SARATOGA (Conway, 1937)

The Picture that the WORLD DEMANDED THAT M-G-M FINISH….AND WHAT A PICTURE! 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Dir. Jack Conway
94 mins.

Production: April 22, 1937 — June 22 or 26, 1937 (AFI cites an end date of June 26, but David Stenn’s Bombshell lists June 22)
Release date: July 23, 1937
Release status: Available to watch online and on DVD.

Cast: Clark Gable (Duke Bradley), Jean Harlow (Carol Clayton), Lionel Barrymore (Grandpa Clayton), Walter Pidgeon (Hartley Madison), Frank Morgan (Jessie “Kiffie” Kiffmeyer), Una Merkel (Fritzi Kiffmeyer), Cliff Edwards (Tip O’Brien), George Zucco (Dr. Harmsworth), Jonathan Hale (Frank Clayton), Hattie McDaniel (Rosetta), Frankie Darro (Dixie Gordon), Henry Stone (Hand-Riding Hurley), Carl Stockdale (Boswell), Ruth Gillette (Mrs. Kelly), Charles Foy (Valet), Robert Emmett Keane (Auctioneer), Edgar Dearing (Medbury), Frank McGlynn Sr. (Kenyon), Margaret Hamilton (Maizie), Lionel Pape (Horse owner), George Chandler (Cameraman), The Esquires (quartet performing “Saratoga”), Grace Saxon (singer performing “Saratoga”), Mary Dees (stand-in and body double for Harlow’s Carol Clayton), Paula Winslowe (voice dubbing of Harlow’s Carol Clayton) The Andrews Triplets *(The Hurley Twins, unconfirmed)

Summary: Duke Bradley (Clark Gable), a New York bookmaker, bails out a friend, Frank Clayton (Jonathan Hale) and his grandfather by taking the deed to their farm. Clayton’s ritzy daughter, Carol, soon returns to New York from a European sojourn after his death, only to find herself at the center of an unlikely romance blossoming with Bradley, despite her father’s debts hanging over her head.

Trivia:

• Of course, Harlow collapsed on the Saratoga set on May 29, 1937, necessitating a rest at William Powell’s house before returning to her own home; she never returned to work, and died just over a week later of uremic poisoning as a consequence of glomerulonephritis (a form of kidney disease) on June 7, 1937. Harlow had complained of a “terrible pain” after a streak of appearing noticeably unwell on set, ending a scene she was filming with Walter Pidgeon as she “doubled up” in his arms due to her discomfort. This particular scene was deleted.

• Multiple parties such as assistant director Tom Andre, wardrobe department member Ted Tetrick, and an unidentified studio nurse summoned by director Jack Conway were some of the parties privy to Harlow’s visible suffering on what proved to be the last day they saw her. Andre noticed her alarming bloating, and Tetrick’s concern about Harlow’s excessive perspiration led him to ask Conway to get the nurse. Crew member George Sidney reported seeing Harlow lying down in her dressing room a couple of days earlier, complaining of a toothache caused by a botched wisdom tooth surgery that March.

• Harlow and William Powell, often mistakenly reported as engaged during this time period, were actually drifting apart during Saratoga‘s production. Harlow still intermittently wore the sapphire ring he gave her on her right hand, but went on casual dates with publisher Donald Friede as a separation seemed imminent. Powell, however, delivered her a personalized cake for their third anniversary in late May, which thrilled Harlow and prompted her to feed it to the Saratoga cast and crew as the couple started to reconcile.

• Costar Una Merkel wrote in a personal letter at the tail end of production, June 24, after Harlow’s death: “I’ve worked rather hard — and long (over 2 months) — on Saratoga, and of course I felt so terribly bad when Jean Harlow died — for she was a grand person.”

• Clarence Sinclair Bull, one of Harlow’s most frequent career photographers who was tasked with taking some of her last, claimed in his 1968 book, The Faces of Hollywood, that Harlow had a premonition during a late May Saratoga publicity photoshoot and told him she would “never be here again”.

• MGM’s other top female star, Joan Crawford, was briefly slated in the lead role of Carol Clayton after a potential deal to borrow Carole Lombard from Paramount for it fell through. Harlow herself was supposed to have starred in The World’s Our Oyster with Powell, but was taken out of it by L.B. Mayer due to the flatlining of her romance with Powell (per David Stenn’s Bombshell).

• Virginia Bruce, Jean Arthur, Jean Phillips (Seale), Rita Johnson, and Virginia Grey were some potential names floated to take parts of Harlow’s role after her passing, a part that ultimately went to Mary Dees, who refused to discuss the project for the rest of her life. The voiceover was done by Paula Winslowe, better known for playing Bambi’s mother in the 1942 film of the same name.

• MGM considered scrapping the film entirely, but was won over by the insistence of Harlow’s public on seeing her last film, which proved a huge financial success for the studio.

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