Clara Bow- The "It" Girl's Early Years- ContinuedThe "It" girl was sexy. She was overflowing in charm and seduction, surging with a magnetism that fascinated both men and women. The very first and quintessential "It" girl, according to Elinor Glyn who coined the phrase, was Clara Bow. The best of the bobbed flappers, Clara epitomized the personal and sexual freedom that was just becoming popular in young women and revolutionized acting.
As the product of a torturous childhood, Clara easily lost herself in her roles, escaping her painful life in favor of those told in cinema. Before Clara, screen acting mimicked the stage, and while overly dramatic actions are necessary for more expansive venues, she realized that broad gestures were unsuitable for the silver screen. Clara opted instead for a more natural acting style, using her highly developed skill of pantomime and a broad range of subtle facial expressions. Today, her acting might still seem overboard, but for her day it was as close to reality as the movie-goer would get and rivetted her audiences.
After starring in "It" (the very same novel by Elinor Glyn), Clara's reputation as a sexpot was sealed. Her reputation was enhanced by a series of tawdry tabloid tales, which the movie studios were only too happy to encourage. Clara's supposed list of lovers reads as a silver screen Who's Who and included Bela Lugosi, John Wayne, and Gary Cooper. Rumors of alcholism, dsrug abuse, and mental illness swirled about her. It seemed that, regardless of her talents (or even any innocence) the studios would always consider her to be a disgrace and low-classed. Her public, many notable magazines, film writers, and even the founder of her own studio Adolph Zucker (Paramount Pictures) praised her talents and clamored for her to star in a broader range of roles; but studio heads chose instead to continually typecast the star.
To further the image of the wild flapper, Paramount began to go out of it's way to humiliate the star, dubbing her "Crisis-a-Day" Clara. After repeatedly cancelling her films and docking her pay, as well as charging her for unreturned costumes and publicity photographs, the already frazzled actress grew incereasingly frail and emotionally damaged. To add insult to injury, Paramount added a morality clause in her contract (for behaving like a lady and staying out of the papers) while touting and sensationalizing her exploits to the gossip rags. Their actions, however, couldn't hide her talents and in 1927 Clara was their most popular star. Her movie, Wings, even won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Although the most popular actress of her day, she was shunned by all of the "right people", including her fellow actors. Considered low class, vuilgar, and uneducated by everyone, she was the lonliest star in Hollywood.
Although she suffered from "microphone fright" after "talkies" came into vogue, Clara's film career continued to boom and she starred in no less than 11 sound films. Her rough, Brooklynn-accented voice proved to add a dimension of reality to her quintessential flapper mystique and it's said that she was one of the inspirations for Betty Boop.
In 1930, the 25 year old star suffered from titanic scandals involving gambling, sex, and carousing. The viscious tabloids, no different from today, devoured and exaggerated every claim made in the high-profile court trials brought forth by her greedy ex-secretary, Daisy DeFoe. The studios refused to come to her aid, and then went so far as to sever her contract. She single-handedly managed her won comeback afterwards, but in the end it was Clara herself who tired of the sex-symbol roles and decided to retire. "I don't wanna be remembered as somebody who couldn't do nothin' but take her clothes off. I want somethin' real now."
At 28 years old, after making her last movie in 1933, she moved to the quiet deserts of Nevada with her husband, the cowboy star Rex Bell, to recover from her emotional breakdown. Although the tranquil domesticity of marriage and motherhood seemed to heal her, the newfound politcal carreer of her husband began to stress the wounds. Rex was often away from home and Clara grew more fretful and paranoid, the insomnia brought on by her mother's murder attempt only exasperated her condition. After a failed suicide attempt, she was admitted for extenive psychoanalysis and it was discovered that she suffered from schizophrenia, as her mother and grandmother probably had. She divorced Rex in 1950 and sought absolute solitude as a way of keeping her mental collapse at bay. Clara was able to live on her $500,000 estate (a huge some for her day) and finally passed away on September 26, 1965 at the age of 60.
Clara Bow made almost 50 movies during her 12 year career. The jazz baby's vampish pout, henna-ed red hair, and ravishing curves won her a place on the screen, but it was her heartbreaking tears, amazing energy, and free spirit that won her international fame. Today she's virtually forgotten, but it impact can't be denied.
Some Wikipedia factoids about the world's first sex-symbol:
- The 1930 U.S. Census lists Bow's residence as 512 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Her home's value was listed as $25,000, higher than most others on her block at the time.
- Clara's mass of tangled, slept-on red hair was her most famous attribute. When fans of the new star found out she put henna in her hair, sales of the dye tripled.
- Clara applied her red lipstick in the shape of a heart. Women who imitated this shape were said to be putting a "Clara Bow" on their mouths.
- Clara became a lifelong insomniac after her mother tried to kill her in her sleep.
- Clara preferred playing poker with her cook, maid, and chauffeur over attending her movie premieres.
