35You know, that's what their kind of job was.
06:37And they, you know, again, as the legend goes,
06:40said, well, why aren't you auditioning?
06:42And she said, I'm not interested.
06:44But as, again, legend and myth kind of blur
06:48with the facts a little bit,
06:49she did end up with a recommendation
06:51to join Central Casting.
06:53And subsequently, her friend made a bet with her
06:56that she wouldn't have the brass neck
07:00to actually turn up at a casting.
07:02So rather than lose a wager, she did.
07:05And she was offered a contract.
07:11Her mother was a big influence
07:13in her breaking into Hollywood.
07:14Her mother had had her own dreams
07:16of making it as a starlet.
07:17She saw the possibility of those dreams
07:20coming through her daughter.
07:22And at first, even after going to Central Casting,
07:26Jean Harlow wasn't really convinced
07:28she wanted to do this acting thing.
07:30And she turned down a couple of parts.
07:32But her mother was the one that kept pushing her
07:34to say, you're going to take that part.
07:36So it was really her mother
07:37who pushed her so hard to do it.
07:41Jean Harlow appeared in her first film
07:44as an unbilled extra,
07:46earning just $7 a day.
07:48After a succession of small parts,
07:50Harlow signed a five-year contract
07:52with Hal Roach Studios.
07:54Hal Roach Studios was a kind of comedy mastermind
07:58who was most famous for kind of Laurel and Hardy,
08:01but also did Our Gang.
08:03He kind of did quickies and very efficiently.
08:06Seeing what Jean Harlow looked like
08:08and sort of thinking he could make
08:10some good comedy out of her,
08:12he cast her in Double Whoopie,
08:14which is a Laurel and Hardy film
08:15in which the idiot pair
08:17work for a very grand hotel.
08:19It's kind of dormant.
08:31This is quite significant
08:32because she gets quite a lot of screen time.
08:34It's not just a walk-on.
08:35She gets quite a lot of screen time
08:36as a sort of socialite
08:39who emerges from a limousine
08:41in quite a flimsy outfit, actually.
08:45And thanks to Stan Laurel,
08:48manages to get the bottom of her dress
08:50trapped in the door of the car.
08:52So as she walks away,
08:54it rips away from her legs
08:56and she walks into the hotel
08:59with entire lower half sort of,
09:03not naked, but I mean, you know, exposed.
09:16So from her very first major appearance,
09:19she's presented as a sex symbol,
09:22as a very sexy girl.
09:24Certainly gives you a small prelude
09:26to maybe how Jean Harlow
09:28would be used and considered
09:29and valued by Hollywood.
09:35Jean Harlow starred opposite Laurel and Hardy
09:37in two further films.
09:39In the end, she wanted to get out
09:42because, you know,
09:43if you're working with Laurel and Hardy,
09:45it's Laurel and Hardy everybody wants to see,
09:47not you.
09:47And so she had little parts
09:49that were not very wonderful.
09:51And she wanted her contract torn up.
09:54And strangely enough,
09:55Harold Roach was good enough
09:56to tear it up in front of her.
09:58She said, OK,
09:59if you don't want to continue,
10:01I don't mind.
10:02Then me tore her contract up.
10:19Jean Harlow had begun her screen career,
10:22but was currently without a contract.
10:24In 1930, the actress met film producer
10:27and business mogul Howard Hughes.
10:32She came to the attention of the great mogul Howard Hughes
10:35because an actor named James Hall
10:38spotted some of her work.
10:40And he was working with Howard Hughes
10:42on Hell's Angels at the time.
10:43Howard Hughes was remaking Hell's Angels,
10:46his grand World War I fighter pilot film.
10:49And he'd made it as a silent film.
10:51It was something he now wanted to do it
10:53with sound, which was just arriving.
10:54And Greta Nielsen,
10:56who'd been the lead in the silent one,
10:57was Norwegian.
10:58And of course,
10:59as soon as she came to speak,
11:00she had a strange Norwegian accent.
11:02So poor old Greta got fired
11:03for being Norwegian.
11:04and they were looking around
11:06for someone to fill that role.
11:08So he kind of did this other actor a favor,
11:11called in Jean Harlow for a stage test
11:13and she did a wonderful job
11:16and he was impressed with her.
11:17So this was her first really big feature film,
11:20Hell's Angels.
