“He Hired a Wife and Paid Her $25,000 a Year!”
Sound film with color sequences — 72 mins.
Pathé Exchange, Inc. / Dir. Paul L. Stein
Production: mid-1929
Release date: December 13, 1929
Survival/release status: Lost (no known archive holdings as of 2026).
Cast: Edmund Lowe (Robert Collings), Constance Bennett (Ann Marvin), Roscoe Karns (Harry Bertrand), Zasu Pitts (Clara Bertrand), Carmelita Geraghty (Alvarez Guerra), Stuart Erwin (Fred), Ruth Taylor (Dolly), Jean Harlow (uncredited extra).
Summary (from AFI): Ann Marvin, who is thoroughly disillusioned about marital bliss because of the turbulence in her sister Clara’s marriage, meets Robert Collings, a millionaire gold miner, while visiting her brother-in-law Bertrand’s law office. Bertrand invites Collings to dinner, and before his arrival, Clara stages a battle royal over Bertrand’s buying a dress for Alvarez Guerra, who is also invited to dinner, and the two women ultimately come to blows. When Collings proposes marriage to Ann, she compromises by offering to work as housewife for a salary ($25,000 a year); he accepts, agreeing that each will be free to consort with his own friends. When she remains indifferent to him, Collings arouses her jealousy by flirting with Miss Guerra; she responds by romancing De Witt. The reconciliation of the Bertrands, however, causes the Collingses to realize a genuine feeling for each other.
Trivia:
- Carmelita Geraghty, who played Alvarez Guerra, would later become a close personal friend of Harlow; she married Carey Wilson, Harlow’s collaborator on Today Is Tonight, in 1934, with Harlow as matron of honor. Harlow infamously announced her divorce from Harold Rosson at this event.
Stills and ad art:
Harlow Heaven 