Rare MAMA JEAN HARLOW signed letter 1935 vintage her letterhead & Vintage Photo

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Rare MAMA JEAN HARLOW signed letter 1935 vintage her letterhead & Vintage Photo:
$105.50

DESCRIPTION: RARE - Actress JEAN HARLOW vintage 1935 authentic original typewritten letter (TLS) signed by her mother to Nellie Hutton on her personal letterhead. Also included is the original mailing envelope and an original vintage 1930s 7\" x 9\" double-weight sepia toned gelatin silver photograph.

·Certified 100% authenticoriginal hand signed. This autographed item has been authenticated by MY MOVIEMEMORABILIA & MORE, a UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club) RegisteredDealer (No. RD321), which must aoffere by the UACC Code of Ethics, all policiesthat the UACC has enacted and must have a good standing as a reputable dealerrecommended by long-term UACC dealers. We have years of experience selling tobuyers internationally with a 100% positive response. All of my autographeditems have a lifetime money back guarantee of authenticity.

- SIZE: approx. 7 1/4\" X 10 1/2\"

- TONE: cream colored TERMS
- I ship all items using, what I call, triple protection packing. The photos are inserted into a display bag with a white board, then packed in between two thick packaging boards and lastly wrapped with plastic film for weather protection before being placed into the shipping envelope.
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JEANHARLOW BIO

(March 3,1911? June 7, 1937) was an American film actress and sex symbol of the1930s. Known as the \"PlatinumBlonde\" and the \"Blonde Bombshell\" due to her platinum blonde hair, Harlowwas ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute.Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sexappeal and strong screen presence, before making the transition to moredeveloped roles and achieving massive fame under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM). Harlow\'senormous popularity and \"laughing vamp\"image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred bydisappointment, tragedy, and ultimately her sudden death from renal failure atage 26.

Harlow wasborn Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri. Her father, Mont Clair Carpenter (1877?1974),worked as a dentist, and married to Jean PoeCarpenter (née Harlow). The name is sometimes incorrectly spelledCarpentier, which came from later studio press releases in an attempt to soundmore aristocratic, and the inaccuracy has been constantly repeated. Mont Clair Carpenter came from a working-classbackground and had gone to Kansas Cityto attend dental college. Jean PoeCarpenter was the daughter of a wealthy real estate broker, Skip Harlow, andhis wife Ella Harlow (née Williams).The marriage was arranged by Skip Harlow in 1908.Jean Carpenter, an intelligent and strong-willed woman, resented it, and becamevery unhappy in the marriage. Thecouple lived in Kansas Cityin a house owned by Skip Harlow.

Harlean wasnicknamed \"The Baby\", which would stick with her for the rest of herlife. She was spoiled to the pointthat she did not learn that her name was actually Harlean and not\"Baby\" until the age of five, when she began to attend Miss Barstow\'s Finishing School for Girls in Kansas City. Harlean and her mother were both only children whoremained very close to each other; the relationship fulfilled Mother Jean\'sempty existence and unhappy marriage.\"She was always all mine,\" she said of her daughter. Her mother was extremely protective and coddling,instilling a sense that her daughter owed everything she had to her mother.

With herdaughter at school, Mother Jean became increasingly frustrated and filed fordivorce, which was finalized, uncontested, September 29, 1922. She was granted sole custody of Harlean, who lovedher father but would rarely see him for the rest of her life.

Mother Jean,as she became known when Harlean became a film star, moved with Harlean to Hollywood in 1923 withhopes of becoming an actress.Harlean attended the Hollywood School for Girls and met some of Hollywood\'s future figures, including DouglasFairbanks, Jr., Joel McCrea andIrene Mayer Selznick. Mother Jean\'sdream of stardom did not come true; she was too old at age 34 to begin a filmcareer in an era when major roles were usually assigned to teenage girls. Facing dwindling finances, they returned to Kansas City within twoyears after Skip Harlow issued an ultimatum: either they returned or he woulddisinherit her. Harlean dropped outof her school in Hollywoodin the spring of 1925. Several weekslater, Skip Harlow sent her to a summer camp called Camp Cha-Ton-Ka in Michigamme, Michigan. It was there that Harlean became ill with scarletfever. Mother Jean traveled to Michigan to care forHarlean, rowing herself across the lake to the camp when she was told that shecould not get to her daughter.

