INTERVIEW WITH DAVID STENN
PART I: INTRODUCTION
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.
In a never-ending quest to offer exclusive, educational
information 
about
Jean Harlow to visitors, I'm extremely pleased to present this
conversation with "Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow" (Doubleday,
1993) author David Stenn! This Q&A was conducted by Lisa
Burks an is presented here as it was on harlean.com with
her permission.
Consistently praised for his meticulous research, David Stenn's
biography of Jean Harlow most notably contains over a hundred
pages of notes, previously untapped sources, a filmography and
detailed list of radio appearances. This, combined with his compelling
writing style, has earned David Stenn a legion of fans among
film buffs and reviewers alike:
This is a scholarly yet magnetically readable study
of one of the silver screen's legendary stars. Stenn's admirable
research has uncovered many new documents and startling facts
about Harlow from those who knew her, and his analysis of this
information provides the account with lasting value. -- Library
Journal, 9/15/93
[David Stenn] tells Harlow's riveting story with such compassion,
assurance, economy and total mastery of his meticulously researched
and utterly enthralling material that his book is the consummate
read. -- Boston Globe, 10/8/93
To his credit, David Stenn...tries to tell Harlow's story objectively.
He is scrupulous about documenting facts, keeping his tone unemotional
and his opinions balanced. He is so determined to be fair that
readers can almost feel the strain. -- NY Times Book Review,
10/13/93
DAVID STENN
photographed by George Hurrell
As an aspiring biographer, I own two copies of "Bombshell" myself:
one pristine first edition for my collection and a second copy
that's downright dog-eared and abused from referring to it as
a how-to-guide when it comes to research, documentation and tasteful
presentation of facts. Therefore, it follows that my interest
in obtaining an interview with David Stenn was as much selfishly
motivated as it was to share his words here with you. I was not
disappointed with his charming candor and I'm sure you won't
be either.
David Stenn is a Yale graduate and author of another national
bestselling film biography, "Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild." He's also
a film and television writer-producer whose credits include Hill
Street Blues, 21 Jump Street, and Beverly Hills
90210.
Ladies and gentleman, Mr. David Stenn...
WHAT DID YOU STUDY AT YALE?
English Literature. I had no specific ambition in mind. I just wanted to read
all the classics, get a solid liberal arts education... I wasn't pre-professional,
but look what I became: a writer. So in hindsight it was good training.
AT THE RISK OF MAKING THIS SOUND LIKE A JOB INTERVIEW, WHAT ARE YOUR
QUALIFICATIONS TO WRITE A BOOK LIKE "BOMBSHELL"?
Ideally, I think that all a biographer needs is passion and interest. But
I do believe that today's television is the closest approximation to the
studio system of yesteryear, in the sense that, just as the major studios
produced a film per week, on a t.v. series you work on a similar schedule.
And like the studio system, a t.v. series is made by what amounts to a repertory
company -- the same cast under contract, playing the same roles. This is
literally true on t.v., whereas in Jean Harlow's era it was more archetypal:
the names of the characters would change, but (with the exception of a film
like Wife Vs. Secretary) her 'archetype' didn't. So I suppose working
in series television has given me a certain understanding of how the studio
system functioned, and prevented me from projecting anything onto anyone.
I've worked with pop icons like Johnny Depp and Luke Perry, so I've seen
firsthand the disparity between person and persona...which is important when
writing biography, because there's a tendency to assume they're the same.
Especially in Jean Harlow's case. She made everything look so easy, that
all too often she was confused with her characters.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN OLD MOVIES AND CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD?
Always. I remember being seven and seeing The Phantom of the Opera with
Lon Chaney on PBS -- and for a seven year-old to be intensely fascinated
with silent film... At the time Lillian Gish was going on a nationwide lecture
tour, discussing her experiences with D.W. Griffith. She came to the Goodman
Theater in Chicago, and my parents bought tickets and brought me along --
and I guarantee you, I was the only kid in that theater. I watched the famous
clip from Way Down East where she's on the ice floe, and I can still
recall feeling awed. No special effects; that was her and Barthelmess out
there, freezing for the sake of their art. I think even then I had an awareness
that these people were pioneers, and I really revered them for it.
YOU ARE A PRIMARILY A TELEVISION AND FILM WRITER. WAS "CLARA BOW: RUNNIN’ WILD" YOUR
FIRST BOOK?
Yes.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE CLARA BOW?
I didn't. I'd been hired by Madonna to write a script about Clara Bow, about
whom I knew very little. David Shepard, who worked at the Directors Guild
at the time, suggested I contact a man named Arthur Jacobson. Artie was
85 at the time but had never been interviewed about Clara Bow. He not only
shot her first screen test, but was also her first boyfriend. Later he
followed her out to Hollywood, and worked on several of her silent and
sound films. So I interviewed him for hours, and I thought, "This stuff
is gold!" I called David Shepard to thank him, and he sent me to
Billy Kaplan, who was the soundman on several Clara Bow films. I went to
see Billy, and the same thing happened: an untapped source, offering information
for the first time. That's how it started: one interview led to another,
and suddenly it became a historical imperative to find and record as many
people as possible, because they were elderly and the clock was ticking.
And the more information I uncovered, the more I began to see the project
as a book, not a screenplay. The truth was amazing, and had never been
told.
WHY DID YOU WRITE "BOMBSHELL"?
Same reason. "Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild" was a surprise hit, so my editor kept
saying "Who's next?" I wanted to do Victor Fleming because this was 1989,
the 50th anniversary of both Gone With The Wind and The Wizard
of Oz, and for my money Fleming remains the most unjustly neglected director
in film history... But I was busy doing 21 Jump Street and I also
felt, unfortunately, that a Fleming biography would have limited appeal.
And meanwhile I was getting a lot of letters saying, "Please do for Jean
Harlow what you've done for Clara Bow." I suppose people wanted an antidote
to the Shulman book, but I really didn't think there was much left to say.
So much had been written about Jean Harlow... But I did some research, just
testing the waters -- and all of a sudden I had sources no one had ever spoken
to, and I thought, "Hey. There is a book here." Once I'd made that
decision, the rest was relatively easy -- at least compared to Clara Bow,
because this time I wasn't some 25 year-old nobody asking sources to divulge
intimate details; I had a reputation as a serious biographer. And if someone
didn't know who I was, I sent a copy of "Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild," in which
the research speaks for itself.
For downloading purposes, the remainder of this interview has been broken down
as follows -- please click on the topic heading of your choice to continue
on:
Write to DAVID STENN c/o Lisa
Burks
© Lisa Burks - March 30, 1997
