Robert Taylor: The Man with the Perfect Charm

“There was a style of living and making motion pictures which no longer exists. It has been coldly modernized into something very factual … For some of us who were fortunate enough to have been a part of the Golden Age, however, the memory lingers on.” -Robert Taylor (in Variety Magazine, 1966).

Charles Tranberg’s biography of Robert Taylor (available in kindle ebook, 2013) presents a good opportunity to take another look at the career of one of the brightest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In the chapter 8 “Post-War Slump,” Tranberg summarizes part of Linda J. Alexander’s revelations exposed in "Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood & Communism" (2008).

Robert Taylor was born in Filley, Nebraska on August 5, 1911. Son of Spangler Andrew Brugh (a farmer turned osteopath doctor) and his invalid wife Ruth Stanhope, he grew up in Beatrice once the Brughs had settled. At Beatrice High School, he started to take advantage of his magnetism with young ladies, dating a dozen of blue-eyed girls (Helen Rush being his first sweetheart). Later, he enrolled at Doane College under Herbert Grey’s tutelage to become a concert cellist. When Grey was transferred to Pomona College, Taylor followed his steps to the West Coast. After having discarded other options such as medicine, music, psychology and business, Taylor seriously considered a career in acting, joining the Pomona College’s production of ‘Journey’s End’ where he was spotted by a MGM talent scout in 1932.

Taylor made his first screen test for Sam Goldwyn in 1933 which was reportedly unmemorable, but MGM (with Louis B. Mayer at the helm) saw enough promise to groom him as a screen presence. Taylor had his first leading role in "Society Doctor" (1935) with Virginia Bruce (their off-screen affair was stifled by Mayer, adamant that Taylor’s public image continued to be perceived as an eligible bachelor).

In 1936 he starred in "Camille" (which is 33 on the American Film Institute list of Best Romances) with his idolized Greta Garbo. Taylor was named ‘Second King of Hollywood’ after Clark Gable (Taylor remained dubbed ‘The Man with the Perfect Profile’ by MGM’s publicity head Howard Strickling until the demise of the studio system. Holding the record for the longest contract in MGM from 1934-1958, Taylor outlasted ‘The King’ Gable).

Margaret Sullavan was his co-star in Borzage’s classic "Three Comrades" (1938), which includes the only screenwriting credit of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Taylor’s flair for comedy was allowed escape when in 1938 he co-starred with Vivien Leigh in "A Yank at Oxford". The pair appeared again in both actors’ favorite title: "Waterloo Bridge" (1940). Taylor remarked at the time, “I felt surer of myself in scenes with Vivien Leigh in Waterloo Bridge than I have in any dramatic role.”

From 1941 on, Taylor continued to diversify his range of roles, unearthing darker facets in "Billy the Kid" (Taylor just “loved that picture”), "Johnny Eager" (Taylor was enraptured by Lana Turner whilst Johnny toyed with her emotions on-screen) or "High Wall". With Audrey Totter also playing against type, Taylor successfully switched off his suave persona, reinventing himself as a tormented war vet who is confined inside a psychiatric hospital. In "Bataan" he gives a gritty portrayal as Sgt. Bill Dane. Director Tay Garnett recalled: “Bob Taylor was one of the world’s great gentlemen… In spite of his astounding good looks, he was determined to be a fine actor.” "Song of Russia" (1944) was controversial due to its sympathetic portrait of communist peasants, which clashed with Taylor’s traditional Methodist upbringing (Taylor felt the film was blatant communist propaganda). His role as psychotic husband in "Undercurrent" led his leading lady Katharine Hepburn to note Taylor as one of the underrated actors in the business.

Taylor had lost his sexual desire towards his dominant wife Barbara Stanwyck who constantly attacked his masculinity. They got married in 1939, precipitated by the studio’s response to the article “Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands & Wives” by Sheilah Graham. Although various Stanwyck’s biographers (Axel Madsen, Dan Callahan) have portraited Taylor negatively, Barbara’s priority seemed to be her professional career to the detriment of her relationships.

Taylor’s personality had drastically changed after leaving the US Naval Aircorps in 1945, and Barbara couldn’t tolerate more of his infidelities. A divorce was granted in 1952, allowing her to collect 15 percent of Taylor’s earnings until he died. Despite of numerous interpretations of the Stanwyck marriage as a lavender union, film historian Laura Wagner gives a more plausible explanation: “The simple fact about the Taylor/Stanwyck marriage is that he was henpecked.” While filming "The Night Walker" (with ex-wife Barbara Stanwyck) Taylor observed: “It felt like we had never been married.”