11:22Roy!
11:23Helen!
11:24Oh, terribly sorry.
11:25Mother's full shopping.
11:27I simply flew.
11:28My isn't it hot.
11:29You shouldn't have hurried so.
11:30Oh, but I wanted to.
11:32Roy, you've no right to look so cool.
11:34I'm broiling.
11:34Theo.
11:36Yes, you are, aren't you?
11:38No, not one.
11:41Will you so marvellous?
11:42I hardly dare.
11:43Oh, silly.
11:45Hell's Angels was a huge hit
11:47and did one of the Oscars
11:48and what's interesting,
11:49if you look back at the film,
11:51she was slammed for her performance.
11:54And during the reviews,
11:55Variety beautifully wrote that
11:57nobody's ever star
11:58possessing what she's got.
11:59In other words,
12:00it didn't matter.
12:01She just had va-va-voom
12:03straight away.
12:07I got it.
12:09When you look at the film now,
12:11it's mostly aerobatics
12:13and extraordinary sort of action adventure.
12:15But she does stick out
12:17as being someone
12:18completely unusual.
12:19Roy's frightfully high-minded.
12:22He doesn't approve of me.
12:23He wouldn't approve of me either
12:25if he knew what I'm really like.
12:27Doesn't he know?
12:29No.
12:30When I'm with Roy,
12:31I'm the way Roy wants me to be.
12:34That's caddish, isn't it?
12:35But I can't help it.
12:37I understand.
12:38Well, I wouldn't.
12:42Harlow had signed a contract with Hughes
12:45during production on Hell's Angels
12:47and he swiftly built on her new stardom
12:49and popularity with audiences.
12:51When he took her out on a publicity tour,
12:54as Howard Hughes liked to do,
12:56and he sent her all around the country
12:58to promote the film
12:59and to do public appearances,
13:01he started to realize
13:02that she was popular
13:03and she was getting a big reaction.
13:07The way she looked
13:08and the way she kind of acted,
13:09I think,
13:10tells you something.
13:11that he realized
13:12that he could do something with her.
13:14Howard Hughes
13:15knew how to publicize his stars.
13:17He felt there was something in her
13:19that was different,
13:20which was absolutely true.
13:22He also loved the fact
13:23that her hair
13:24made her distinctive.
13:26She went on to make a string of films,
13:28started to work a lot,
13:30including The Public Enemy,
13:32in which she comes across extremely well.
13:35There you go, screw it.
13:36How are you going?
13:37I want to blow.
13:40You're a spoiled boy, Tommy.
13:43You want things
13:44and you're not content
13:45until you get them.
13:46Well, maybe I'm spoiled, too.
13:49Maybe I feel that way, too.
13:52But you're not running away from me.
13:55Come here.
13:59Public Enemy,
14:00again, a big success with The Public.
14:03They really raided her,
14:05but critics weren't so kind.
14:07and basically it's all down to her looks.
14:10She was this sort of blonde bombshell,
14:13the original blonde bombshell.
14:14So the critics didn't take her so seriously.
14:17They thought she was kind of this vamp.
14:18I think the critics were wrong about her.
14:21She was never a great actress,
14:23but she had a kind of a freedom
14:24and a naturalness,
14:27which was quite different
14:29to the big stars of Hollywood at the time,
14:32who were much better trained than she was.
14:37She was just very, very naturally sexy on the screen.
14:41It's not like she had to make a big effort.
14:43And I think that that made her extremely attractive
14:46to audiences.
14:48Although Jean Harlow's enigmatic performances
14:51were drawing in large audiences,
14:53there were some concerned cinema goers.
14:57What's kind of interesting, I think,
14:59certainly for her career,
15:00the big span of it,
15:01is that it happened sort of pre-Hays Code
15:03coming in properly.
15:06And so actually,
15:08her screen roles are very sexualised
15:10and very enticing.
15:12One of the reasons for the Hays Code
15:14coming into operation
15:15was Jean Harlow.
15:17and in many of her films,
15:19the censor demanded cuts.
15:22In 1931,
15:24Harlow starred in Platinum Blonde,
15:26the actress's signature film.
15:29As a special favour to me,
15:31you won't print that story, will you?
15:33Please?
15:36You know something, lady?
