"[68], By New Year 1924 Bow had defied the possessive Maxine Alton[citation needed] and brought her father to Hollywood. When she tried to talk about The Butcher Knife Episode once in an interview, she cut herself off, saying, but I cant tell you about it. Bow did try to make a comeback a couple years afterbut although audiences and studios were still thirsty for her, her heart wasnt in it. The New York Times said, "The flapper, impersonated by a young actress, Clara Bow, had five speaking titles, and every one of them was so entirely in accord with the character and the mood of the scene that it drew a laugh from what, in film circles, is termed a "hard-boiled" audience",[57] while the Los Angeles Times commented that "Clara Bow, the prize vulgarian of the lot was amusing and spirited but didn't belong in the picture",[58] and Variety said that "the horrid little flapper is adorably played". Clara bow Stock Photos and Images. She found friends more readily among the studio crew than the actors and directors who should have been her peers. October 21, 1988 CLARA BOW Runnin' Wild By David Stenn Doubleday. Yet that wasnt the only tragedy. Clara Bow had a series of breakdowns beginning just before she left Hollywood, and her husband, Rex Bell, ended up committing her to a sanatorium, just as her father had done to her mother and her grandfather had done to her grandmother before her. According to Bow herself, when she saw the final print of the film, she felt sick to her stomach and nearly quit acting all together. [126][127][128][129], According to the 1930 census, Bow lived at 512 Bedford Drive, together with her secretary and hairdresser, Daisy DeBoe (later DeVoe), in a house valued $25,000 with neighbors titled "Horse-keeper", "Physician", "Builder". When Bow told her mother as a teenager that she wanted to be an actress, Sarahs response was utterly cold-blooded. Shocked and appalled at Bows total disregard for the fame food chain, Moore flexed her power in the cruellest way she knew how. In truth, Bows physical and mental health issues (she had schizophrenia, like her mother) were exacerbated by the stresses of her fame, particularly the fallout from her notorious tell-all memoir in Photoplay and a lurid lawsuit brought by her former secretary. "[16] Bow felt "Mrs Smith" (the pseudonym Alton used) had misused her trust: "She wanted to keep a hold on me so she made me think I wasn't getting over and that nothing but her clever management kept me going. She settled down with her hunky Cowboy co-star Rex Bell, moving into his ranch outside of Hollywood and marrying him in December, 1931. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. Yeah, sit down Rex. His last appearance was in The Misfits (1961). Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. When her young fans found this out, they wasted no time buying up hordes of the stuff, tripling henna prices that year. Clara Bow, the playgirl of Hollywood, Liberty, spring 1975, 1929 retro special, "Sam Carver, manager of 'first run' theater 'Newman' in Kansas City to industrial journal,". Tui did complain about Creepy Roberts insatiable appetite in bed, but she put up with it. She has a genuine spark of divine fire. In his book "Seductive Cinema" (1994: Knopf . I wasn't sore. Her costumes in the film were so scarce, one magazine noted they wouldnt weigh two pounds soaking wet. Maybe more scandalously, Bows new husband Rex Bell was less than pleased about her giving away the goods. I'm a big freak, because I'm myself! Variety said that "Clara Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she walks into camera range",[106] while Photoplay told readers that "When she is on the screen nothing else matters. We had been cold and hungry for days. [119], With "talkies" The Wild Party, Dangerous Curves, and The Saturday Night Kid, all released in 1929, Bow kept her position as the top box-office draw and queen of Hollywood. Alice Joyce starred as her dancing mother, with Conway Tearle as "bad-boy" Naughton. At 25 her career was essentially over. Just as Bow was beginning to be happy with Rex, she started showing disturbing signs. People called her birdbrain, while another executive named her as the easy winner of the dumbbell award and claimed she couldnt act. However, nothing could be further from the truth. And that wasnt all. Clara Bow was the screen's first sex symbol--cinema's "It" girl who exuded sex appeal, enticement and excitement. When audiences first watched her in a talkie, they might have been shocked at what they heard: You see, Bow still had an intense Brooklyn accent. The pair were obsessed with each other, but as two Hollywood hotties, they also saw other people. She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. "In movie parlance, she 'stole' the picture", For her contributions to the film industry, Bow was awarded a, In 1994, she was honored with an image on a, Bow's mass of tangled red hair was one of her most famous features. In 1927, Bow gained eternal fame when she starred in the flapper flick It. At the time, It Girl was a brand-new term, and Bow was the first to become permanently associated with it when she played the brash title character. "[16] In 1925, Bow appeared in 14 productions: six for her contract owner, Preferred Pictures, and eight as an "out-loan". Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) Unrated | 83 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance. You see, as it turned out, mental problems ran in Bows family, and her breakdowns and crises traced directly back to her mentally-ill mother Sarah. Bows father Robert was one unsavory dude. "[104] The film was released on July 24, 1926,[105] to rave reviews. [48] On July 21, 1923, she befriended Louella Parsons, who interviewed her for The New York Morning Telegraph. We want our readers to trust us. As Bow once retorted, They are snobs. Off Market. Robert Bow knew of her intentions and posed no objections whatsoever. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film, "Success Did Not Bring Clara Bow Happiness", "Clara Bow Housewife Of Rancho Clarito", Clara Bow: My Life Story as told to Adela Rogers St. Johns, "Alluring 'It' Girl Clara Bow: Tormented Hollywood Outsider", "33 Prospect Place, Passport application, No. To Bows eternal shame, the director cut down her scenes in the final edit of Beyond the Rainbow. With her tomboy charms and expressive face, Clara Bow took Old Hollywood by storm. [120] Neither the quality of Bow's voice nor her Brooklyn accent was an issue to Bow, her fans, or Paramount. In 1931, when Bow came under tabloid scrutiny, Parsons defended her and stuck to her first opinion on Bow:[35]. Her mother Sarah was mentally ill, probably schizophrenic. "[56] It was released on January 4, 1924. Schulberg. Medium. "[110] The Film Daily wrote that "Clara Bow gets a real chance and carries it off with honors(and)she is really the whole show",[111] and Variety said "You can't get away from this Clara Bow girl. Clara Gordon Bow (/bo/; July 29, 1905 September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. 29 Jul 1905 Clara Bow Birthday Clara Bow Physical Statistics & Body Measurements What a fitting final curtain call for a performer who got her start in a national competition. And a bigger scandal was on the horizon. Bow was so worn down, she begged the studio to release her from her contract, and checked herself into a sanatorium. [53] Alton and Bow rented an apartment at The Hillview near Hollywood Boulevard. Bows friends wondered what Tui was possibly getting out of the marriage. Bow had plenty of charm, but her manners were atrocious. [15] Years later, Clara wrote: "I don't suppose two people ever looked death in the face more clearly than my mother and I the morning I was born. Bow was a working class girl who fought her way to the top. "[28], From first grade, Bow preferred the company of boys, stating, "I could lick any boy my size. She voluntarily leaving the cinema to dedicate herself to her husband and family. As her director Frank Tuttle recalled, She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. This, however, came with a dark side. Clara had a devoted pal and live-in secretary, Daisy DeVoe, a former studio hairdresser. Though it was DeVoe who was on trial, somehow Bow ended up with all the backlashespecially when Daisy revealed all of Claras worst secrets. Bow truly loved movies, but her adoration came from an incredibly dark place. The greatest box-office draw of her dayshe once received 45,000 fan letters in a single month, Clara Bow's on screen vitality and allure that beguiled . She was born into abject poverty. 6.1. Thanks for your help! She hasn't any secrets from the world, she trusts everyone she is almost too good to be true (I) only wish some reformer who believes the screen contaminates all who associate with it could meet this child. "He knew it. David Selznick explained: [when] Bow was at her height in pictures we could make a story with her in it and gross a million and a half, where another actress would gross half a million in the same picture and with the same cast.Selznick[131], Bow left Hollywood for Rex Bell's ranch in Nevada, her "desert paradise", in June[132] and married him in then small-town Las Vegas in December. He also appeared in the 1930 movie True to the Navy, starring Clara Bow; Bell and Bow married the following year. When she heard they were casting for the film Down the Sea in Ships, she tried to hide her offending youth by marching down to the casting couch in a grown-up dress she borrowed