“When that Harlow gal struts her stuff with that loving Taylor man…look for fun and swell romance!”
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Dir. W.S. Van Dyke
84 mins.
Production: December 1936 or January 5, 1937 (David Stenn’s Bombshell lists a start date of December 1936, but AFI cites January 5) to January 21 or February 5, 1937 (Bombshell cites January 21, AFI cites February 5. Either way, Harlow finished her scenes before her trip to Washington, D.C. on January 26.)
Release date: March 19, 1937
Release status: Available to watch online and on DVD.
Cast: Jean Harlow (Crystal Wetherby), Robert Taylor (Raymond Dabney), Reginald Owen (Claude Dabney), Una O’Connor (Clara), Henrietta Crosman (Mrs. Dabney), E.E. Clive (Mr. Dabney), Cora Witherspoon (Mrs. Burns), Marla Shelton (Catherine Burns), Forrester Harvey (Bailiff), Lionel Braham (Lord Carstairs), Barnett Parker (Arthur Trevelyan), William Stack (Policeman).
Summary: A broke, aristocratic English family tries to recoup their losses through wealthy marriages. Son Raymond (Robert Taylor) soon meets the supposedly wealthy and glamorous heiress Crystal Wetherby (Jean Harlow), and falls for her, not realizing she is engaged to his brother. However, it turns out Crystal’s pockets aren’t as heavy as first thought.
Trivia:
- Harlow’s last fully completed film.
- First filmed as The Man in Possession in 1931; this remake almost kept the title of the original. Another working title was Man in Her House.
- Stenn’s Bombshell notes the production, oversaw by duly named “One-Take Woody” (director W.S. Van Dyke), only took twenty-two days.
- As soon as Harlow wrapped her scenes in late January 1937, she left for FDR’s Fourth Annual Birthday Ball in Washington, D.C., with her mother and co-star Robert Taylor. Marsha Hunt recalled Harlow was “terrified” to meet the President in D.C, though she’d previously attended one of his Birthday Balls in Oakland (they didn’t meet that time). Unfortunately, Harlow fell ill with the flu on the trip, compounding and adding to a series of illnesses she’d been stricken with in the months before her death.
- Harlow’s first, last, and only film with Robert Taylor. The screen couple was slated to make more films together for MGM (such as Springtide), but the plans were foiled by Harlow’s death. Before Personal Property was released, the public got a hint of what they’d be like together during their Lux Radio Theater performance of Madame Sans-Gêne which aired on December 14, 1936.
- Harlow wears her famous blue sapphire ring, given to her (but not as an engagement ring) by boyfriend William Powell for Christmas 1936, prominently in this film. One piece of apocryphal trivia claims Harlow lost her prized ring during the filming of the dish-washing scene; it was said to have turned up in an ashtray after hours of searching.
- While one of the more diaphanous of Harlow’s Dolly Tree gowns is spotted in publicity photos and behind-the-scenes candids with only one shoulder, it doesn’t appear in the film like that. Deemed too racy, it received a second sleeve from Miss Tree for retakes, as did the copy of the same gown Harlow took with her to FDR’s Fourth Annual Birthday Ball.
- Harlow’s “blue and silver” long-sleeved Dolly Tree robe, worn onscreen for this film, survived well into the 1970s. While its whereabouts are unknown now, it was worn by actress Patricia Dane for publicity portraits in the early 1940s, and made it to Diana Vreeland’s Hollywood Costume exhibition at The Met in 1974. From there, it falls off the face of the Earth, but it was at least photographed in stunning color by Franceso Scavullo for Vogue.
Stills and ad art:
Harlow Heaven 