“Wives Have Murdered Husbands For Less Than This Bird Did!”
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Dir. Jack Conway
98 mins.
Production: July 13, 1936 — September 1, 1936
Release date: October 9, 1936
Release status: Available to watch online and on DVD.
Cast: Jean Harlow (Gladys Benton), William Powell (Bill Chandler), Myrna Loy (Connie Allenbury), Spencer Tracy (Warren Haggerty), Walter Connolly (J.B. Allenbury), Charley Grapewin (Mr. Bane), Cora Witherspoon (Mrs. Burns-Novell), E.E. Clive (Edwins, the fishing intructor), Lauri Beatty (Babs Burns-Novell), Otto Yamaoka (Ching), Charles Trowbridge (Graham), Spencer Charters (Magistrate), George Chandler (Bellhop), William Benedict (Johnny), Hal K. Dawson (Harvey Allen), William Newell (Divorce detective), Greta Meyer (Connie’s maid), Hattie McDaniel (Maid in hall)
Summary: Heiress Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) sues Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy)’s newspaper publication for libel, as they’ve tried to smear her as the ‘other woman’ in a divorce suit. Haggerty attempts to fix the situation by sending in Bill Chandler (William Powell), a smooth-talking libel expert, to set Connie up in a fake scheme where she’d be found with Bill by a ‘fake’ wife (Jean Harlow), making her lawsuit moot as a result. However, romance strikes the foursome big time, which affects the mission in unexpected ways.
Trivia:
- In August, during production, Harlow went on a beach holiday to Catalina Island and came away with a severe second degree sunburn. The burn necessitated at least a week off work in bed prescribed by her doctor, Dr. Sidney Burnap. Harlow was absent for ten days. One period publicity item reports Harlow’s bedroom being turned into a miniature soundstage so she could record her lines while bedridden: “If I felt a little better, I’d say this was an ideal way to go to work,” Harlow reportedly said of the situation.
- Harlow was originally meant to be buried in the Dolly Tree-designed wedding gown from Libeled Lady after her death in 1937; for some reason, Jean Bello passed over in favor of a pink negligee from Saratoga, which was Harlow’s least favorite color to wear. Modern sources speculate this may have happened as Harlow’s edema proved too much for the limits of the wedding gown to handle (the negligee had short puff sleeves), but no known documentation has surfaced to confirm this beyond a doubt.
- Harlow was well-known for her love of portable record players which she played on set; publicity items for Libeled Lady claim she owned ‘every’ Benny Goodman recording, which was her primary musical diet during production.
- William Powell celebrated his 44th birthday that July 29 on-set with Harlow, Tracy, and Loy, and a cake was brought out for him.
- In an amusing anecdote that could seemingly only happen in Hollywood, Harlow and Powell left the Libeled Lady set to attend the wedding of Powell’s double, Warren Dearborn, on August 31. More on that here.
- The film was remade in 1946 as Easy to Wed with Lucille Ball in the Harlow role, establishing a clear pipeline between two actresses whose comedic styles, voices, and appearances are often compared.
Stills and ad art:
Harlow Heaven 