from her mother. [23], According to Bow's biographer, David Stenn, Bow was raped by her father at age sixteen while her mother was institutionalized. And lots of time didn't have anything to eat. It grew worse and worse. Bow had sinus problems and decided to have them attended to that very evening. In September 1937, she and Bell opened The 'It' Cafe in the Hollywood Plaza Hotel at 1637 N Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Clara Bow lingers in the eye, long after the picture has gone. It is 100 per cent at the box-office. By the time the reclusive Clara Bow passed, almost no one remembered her. But the worst was yet to come. Of all of Bows scandalous affairs, her tryst with horror star Bela Lugosi was the most bizarreright from the very beginning. Bow held out for $50 and Clifton agreed, but he could not say whether she would "fit the part". Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Frightful snobs Im a curiosity in Hollywood. The portrait was commissioned by Kende's fellow Hungarian (and another Hollywood legend), Bela Lugosi, with whom Clara Bow had a brief affair. [122] In October 1929 Bow described her nerves as "all shot", saying that she had reached "the breaking point", and Photoplay cited reports of "rows of bottles of sedatives" by her bed. [16], It was snowing. Half her playmates nursed crushes on the young Bow, and one of her best school friends friends even tried to kiss her. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. Director: Elmer Clifton | Stars: Marguerite Courtot, Raymond McKee, William Walcott, Clara Bow. But the studio thinks my voice is great."[122]. They lived in a dirty and rotting tenement in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York. Her social decorum is of that natural, good-natured, pleasantly informal kind She can act on or off the screentakes a joyous delight in accepting a challenge to vamp any selected malethe more unpromising specimen the better. Though Bow lost her fair share of cat fights in Hollywood, she did have one secret weapon. It closed in 1943. "[84] Adela Rogers St. Johns had a different take; in 1950, she wrote, "If ever a star was made by public demand, it was Clara Bow. He died in 1962. let me know below. View more recently sold homes. "[68], My life in Hollywood contained plenty of uproar. Clara had 10 siblings: William Robert Bow, Verna Julia Kauhn (born Bow) and 8 other siblings. View The Obituary For Clara Bow George of Bowling Green, Virginia. Charles was born on June 10 1930. In the Cinderella based story It, the poor shop-girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) conquers the heart of her employer Cyrus Waltham (Antonio Moreno). Bow, Clara. Clara Gordon Bow was born on July 29, 1905 in a tenement apartment above a Baptist church at 697 Bergen Street in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights neighborhood.. [82] Three days later it was announced that Schulberg would join with Adolph Zukor to become associate producer of Paramount Pictures, "catapulted into this position because he had Clara Bow under personal contract". The film actress Clara Bow is the cover girl for Motion Picture Classic magazine, published in Chicago, Illinois in April of 1931. Ft. 6407 Buck Jones Ave #102, Las Vegas, NV 89122. Usually I was too fat, she remembered. I didn't get indignant. Need I say that Bela was hooked? The people who are held up as examples for me? In 1928 a poll named her . Uploaded. In addition to athletics and acting, Bow was also a fan of poetry and music. She signed a two-picture contract with Fox Film Corporation and admitted she had come back to Hollywood for the sole purpose of making enough money to be able to stay out of it. But the damage was already done. Clara Bow was a superstar in the 1920s, yet her birth was not even recorded. I'm sure her 'infinite variety' would keep her from wearying us no matter how many scenes she was in. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. 98. I couldn't analyze it, but I could always feel it". $299,100. 9, and P.S. Three children were born to his union - Diane, Tom, Randy - and they farmed, ranched, and milked cows on the family farm until moving to Rapid City, SD, in October 1960. . In January of 1961, Cooper took his family out to Sun Valley for a vacationthe last one they'd ever share . "[113] Dorothy Parker is often said to have referred to Bow when she wrote, "It, hell; she had Those. The contest earned Bow a trophy and a small film role, but no contract. When Bow found out that her sweetums got sacked, she marched right up to Schulbergs swanky office and tore up her contract right in his facethen threw it in his mug for good measure. One day on the set of her talkie The Wild Party, she had to endure retake after retake because she couldnt stop nervously glancing at the microphone above her. "[109], On August 16, 1926, Bow's agreement with Paramount was renewed into a five-year deal: "Her salary will start at $1700 a week and advance yearly to $4000 a week for the last year. Yet growing up, this only made her a target for cruel girls. Who can't? A magazine quoted her as saying: Mosta my friendsre ones I knew before I paid income tax., In a town that liked to go to bed early, Bow stayed up late. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. Clara made three pictures that will never be surpassed: Dancing Mothers, Mantrap, and It. She was, as the documentary Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl (1999) demonstrates, "a one woman revolution who shattered social and sexual taboos." She was a self-described working girl who became a role model for the flapper era by "creating a personality new to the screen - youthful, energetic and frankly sexual." My right arm was quite famous. Flapper Girls. After reliving all this trauma in the sanatorium, Bow couldnt go back to the way she was. The production relied on a few less-known actors and local talents. In February 1922, Clara Bow awoke to a horrifying sight: Her mother holding a butchers knife to her throat. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? In 1937, they opened the "It" Caf on Vine Street in Hollywood but it didn't last very long. Her nerves were all shot, and Photoplay even reported sightings of bottles of sedatives by her bed in one long row. Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become "The It Girl", was born on July 29, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in poverty and violence. And the reason Weeks cited for the split? Sadly, while the movie contract took Bow out of Brooklyn, where she had spent her abusive and impoverished childhood, her new home had dangers of its own. Clara Bow Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Clara Gordon Bow (/bo/; July 29, 1905 - September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s. Flapper movies such as The Plastic Age or Dancing Mothers were perfect for Bow, who had a stunning ability to move naturally in front of the camera, bobbing and smirking with humour and sexiness. "[85] And Louise Brooks (from 1980): "(Bow) became a star without nobody's help". I wanna play yours. Moores response was swift and brutal. This did not please her studio executive B.P. Flickr 2. Both her mother and grandmother were mentally ill and her father was disinterested in both marriage and children (he had left Clara's mother shortly before she went into labor). [145][146] She did not return to her family. [2], Film historian Leonard Maltin said in 1999; "You think of Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, all these great names, great actresses, Clara Bow was more popular in terms of box-office dollars, in terms of consistently bringing audiences into the theaters, she was right on top. ", her father is titled "business manager" and Jacobson referred to as her brother.[70]. Clara Bow was unwanted and unloved by her parents. RM EC8004 - Clara Bow in 'Hula', a 1927 silent . She knew what it meant to be a jazz baby and it wasnt always a party. In 1925, Clara started a scandalous sensation. N. Yana. Schulberg. 6465 Clara Bow Ave UNIT 103, Las Vegas, NV 89122. In fact, before his day in the sun was over, Cooper gained himself an infamous reputation of becoming one of the industry's most ruthless womanizers. what was her significance of the . 111, P.S. She swings from one emotion to another, but she gains nothing, stores up nothing for the future. When the magnificent Clara Bow passed in 1965 from a heart attack at the young age of 60, she was a has-been by choice. 3 Beds. Bow plays a department store worker in hot pursuit of her handsome boss, and Glyn herself has a cameo. Both films were produced by First National Pictures, and while Black Oxen was still being edited and Flaming Youth not yet released, Bow was requested to co-star with Moore as her kid sister in Painted People (The Swamp Angel). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Old Hollywood Stars. "[16] Bow and her father moved in at 1714 North Kingsley Drive in Hollywood, together with Jacobson, who by then also worked for Preferred. Clara passed away on month day 2013, at age 74 at death place, Michigan. For a time, Bow tried to return to a normal life. As Bow said, they shunned her for her lack of fashion. This was a condition apart from the seizures known to cause disordered thinking, delusion, paranoia, and aggressive behavior. She said her mother could be "mean to meand she often was", but "she didn't mean to be and that it was because she couldn't help it". 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