Harleanattended the Ferry Hall School(now Lake Forest Academy)in Lake Forest, Illinois.Mother Jean had ulterior motives for Harlean\'s attendance at the school, as itwas close to Chicagowhere Mother Jean\'s beau, Marino Bello, was living.Freshmen were paired with a \"big sister\" from the senior class, andHarlean was paired with a girl who introduced her to Charles \"Chuck\"McGrew, heir to a large fortune, in the fall of 1926.The two started dating. On January18, 1927 Mother Jean married Bello,although Harlean was not present.

Thesixteen-year-old Harlean and twenty-year-old McGrew eloped on September 21,1927. McGrew turned 21 two monthsafter the marriage and received part of his large inheritance. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1928, settling into a home in Beverly Hills, where Harlean thrived as awealthy socialite. McGrew hoped todistance Harlean from her mother with the move.Neither of them were working, and both, especially McGrew, were thought todrink heavily.

In Los Angeles, Harleanbefriended Rosalie Roy, a young aspiring actress.Lacking a car, Royasked Harlean to drive her to Fox Studios for an appointment. It was there that Harlean was noticed by Foxexecutives, while sitting in the car waiting for her friend. Harlean was approached by the executives, butstated that she was not interested.She was given dictated letters of introduction to Central Casting. Recounting this story a few days later, RosalieRoy made a wager with Harlean that she did not have the nerve to go back andaudition for roles. Unwilling tolose a wager and pressed by her enthusiastic mother, Harlean drove to CentralCasting and signed in under her mother\'s maiden name, Jean Harlow.

Afterseveral calls from Central Casting, who had called for \"Miss Harlow\",and a number of rejected job offers, Harlean was pressured by her mother, nowrelocated to Los Angeles,into accepting work. Harlow then appeared in her first film, Honor Bound,as an unbilled extra, for $7 a day.This led to bit parts in silent films such as Moran of the Marines(1928), Chasing Husbands, Why Is a Plumber? (1927) and UnkissedMan. In December 1928 she signed a five-year contractwith Hal Roach Studios for $100 per week. She had more substantial roles in Laurel andHardy\'s short Double Whoopee, and appeared in two other filmsalongside the double act. In March1929, however, she broke her contract with Roach, who tore up her contractafter Harlow told him, \"It\'s breaking upmy marriage; what can I do?\" In June 1929 Harlow separated from ChuckMcGrew, and moved in with her mother and Bello.

After herseparation from McGrew, Harlow worked as extrain several movies, and was cast as an extra in The Love Parade (1929),followed by small roles in This Thing Called Love and The SaturdayNight Kid (1929), a Clara Bow movie.Her next extra work was in Weak But Willing (1929).During filming of Weak But Willing in 1929, she was spotted by JamesHall, an actor filming a Howard Hughes film called Hell\'s Angels. Hughes, re-shooting the film from silent intosound, needed a new actress because the original actress, Greta Nissen, had aNorwegian accent that proved undesirable for a talkie. Harlow made atest and got the part.

Hughessigned her to a five-year, $100 per week contract on October 24, 1929. Hell\'s Angels premiered in Hollywood on May 27, 1930 at Grauman\'s Chinese Theater.During the shooting, Harlow met MGM executivePaul Bern, who escorted her, dressed all in white, to the premiere. The movie made Harlowan international star and a sensation with audiences, but critics were lessthan enthusiastic.Variety wasa bit more charitable in remarking, \"It doesn\'t matter what degree oftalent she possesses ... nobodyever starved possessing what she\'s got.\"The New Yorker called Harlow\"plain awful\".

With noprojects planned for Harlow, Hughes sent her to New York,Seattle and Kansas City for Hell\'s Angelspremieres. In 1931, loaned out byHughes\' Caddo Company to other studios, Harlowbegan to gain more attention when she appeared in The Secret Six withWallace Beery and Clark Gable, Iron Man with Lew Ayres and RobertArmstrong, and The Public Enemy with James Cagney.Though the films ranged from moderate to smash hits, Harlow\'sacting ability was damned by critics as awful and was mocked. Concerned, Hughes sent her on a brief publicitytour, which was not a success, as Harlowdreaded such personal appearances.

