JEAN HARLOW AND HAL ROACH

Hal Roach was the first to spot Jean Harlow’s comedic talents:

Harlow (the real bathing beauty) is to the right of Charley Chase.

Harlow was seventeen when she made “Double Whoopee”, a Hal Roach short, with Laurel and Hardy. Leo McCarey, who went on to become a preeminent director of comedy wrote the story. McCarey in later life credited himself with teaching Cary Grant about savoir-faire and screwball style. It was said Grant copied many of McCarey’s mannerisms and speech patterns. Whether or not this is true he deserves a few posts of his own (please, remind me!) having directed such classics as: “Duck Soup”, “The Awful Truth”, “Love Affair”, and the remake of his own work (extremely faithful) “An Affair to Remember”.

Well, children — that was a tangent! Back to one of Harlow’s first screen appearances in 1926:

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3 Comments

  1. October 18, 2012

    Jean was a treasure and deserved much more than those horrid `1965 “Harlow” films …one with Carol Lynley and the other with Caroll Baker …..

    • October 18, 2012

      Those movies are so bad it actually makes me anxious to watch them – as a matter of fact I’ve never been able to view them all the way through.

      • October 18, 2012

        Just terrible. Not even in the realm of “Bad Movies We Love.”

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