Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become THE flapper of the 1920's, was
born and raised in poverty in Brooklyn, New York, on July 29, 1905.
Her family was also beset with violence. Her mother tried to slit
Clara's throat when she attempted to enter the film industry. She
won a photo beauty contest which launched her movie career that
would eventually number 58 films, from 1922 to 1933. It was the
movie IT, in 1927, which was to define her career. The film starred
Clara as a shop girl who was asked out by the store's owner. As you
watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared
for her date with the boss, her girlfriend trying hard to assist
her. She was trying to use a pair of scissors to modify her dress
in order to look more "sexy". This movie did a lot to change
society's mores as there was only a few years between World War I
and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked
at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. In the film she
was presenting a worldly wisdom that somehow sex meant having a
good time. But you shouldn't be misled by the film, because she was
still close to Lillian Gish in that when her boss tries to kiss her
goodnight, she slaps him. Yes, she, too, was a good girl and a
first cousin of Trueheart Susie. At the height of her popularity
she received over 45,000 fan letters a month. She, too, was
probably the most overworked and underpaid star in the industry.
With the coming of sound, which did lend itself to her thick
Brooklyn accent, her popularity waned. Clara was also involved in
several court battles ranging from unpaid taxes to being in divorce
court for "stealing" women's husbands. After the court trials, she
made a couple of attempts to get back in the public eye. One was
CALL HER SAVAGE in 1932. It was somewhat of a failure at the box
office and her last was in 1933 in a film called HOOPLA. She, then,
married cowboy star, Rex Bell and retired from the film world at
the age of 26. She was a doting mother of her two sons and would do
anything to please them. Haunted by a weight problem, and a mental
imbalance, she never entered show business again. Clara was
confined to a sanitarium from time to time and was not allowed
access to her loving sons she adored very much. She died of a heart
attack in West Los Angeles, on September 26, 1965. She was 60 years
old. Today she is finding a renaissance among movie buffs, who are
recently discovering the virtues of silent film. The actress who
wanted so much to be like the wonderful young lady in the IT GIRL
has the legacy of her films to confirm what a wonderful lady she
really was. She, too, was America's first sex symbol.
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