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Jean Harlow is one of most the defining figures of the early decades of American cinema. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911, she made her feature film debut as an uncredited extra in the silent drama Honor Bound (1928). After a small speaking part in The Saturday Night Kid (1929), starring Clara Bow and Jean Arthur, she was hired by Howard Hughes to star in his World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930), which turned her into a overnight sensation. Signing with MGM in 1932, she became one of the studio's most profitable leading ladies, appearing in such hits as Dinner at Eight (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and Libeled Lady (1936), the last three co-starring Clark Gable . Her final picture, Saratoga (1937), which also paired her with Gable, was released after her death and became not only the highest-grossing film of her career, but also the biggest moneymaker of that year. Although she was in the motion picture industry for only nine year...

I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and the Old Hollywood era. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of, and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses that graced the silver screen. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share with you. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. This is part one of the 80 reasons w...

Directed by George Cukor, Dinner at Eight (1933) revolves around the eminent dinner part hosted by Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke), the snobbish socialite wife of shipping magnate Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore). Millicent is so aggravated about everything going wrong that she is oblivious to Oliver's impending bankruptcy and serious heart condition, as well as her daughter Paula's (Madge Evans) preoccupation about the return of her fiancé, Ernest DeGraff (Phillips Holmes), from Europe. One of the guests is Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), a former stage star and Oliver's one-time flame. Also invited are corrupt mining tycoon Dan Packard (Wallace Beery), who is secretly consuming Oliver's business, and his brassy young wife Kitty (Jean Harlow).   LEFT: Madge Evans and John Barrymore. MIDDLE: Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler. RIGHT: Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke and Edmund Lowe. On the eve of the dinner, Millicent, short of an extra man for Carlotta, invites washed-up s...

Jean Harlow is one of the most iconic figures of the early decades of American cinema. She was born  with the given name of Harlean Harlow Carpenter on March 3, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents were Mont Clair Carpenter, a successful dentist from a working-class background, and his wife, Jean Poe (née Harlow), the daughter of a wealthy real estate broker. Nicknamed «Baby,» Harlean was afflicted by poor health throughout her childhood, contracting meningitis at age five and suffering from scarlet fever when she was 15. In September 1922, Jean divorced her husband and moved with her 11-year-old daughter to Hollywood, with hopes of pursuing a career as an actress. While in Los Angeles, Harlean attended the Hollywood School for Girls and met future movie stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joel McCrea, as well as Louis B. Mayer's daughter, Irene. In 1925, unable to find a single acting job, Jean returned in defeat to Kansas City with her daughter.   Portraits of Jean Harl...