Who Was Jean Harlow’s Friend, Ruthie?
Find out more about actress Jean Harlow's photo from 1930, signed to a friend named "Ruthie." Collectibles appraiser Laura Woolley appraised the signed photo at the May 2023 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
At the May 2023 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a guest brought in a photograph of actress Jean Harlow, signed by Harlow and addressed to a woman named “Ruthie.” The photo included a note in the lower left corner that read, “To my darling Ruthie, don’t forget me. So much love, Jean.”
Mar 11, 2024
BY Sarah Roach
At the May 2023 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a guest named Wayne brought in a framed, black and white photograph of actress Jean Harlow, signed by Harlow and addressed to a woman named “Ruthie.” Collectibles appraiser Laura Woolley consulted with Wayne on the photo, which included a note in the lower left corner that read, “To my darling Ruthie, don’t forget me. So much love, Jean.” It was taken in 1930, at the start of Harlow’s career and seven years before her death.
Woolley said it’s well known that Harlow’s mother signed most items on behalf of the star, so the fact that Harlow likely wrote it herself made this photo more rare and valuable; without a personal signature, the photo would be worth $3,000 to $5,000 at auction, whereas because Harlow signed it herself, Woolley gave Wayne’s photo an auction estimate of $5,000 to $7,000.
Collectibles appraiser Laura Woolley appraised this signed Jean Harlow photo for $5,000 to $10,000.
The personal note on the photo also raises the question: Who was “Ruthie,” and what was her connection to Harlow?
To find out, we spoke with writer and producer David Stenn, who published a biography about Harlow called Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow in 1993. Stenn told us “Ruthie” was a nickname for Ruth Hamp, wife of Johnny Hamp, the bandleader of the jazz and dance group Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders. The Harlow and Hamp families became friends after meeting during one of the band's performances in Chicago in the 1920s, Stenn said.
In order to understand Harlow’s relationship with Ruth Hamp, it’s important to grasp the overbearing role Harlow’s mother played in the actress’s life. Stenn said the mother, also named Jean Harlow and often referred to as “Mama Jean,” “lived this vicarious life through her daughter.” Harlow’s mother and stepfather would have fostered a relationship with Johnny and Ruth Hamp, through which Harlow also became friendly with the couple.
It was mostly through her mother that Harlow and Ruth Hamp became friends, Stenn said. “Were they close confidants? Probably not, because Jean Harlow didn’t really have close confidants … the best way to characterize it would be family friends.”
Actress Jean Harlow and her mother, "Mama Jean." (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
Harlow would typically see Ruth Hamp at shows while Johnny Hamp toured, but Stenn said the two were seen out together elsewhere from time to time. In one photo, Harlow and Ruth and Johnny Hamp were shown drinking. Harlow’s mother wrote on the back of the photo, “do not publish,” because it was taken during Prohibition. The two families also took a trip together to the resort Agua Caliente, Stenn said.
“[The Hamps] wouldn’t have been people Jean was going out with all alone,” he said, because Harlow’s mother likely would have been there too. “But they did socialize.”
Stenn said the actress’s relationship with Ruth Hamp was likely genuine. “[Jean] was an authentic, genuine, humble person,” he said. “It wasn't like Joan Crawford where everything was a career move. She really liked people that she liked. So Ruth would have been someone that she actually liked, rather than someone that would have helped her career by appearing together.”
Stenn added that the poignant character of Harlow’s note to Ruth Hamp reflects the actress’s “gentle sense of humor.” Harlow was known to tease, not in a malicious way but rather playfully and with people she liked. “[To write] ‘don’t forget me’ would have been like a remembrance,” he said. “But it would have also been teasing, because it would have been like, ‘you’re my friend.’”
When Harlow died of kidney failure in 1937, Ruth Hamp lost both a friend and her connection to show business. “Imagine being in the orbit of one of the most glamorous people and then they’re gone,” Stenn said. “You lose not only a friend but a whole way of life.”
The Hamp couple kept in touch with Harlow’s mother following the actress’s death, often stopping over to take care of her in Los Angeles, where they also lived. “They stayed friendly but it was really – as I said before – a family,” Stenn emphasized.
When Harlow’s mother died in June of 1958, Ruth Hamp inherited the rights to Harlow’s unpublished book, Today is Tonight. She published the book in 1965.