15:37If you sold life insurance,
15:39I'd go for a policy in 60 seconds.
15:41Oh, thank you.
15:42I knew you'd understand.
15:45She was cast in Howard Hughes' 1931 film
15:48called Gallagher,
15:49but he wanted to capitalise
15:51on this starlet he had,
15:53so he retitled it Platinum Blonde
15:54because that was her trademark.
15:56She sometimes denied that she dyed her hair,
15:58but I think it came out later
16:00from people who knew her
16:02that, yeah, she was using bleach,
16:03she was using Clorox,
16:05she was using soap flakes,
16:06ammonia,
16:07but she had this one-of-a-kind hairstyle
16:09on screen.
16:10She was the Platinum Blonde
16:12and at the height of her fame,
16:15there were thousands of American women
16:17trying to copy her hairstyle.
16:20Dexter,
16:21is there any finishing school
16:22we could send him to?
16:23Yes, Sing Sing.
16:25Oh, just the same.
16:26He's going to be a different person
16:27when I get through with him.
16:28When you get through with him?
16:30Yes, it's going to be
16:30a very interesting experiment.
16:31To make her a gentleman
16:33out of a tramp?
16:34Exactly.
16:35Now, Anne,
16:36you'll remember how much it costs
16:37to get rid of that baseball player.
16:38You don't seem to understand
16:40that this one's different.
16:40He has brains.
16:42What about me, Anne?
16:43You?
16:44Oh, don't go serious on me, Dexter.
16:46Howard Hughes had an eye
16:47for a Hollywood lady, you know,
16:49and he had an eye for a product,
16:50and I think he saw in
16:53the young Gene Harlow
16:54almost a brand he could make,
16:57almost a kind of
16:57defined idea of something.
16:59Howard Hughes was a master
17:01of propaganda and promotion
17:02as well as being a filmmaker.
17:04And he did the unusual thing
17:07of sending her out on tour
17:09and creating a kind of competition.
17:13$10,000 for anybody
17:15who could turn up
17:17and who had more or less
17:18matched the color of her hair.
17:20$10,000 in 1931
17:22is a huge amount of money.
17:23Nobody could do it.
17:24Up until that point,
17:27nobody had quite realized
17:29how good she was at comedy.
17:31She was actually
17:32quite a gifted comedian.
17:34You mean you'd like to have me
17:35live here in your house?
17:37Sure, we can have the whole left wing
17:38and be all by ourselves
17:40all the time.
17:41Oh, we could have
17:41the whole left wing.
17:42Well, wouldn't that be...
17:43Would that be room enough for us?
17:44Oh, darling, of course.
17:45If it isn't,
17:46there are six rooms
17:47and two baths,
17:48but if that isn't enough,
17:49Mother will give us
17:50the blue room, I think.
17:51Well, Mother would give us
17:52the blue room.
17:52You haven't a red room, have you?
17:54Well, bless her heart.
17:55Wouldn't that be nice?
17:56Well, well.
17:58She's presented as a star
18:00in that film.
18:02She looks every inch of the star.
18:03They give her
18:04the most extraordinarily
18:05beautiful gowns
18:06and show off her luminous skin.
18:08And she rises to the occasion.
18:13At the end of 1931,
18:15Hughes loaned Harlow to MGM
18:17to star in their gangster film
18:19The Beast of the City.
18:21On set,
18:22Jean started a romance
18:23with an assistant producer
18:25on the film,
18:25Paul Byrne.
18:27Being loaned out
18:28by one studio to another
18:29was common practice
18:31and she was loaned out
18:32to a low-level gangster film
18:34for MGM.
18:35But through that,
18:36she met Paul Byrne,
18:37who was sort of
18:38a second to Irving Tholberg there.
18:40He was kind of his assistant.
18:41And Byrne clearly
18:43fell head over heels for her.
18:44The light of Jean Harlow
18:46kind of really dazzled him.
18:48and he then went to Mayer
18:50and sort of said,
18:52look,
18:52you've got to spend the money.
18:53We've got to have this girl
18:54on our team.
18:54She's got to be part of MGM.
18:56And Mayer just went,
18:57she's not an MGM girl.
18:59You know,
18:59she's wrong.
19:00He liked more innocent
19:01American sweetheart types,
19:03which already clearly,
19:05you know,
19:05she was barely 21,
19:06but she clearly wasn't.