- Not only did Clara kiss and tell; she did so in language that would make a sailor blush.
- A visibly nervous Clara had to do a number of retakes in The Wild Party, her first talkie, because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead.
- Clara was worried that staring in "Talkies" would ruin her sex symbol status due to her strong Brooklyn accent.
1920
Clara Bow- The "It" Girl: Conclusion
Clara Bow- The "It" Girl's Early Years- ContinuedThe "It" girl was sexy. She was overflowing in charm and seduction, surging with a magnetism that fascinated both men and women. The very first and quintessential "It" girl, according to Elinor Glyn who coined the phrase, was Clara Bow. The best of the bobbed flappers, Clara epitomized the personal and sexual freedom that was just becoming popular in young women and revolutionized acting.
As the product of a torturous childhood, Clara easily lost herself in her roles, escaping her painful life in favor of those told in cinema. Before Clara, screen acting mimicked the stage, and while overly dramatic actions are necessary for more expansive venues, she realized that broad gestures were unsuitable for the silver screen. Clara opted instead for a more natural acting style, using her highly developed skill of pantomime and a broad range of subtle facial expressions. Today, her acting might still seem overboard, but for her day it was as close to reality as the movie-goer would get and rivetted her audiences.
After starring in "It" (the very same novel by Elinor Glyn), Clara's reputation as a sexpot was sealed. Her reputation was enhanced by a series of tawdry tabloid tales, which the movie studios were only too happy to encourage. Clara's supposed list of lovers reads as a silver screen Who's Who and included Bela Lugosi, John Wayne, and Gary Cooper. Rumors of alcholism, dsrug abuse, and mental illness swirled about her. It seemed that, regardless of her talents (or even any innocence) the studios would always consider her to be a disgrace and low-classed. Her public, many notable magazines, film writers, and even the founder of her own studio Adolph Zucker (Paramount Pictures) praised her talents and clamored for her to star in a broader range of roles; but studio heads chose instead to continually typecast the star.
To further the image of the wild flapper, Paramount began to go out of it's way to humiliate the star, dubbing her "Crisis-a-Day" Clara. After repeatedly cancelling her films and docking her pay, as well as charging her for unreturned costumes and publicity photographs, the already frazzled actress grew incereasingly frail and emotionally damaged. To add insult to injury, Paramount added a morality clause in her contract (for behaving like a lady and staying out of the papers) while touting and sensationalizing her exploits to the gossip rags. Their actions, however, couldn't hide her talents and in 1927 Clara was their most popular star. Her movie, Wings, even won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Although the most popular actress of her day, she was shunned by all of the "right people", including her fellow actors. Considered low class, vuilgar, and uneducated by everyone, she was the lonliest star in Hollywood.
Although she suffered from "microphone fright" after "talkies" came into vogue, Clara's film career continued to boom and she starred in no less than 11 sound films. Her rough, Brooklynn-accented voice proved to add a dimension of reality to her quintessential flapper mystique and it's said that she was one of the inspirations for Betty Boop.
In 1930, the 25 year old star suffered from titanic scandals involving gambling, sex, and carousing. The viscious tabloids, no different from today, devoured and exaggerated every claim made in the high-profile court trials brought forth by her greedy ex-secretary, Daisy DeFoe. The studios refused to come to her aid, and then went so far as to sever her contract. She single-handedly managed her won comeback afterwards, but in the end it was Clara herself who tired of the sex-symbol roles and decided to retire. "I don't wanna be remembered as somebody who couldn't do nothin' but take her clothes off. I want somethin' real now."
At 28 years old, after making her last movie in 1933, she moved to the quiet deserts of Nevada with her husband, the cowboy star Rex Bell, to recover from her emotional breakdown. Although the tranquil domesticity of marriage and motherhood seemed to heal her, the newfound politcal carreer of her husband began to stress the wounds. Rex was often away from home and Clara grew more fretful and paranoid, the insomnia brought on by her mother's murder attempt only exasperated her condition. After a failed suicide attempt, she was admitted for extenive psychoanalysis and it was discovered that she suffered from schizophrenia, as her mother and grandmother probably had. She divorced Rex in 1950 and sought absolute solitude as a way of keeping her mental collapse at bay. Clara was able to live on her $500,000 estate (a huge some for her day) and finally passed away on September 26, 1965 at the age of 60.
Clara Bow made almost 50 movies during her 12 year career. The jazz baby's vampish pout, henna-ed red hair, and ravishing curves won her a place on the screen, but it was her heartbreaking tears, amazing energy, and free spirit that won her international fame. Today she's virtually forgotten, but it impact can't be denied.
Some Wikipedia factoids about the world's first sex-symbol:
- The 1930 U.S. Census lists Bow's residence as 512 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Her home's value was listed as $25,000, higher than most others on her block at the time.
