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HOWARD Jean

This page has been made thanks to Tara Hanks and Paradise Hunter.

Born Ernestine Hill.

Date of birth : October 13, 1910, Dallas, Texas.

Date of death : March 20, 2000, Beverly Hills, California ().

 

Profession actress and photographer (,).

Story 

Her parents divorced when she was still an infant, and she lived with her mother. During her childhood, they moved often and lived in Longview for a time and later in Post, Texas. After her mother's death in 1925, she went to live with her father R.B.Hill and her stepmother in Dallas. Her father arranged for a local photographer Paul Mahoney, who had discovered several child stars like Ginger Rogers, to photograph the teenaged Ernestine and her young nephew. Mahoney soon became her mentor in establishing a modeling career, and she assumed his last name (Ernestine Mahoney).

In the late 1920s, she visited Hollywood with her father. Soon after she returned. The Mahoneys had booked her into the Studio Club, a hostel for young actress.

She got her "big break" when Samuel Goldwyn placed her in Busby Berkeley's first musical, "Whoopee", alongside a 14 year-old, Betty Grable.
Then she travelled to New York and performed in Florenz Ziegfeld's final Brodaway show "Hot-Cha".
She returned to Hollywood and was signed to MGM and adopted the more fashionable name of Jean Howard.
She played minor, sometimes uncredited roles. She also modelled for some of the era's great portrait photographers.
In 1933 she was spotted by Charles K.Feldman, president of the leading talent agent, Famous Artists, at a tea dance in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. She wasn't impressed with the flowers he sent her. When they finaly met, she recalled it was a love at first sight. They married on August 25, 1934 and her career took a backseat

thereafter ().
One of her first ventures into photography was at a lavish party in San Simeon, home of press magnat William Randolph Hearst and his girlfriend Marion Davies. She developed a close friendship with songwriter Cole Porter

and his wife Linda (), who mentored her in the lifestyle of a "Hollywood wife".

In the early 1940s, Feldman had branched out into movie production with a Marlene Dietrich vehicle ("The Lady is Willing"). Meanwhile, Jean joined the war effort and went on the road, photographing stars like Jack Benny,

Claudette Colbert () and George Burns () on the Hollywood Victory Caravan for Army and Navy Relief .
In 1944, she was introduced to a graphologist, Hilde Berle, who encouraged her to study photography at the Los Angeles Art Center. She didn't need to look far for inspiration, as some of Hollywood's glittering parties were hosted in her own garden at Coldwater Canyon, Beverly Hills. In 1946 she travelled to the Palm Springs estate of Darryl F.Zanuck, head of the Twentieth Century-Fox, to photograph the first of many star-studded croquet

tournament in a lucrative assignment for Life magazine ().

In 1946 she divorced Charles Feldman.

After the World War II, she went to Europe; there, she photographed Orson Welles on a film set, and the lavish wedding of Tyrone Power and Linda Christian. She accompanied Rita Hayworth on a boating trip, shortly before

her marriage to Aly Khan (,), and captured Ginger Rogers at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.
Charles Feldman was friend with Johnny Hyde; him and Marilyn were among the guests at an early screening of "Streetcar Named Desire", where Marilyn met Viven Leigh and her husband Laurence Olivier.
Jean attended an exhibitors' preview of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and took a photograph of Marilyn onscreen

(), singing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend".
Later that year, she photographed Marilyn on the set of "How to Marry A Millionaire", as she posed for publicity

stills sith her co-stars, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable (,,).

On November 6, 1954 Billy Wilder and Charles Feldman held a party for Marilyn (she has just shot "The Seven

Year Itch" with Wilder) at Romanoff's restaurant (). The Zanucks (), the Goldwyns

) , the Warners were all invited, as were stars like Humphrey Bogart (), Groucho

Marx and Susan Hayward (). Jean's photo of Marilyn dancing with Clark Gable (first time they met together) was

published in a feature headline "LIFE goes to a Party" ().
It was at around this time, Jean also held a formal picture session with Marilyn. For the first shot, Marilyn wore
a black cocktail dress.

Then they found in Jean's closet a Hattie Carnegie black taffeta jacket (,,

,,,-,-,,,,,,,,,,,,,-;,,,,,,,,,,,-).


She chronicled the ongoing party scene, capturing Joseph and Rose Kennedy in Palm Beach, Irving Berlin, Joe Schenck. She captured the moment when Sammy Davis Jr sang at a Hollywood Party. She also shot stars such

as Tyrone Power (), Gene Tierney (), Richard Burton () to Cole Porter

(), Judy Garland (), Grace Kelly (,), Hedy Lamarr (),

Jennifer Jones and Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh (), Audrey Hepburn, Hildegard Knef, Leon Shamroy, Otto Preminger.

In 1957, she was asked to cover a recording session by Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas.
In 1960 she covered the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles where John Kennedy won the presidential nomination. But her greatest regret was not having photographed him.
By the early 1960s, she was spending most of her time in New York and Europe.
She didn't photograph much of the Beverly Hills parties, except when she hosted a party at her home for George Axelrod in 1963.
In 1964 she met musician Antonio (Tony Santoro) () during a jaunt to the Capri island. They lived together for 9 years before marrying on February 22, 1973 in Las Vegas.
In 1989, Rupert Allan, Marilyn's former publicist, introduced her to a book editor who persuaded her to publish

her pictures. "Jean Howard's Hollywood" () was followed by "Travels With Cole Porter"

() in 1991.

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