Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow

Rating:
Summary: The Platinum Girl gets the Golden touch
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Gives some misinformation, but still captures Jean's spirit.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Platinum Blonde Life
Review: 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.