19:07At first,
19:08they were a little reluctant.
19:10They didn't want to deal
19:10with Howard Hughes
19:11buying out her contract.
19:13But he persisted.
19:14And by 1932,
19:15Irving Tholberg
19:16signed this deal
19:17that brought her over to MGM.
19:19And that was a big boost
19:20to her career.
19:21It gave her a chance
19:21to play some different
19:22kind of roles.
19:25Harlow and Byrne married
19:26soon after her new contract
19:28was signed.
19:29It's rather ironic
19:30that the first major film
19:32she made for them
19:32was called Red-Headed Woman.
19:33And it was, in fact,
19:34the first,
19:35probably the only film
19:36she made with a red wig.
19:38So, in fact,
19:39it covered her legendary
19:40platinum blonde looks.
19:42It was an absolute
19:44classic role for her.
19:46She was a homewrecker.
19:48She was the ultimate bad girl.
19:50It was very, very sexy.
19:53It's quite a lively role for her.
19:55And also,
19:55it's pre-code Hollywood,
19:57so she's wearing
19:57some provocative outfits.
19:59But not just the sex symbol,
20:00also quite funny.
20:03Until Red-Headed Woman,
20:05she's kind of been
20:06a supporting role,
20:07mainly.
20:07You know,
20:08there were big hits,
20:08but she hadn't yet
20:10sort of set up
20:11and become a star
20:12in her own right.
20:13And she began
20:13with Red-Headed Woman
20:14in a very fertile period
20:16with MGM
20:17where she would become,
20:18you know,
20:19a succession of films,
20:20a big star.
20:32Jean Harlow
20:32had signed a new contract
20:34with MGM
20:34and her star
20:35and her star
20:35was on the rise.
20:39In 1932,
20:40while shooting the film
20:41Red Dust,
20:42Harlow suffered
20:43a personal tragedy.
20:45While Jean Harlow
20:46was shooting Red Dust,
20:47there was a big scandal
20:47that erupted
20:48because her husband
20:49of only two months,
20:50Paul Byrne,
20:51was found dead
20:52in their house
20:53in Benedict Canyon
20:54with a shot to the head.
20:56It's still a mystery today.
20:57It was ruled officially
20:58a suicide,
20:59but there was a very strange note
21:00left by the bed
21:02and there's still speculation
21:03did he kill himself?
21:05If he did kill himself,
21:06why?
21:07And there's kind of
21:07various sort of theories,
21:09but I think the reality
21:10is that it turned out
21:11he did have a common law wife
21:12and I think really,
21:15and she was there
21:16on the night of his death
21:17confronting Harlow.
21:19People thought
21:19maybe Jean Harlow
21:21did it,
21:23but I think not.
21:25My best guess
21:26is that he probably
21:27did commit suicide.
21:29The common law wife
21:30then committed suicide as well.
21:31It's quite a tragic story.
21:36He did have a lot of contacts
21:37in the underworld as well.
21:39There has been a suggestion
21:40that he was murdered
21:41by some gangster
21:43to whom he owed money.
21:44It is much more likely
21:46that he actually committed suicide.
21:48Of course,
21:49the publicity machine,
21:50the people who protected her
21:51went into overdrive.
21:53The studio tried to get in there
21:55and make sure
21:56there was no scandal.
21:57She kept very,
21:58very quiet about it.
22:01The scandal sort of
22:02rode out in the papers
22:05and they did their best
22:06to sort of limit
22:07the possible fallout.
22:08In the end,
22:09it didn't matter
22:09because funnily enough,
22:11partly because of the role
22:12she'd been playing
22:13and partly because
22:14she'd already endeared it
22:15to the audiences,
22:16it just made her more famous.
22:17People liked her
22:18even more for it.
22:19Jean Harlow just kind of
22:21shook it off
22:21and stepped away
22:22and then carried on
22:23working for MGM.
22:25But, you know,
22:26again, you don't know
22:28quite where she was personally.
22:29Well, for the love of mud,
22:32where am I sleeping?
22:33On a racetrack?
22:34Come on, let's have it.
22:35Who are you?
22:35Where'd you come from?
22:36Don't rush me, brother.
22:38I'm Pollyanna the glad girl.
