Harlow and Taylor Go To D.C., January 1937

Not quite today in Harlow History, but 85 years ago yesterday; didn’t quite realize the date on these in time. Better late than never.

On January 26, 1937, Jean Harlow and her Personal Property costar Robert Taylor were photographed at the Pasadena Train Station getting ready to embark on the Santa Fe “Chief” for their journey to Washington, D.C.

One publication (namely, Darrell Rooney’s Harlow in Hollywood) pinpoints January 23 as the duo’s date of departure, but newspaper articles suggest January 26 is more accurate:

*The Bakersfield Californian, January 26, 1937*

*The Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1937. Imagine lugging 10 gallons of water across the country just to wash your hair with, even if on a train—going to assume this was sensational.* *Robert Taylor’s cold, which ended up spreading, is mentioned.*

Here are the two strolling along outside, Harlow marvelously clad in black wool and silver fox:

Harlow and Robert Taylor at the Pasadena Train Station, January 1937. Jean’s wearing a black wool frock with a silver fox cape that saw several outings during this time period—most notably, during an October 1936 sitting with photographer Ted Allan. You can see those photos here.

Harlow and Taylor had just finished a fast-paced twenty-two day production on their film and had been invited to be special guests at FDR’s fourth annual Birthday Ball, which he used to raise money for the Warm Springs Foundation (later and more popularly known as March of Dimes).

Though this was inarguably the more publicized of Harlow’s Birthday Ball experiences, she had previously attended the very first one in January, 1934. You can read my post about that here.

The stars’ invitations had been received on January 4, 1937, and Louis B. Mayer allowed them to go with one caveat—they had to finish Personal Property first (they did, and it’s likely the combined exhaustion from work and the rapid social schedule surrounding Washington worsened the flu that Harlow caught from Taylor on the journey).

Harlow posed for a handful of photos before she left town—here’s a couple more shots of her and Bob before they embarked.

*Jean (if you look closely, you’ll see her anklet) and Robert Taylor share a laugh with publicity man Larry Barbier in this candid that was featured in the LA Times.*

*Harlow signs an autograph for an unidentified fan at the train station—wonder where this one ended up.*

*A one-of-a-kind signed candid of Harlow and Taylor strolling, taken from another angle.*

Lastly, Jean and her mother (who of course accompanied her) are caught by the photographer, with Jean Bello sporting a feather in her hat that could take someone’s eye out:

Upon their arrival in Washington, where the group were photographed with the President and other film luminaries like Marsha Hunt (who is miraculously still with us as of this writing), they adhered to a grueling schedule—twenty-two events in two days.

By the time their return trip rolled around, Jean and her mother had fallen ill enough with the flu (likely related to Robert Taylor’s aforementioned cold) that nurses were brought around. Harlow’s mother recovered relatively swiftly—Harlow herself did not, and this particular brush with illness set a chain of maladies in motion from which Harlow did not recover. (This is not trying to imply that I’m blaming Robert Taylor for getting Harlow sick—it was simply very unfortunate timing, and her health was already frail).

Closing on a happier note with pictures of the gorgeous Mediterranean style Pasadena station as it appeared in more recent days—it seems to have hardly changed in 40 years when this photo was taken in 1979.