EVE GOLDEN Page 1, 2, 3
This
Q&A was conducted by Lisa
Burks and is presented here as it was on The Platinum
Page at harlean.com, with her permission.
As a writer,
the art of biography has always fascinated me. As a Jean
Harlow fan, I've found the information published about her
to be diverse and the "facts" often questionable. I was delighted
to read Eve Golden's Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean
Harlow (Abbeville Press, 1991) and found it to have a refreshing,
straightforward approach towards tackling the rumors that have surrounding
Harlow's image for years.
For those of you who may not have had the opportunity to read
Eve's book, following is a portion of the dust jacket notes that
I think sums it up nicely:
In this, the first biography of Harlow since Irving Shulman's
sensationalistic and often inaccurate 1964 book, Eve Golden explores
the woman behind the legends and the scandals.  The
world evoked here is at once glamorous, nostalgic, poignant, and
tragic. Yet, in its way, the brief life of Jean Harlow is a story
of success, of a triumphal struggle with Hollywood and the consequences
of rapid fame. Golden's deeply researched narrative is lavishly
illustrated with rare film stills, posters, and exclusive photographs
from family archives. Harlow emerges not as an oversexed mannequin,
but as a vulnerable, hardworking, and tremendously likable woman
who molded herself into a remarkable actress. This is an important
book about one of Hollywood's most extraordinary personalities.
Eve Golden
As a result of this book, I became an Eve Golden fan and wanted
to gain more insight into her research and writing experiences
in terms of the Harlow project. I recently had the good fortune
to do just that when I interviewed her via telephone from her
home in New York.
Eve is a journalist and film historian who has been interested
in Jean Harlow and old movies in general since childhood. She
remembers seeing her first Harlow film while attending a Philadelphia
Jean Harlow Film Festival with her grandmother during the 1970's.
Probably best known for her humorous column in Movieline magazine, "The
Bottom Shelf," Eve is also a regular contributor to publications
such as Classic Images. She is also the author of another
fine cinema biography, Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara (Emprise
Publishing, 1996.)
And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Eve
Golden...click to continue
Write to EVE GOLDEN c/o Abbeville Press, 488 Madison Ave.,
New York, NY 10022
© Lisa Burks - December 17, 1996
EVE GOLDEN Page 1, 2, 3
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