Kansas City, Kansas, may have supplied the screen with a new Greta Garbo. All talk of Greta’s great talkie success and of Paramount’s sensational importation, Marline [sic] Dietrich, was silenced last week when Jean Harlow, who had been doing extra work a few months previously, flashed across the screen of Grauman’s Chinese theater in Los Angeles as the most glamorous siren of the talkies.
Grauman’s Chinese is the theater where all of Hollywood’s great premieres are held. The premiere given “Hell’s Angels” last week was reported to be the most spectacular the theater has ever seen.
Crowds jammed Hollywood Boulevard for blocks. The street whirred with the propellers of many model airplanes and the sky was white with the glare of searchlights. Celebrities struggled for seats. And out of all this uproar Jean Harlow emerged as the triumph of the evening and the toast of the town.
Los Angeles papers received in Kansas City carry columns of reviews praising her dramatic work and feature stories extolling her beauty. Miss Harlow’s story is one of the sensations of the year.
Her entire career was staked on one production. “Hell’s Angels” was so big an indifferent performance in that production could not be covered up. If Jean gave a bad performance she was through. She went into the picture through an accident and with great disadvantages.
Howard Hughes. Oklahoma oil millionaire, who turned movie producer, spent 2 million dollars making “Hell’s Angels” as a silent picture. Greta Nissen had the leading feminine role in that version. Then came the talkie revolution, and it was necessary to junk much of the picture and make it over with dialogue and sound. Miss Nissen had a pronounced Swedish accent, and the girl she was portraying was English. Mr. Hughes cast about for a successor.
He selected Jean Harlow, a girl with little experience. She had played a small part in one Clara Bow picture and had done some extra work. The part was exacting. Not once does Miss Harlow obtain the sympathy of the audience throughout the picture. She is seen as a heartless little cheat and a tempting siren who sends men to their deaths. It is a great part, but it is a character part entirely and it depends on the talents and not the beauty of the actress to put it over.
Miss Harlow’s advantages lay in the fact Mr. Hughes himself directed the picture and this young millionaire has exhibited a surprising talent for dramatic construction. James Whale, the director of both the stage and screen versions of “Journey’s End”, directed the dialogue.
From what was a crucial theatrical test, Miss Harlow emerged triumphant. The Los Angeles dramatic critics have been universal in acclaiming her. “Hell’s Angels” is a picture that emphasizes spectacle, yet the reviews describe Jean Harlow before referring to the spectacular bombardments, the dog fights and the Zeppelin raids.
Miss Harlow was introduced to Mr. Hughes by Ben Lyon, who has one of the important parts in the picture. She is 19 years old and is the granddaughter of S.D. Harlow, 2304 North Twelfth street, Kansas City, Kansas. Her mother, Mrs. Jean Bell, is in Hollywood with her. She is a former student of the Barstow school and of the Highland Park school in Chicago.
Harlow Heaven 