22:40I see.
22:41Came up on the boat with him, eh?
22:42I came up on the boat, sure,
22:44but not with that.
22:45He was in the steerage
22:46as far as I was concerned.
22:52Red Dust turned out to be
22:54not just a big box office success,
22:56but actually a really good film.
22:58It put her in a position
22:59where she was sexy and funny,
23:01but deeply romantic.
23:03I mean, there's a real streak
23:04of romance running
23:05through this film,
23:06but it's also set in the sort of,
23:08you know, outlandish place
23:10in the jungle,
23:10so it had exotic locations as well.
23:13Red Dust was a great role for her.
23:14This is a film that's now
23:15in the U.S. National Film Registry.
23:18It really shows some great chemistry
23:20between her and Clark Gable.
23:25There, I knew you had a laugh in your...
23:27That's perfect.
23:28Shake and go to the head of your class.
23:33Now, wait a minute, Fred.
23:36Come here.
23:38Hey.
23:39If you look at Red Dust,
23:40it's very sexy,
23:42and the two of them
23:43act very well together,
23:45and it's got much more physicality
23:47than your average Hollywood film
23:48at the time.
23:50What the?
23:52Hey!
23:53Hey!
23:58How many times have I told you
23:59to let down those curtains?
24:01Why?
24:01They've all gone off to work.
24:04One of the most famous scenes
24:05in this film
24:06is she's sort of bathing
24:07in this barrel
24:08that's exposed to the neighbours,
24:10and he's saying,
24:10get out of there,
24:11but it just looks like
24:12she's having fun.
24:14It's a nice, sparky character
24:15as well.
24:16Say, what's the idea?
24:18What?
24:19Getting in that barrel.
24:21Oh, I don't know.
24:22Maybe I'm going over
24:23Niagara Falls.
24:25Whoop!
24:27Hey, you're supposed to
24:28rinse off of that gourd.
24:30Say, listen.
24:31Do you know we drink that water?
24:32Yeah, well, you won't, sis,
24:34unless you are stubborn
24:35and then fist-off.
24:36I saw Clark Gable
24:37was always very well cast
24:38against women.
24:39I think to get
24:40Clark Gable right,
24:41you picked the right
24:42kind of woman
24:43who sort of drew
24:43something out of him.
24:44Certainly in terms of
24:45the feisty female
24:47against the kind of
24:49ironic,
24:50the calm,
24:51stoic male,
24:52kind of very much
24:52worked on screen,
24:53and I think she kind of
24:54brought his swagger
24:55to life a bit.
24:56You can see that
24:57they just spark
24:58off each other
25:00in a way that
25:01the other stars
25:02of the film
25:02don't quite manage.
25:04They've got something.
25:05they've definitely
25:05got the chemistry.
25:08After Red Dust's release,
25:10Harlow began an affair
25:11with boxer Max Bear.
25:13When his wife
25:14threatened to name Harlow
25:15in their divorce proceedings,
25:17the studio acted fast
25:18to avoid a scandal.
25:20In MGM's controlling
25:21of the elements of scandal
25:22and the burn suicide scandal
25:25had just kind of
25:25gone through the system,
25:27so MGM,
25:27probably wanting to
25:28maybe sort of
25:29present her in a calmer way,
25:31married her off
25:32to a cinematographer
25:33and it was just
25:34almost like arranged marriage.
25:38I was just amazed
25:38that the studio
25:39could arrange a marriage.
25:40Jean Harlow's
25:41a remarkable kind of
25:42sort of blueprint
25:43of studio control,
25:45you know,
25:45and manipulation.
25:46They could rise her up
25:47and put her to the side
25:48and bring her hair.
25:48They could dye her hair,
25:49run competitions,
25:51and you do wonder
25:52where the minds
25:54after a while
25:55because everyone
25:56tells you how to think.
25:59Jean Harlow and Harold
26:01divorced eight months later.
26:04It's allowed her
26:05to stretch her acting muscles
26:07a little beyond
26:08the ones that she'd already done
26:11in the previous film,
26:12which was completely unforced,
26:14which was quite rare,
26:15of course,
26:16because we are only talking
26:17a few years after silent movies.
26:18Do you two gentlemen mind
26:20if I go ahead
26:21with the number?
26:22Let her go!
26:23Pick it up at number four.
