Weds., Aug. 11 is Jean Harlow Day on TCM

Cafe Society
1

Rev up your VCRs, I know I am (even though I know all these movies lie by line). I’ve bolded the don’t-misses:

6:00 AM The Secret Six (1931) A secret society funds the investigation of a bootlegging gang. Wallace Beery, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow.

7:30 AM The Beast Of The City (1932) A police captain leads the fight against a vicious gangland chief. Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford.

9:00 AM Red Headed Woman (1932) An ambitious secretary tries to sleep her way into high society. Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Una Merkel.

10:30 AM Hold Your Man (1933) A hard-boiled babe and a con man wear down each other’s rough edges. Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin.

12:00 noon Dinner At Eight (1933) A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue. Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow.

2:00 PM Personal Property (1937) The bailiff charged with disposing of a financially strapped widow’s estate pretends to be her butler. Jean Harlow, Robert Taylor Reginald Owen.

3:30 PM Wife vs. Secretary (1936) A secretary becomes so valuable to her boss that it jeopardizes his marriage. Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow.

5:15 PM Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell (1993) Sharon Stone hosts this look at Jean Harlow’s rise to stardom and her tragic end. (I was blackballed from this docu, so screw it)

6:15 PM Bombshell (1933) A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on. Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan.

8:00 PM Hell’s Angels (1930) Two buddies take on World War I flying aces and a seductive blonde. Ben Lyon, James Hall, Jean Harlow.

10:15 PM Libeled Lady (1936) When an heiress sues a newspaper, the editor hires a gigolo to compromise her. Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy.

12:00 midnight Reckless (1935) A theatrical star gets in over her head when she marries a drunken millionaire. Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone.

1:45 AM Red Dust (1932) A plantation overseer in Vietnam is torn between a married woman and a lady of the evening. Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Astor. D: Victor Fleming. BW 83m. CC

3:15 AM The Girl From Missouri (1934) A gold-digging chorus girl tries to keep her virtue while searching for a rich husband. Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Lionel Barrymore.

4:30 AM China Seas (1935) A sea captain caught in a romantic triangle has to fight off modern-day pirates. Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery.

Feel free to ask any questions–I got some good backstage gossip!

2

Maybe not exactly the type of question you had in mind, but didn’t they just do a Jean Harlow day recently (like in the past six months)? How about a Lyda Roberti day? OK, maybe a Lyda Roberti four hours instead.

I’m not complaining. Anytime *Wife vs. Secretary * is on means that there’s at least one thing worth watching on television.

3

No, but within the last couple months they featured actors who died young, and had a couple Jean Harlow films one evening.

4

Y’ever read a thread title and instantly think “Yeah, Eve definitely started this one”? :smiley:
Not intended as any kind of criticism, of course…just an observation.

5

They did just do a Jean Harlow day within the last few months; I taped a bunch of the movies but haven’t gotten around to watching them yet except for Beast of the City (which is seriously bizarre).

Feel free to post all the backstage gossip you have, Eve. Does it top the 100% factual information offered up in the Shulman biography?

:::d&r:::

6

Let’s start here, please. Details, darlin’, details.

7

Wallace Beery gives me the creeps.

Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.

8

I would quit my job and stay home and tape all day for that—Lyda is possibly my fave actress ever. Oh, and TCM’s previous Harlow day was pretty much crap.

Well. Without naming names, another Harlow biographer told the producers to drop me from the project or he would withdraw all his photos and contacts. He also badmouthed me and spilled details on my past (not knowing this would all get right back to me). Sharon Stone, I might add, was a darling, and sent me a hand-written note telling me how much she liked my book and that she hoped to “do right” by Jean. Sharon is aces in my book.

He gave everyone the creeps, including Jean. Note how realistic their roughing-up scenes are in Dinner at Eight!