- Clara's mass of tangled, slept-on red hair was her most famous attribute. When fans of the new star found out she put henna in her hair, sales of the dye tripled.
- Clara applied her red lipstick in the shape of a heart. Women who imitated this shape were said to be putting a "Clara Bow" on their mouths.
- Clara became a lifelong insomniac after her mother tried to kill her in her sleep.
- Clara preferred playing poker with her cook, maid, and chauffeur over attending her movie premieres.
- Not only did Clara kiss and tell; she did so in language that would make a sailor blush.
- A visibly nervous Clara had to do a number of retakes in The Wild Party, her first talkie, because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead.
- Clara was worried that staring in "Talkies" would ruin her sex symbol status due to her strong Brooklyn accent.
Clara Bow- The "It" Girl's Early Years
Before Pam Anderson, before even Marilyn Monroe, a woman by the name of Clara Bow epitomized sex for the world. She was young, beautiful, brash, and seductive. Women were both inspired and reviled by her. Men wanted her. She was the perfect flapper, the image that comes to mind at the very mention of the word. Her vampish looks and bravado took the world by storm, yet today few know her name.
Born Clara Gordon Bow in the slums of Brooklyn in July 29, 1905; she had a heartbreaking childhood. Her father, thought to have been mentally impaired, was viciously abusive and is thoguht to have raped her when she was 15. Her mentally ill and epileptic mother was an occasional prostitute who never even bothered with a birth certificate, hoping that baby Clara would die in childbirth or shortly thereafter. When various "uncles" and firemen came to visit, she was made to hide in a cupboard. She dropped out of school at 7. Her only outlet was the newest rage: moving pictures. Scraping togethor her pennies, she'd watch in awe as silver sirens wove beautiful fantasies for her to escape into. At home she'd imitate her idols in the mirror. She had talent and she knew it.
In 1921, when she was just 16, Clara begged 50 cents from her wastrel father to have a tin-type made of herself. Although unhappy with the cheap daguerreotype, she sent it in to Motion Picture Magazine's Photo Contest, the grand prize being a role in a movie. The next year she was declared the winner:
"She is very young, only 16. But she is full of confidence, determination and ambition. She is endowed with a mentality far beyond her years. She has a genuine spark of the divine fire. The five different screen tests she had, showed this very plainly, her emotional range of expression provoking a fine enthusiasm from every contest judge who saw the tests. She screens perfectly. Her personal appearance is almost enough to carry her to success without the aid of the brains she indubitably possesses."
Her bit part in the movie was unfortunately cut. Unfazed, Clara began to make rounds to photography and movie studios. As she delved deeper into the world of acting, her mother's mental condition took a turn for the worse. Determined that acting was for prostitutes (and what was she?), she tried to stop Clara the only way she knew how: to kill her. Clara awoke one night to find her mother above her holding a cleaver to her throat. She managed to lock herself in a closet until her grandmother came over. Clara suffered from insomnia for the rest of her life. During filming in 1923, she received news that her mother had passed away. Regardless of the abuse, Clara would always regret the disapproval or her mother and feel somehow responsible for ther passing.
After 3 more movies, she was unbilled for 2 of them, Clara met up with playwright-agent Maxine Alton, who in turn convinced J. G. Bachman of B. P. Schulberg in Preferred Pictures, to sign Clara for a three-month film contract at $50 a week. Train fare to be included. Alton remembers Clara's brutal audition before Schulberg:
"Without make-up, still in a sweater and skirt, she ran the gamut of emotions. Schulberg told her to laugh. She did. Suddenly he said, 'Stop laughing, cry!' Immediately, in the snap of a finger, a flood of tears drenched her cheeks. She was an emotional machine. Schulberg turned to me, threw up his hands, and said 'You win!' "
Cast in bit roles, she was loaned out to other studios more often than she acted for Schulberg. This widespread exposure allowed her to begin making a name for herself. As her finances steadied, she brought her father to Hollywood and funded numerous failed business ventures. He took to hanging about the sets, trying to pick up starlets. Although her father was reviled, Clara herself was loved by all. Members of the crew were constantly falling in love with the generous, humble, and sweet-tempered Bow.
Finally, in 1925, Bow was cast in The Plastic Age and was immediately vaulted towards stardom. She began dating her co-star Gilbert Roland. The next year she made Mantrap and began dating the director, Victor Fleming, while still seeing Roland. At this time, Fleming was 17 years her senior. Victor Fleming said of Clara:
"A temperament that responded like a great violin, touch her and she answered with genius. Her acting could have been developed to a power, a reality that would have led screen drama to new heights."
In 1927, Bow was cast in the film It after already having been dubbed the It Girl by the great femine exotica writer Elinor Glyn. So what was "It"? Simply, it was sex. Sex-appeal, sexuality, sexiness, all of the above; and Clara had it! ("It, hell," said Dorothy Parker, "She had those.")
Stay tuned for Clara Bow part II
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