July 11, 1931: Eighty nine years ago today, Jean visits one of her regular haunts, The Ambassador Hotel, to publicize a quaint fundraising event— an early horned toad derby! Harlow is shown raising the barrier for the race finale below. The toads were given names similar to those of their racing horse counterparts. Some of the ones I’ve spotted have been “Thick Malt”, “Medicine Man” and “Chocolate Drop”. Alrighty.
Some background: at this point, Harlow was right in between the productions of Goldie and Platinum Blonde, the former having been released just weeks earlier. Her Columbia deal which produced the latter and Three Wise Girls had begun negotiations in May, but Harlow had yet to work.
In this little bit of downtime, Harlow was seen at numerous large events, some she was obviously goaded on to attend. Hopefully this affair was a little less uncomfortable, as Harlow frequented the Ambassador and Cocoanut Grove to see her friend Johnny Hamp’s orchestra. Just over a month before, Harlow had struggled through an Illinois personal appearance tour forced on her by Howard Hughes. The tour earned Hughes about $3,500 a week; in return, Harlow received $200 and a myriad of bad reviews surrounding her performance. She returned to Los Angeles feeling downtrodden and ridiculed.
By the time summer heat rolled in, Harlow was met with a deluge of trends surrounding her hair; the term “Platinum Blonde” was now in vogue, having been made especially for her. Now everyone in the film colony was capitalizing on the Harlow image, except for Harlow herself. (For you Crawford fans in the know, Laughing Sinners and This Modern Age were both released this summer.)
Now that you’ve got a fair picture of Jean Harlow in summer 1931, let’s return to the specifics of the July derby. This particular race, one of many over this summer in Los Angeles, was set up by the PTA to help fund meals for impoverished school children, made hungrier by the depths of Depression. According to the LA Evening Express, their starting goal was to raise 50,000 dollars: by the weekend of the eleventh, the goal had been met. Many screen and radio stars besides Harlow showed up at the derby to pitch in. Sid Grauman was one reported to have entered the race.
Here’s a sampling of period newspaper articles detailing the derby and its participants:
A slug on the event that accompanied this photo of Jean, which went to print after the races closed:
“Plenty Grand”, hailing from the Hassayampa hills of Arizona, yesterday established a new national toad sprint of forty seconds flat at the Ambassador hotel annual horned toad derby—and he crossed the line backwards. “Plenty Grand” entered by Mrs. Jacques Golderer, was winner of the $100 grand toadstakes. Photo shows Jean Harlow, film star and owner of stable horned speedsters, releasing the barrier for the handicap final.”
Well, I’ve certainly never seen Jean with amphibians of any sort, save for here. Apparently, the race toads sold for $10, with all funds allocated toward the PTA; perhaps she sponsored one for charity as others did, mentioned in one of the above clippings. I’m going to assume the bit about her owning toads herself is a bit of inaccurate publicity *wink*.
To close with, here’s a portrait of actress Norma Lee posing with the derby’s winning toad — which she apparently won money for betting on! From The Akron-Beacon Journal, July 17:
In case you’re like me, and wondering “what happened to toad derbies?”, they appear to still be a thing and going strong into the current year. Coalinga’s 84th annual Horned Toad Derby, supposed to have taken place in May, was canceled due to COVID-19. Oh, well!
Harlow Heaven 