26:26In 1935,
26:28MGM cast Jean Harlow in
26:31David.
26:32David, wake up.
26:33You'll be late.
26:35The following year,
26:36Harlow starred
26:37with a young James Stewart
26:38in Wife vs. Secretary.
26:58In 1936,
26:59his wife vs. Secretary,
27:00ironically,
27:01it's actually a more
27:02wholesome role for her,
27:04but things got a little
27:04less wholesome on the set.
27:07There's an incredibly funny
27:08story about James Stewart
27:09in which they have
27:10a long kiss in a car
27:12and he kept messing it up
27:15and they had to do
27:15several retakes.
27:17He said later
27:18that he kept botching it
27:19because he wanted
27:20to keep kissing her.
27:21They kissed at least
27:2112 times,
27:2212 takes of this scene
27:24and he later said
27:26that he realized
27:27he had never been kissed
27:28until he had been kissed
27:29by Jean Harlow.
27:39Jean Harlow had become
27:41one of MGM's most popular
27:43and profitable stars.
27:45It was a very bad time
27:47for the studios
27:48in the late 30s,
27:49there was no doubt
27:50about that.
27:51And Jean Harlow
27:52was one of the few people
27:54who really kept MGM going
27:56because she had success
27:58after success.
28:00Even though the critic
28:00didn't much care
28:02for her performances
28:02sometimes,
28:03there was something
28:04about her that the public
28:05adored.
28:06If it hadn't been for her,
28:08MGM might well have
28:09gone bankrupt.
28:10But because of her popularity
28:11and because she was still
28:12a huge box office,
28:13it didn't matter
28:14that other studios
28:15were going down
28:16the tubes.
28:17MGM could keep going
28:19simply due to her name
28:21and her presence in films.
28:24Mayer had not wanted her
28:26because he felt
28:26she was wrong for MGM,
28:28but I think she really
28:28did click.
28:29She was melodramatic,
28:31but she made these
28:31quite so daring
28:32relationship films
28:33and she was kind of
28:35funny and exciting
28:36without having to be
28:37brazen-eared comedian.
28:39And she did keep MGM going.
28:41Harlow had another hit
28:43when she starred
28:43in the title role
28:44in Susie.
28:46Yes, ma'am.
28:47Do you know something,
28:48Barman?
28:48No, ma'am.
28:49Frenchmen are not
28:49the romantic fellows
28:50I thought they were.
28:50Yes, ma'am.
28:51I'm told that they have
28:52to toss a coin
28:53to find out whether or not
28:54they'll dance with the girl.
28:54They can't decide things
28:55like that with their own head.
28:56Ah, but in America,
28:57Barman, did you know
28:58in America when you want
28:59ham and eggs
29:00or hotcakes or a baby,
29:01you simply go to a store
29:02and put a nickel
29:02into a slot machine.
29:03Did you know that, Barman?
29:04Yes, monsieur.
29:06Oh, did you hear
29:07what the gentleman said,
29:08ma'am.
29:08Barman, you're having
29:09hallucinations.
29:10There isn't a gentleman
29:11in sight.
29:11Oh, no, ma'am.
29:12For her film Susie,
29:13she received top billing
29:14over Cary Grant,
29:16who was already a star.
29:17So it just shows you
29:18the levels of which
29:20she had reached
29:21at a relatively young age.
29:22She was only in her 20s.
29:24It's quite a decent
29:25wartime thriller.
29:26It's about German spies.
29:27She draws a lot out
29:28of her leading man,
29:29out of Cary Grant,
29:30and he's one of those
29:31slightly kind of ironic
29:32presences that need
29:33a life force opposite him.
29:36Home.
29:37Oh.
29:38An American custom,
29:39I believe.
29:40I'm not a bride.
29:41I haven't been one
29:41for a whole week.
29:42You'll always be a bride.
29:43I'm just an old married woman.
29:44Wired wives in France
29:45are not allowed
29:46to contradict their husband.
29:47Then we'll take a trip
29:48to America.
29:48Hey, bring those things in.
29:50Something tells me
29:50we live here.
29:51Andre, put me down.
29:52People will think
29:52we're both crazy.
29:53I hope we stay that way.
29:54Albert.
29:55Albert, this is
29:56Madame Shaviel.
