Would our star of the month, Jean Harlow, be an icon today if she'd lived past the age of 26? It's something people have speculated about for years, not only about Harlow but also about several of the now-immortal stars who died very young. Would Rudolph Valentino remain the eternal embodiment of a smoldering Latin lover if the fates had let him live to be 50, 60, 70? (He was 31 at the time of his death.) Would James Dean, who died at 24, still be a symbol of youthful angst if he were living now, perhaps playing grandpas or frisky elders? (This year marks the 70th anniversary of Dean's birth.) If Harlow was still living today she'd be 90 (she was born March 3, 1911), she would also undoubtedly be hounded by photographers itching to show us what the passage of time can do to a once-famous sexpot. Harlow missed all that because of her untimely death but we missed something, too, namely all those delightful performances she might have given if fate hadn't cut off her life so quickly. One thing we'll be doing this month, with pride, is bringing you many of those Harlow performances that do exist. We'll be showing 17 of her films, including all of her most celebrated one, such as Dinner at Eight on May 8, Red Dust on May 15 and Libeled Lady on May 29. She's sensational in all of them, too, which makes it amazing that so many critics at the time gave her short shrift, following that old conjuncture that since she was blonde, beautiful, slightly brassy but enormously alluring, it was automatically decreed the girl couldn't possibly act. It's a theory we'll be disproving every Tuesday night throughout May, beginning at 8:00 pm Eastern. What's particularly amazing about Jean Harlow is the vivid impression she made in such a short time. She was a star for only seven years. It was in 1930 that she rocketed into the public's consciousness in Howard Hughes' air epic Hell's Angels; by 1937, she was gone. We will, in fact, be showing her final film, Saratoga, on May 22, an especially fascinating movie to watch because of the tricks MGM used in order to include Harlow in scenes that weren't yet filmed at the time of her death. (Harlow's stand-in Mary Dees subbed for the star in several shots, her face hidden by a hat or a camera angle.) It can be said that Jean did pack a lot of living into those seven short years: she made an average of three-and-one-half films per year, including six with Clark Gable, all of which we'll be showing; she also worked with Spencer Tracy three times and alongside other giants like James Cagney, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Wallace Beery. She also lived a very public-private life which included living with a batch of relatives which sponged off her so blatantly, MGM used the situation as the basis for one of Harlow's own films (the delightful Bombshell, which we're showing May 8). She also had three husbands, one of whom mysteriously committed suicide and, eventually, there was also a much publicized romance with actor William Powell which, had she lived, might have changed the tone of her life dramatically. Be sure to check out the documentary Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell, which we'll be showing May 1. First and foremost, however, do join us for as many of those 17 Harlow features as your time allows. She was, indeed, a blonde, a bombshell, a comet and absolutely priceless.

By Robert Osborne