One of Taylor’s most excruciating experiences during the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, during which numerous actors, writers and directors were blacklisted for alleged Communist ties. Although touted as a “friendly witness” by the HUAC’s Chairman J. Parnell Thomas, Taylor would disagree. In fact, he had written a letter to the Committee begging not to be commanded to the witness stand. Taylor always considered himself an “unfriendly” witness, calling the hearings a “circus”. But his subpoenaed appearance was turned into a convenient publicity stunt by the committee. Although he would eventually name three people: Howard Da Silva, Karen Morley and Lester Cole, he never actually called them Communists explicitly. Taylor never talked about that difficult period. “It was a closed book,” said his secretary Ivy Pearson-Mooring. It pained him too much to discuss it.” Blacklisted screenwriter Marguerite Roberts remembered Taylor in a good light: “I had him in quite a few pictures: Escape, Undercurrent, Ambush, Ivanhoe and The Bribe. Robert Taylor was a stiff guy but a nice enough man, a reactionary who didn’t like my politics but he was all right.”

Aside from a magical amorous interlude with Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor was mainly linked romantically to Eleanor Parker. Doug McClelland made an analysis of their relationship (professional and personal) in his book "Woman of a Thousand Faces" – Of his on-set experiences with Ms. Parker, Taylor commented in a letter to his assistant Ivy Pearson-Mooring: “A little ‘location romance’ has developed which will end the minute I get home.” Taylor and Parker showed palpable chemistry in their three films together:

Above & Beyond (featuring one of Taylor’s finest performances), Valley of the Kings, and Many Rivers to Cross. According to Jane Ellen Wayne’s biography, Eleanor Parker was Taylor’s favorite leading lady and “complemented him on the screen more than any other actress”. Taylor dated Virginia Grey (Gable’s former lover) too: “I don’t think Bob liked himself very much and was not a happy man when I knew him. He was a real introvert when it came to a man and woman relationship,” Virginia recounted. Taylor probably felt disoriented in his love life until he met German actress Ursula Thiess -tagged “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” by Photoplay, 1952-. Taylor married Ursula in 1954.

Taylor excelled at playing shady types during the ’50s: a corrupt cop agonizingly trying to find his way of redemption in "Rogue Cop" (“Taylor handles his tough guy role with ease”, The New York Post reviewed), a sadistic buffalo hunter in "The Last Hunt", and a morally compromised lawyer in "Party Girl" -Nicholas Ray complimented his performance saying: “I saw Taylor working for me like a true Method actor.”- “Bob was an extremely talented artist,” Robert Loggia recalled, “he was also the ultimate gentleman and a true professional… but the critics really never gave him his due.”

In 1958, Robert Taylor founded his production company and launched a TV show for ABC: The Detectives (1959-1962), where he prolonged his tough guy act. “I ain’t proud no more!”, he jokingly complained to his buddy Tom Purvis about the lesser category of the films he was doing during the 60′s decade. Although his film career wasn’t flourishing anymore, Taylor’s personal life had blossomed into a pure family bliss.

Each passing day, his love for Ursula and the kids strengthened more. “My German heritage of celebrating Christmas rather dominated my family, and my husband was beginning to see it through my eyes,” Ursula wrote, “he had looked at it as commercialism… But once he appointed himself Santa Claus to his children, his whole attitude changed.” I recently had a conversation with Tessa Taylor and she remembers his father as a genuine 1950′s family man: “He played Santa Claus at Christmas. He barbecued with friends and percolated coffee in the morning and watched Ralph Story and Jackie Gleason at dinner time on TV trays.” Sadly, Taylor’s long-life habit of smoking took its toll on his health inexorably: he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1968. Robert Taylor uttered his last words -”Mutti, I love you”- in Ursula’s arms on June 8, 1969. Ronald Reagan gave a fine eulogy to his memory defining Taylor as ‘a truly modest man.’ Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin also attended the funeral.

