Jane, Jane Everywhere

Year of Jane Russell: Day 31

The Howard Hughes/Russell Birdwell publicity machine hit the ground running in 1941, and for Jane didn’t let up for over a decade. The effectiveness of the campaign for The Outlaw is evident with this March 1941 issue of the short-lived Friday, a far-left progressive magazine that appears to have only been published from 1940-1941. Interesting side note, the photo of Jane used on the cover was taken by Tom Kelley and was the one Levis Green spotted in the photographer’s studio which the agent showed to Howard Hawks and Howard Hughes.

On a personal note, when my grandpa passed away in 1991, we were cleaning out his garage and found his membership card to the Communist Party, a copy of The Communist Manifesto and a stack of issues of Friday. I don’t think his membership in the party lasted long, but it was some amazing insight into his young life that I didn’t know about.