Harlow was next cast in PlatinumBlonde (1931) with Loretta Young.Hughes convinced the producers of Platinum Blonde to rename it from itsoriginal title of Gallagher in order to promote Harlow\'simage, for whom the tag had just been invented by Hughes\'s publicity director. Many of Harlow\'sfemale fans were dyeing their hair platinum to match hers.To capitalize on this craze, Hughes\' team organized a series of \"PlatinumBlonde\" clubs across the nation, with a prize of $10,000 to any beauticianwho could match Harlow\'s shade. For some reason, Harlowdenied her hair was dyed.

Harlow nextfilmed Three Wise Girls (1932), after which, Paul Bern arranged to borrow her for The Beastof the City (1932). When theshooting wrapped, Bellobooked a ten-week personal appearance tour in the East Coast. To the surprise of many, especially Harlowherself, she packed every theatre she appeared in, often appearing multiplenights in one venue. Despitecritical disparagement and poor roles, Harlow\'spopularity and following was large and growing, and in February 1932 the tourwas extended for additional six weeks.

Apprised ofthis, Paul Bern, by now romantically involved with Harlow, spoke to Louis B. Mayer about buying out Harlow\'scontract from Hughes and signing her to MGM.Mayer would have none of it. MGM\'sleading ladies were presented in an elegant way, and Harlow\'ssilver screen image was that of a floozy, which was abhorrent to Mayer. Bern then beganurging close friend Irving Thalberg, production head of MGM, to sign Harlow,noting Harlow\'s pre-existing popularity andestablished image. After initialreluctance, Thalberg agreed, and on March 3, 1932, Harlow\'s twenty-firstbirthday, Bern called her with the news that MGMhad bought Harlow\'s contract from Hughes for$30,000. Harlowwould afterwards report to MGM and officially joined the studio on April 20,1932. Her first task at MGM would bea screen test for Red-Headed Woman.

Accordingto Fay Wray, who played Ann Darrow in the classic King Kong (1933), Harlow had been the original choice to play the screamingblonde heroine. Because MGM put Harlow underexclusive contract during the pre-production phase of the film, she becameunavailable for Kong, and the part went to the brunette Wray, wearing ablonde wig.

Harlow became a superstarat MGM. She was given superior movieroles to show off not only her beauty but also what turned out to be a genuinecomedic talent. In 1932, she had thestarring role in Red-Headed Woman, for which she received $1,250 a week,and Red Dust, her second film with Clark Gable.These films showed her to be much more at ease in front of the camera andhighlighted her skill as a comedienne.Harlow and Gable worked well together and co-starred in a total of six films. She was also paired multiple times with SpencerTracy and William Powell. As herstar ascended, sometimes the power of Harlow\'sname was used to boost up-and-coming male co-stars, such as Robert Taylor andFranchot Tone.

At thispoint MGM began creating a distance between Harlow and her screen characters,changing her childhood surname from common \"Carpenter\" to chic\"Carpentier\", claiming that writer Edgar Allan Poe was one of herancestors and published photographs of Harlowdoing charity work. MGM tried tochange her image from a brassy, exotic platinum blonde to the more mainstream,all-American type preferred by studio boss Mayer.Her early image proved difficult to change and once Harlowwas heard muttering, \"My God, must I always wear a low-cut dress to beimportant?\" The screen Harlow at the endof her life was quite different from that of 1930, when audiences first tooknotice of her. One constant was thatHarlow always seemed to have a sense of humor.

It wasduring the making of Red Dust that Harlow\'ssecond husband, MGM producer Paul Bern, was found dead at their home, creatinga scandal that still reverberates.Initially, the Hollywood community whispered that Harlow had killed Bern herself, though this was just rumor, and Bern\'s death wasofficially ruled a suicide. Harlow kept silent and survived the ordeal, and becamemore popular than ever.

After Bern\'s death, Harlowbegan an indiscreet affair with boxer Max Baer.Although he was separated from his wife, Dorothy Dunbar, at the time of theiraffair, Dunbar threatened divorce proceedings, naming Harlowas a correspondent for \"alienation of affection\", a legal term foradultery. MGM defused the situationby arranging a marriage between Harlow and cinematographer Harold Rosson. Still feeling the aftershocks of Bern\'smysterious death, the studio didn\'t want another Harlowscandal on its hands. Rosson andHarlow were friends, and Rosson went along with the plan.They quietly divorced seven months later.

