Blondes Don't Have More Fun

It's long been a misconception and a misnomer that ol' credo that 'blondes have more fun." I feel I must beg to differ on this tenet, and my opining wouldn't be based on any such biased feelings on the matter, being my locks are of  the brunette persuasion. Indeed, there have been quite a few ironically tragic  endings for many a dyed-haired damsel. Here I have listed a few of these glamour gals that headed for the gallows years before they should have.

Tragic Blonde # 1  - Carole Lombard. This once wife of  both William Powell and Clark Gable ( and ex-girlfriend of Howard Hughes, Ross Columbo and Gary Cooper) who also reigned supreme as sister of the screwball comedy and would earn more moolah than any other woman in the film industry circa the 1930s. On January 6, 1942, Miss Lombard, who was aboard a DC-3 plane on her way back from participating in a War Bond rally, would have her life violently come to it's end when this fixed wing propellerplane would lose control, ultimately crashing head on,into Table Rock Mountain, on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Lady Lombard was only 33 years old.

Tragic Blonde # 2 - Jean Harlow. Harlow, was truly the first of her ilk, as she would be celluloid's original blonde bombshell, a platinum pixie with mondo moxie. Harlow, herself was widow of MGM director Paul Bern (who committed suicide) at only twenty four. She was celebrated for being Clark Gable's on screen better half. Unfortunately, this peroxide pretty would leave our earth at the age of 26, in 1937 due to a kidney failure uremia after years of struggling with her health, a fate brought on by a bout of scarlet fever suffered in  childhood.

                                 I was Rex's proper fair lady!


Tragic Blonde # 3 - Carole Landis. Another foxy flaxen that would not see her 30th birthday was Miss Landis. The almost bride of Busby Berkeley,  was much more than a purdy pin-up face, sadly cooped in gilded cage and never released to soar the heights she was meant to. This sweetie was a scribe too, contributing many columns and in 1944 penned a book based on her experiences in the USO during WWII ( Four Jills in a Jeep). After a torrid affair with a very married to Lilli Palmer, Rex Harrison ended in excruciating and unbearable heartbreak, the starlet would hurry her death by way of a seconal overdose on July 5, 1948.

                           Not a wardrobe malfunction!


Tragic Blond # 4 - Jayne Mansfield. This statuesque beauty, who was an official member of Mensa; a child prodigy, and amazingly a multi-instrumentalist whilst still clad in nappies, would, like Carole Lombard before her, succumb during the most violent of circumstances. Mansfield, who at the time was a disciple and alleged lover of  satanist Anton Lavey, would lose her life instantly, as her chauffeur driven Buick would collide with a tractor-trailer on June 29, 1967. She was only 34 years old.

And last and certainly not least Mr President; our Tragic Blonde # 5 is the lovely lass above, Miss Norma Jean, the wildest thing to happen to Wilder, and Arthur Miller too. She was all but thirty-six at the time when she was (murdered).


---------------------------------------------------------




And here's an admonition for today's budding brunette actress who feels tempted to reach out and grab that bottle of "Sun-In" brand Lemon Fresh Hair Lightener...

 Just ... say...no.