In 1983, George Cukor had commented: “Robert Taylor was my favorite actor. He was a gentleman -that is rare in Hollywood.” Although they stripped Taylor’s name from the MGM Studio Lot (Lion’s Building) and changed it for “The George Cukor Building,” irony is not lost on those who see the big picture. Over the last decades, Taylor’s figure has suffered scorn for his conservative politics, and these prejudices have been somehow detrimental to his popularity in comparison with other more revered classic stars.

Charles Tranberg and Linda J. Alexander's biographies work out as the perfect antidote against these previous notions. We may or may not share Taylor’s obstinate beliefs, but he came to represent and exalt the premier ideals of the American Dream: perseverance, humility and beauty – and those values must be cherished, preserved and shared.

Taylor unfolded his invented on-screen personalities, hiding his natural shyness most of the time. We see in all of his characters a remanent charm that cannot be obscured by any fade-out: his dandyish demeanour in "Magnificent Obsession", tentatively wooing Stanwyck in "This Is My Affair", his romantic despair in "Camille", crying bitter tears after knocking down his best friend in "The Crowd Roars", crazily smitten with Jean Harlow in "Personal Property", waiting for eternity in "Waterloo Bridge", his ruthless suavity in "Johnny Eager", his spirited courage in "Bataan", his disturbing semblant in "High Wall", shooting bullets under a fireworks explosion in "The Bribe", his enigmatic malice in "Conspirator", commanding a battalion of Amazons in "Westward the Women", his staid conversation in "Above & Beyond", his limp gait in "Party Girl", his contemptuous remarks in "The Hangman", his cynical guilt in "Rogue Cop", crying distressed in "Johnny Tiger"…

Inside the star system, Robert Taylor constituted an entire galaxy of emotions. This is sufficient argument to restore his legacy, exemplarily defended by three inspired biographical works: “My Life Before, With, and After Robert Taylor” by Ursula Thiess, “Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood and Communism” by Linda J. Alexander, and “Robert Taylor: A Biography” by Charles Tranberg. Article first published as Robert Taylor: The Man with the Perfect Charm on Blogcritics.


Robert Taylor (The Object of My Affection) video from Kendra on Vimeo.

Robert Taylor: Barbara Stanwyck's one true love

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in "Remember the Night" (1940) directed by Mitchell Leisen

“It’s one of those quirky twists of fate that a film as exceptional as 'Remember the Night' has been so overlooked when it comes to great Christmas movies,” TCM host Robert Osborne was quoted as saying. “It’s our hope at TCM that our special Christmas Eve showing of this holiday gem, now fully remastered, will help give it a much-deserved new life.” "Remember the Night" marked the first of four on-screen pairings of Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. (the other three are: Double Indemnity, The Moonlighter, and There’s Always Tomorrow.) In the film, MacMurray plays a prosecutor who falls in love with a shoplifter (Stanwyck) during a court recess at Christmas time." Source: www.altfg.com

From the get-go, Barbara presented something of a sense of unease in Robert Taylor. She was his paradox. She could present that 'pal' sort of persona, but he wasn't sure she was going to be one to share his more masculine interests. She was attractive, though not extraordinarily feminine, a trait important to him. Taylor resented having to feel subservience in relation to his mother's domineering will, and that translated into his relationship with Barbara. History has repeatedly shown that Bob was decidedly heterosexual. Every interview conducted with people who had attempted to 'out' him in print boiled down to a rumor. Harry Hay was one of the most deliberate propagators of these rumors. Considered an early leader of the gay rights movement in America, as well as a closeted-gay member of the Communist Party of America, Hay was asked directly if he had proof of Bob's homosexuality. He sheepishly admitted he did not have an iota of corroboration. He acknowledged that there was nothing but gossip involved; none of the of-repeated fantasy was based on fact.

Bob and Barbara's relationship was not one of convenience. The attraction was real. Bob wanted that 'pal', that woman who would be with him whenever he needed a companion; he also wanted a woman to look to him as her provider and protector. Though Barbara wasn't traditionally seen that way, at her core she was an emotionally helpless creature in many ways. Hunting and fishing and flying trips were Bob's way of asserting his place as the head of their family.