After thebox office hits Hold Your Man and Red Dust, MGM realized it had agoldmine in the Harlow-Gable teaming and paired them in two more films: China Seaswith Wallace Beery and Rosalind Russell and Wife vs.Secretary with Myrna Loy and young James Stewart. Other co-stars included Spencer Tracy, RobertTaylor and William Powell.

By themid-1930s, Harlow was one of the biggest stars in America and the foremost femalestar at MGM. She was still a youngwoman with her star continuously in the ascendant, while the popularity ofother female stars at MGM, such as Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, was waning. Harlow\'s moviescontinued to make huge profits at the box office, even during the middle of theDepression. Some credit them withkeeping MGM profitable at a time when other studios were falling intobankruptcy.

Followingthe end of her third marriage in 1934, Harlowmet William Powell, another MGM star, while the pair were filming Recklessand quickly fell in love.Reportedly, the couple were engaged for two years, but differences kept themfrom formalizing their relationship (she wanted children; he did not). Harlow also saidthat Louis B. Mayer would neverallow them to marry.

Harlowcomplained about having pains on May 20, 1937 when she was filming Saratoga. Her symptoms ? fatigue, nausea, water weight andabdominal pain ? did not seem very serious to her doctor, who believed she wassuffering from gall bladder infection and flu.However, he was apparently not aware of Harlow?s ill-health during the previousyear: a severe sunburn, bad flu attack and septicemiaIn addition, her friend and co-star Myrna Loy had noticed Harlow?sgrey complexion, fatigue and weight gain.after pulling wisdom teeth. On May29, Harlow was shooting a scene in which thecharacter she was playing had a fever.Harlow was clearly sicker than her character,and when she leaned against her co-star Clark Gable between scenes she said,\"I feel terrible. Get me backto my dressing room.\" Harlowrequested that the assistant director phone William Powell, who left his ownset to escort Harlow back home.

On May 30,Powell checked on Harlow, and when she did not feel any better, her mother wasrecalled from a holiday trip and Dr.Fishbaugh visited Harlow at her home. Harlow\'sillnesses had delayed three previous films (Wife vs.Secretary, Suzy and Libeled Lady), so at first there was nogreat concern. On June 2, it wasannounced that Harlow was suffering from theflu. Harloweven felt better on June 3.Co-workers expected her back on the set by Monday, June 7.Press reports were contradictory with headlines like \"Jean Harlowseriously ill\" and \"Harlow past illness crisis\". When Harlow saidon June 6 that she could no longer see Powell properly, he called a doctor. When she slipped into a deep slumber and haddifficulties in breathing, the doctor finally realized that she was sufferingfrom something other than gall bladder infection and flu.

On that sameevening, Harlow was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where she slipped into a coma. 26-year-old Jean Harlow died in the hospital onJune 7 at 11:37 am. In the doctor?spress releases, the reason of death was given as cerebral edema, which is aside effect of renal or kidney failure. Hospital records mention uremia.

For years,rumors circulated about Harlow?s death. It was claimed that her mother had refused to callin a doctor because she was a Christian Scientist, or that Harlow herself haddeclined hospital treatment or surgery.It was also rumored that Harlow had died because of alcoholism, botchedabortion, over-dieting, sunstroke, poisoning due to platinum hair dye orvarious venereal diseases.[40]From the start, despite resting at home, Harlowwas attended by a doctor, two nurses visited her house and various equipmentwas brought in from a nearby hospital.However, Harlow?s mother prevented some peoplefrom seeing her, such as the MGM doctor who later stated that it was becausethey were Christian Scientists. Ithas been suggested that she still wanted to control her daughter, but it iscategorically untrue that she refused Harlowmedical care. However, based onmedical bulletins, hospital records and testimony of her relatives and friends,it was proven to be a case of kidney disease.

