Where are all the real bombshells gone?

IF YOU remember Jean Harlow, you are old — the 75th anniversary of her death is on Jun 7. Harlow was dubbed the ‘original blonde bombshell,’ a phrase that has attached to a host of female actresses since, known as much for their appearance as for their acting skills.

Marilyn Monroe was Harlow’s most famous successor, but there were many lesser-knowns who trailed in her platinum wake.

Actors like Jayne Mansfield, Mae West, Mamie Van Doren, Veronica Lake, Carole Lombard, Lana Turner and Grace Kelly were all old-school Hollywood bombshells, to varying degrees — Grace Kelly was cool, elegant and detached, compared with Mansfield’s pneumatically immediate appeal.