Joel McCrea and Sam Goldwyn had a meeting and conversation turned to who would play the lead in Stella Dallas. McCrea suggested Barbara. "She's just got no sex appeal!", Sam Goldwyn blurted. "Well, you better not let Bob Taylor know that." McCrea laughed uproariously. "He's nuts about her, and he thinks she has sex appeal." That got Barbara a screen test. She hated to do them, but wanted this part so much she relented. Stella was rough, out of shape, a bleached blonde with a vulgar sex appeal. She was the sort of woman Barbara might have become if she hadn't found a place in Hollywood. Bob accompanied her to a Hollywood preview of the film on July 23, 1937. Sam Goldwyn had hired police officers to protect the stars in attendance.

Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor at the premiere of "Stella Dallas"

Bob's usual restraint was lost when he saw Barbara helpless and pinned in the arms of a burly cop. He glared at the policeman, struggling against those holding him back as he bellowed, "I'll punch you in the jaw!" Headlines the next day screamed, "Taylor Rescues Barbara Stanwyck From Officer!" Taylor was monogamous by nature. If he made a permanent choice, he'd be out of circulation. The specter of Bob's parent perfect marriage still stood in front of him.

Once Barbara had a party and 'allowed' Bob to invite his cronies. John Wayne was there and said Barbara retired early. "We were just a bunch of guys telling tall tales about the big fish we didn't catch and the bears that got too close to our tents, when she appeared in a nightgown at the top of the stair and yelled, 'Get up here to bed where you belong!' I can't repeat what else she said but it had to do with sex and what she wanted him to do. I might have told her where a wife belonged and how she should act, but I knew she would take it out on Bob. I felt very bad for him."

"Barbara was tomboyish, yet used sex like a loaded gun." Bob was a blatant sex symbol in his public life, and though he had a proclivity to be very sexually active in his private life, his attentions weren't always toward his wife anymore. Many of Bob's extramarital romances could be traced to his film credits.

Lana Turner said blatantly that Bob was exactly the sort of guy that attracter her. "I wasn't in love with Bob," Lana stated. Bob was determined, though. Whether he thought he was really in love, or the lust factor overtook all logical thought, Bob was ready to leave Barbara for Lana Turner. Common belief indicated that they did have a hot-and-heavy physical relationship. Stanwyck was riding the crest as an actress, but losing a grip on the man she loved. Taylor took the title role in "Johnny Eager", a gangster who destroys himself for his love of a girl. Taylor said to his best friend Tom Purvis, that he and Lana were 'bursting' with passion during production, but they did nothing about it until they finished filming. "I had to have her if only for one night." Bob's confessed love for Lana Turner and asking her for a divorce nearly killed Barbara.

About his performance in "Waterloo Bridge", Taylor would say: "It was the first time I really gave a performance that met the often unattainable standards I was always setting for myself."

Lia DiLeo was young, busty, long-legged, and she hardly spoke a word of English. She secured a part in "Quo Vadis", nothing more than a blip across the screen. She and Bob never appeared together onscreen but were seen as a couple nearly everywhere else in town. "There were hundreds of girls. I don't know why he picked me. He was very nice, a gentleman. He wasn't really a talker, just a few words... 'hello', 'goodbye', 'I love you.' He certainly was very macho, a very great, good lover. He wanted a divorce [from Barbara], I understand." He'd take her to dinner at the finer restaurants, and they usually went dancing afterward. Barbara arrived while filming was in progress.

Barbara stayed with her husband for six weeks. Once she left Italy, Bob was again back to his old ways, even seen frequenting a Roman whorehouse. Barbara dealt her last card in this scenario. She did not want a divorce; she wanted to keep hold of Bob forever. Once he had finished filming and was back in Los Angeles, their inevitable face-to-face happened. She gave Bob an ultimatum to behave in public, or she would meet him in court. He took her up on the divorce, and that turned out to be a challenge Barbara lived to regret, later calling her hasty move 'the biggest mistake of my life." She carried a torch for Taylor until the day she died. Robert Taylor was the one true love of her life, and she went to her grave avowing that love.

Sources: "Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, and Communism" (2008) by Linda Alexander and "The Life and Loves of Barbara Stanwyck" (2009) by Jane Ellen Wayne

Happy 33rd birthday, Jake Gyllenhaal!

Jake Gyllenhaal talks about his role in the film "Prisoners" (2013) at Charlie Rose's show

Happy 33rd Birthday, Jake Gyllenhaal!

