June 29, 1935: A sunburned Harlow is seen at an MGM sponsored event for the District Attorneys’ Association, who were closing out their 25th Annual Convention held in Los Angeles.
This same day, the Association picked Santa Clara District Attorney Fred L. Thomas (furthest right) to succeed the infamous Buron Fitts (third from left) as their president.
It’s interesting to see Harlow sit next to the very man who initially tried to indict her for murder in the death of Paul Bern. It’s also fun to note the dual appearance of Thalberg and Mayer, two MGM executives heavily involved in quelling public opinion surrounding the Bern case. Given this was a studio function, it’s obviously courtesy. It served MGM well: having come to Fitts’ defense in his perjury trial, Mayer would get good use out of him in 1937 for the Patricia Douglas case.
Here’s an article on the upcoming event from the June 24 issue of the Los Angeles Times. One of the key issues the District Attorneys were there to discuss was law enforcement technique, something that hasn’t changed in the eighty five years since this was published. How wonderful!
Jean was not the only film star to be spotted during the convention; this candid photograph by Charlie Rhodes appeared in Hollywood’s September 1935 issue:
For your information: on top of everything with Paul Bern, here are the details on the other aforementioned scandals. In 1934, Fitts was indicted on perjury charges after allegedly taking a bribe from millionaire John Mills to hush his rape case. He got himself acquitted in February 1936, and went on to use his position to halt Patricia Douglas’ rape case. Amazingly, Fitts stayed in office until 1940. The SOB ended up committing suicide, so I guess we can be happy with the trash taking itself out.
It says a lot that Harlow managed to keep a smile on her face, knowing full well how scummy Fitts was. Studio obligations were quite the thing.
Harlow Heaven 