“Flaming Youth – 1929 Model!”
Silent film with Vitaphone soundtrack — 80 mins.
First National Pictures, Inc. / Dir. William A. Seiter
Production: began November 19, 1928
Release date: March 12, 1929 (David Stenn’s Bombshell lists February 28, but AFI cites March 12)
Survival/release status: Extant; available to watch on DVD and Blu-ray
Cast: Colleen Moore (Pert), Neil Hamilton (Peabody, Jr.), Bodil Rosing (Ma Kelly), John St. Polis (Pa Kelly), Edward Martindel (Peabody, Sr.), Eddie Clayton (Tom), Lincoln Stedman (Jerry), Louis Natheaux (Jimmy), Collette Merton (Julie), Dixie Gay (Susie), Jean Harlow (uncredited extra).
Summary (from AFI): Pert Kelly, a wild but virtuous young girl, meets Peabody, Jr., at a roadhouse, and they make a date for the following evening. The next day Pert is late for work and is called in to see the personnel manager, who turns out to be her acquaintance of the night before. At the insistence of Peabody, Sr., who owns the store, Pert is fired; Peabody, Jr., however, is still taken with the girl and invites her to one of his parents’ swank parties. The elder Peabody remarks to his son that he does not think that Pert is quite nice, and Junior decides to test her virtue. He takes her to a disreputable roadhouse, and she protests long and loud. They are married that same night, and Peabody, Jr., assures his father that Pert is all right.
Trivia:
- Harlow caught the attention of director William A. Seiter on the set, who brought her up to Colleen Moore. Moore recalled her as “this beautiful girl with white hair and a white dress, and she was just sitting there nonchalantly. People were passing by to look at her and asking who she was.”
Stills and ad art:
Harlow Heaven 