Harlow had suffered seriouskidney failure which could not have been curedin the 1930s. Death rate from acutekidney failure has decreased to 25% only after antibiotics,dialysis and kidney transplantation, and Harlow?sgrey complexion, recurring illnesses and severe sunburn were signs of thedisease. Her kidneys had been slowlyfailing and toxins started to build up in her body, exposing her to otherillnesses and causing symptoms included swelling, fatigue and lack of appetite. Toxins also adversely impacted her brain andcentral nervous system. It wassuggested that Harlow had suffered apost-streptococcal kidney infection, following scarlet fever when she wasyoung, and this might have caused high blood pressure and ultimately kidneyfailure.

News of Harlow?s death spread fast.One of the MGM writers later said: ?The day Baby died there wasn?t one sound inthe commissary for three hours.? MGMwas closed down on the day of Harlow?s funeralon June 9. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Californiain the Great Mausoleum in a private room of multicoloured marble, which WilliamPowell had bought for $25,000. Shewas buried in the gown she wore in Libeled Lady, and in her hands shehad a white gardenia and a note in which Powell had written: ?Goodnight, mydearest darling.? Drawers in thesame room were reserved for Harlow?s motherand William Powell. Harlow?s mother was buried there in 1958, but Powellremarried in 1940 and was buried elsewhere when he died in 1984. There is a simple inscription on Harlow?sgrave, \"Our Baby\".

MGM planned to replace Harlow in Saratoga with another actress, but because ofpublic objections the film was finished by using three doubles (one forclose-ups, one for long shots and one for dubbing Harlow?slines) as well as writing her character off some scenes.The film was proclaimed to be her best film.Ever since, viewers watching the film have tried to spot these stand-ins andsigns of Harlow?s illness.

Filmography

Film

1928

Honor Bound

Uncredited unconfirmed

1928

Moran of the Marines

Uncredited

1929

New York Nights

Party Guest

Uncredited

1929

This Thing Called Love

Uncredited

1929

Fugitives

Uncredited

1929

Why Be Good?

Uncredited

1929

Close Harmony

Uncredited

1929

Saturday Night Kid, TheThe Saturday Night Kid

Hazel

Uncredited

1929

Love Parade, TheThe Love Parade

Lady-in-Waiting

Uncredited

1929

Weak But Willing

Uncredited

1930

Hell\'s Angels

Helen

as Jean Harlowe

1931

City Lights

Extra in restaurant scene

Uncredited

1931

Secret Six, TheThe Secret Six

Anne Courtland

1931

Public Enemy, TheThe Public Enemy

Gwen Allen

1931

Iron Man

Rose Mason

1931

Goldie

1931

Platinum Blonde

Anne Schuyler

1931

Beau Hunks

Jeanie-Weenie (in photo)

Uncredited

1932

Three Wise Girls

Cassie Barnes

1932

Beast of the City, TheThe Beast of the City

Daisy Stevens, aka Mildred Beaumont

1932

Red-Headed Woman

Lillian \'Lil\'/\'Red\' Andrews Legendre

1932

Red Dust

Vantine

1933

Hold Your Man

Ruby Adams

1933

Dinner at Eight

Kitty Packard

1933

Bombshell

Lola Burns

1934

Girl from Missouri, TheThe Girl from Missouri

Eadie

1935

Reckless

Mona Leslie

1935

China Seas

Dolly \'China Doll\' Portland

1936

Riffraff

Hattie

1936

Wife vs. Secretary

Helen \"Whitey\" Wilson

1936

Suzy

1936

Libeled Lady

Gladys Benton

1937

Personal Property

Crystal Wetherby

1937

Saratoga

Carol Clayton

Short subjects

1928

Chasing Husbands

Bathing beauty

Uncredited

1929

Liberty

Woman in cab

as Harlean Carpenter

1929

Why Is a Plumber?

1929

Unkissed Man, TheThe Unkissed Man

Uncredited

1929

Double Whoopee

Swanky blonde

1929

Thundering Toupees

1929

Bacon Grabbers

Mrs. Kennedy

1929

Weak But Willing

1932

Screen Snapshots

Herself

1933

Hollywood on Parade No. A-12

Herself

1933

Hollywood on Parade No. B-1

Herself

1934

Hollywood on Parade No. B-6

Herself

1937

Candid Camera Story (Very Candid)
of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention, TheThe Candid Camera Story (Very Candid)
of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention

Herself

(courtesyof wikipedia)

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