Jean Harlow photographed using a resplendent early color process by Edwin Bower Hesser, aptly named “Hessercolor”, 1931:
Hessercolor, another tricolor process, first got popular this same year (1931). It was in decline by the time Kodachrome took over after its introduction in 1935.
The artsy “glazed” quality you see here was desirable for a little while, but it wasn’t long before Hesser’s experimental lurid colors fell out of fashion.
As many of you know, Hesser is one of Harlow’s more important photographers; he shot her semi-nude 1929 Griffith Park portrait session, and made plenty of other cheesecake portraits of her both in Hessercolor and B&W.
Harlow was not the only starlet Hesser captured in dreamy hues; Lupe Vélez, Irene Dunne, Carole Lombard, Jeanette MacDonald, and Dolores Del Rio are some other glamorous visages with similar portraits. Many Hessercolor images graced magazine covers—I know of at least three that were used for “True Confessions”.
This particular portrait was featured in the October 1931 issue of Screen Play, with Barbara Stanwyck as the cover star. It popped up again about 50 years later on the cover of Hollywood Studio magazine. Original caption from Screen Play:
“The queen of movie sirens, Jean Harlow is Hollywood’s most talked of woman. Wherever the platinum blonde head is seen at social functions there, too, are dozens of admiring men. Gossip about Jean’s latest romance is always the day’s most important subject. But the girl to whom Hell’s Angels brought fame still rules her head and heart, and wins new triumphs in a swift succession of pictures, the latest of which is Goldie.”
This second Harlow in Hessercolor portrait was just as garish, though a less processed version would later grace the cover of True Confessions:
And for anyone imminently as curious as I, here is a wonderful explanation on Edwin Bower Hesser’s personal color process from a 1934 issue of International Photographer magazine (courtesy Lantern):
Harlow Heaven 