Girl 27 Film Review
“You were very well protected. If you got into trouble...your problems were taken care of. It was a wonderful sensation.” Katherine Hepburn describing her experience at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, headed by legendary CEO Louis B. Mayer, went to extraordinary lengths to protect its reputation and its stars. The most profitable studio in Hollywood during the depths of the Great Depression, MGM used its wealth to buy influence. When someone was an asset to MGM, as Hepburn was, that clout was tremendously beneficial. If, however, you were a liability, MGM smothered you like a ton of bricks.
Patricia Douglas, a prime example, was the target of an intense MGM smear campaign in 1937. Her offense? She reported her rape at the hands of an MGM salesman and expected some vindication. Instead, the studio-friendly newspapers published her personal information and branded her a slut. Los Angeles District Attorney Buron Fitts humiliated her before a grand jury saying, “Look at her. Who would want her?” MGM paid off witnesses, Douglas’s own lawyer, and her mother. Douglas, a virgin at the time of her rape, never recovered.
We may never have known the details of her ordeal if not for the intrepid film historian David Stenn. While conducting research for his biography of Jean Harlow, Stenn stumbled across the Patricia Douglas story. Stenn tracked down Douglas, who was living as a recluse in Las Vegas. By being patient and empathetic, Stenn convinced Douglas to go on the record with her story. The result was a 2003 “Vanity Fair” article which was then the basis for Stenn’s 2007 documentary “Girl 27”. Stenn just recently posted “Girl 27” in its entirety on his YouTube channel.
One of the remarkable features of Patricia Douglas’s life is the amount of family dysfunction that was caused and intensified by the lack of support she received. Douglas married three times in quick succession and two of her husbands were bigamists. While she desperately wanted a child, and the unconditional love she thought a child could provide, Douglas ignored her daughter for much of her childhood. Stenn interviews Patti Minter, the daughter, and her anger is palpable. She matter-of-factly reports that Douglas’s third husband sexually abused her, although it is unclear if she ever informed her mother. Douglas died before “Girl 27” was completed and Minter provides one of the film’s most shocking moments when she compares her mother’s remains to a junked car.
Douglas’s own relationship with her mother was acrimonious until her mother was in her eighties. Douglas states that she finally felt needed and validated when she became her mother’s primary caregiver. Douglas laments “I was never nurtured” and she had monumental trust issues. Filmmaker Stenn refers to her as “shellacked.” It is frustrating that Patricia Douglas had insight into the motivations for her behavior but never sought counseling.
Douglas was raped during a convention for MGM salesmen in Los Angeles and she was not the only victim. Following Douglas’s revelations in 1937, another young woman came forward. Her name was Eloise Spann. Her rape by an MGM employee resulted in pregnancy and an abortion. As in Douglas’s case, MGM made sure no one was ever charged and convicted. Stenn tracked down Spann’s son and interviews him on-camera in “Girl 27.” As a child, he could not understand why his mother was consistently ill. Tragically, Eloise Spann committed suicide. Her son believes those responsible will face retribution in the afterlife. Filmmaker David Stenn, by making “Girl 27”, has assured some measure of justice for these women in the here and now.
Katherine Hepburn quote from the book “Hollywood: The Oral History” by Janine Basinger and Sam Wasson
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