Honey Harlow
| Honey Harlow | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Harriett E. Jolliff August 15, 1927 Manila, Arkansas |
| Died | September 12, 2005 (aged 78) Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | Kitty Bruce |
Honey Bruce Friedman, born Harriett Jolliff, also known by her professional name Honey Harlow (August 15, 1927 – September 12, 2005) was an American stripper and showgirl best remembered as the wife of legendary stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce.
She was portrayed by Valerie Perrine in the 1974 biopic Lenny, for which Perrine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1976 she released her autobiography, Honey: The Life and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady
Friedman was born Harriett Jolliff in Manila, Arkansas, the daughter of unmarried teenage parents Mabel Layson and Murl Jolliff. She never knew her father, who died in a tuberculosis sanitorium. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Harriett Joliff (1877-1941), but as a child, her nickname was "Poochie".
Her mother Mabel moved her and her sister, Virginia, to Detroit, Michigan in search of work. Finding work at nightclubs, Mabel married a local hustler who often was in trouble with the law. While ostensibly owning a bookshop, in reality he was operating an illegal business from their attic. Young Harriet's mother and step-father enforced strict Catholic rules on her, and reportedly the home was an abusive environment. Harriet dreamed leaving home for a career in show business, and she intently studied Hollywood movie stars like Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.
Harriet's unstable home life led to rebellion, and she started skipping school and staying away from home. Eventually she ran away from home with a female friend and two boys to nearby Toledo, Ohio, and from there, the four teenagers decided to go to Florida. The boys hot-wired cars to steal transportation, and soon they arrived in Miami where they rented a room. To earn money to support themselves, the girls answered an ad in the paper for showgirls; Harriet was hired to be a topless dancer, but her friend was deemed not pretty enough and so was given a job as a cigarette girl.
Once Harriett had earned enough money for the group to continue on their journey, she quit the dancing job, and the group planned to move from Miami Beach to Palm Beach. The two boys she was with had enlisted in the army and were "sowing some oats" before heading to basic training for World War II. One of the boys raped Harriet while she was sleeping, which she shrugged off as "the way things were". Harriet's friend left the group and went home to Detroit.
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