Harlow’s kitchen capabilities were well known by the time she had established herself at MGM, as many cast and crew could tell you, but that wasn’t exactly the case early on. The public were primarily focused on Harlow’s hair; as they would be until she broke into better roles later that same year.
One of Harlow’s very first cooking articles was published in Motion Picture’s December 1931 issue; two of her sweet and simple recipes for walnut chocolate cake and ice cream frosting appear next to offerings from Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Nancy Carroll. Here’s the article:
I find the comment from Jean Bello at the beginning pretty funny and very telling of both personalities:
“When Jean is tired, nothing seems to rest her so much as working around the stove. Where she learned how I don’t know. I never knew enough about cooking to teach her anything, and Jean has never had to keep house, but she makes raised rolls and cakes and even soufflés. She draws the line at washing the pan afterward, but she often teases to dry the dinner dishes.”
Even funnier is the comment about Harlow only liking the kitchen because she had no publicity pictures of herself wearing an apron. Those portraits became a reality not even two months later, when they began circulating during her personal appearance tour:
Two more of Jean’s recipes appeared in print for the first time in late February 1932 alongside a third photo from this shoot. This time she details yet another indulgent dessert, and… Beets a la Jean.
The phrase “Beets a la Jean” is probably going to be living in my head for a bit.
Now, I am admittedly no cook and have yet to try any of Jean’s recipes for myself. I’ll probably make an attempt when I’m confident I won’t come out with a hellish concoction, but at least there’s no skill to throwing ice cream and peaches together. If you’d like to see some of Jean’s cooking come to life, I strongly recommend checking out Silver Screen Suppers. There are quite a few concoctions of Jean’s on her site and you can find them here.
In the meanwhile I think I’ll consider gathering the ingredients for an Ice Cream a la Jean.
Harlow Heaven 