29:57Put me down.
29:58It's not a film
29:59that's very well
30:00remembered now,
30:00but I think the very fact
30:02that she was considered
30:04that much of a draw
30:05tells you everything
30:06you need to know
30:06about a position in Hollywood
30:07and at MGM at that time.
30:09Again, everybody noticed her.
30:11I know that in those days
30:14those screwball comedians
30:15were very good.
30:16They knew exactly
30:17how to make them.
30:18Even so,
30:19it was Jean Harlow
30:21who made that film
30:22a big success
30:23as much as anybody else
30:24in the cast.
30:29Although she lit up the screen,
30:31Jean Harlow still struggled
30:33with poor health,
30:34which was increasingly
30:35deteriorating.
30:38In 1937,
30:39she starred in the comedy
30:41Personal Property.
30:59by the time she came to her
31:02making her last film,
31:03she really was ill.
31:06Sometimes they had to stop
31:07the shoot for a few days
31:08because of that
31:09and she was getting fatter,
31:12puffy in the face
31:13and was quite clearly
31:15not right.
31:16Her final completed picture
31:18was Personal Property
31:20opposite Robert Taylor.
31:21The shift in her performance
31:24is subtle but noticeable.
31:26She plays another socialite,
31:27we think,
31:28a very, very rich lady,
31:30we think,
31:31at the beginning.
31:32In fact,
31:32she turns out
31:33to be completely broke.
31:34But it's a softer film.
31:36It's a romantic film.
31:37It allows her to be
31:38really vulnerable.
31:40It's actually rather
31:41a lovely film.
31:43Trees.
31:43And the bees.
31:45The breeze.
31:47The birds.
31:48The herds.
31:52Your move.
31:56Oh, if this could
31:58just go on forever.
32:01I'm afraid Clara
32:02would sweep us up.
32:03Oh, now you've ruined it.
32:05Well, all good things
32:05have to come to an end,
32:06you know that.
32:07Is that original?
32:08No.
32:09That's true,
32:10unfortunately.
32:11You think,
32:12this is just the beginning
32:13of something.
32:13This is just a career
32:15that's sort of getting
32:15into full froth,
32:17you know,
32:17full spade.
32:18And the health issues
32:19then would very sadly
32:20take over.
32:25Jean Harlow's health
32:27continued to fail
32:28and she began to find
32:29promotional activities
32:30difficult.
32:31In 1937,
32:34she travelled to Washington
32:35to take part
32:37in Franklin D. Roosevelt's
32:38fundraising March of Dimes.
32:41It was physically taxing
32:42for her.
32:43I mean,
32:43not just the travelling
32:44but the actual event itself.
32:46She contracted influenza
32:47during the course
32:48of that time
32:49and had to be
32:51taken care of.
32:51William Powell
32:52left a film set
32:54in order to be able
32:55to be with her.
32:56He was very concerned
32:58about her health.
32:59He had been some time.
33:03She was, in fact,
33:04due to start shooting
33:06a new film,
33:07Saratoga,
33:08which was delayed
33:09until she actually
33:10became fit.
33:12There's one scene
33:12where she's playing
33:13a character that's supposed
33:14to have a fever
33:15and they said,
33:16she looked too bad
33:16to shoot this scene.
33:17She was so feverish
33:19looking.
33:20But, you know,
33:21she's a 26-year-old
33:22young woman.
33:23Everybody thinks,
33:24oh, she'll be fine.
33:25But it gets worse and worse.
33:27They take her
33:27to the hospital finally.
33:28It emerges her kidneys
33:30are failing.
33:33And just a shock
33:34to everybody around her.
33:36You know,
33:36especially her boyfriend
33:37William Powell
33:38is in the hospital
33:39with her thinking,
33:39oh, she's going
33:40to get better.
33:40At that time,
33:411937,
33:42there was no real cure.
33:45There was nothing
33:46they could do about it.
33:47The treatments
33:47were fairly primitive.
33:49And she died
33:50at the extraordinarily
33:52early age of 26.
33:57You almost can't
33:58imagine the shock
33:59when one of Hollywood's
34:00biggest stars
34:01dies at age 26,
34:03very suddenly.
34:04James Stewart said
34:04it's like every studio
34:06went quiet
34:06when the news came out
34:07and there was like
34:08sort of a minute's silence.