Robert Taylor & Lana Turner: Electric Chemistry in Johnny Eager

“If this were serious drama one might complain that what makes Johnny Eager tick remains a mystery, that lovely students of sociology aren’t apt to embark on discussion with a parolee on Cyrano de Bergerac’s apostrophe to a kiss. But as pure melodrama Johnny Eager moves at a turbulent tempo. Mr. Taylor and Miss Turner strike sparks in their distraught love affair. Van Heflin provides a sardonic portrait of Johnny’s Boswell, full of long words and fancy quotations.” -Theodore Strauss, New York Times (1942)









Johnny Eager (1941) directed by Mervyn LeRoy - Full Movie -

Lisbeth, tortured by guilt over her "murderous" act, is on the edge of a nervous breakdown when Johnny finally comes to see her, and when he realizes what she's prepared to sacrifice because she loves him, something finally clicks inside of him. He confesses to her that the murder was a fake -- the gun was loaded with blanks, she didn't kill anyone, the man she shot is fine and walking around as if nothing happened. But she thinks he's just trying to ease her conscience, so he sets out to prove it to her.

Despite the hurried feeling of the last ten minutes or so, this is a well-crafted story with some very nice plot touches along the way. There is a recurring motif with an honest cop, Badge No. 711, who is troublesome to Johnny's gambling rackets. Lisbeth's reference to Cyrano early on in the film serves as a kind of thematic backdrop -- just as Cyrano denied his love to spare Roxanne, Johnny pushes Lisbeth away because he knows he's no good for her. Performances are all top-notch, from the leads on down to Connie Gilchrist and Robin Raymond in one brief scene as Johnny's aunt and young cousin. The only weak link might be Robert Sterling as the hapless cuckolded fiancé, but his role doesn't give him much to do but stand around and look like a martyr.

Lana Turner is breathtaking to look at, and her acting ability never fails to catch me off-guard. Robert Taylor is a commanding presence as Johnny and Edward Arnold does his typical rich-white-conservative guy -- if you've seen him in any other movie, you've probably seen him play the same role. But it's Van Heflin who marches off with the acting honors (and the Academy statuette) as the tortured, philosophical lush.

Director Mervyn LeRoy draws on his experience with gritty crime dramas such as Little Caesar and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, and infuses it with typical MGM gloss. It's a cleaner, less dangerous-looking underworld, but what it loses in violent realism, it makes up for in an intellectual bent that Warner Bros. couldn't match. Source: www.milkplus.blogspot.com

Robert Taylor: Lana Turner and Robert Taylor starred together in “Johnny Eager” (1941) and Cheryl Crane (Lana's daughter) said their chemistry was electric: “these two beautiful people got carried away during the filming.” This was one of the few times Lana ever got involved with a co-star, Crane said. However, Taylor was married to Barbara Stanwyck at this time so Lana tried to resist, but they “fell into a heavy flirtation.” Stanwyck heard about it and headed down to the set to tell Lana hands off. Taylor told Lana he was going to leave Stanwyck for her and Lana backed off completely after that, Crane said. Source: cometooverhollywood.com

R.I.P. Audrey Totter

Audrey Totter, the blond starlet who made her mark in such 1940s film noir classics as Lady in the Lake, The Set-Up and High Wall, has died. She was 95.

Totter, who had a stroke and suffered from congestive heart failure, died Thursday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, her daughter Mea told the Los Angeles Times. A former radio actress in Chicago and New York who signed a contract with MGM for $300 a week in 1944, Totter had a career in films that was short-lived but memorable.

Her breakthrough came in Lady in the Lake (1947), where she starred as a publishing executive who hires private detective Philip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) to find the wife of her boss. (The film, also directed by Montgomery, is notable in that it is shot almost entirely from the viewpoint of the main character, Marlowe.)

In The Unsuspected (1947), Totter was the gold-digging niece of murderous radio-mystery host Claude Rains;

starred as Robert Taylor's psychiatrist helping him prove he didn't murder his wife in High Wall (1947); and played the wife of over-the-hill boxer Robert Ryan in Robert Wise's The Set-Up (1949).

