Frockspotting: From Jean Harlow to Ten Cents a Dance (1931)
In case you're a fresh initiate here (or simply haven't been paying attention—that's fine), you may have noticed I am constantly pointing out frocks, frills, garters, and other accessories that caught on in early film fashion for more than five minutes. I reckon I might as well name the activity like the sport it is--and the term ‘frockspotting’ was born.
Recently, I was flipping through a few 1931 issues of Photoplay on Lantern, as one does, when I zeroed in on a publicity portrait of Barbara Stanwyck and realized I was experiencing a sacred frockspotting revelation--because I’ve seen the exact one on Jean Harlow.
As Photoplay mentions, this frock, with its exciting asymmetrical Deco collar, was worn in Ten Cents a Dance (1931)—film fashions were of course an extra lasso with which to entice female moviegoers to the theater. I first sat down with that film in my teen years when I decided the best way to earn my pre-Code sea legs was by mowing through as many YouTube titles as possible; while I got a lot of exposure that way (and how!), I didn’t pay as much attention, or ‘get’ as much of the underhand as I do now. Revisiting the film for a single gown worn in a singular scene was not only entertaining, but enlightening, and part of the endless fun derived from diving into rewatches with new details and perspectives.
I won’t rehash a play-by-play of Ten Cents a Dance, but this frock got plenty of screen time just before the film’s climax, when Barbara (as, well, Barbara) wears it to visit her rich benefactor’s apartment:
A missing detail that’s only slightly infuriating for me is the lack of a costume design credit. This is a problem I’ve run into before with early Columbia pre-Codes, (such as Harlow’s Three Wise Girls) as the burgeoning studio didn’t have its own contracted fashion designer, or even a wardrobe department, until Robert Kalloch rolled along in 1933.
In all likelihood, the dress was simply ‘off the rack’ from a department store—which would explain why Jean Harlow wore it to New York in September, 1930.
The timelines are similar, too—Harlow actually wore it first, as Ten Cents a Dance went into production three days later on September 12, 1930. Another clue is this (sadly sourceless) 1930 fashion magazine page uploaded by @EadieLaRue on Pinterest, whose archive of the era’s fashion is monumental:
Perhaps further fashion magazine excursions will turn up a fabled designer or department store credit, but until then, I’ll have my eyes peeled like I do with many recycled pre-Code props. In the meanwhile, here’s another 1930 portrait of Harlow putting those cuffs on display:
Lastly, there’s another piece of superfluous trivia linking Harlow to Ten Cents a Dance—the fact that she died on the very same day as Monroe Owsley, who played Barbara’s wastrel husband, Eddie Miller. Obviously, Owsley’s early death went greatly overshadowed, and to add insult to injury, his funeral was held right after Harlow’s at Forest Lawn. Luckily, Owsley at least got a different church for his service—Harlow’s was held in Wee Kirk o’ the Heather.
