While some speculated that Jean Harlow may have killed Bern, who allegedly beat her on at least one occasion during their brief marriage, the accepted theory is that Dorothy Millette, who had been institutionalized for her mental instability, had paid a visit to Bern on September 5, 1932, in hopes of winning him back.
There were two guns in Bern's home. Apparently one of them was used to kill him, which, in a way, strengthened the argument that the fatal shot was self-inflicted. How would Miss Millette know where to find the gun? And those who knew Bern said it was highly unlikely he would have used a gun to convince Miss Millette to leave his home.
In any event, Miss Millette was in San Francisco two nights later, and jumped from a ferry and drowned.
A suicide note was found at Bern's home, though there was much uncertainty whether he actually wrote it, or whether Jean Harlow's studio, MGM, had set the stage, since studio officials arrived at the death scene long before police were even called.
From what I've read, it's now generally agreed the note was in Bern's handwriting.
"Dearest dear," the note began. "Unfortunately this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you, and to wipe out my abject humiliation. You understand last night was only a comedy. Paul."
"Abject humiliation" and "You understand last night was only a comedy" aroused everyone's curiosity. The prevailing theory is that Bern could not perform in bed, with one rumor being that the "comedy' referred to in the note was a dildo he used in an attempt to satisfy his wife.
As for the "frightful wrong," that could well be his involvement with Miss Millette, whom he had supported for years. Indeed, Jean Harlow would wind up paying for the woman's funeral.
But Jean Harlow was nothing if not flexible, where men were concerned. Before marrying Bern, she had had a brief relationship with New Jersey mobster Abner "Longie" Zwillman, and shortly after Bern's death she had an affair with boxer Max Baer, who, in 1934, would become heavyweight champion.
With Bern's controversial death already a possible scandal for one of their biggest stars, MGM bosses couldn't afford another one. Baer, you see, was married, though he and his wife were living apart.
So everything in the story at the top of this page was arranged by MGM. Jean Harlow and Harold G. Rosson said all the right things at their Yuma wedding and after they returned to Hollywood hours later, but their marriage was a sham.
A month after the wedding, Jean Harlow was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital for an emergency appendectomy. When she was released from the hospital, she went to the home of her mother to recover. She and Rosson spent little time together before they were divorced on March 11, 1934.
Her mother, incidentally, was the original Jean Harlow. That was her real name — Jean Poe Harlow — before she married Kansas City dentist Mont Clair Carpenter. Later Jean Harlow Carpenter divorced her husband and married a man named Marino Bello.
Daughter Harlean Harlow Carpenter — the second Jean Harlow — was very devoted to her mother, or, at least, was very much under her influence.
So Jean Harlow, the movie star, was married three times by age 22. Her career ruled her life after that, though she was involved with actor William Powell in 1937 when she died of kidney disease. She was working on her final film, "Saratoga," when she complained to co-star Clark Gable that she couldn't continue one of their scenes.
Her ailment initially was misdiagnosed, but apparently there was nothing available at the time that would have prevented her passing.