"I remember the first time you told me that you were one punch away from the title shot," her character says in The Set-Up. "Don't you see, Bill, you'll always be just one punch away!" She also reteamed with Montgomery for the Broadway-based drama The Saxon Charm (1948),

two-timed milquetoast drugstore manager Richard Baseheart in Tension (1949), and played Ray Milland's loose accomplice in the Faustian tale Alias Nick Beal (1949). A native of Joliet, Ill., Totter had voice roles in Bewitched (1945), starring Phyllis Thaxter, and Ziegfeld Follies (1945) before she lured John Garfield away from Lana Turner (but only briefly) in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

Scenes from "Personal Property" (1937) starring Jean Harlow & Robert Taylor

Some scenes from "Personal Property" (1937), starring Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor, directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Based on H.M. Harwood's 1930 Broadway play 'Man in Possession' and already filmed by MGM in 1931 as 'The Man in Possession', 'Personal Property' stands as Jean Harlow's last completed film effort and unfortunately one of her less popular starring vehicles with modern audiences.

Harlow had already played all the parts that made the legend, she's firmly entrenched at the top of the heap of the star pantheon by the time of 'Personal Property', while Taylor held the title of being the hottest male sex symbol under MGM's employ. Fresh off leads opposite Crawford in 'The Gorgeous Hussy' and Garbo in 'Camille' he was naturally teamed with Harlow for what would have likely been the first of many such pairings had not Harlow tragically died just a couple of months after the release of 'Personal Property'.

Both Harlow and Taylor have had their talents overshadowed by their sex appeal and basically either of their names on the bill would have had many customers panting on the way to their seats.

Harlow doesn't help Taylor's case when she calls William Powell to mind by flashing the famed star sapphire ring that he gave her throughout the picture. And this is all just too bad for Taylor, forever damned as the pretty boy whose work remains solid through the decades despite his handsome features. As Crystal climbs the stairs in a huff Jenkins notes, "She's a bit stuffy, you know," to which Raymond mutters back "She's glorious." "What?" declares Jenkins. "Eh, she's furious," replies Raymond catching himself. Source: immortalephemera.com

-Crystal Wetherby (Jean Harlow): And while we're asking so many questions, why were you sent to jail?

-Raymond Dabney (Robert Taylor): Murder.

-Crystal Wetherby (Jean Harlow): I wish it had been suicide!

Prior to beginning production on this film in January of 1937, Bob and Harlow worked together on a Lux Radio Theatre production of “Madame Sans-Gene” (a comedy which takes place in postrevolution France).

Bob enjoyed working with Jean who he described as “full of laughs, yet her fun never seemed to interfere with her work.”

Assigned to direct once again was speed demon Woody Van Dyke. This time he really did do a rush job in getting the picture completed in approximately two weeks.

Like most of his co-stars, Bob liked and was protective of Harlow, who was known to most people on the MGM lot by her nickname “Baby.” Taylor later recalled Harlow as “warm, outgoing, [and] deeply kind.”

In October of 1940 the first peacetime draft was enacted in response to the war in Europe. Bob was given his draft number. “Robert Taylor may be a heart throb to millions of American girls,” wrote United Press, “but to the draft board he is simply No. 363.” The article added, “However, the board has to take into consideration the fact that he’s a married man.” Among the other actors given their conscription numbers were: Henry Fonda (#132), Tony Martin (#374), Cesar Romero (#1811), Ray Milland (#2658) and John Payne (#3511). -"Robert Taylor: A Biography" (2010) by Charles Tranberg

In a Jan. 27, 1937, article, the Los Angeles Times reported: Jealously guarding ten gallons of California water and an atomizer, Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor left Pasadena yesterday on the Santa Fe’s Chief, bound for Washington D.C., and President Roosevelt’s birthday ball Saturday. The water is for the purpose of shampooing Miss Harlow’s honey-blond hair, which she will not trust to hard eastern waters. The atomizer is for the use of Taylor, just recovering from a cold. Five months later, Harlow, during the filming of “Saratoga,” died at only 26. The Times obituary reported that Harlow had been ill during the February stop in Chicago.

As Senator Robert Rice Reynolds posed on the steps of the Capitol with Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor on January 29, 1937, photographers asked him to kiss the platinum blonde beauty. At first, Reynolds was shy and hesitant, prompting Harlow to remark: "The trouble with this gentleman is that he doesn't seem to want to go through with it." With that, the manly Reynolds, undisturbed by the presence of the great screen lover Robert Taylor, planted a resounding kiss on Harlow's lips, using what he later referred to as "Hollywood technique". It was a kiss seen around the country, and Life magazine featured a full-page photo of the embrace. -"Buncombe Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Rice Reynolds" (2009) by Julian M. Pleasants