34:09When she died,
34:11it was an enormous funeral.
34:14Everybody from Hollywood
34:15went.
34:16William Powell,
34:17who really did love her,
34:19was absolutely distraught.
34:21MGM Studios
34:22did the unprecedented thing
34:24of closing the studio
34:25for the day.
34:28MGM arranges
34:29for this beautiful tombstone
34:31to say,
34:32Our Baby,
34:33because that was her nickname,
34:35had been since she was
34:35a little girl,
34:36The Baby.
34:37And, you know,
34:38sad she was almost
34:39still a baby
34:39when she died.
34:40Due to public demand,
34:42MGM finished production
34:44on Saratoga
34:45and the film was released
34:46less than two months
34:47after her death.
34:48For your information,
34:49I'm marrying Hartley Madison
34:50because I love him.
34:51Carol, this is Duke.
34:52You can level with me on it.
34:53I don't know
34:54what you're talking about.
34:54Don't try to pretend to me
34:55that Frank Clayton's daughter
34:56has fallen for a Wall Street chump.
34:57A Wall Street chump?
34:59Where would you racetrack people be
35:00if it went for the word chump?
35:01To you, it wins any argument.
35:03Call someone a chump
35:04and it proves you're his superior.
35:06You, a fly-by-night bookmaker
35:07calling a member
35:08of one of the most important families
35:10in America a chump.
35:11A man who could buy
35:12and sell 20 petty gamblers
35:13like you with a small change.
35:15I suppose you'd marry him
35:16if he didn't have a quarter.
35:17I prefer him that way.
35:18Not open that door.
35:20MGM had planned
35:21to continue Saratoga
35:23but by replacing
35:24Jean Harlow with another actress
35:26after her death.
35:27There was such public outcry
35:29that people wanted to see
35:30Jean Harlow's last film
35:31that she had been making
35:32so they used it with two
35:34or more body doubles.
35:36Some in different close-range shots,
35:38some in long-range,
35:39some overdubbing.
35:40This has become, of course,
35:41a great film buffs game
35:43is to spot the scenes
35:46in which Harlow is really there
35:48and the ones which are the doubles.
35:49Actually, it's not hard at all
35:51because the devices they used
35:54were fairly primitive.
35:55They have girls dressed like her
35:57at the racetrack
35:58holding binoculars up to their eyes.
36:01There's a scene where
36:02she never turns to the camera.
36:03she's shot from behind.
36:05All these are doubles.
36:07But the film was completed
36:09and what do you know?
36:11It was a huge success.
36:12It was another great success for her
36:14even though she wasn't there anymore.
36:16It was a huge box office success.
36:18It was MGM's
36:19second highest grossing film
36:20of that year.
36:37I want to be free.
36:39I want to be gay and have fun.
36:40Life's short
36:41and I want to live while I'm alive.
36:45It's amazing to think
36:46that Jean Harlow was only 26
36:48when she died
36:49because she had made
36:50such a huge impact in Hollywood.
36:51She made 36 films
36:53in just 10 years
36:54and some great films.
36:56I would have loved to see
36:57what she would have done
36:58in her 40s and 50s
37:00with some different material.
37:02If she'd carried on,
37:03I think maybe we would regard her
37:04in the same terms as we do Monroe.
37:07We missed out on maybe
37:08a different kind of Jean Harlow.
37:19She had natural gifts
37:21and I think that
37:22as she was allowed
37:23to make films,
37:25she just got better and better.
37:26She could train herself.
37:28A lot of feminists now
37:30think that she was
37:32one of the first
37:33really feminist film stars.
37:36She had more freedom
37:37on the screen.
37:38She was absolutely
37:41clear-headed in the fact
37:43that she was just going
37:43to be herself in the films.
37:47A woman that had
37:48a more varied career
37:50and could have had
37:50an even longer career
37:51with more varied roles
37:53and future
37:54had she not tragically died
37:56so young.
38:07Paul Walker's family
38:08and friends
38:09paid tribute to a man
38:10who liked to go fast
38:11on the ride of his life
38:12although what he really wanted
38:14was to be a park ranger.
38:15The heartwarming
38:16I Am Paul Walker
38:17is new tomorrow at nine
38:18on Sky Arts.
38:26The Heartwarming
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