Gossip Friday: Harlow’s Fans

Here’s some gossip on one of Clark’s favorite leading ladies, the legendary Jean Harlow, from May 1935:

It was a shock to discover, through the accurate records of Mrs. Ethel Webb, Jean Harlow’s efficient secretary, that in 1933 twenty-five percent of all Miss Harlow’s fan mail came from men, while the other seventy-five percent was dashed off by feminine hands. In 1934 the ratio was twenty percent to eighty.

Having labored under the conviction that the Harlow appeal was, of all the stars in Hollywood, most evidently for males, the only explanation I could offer for the feminine pre-ponderance of interest was that most men are inept correspondents.

But Mrs. Webb’s analytical tabulation shows that the questions most frequently asked are these, in the order of their frequency:

1. Is your hair naturally platinum?

2. What treatment do you give your hair?

3. What kind of cosmetics do you use?

4. Do you diet? How old are you?

5. What are your hobbies?

6. Who is your favorite male star?

7. What schools did you attend?

Jean Harlow’s fan mail averages between 300 and 350 letters a day. In 1931 she mailed some 670 autographed pictures per month. In 1934, 3,500 were sent out every thirty days.

Most of the mail comes from this country, with Pennslyvania and New York far in the lead.

England showes the most foreign interest. New Zealand is second. The British like the Harlow type.

In all foreign fan mail, the percentage of masculine handwriting is noticeably higher, but then so is the Continental blood pressure, as a rule.

Sizeable packets of letters arrive each month from such out of the way spots as the Canary Islands, Dutch East Indies, Java, Iceland , Trinidad, The Federated Malay Straits Settlements and Morocco.

Chile is not as cold as its name suggests. It leads the Latin American countries in Harlow enthusiasm.

The champion Jean Harlow fan is a young woman living in New York state. She has written a letter each day for the past three years and sent it by air mail.

At the minimum air mail postage rate that is exactly $65.70 worth of devotion.

Postmaster General Farley should encourage this sort of thing.

 

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