Clara Bow (1905-1965)

75 years after her last film Clara Bow still leaps off the silent screen. She is really the only person worth watching in the ground sections of Paramount's flying epic Wings (1927) easily acting her male co-stars Richard Arlen and Charles "Buddy" Rogers off the screen with her naturalness. Today we still react to her just as 20s audiences did, many came from similar humble backgrounds and could relate to her behaviour and of course she had "IT" that indefinable quality which was also the title of her most famous movie.

Making her screen debut aged just 16 Clara became the ultimate screen flapper, primitive yet also uninhibited but never unsympathetic. In real life she struggled with the pressures of being a star and sailed close to the wind as far as the morality clause in her contract was concerned.

Her great supporter in Hollywood was producer B.P. Schulberg who seeing her first released film Down To The Sea In Ships (1922) signed her at $50 a week. She worked hard for the money, 14 Bow pictures were released in 1925. Paramount became interested and eventually in IT (1927) built a film around her. A fluffy romantic comedy of little consequence it worked so well because of Clara's performance and Elinor Glyn dubbing her the IT Girl secured her immortality and stardom.

Although terrified of the talkies Clara made a reasonable transition to sound with The Wild Party (1929) only to see her popularity damaged by scandals involving gambling and a former secretary who stole money from her. She tried a comeback with a couple of movies at Fox before turning her back on the screen retiring to husband Rex Bell's ranch in Nevada.  


Links

Clara Bow Photo Gallery

FILMOGRAPHY

1922    BEYOND THE RAINBOW    performer
1922    DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS    performer
1923    THE DARING YEARS    performer
1923    THE ENEMIES OF WOMEN    bit
1923    MAYTIME    performer
1924    BLACK    performer
1924    BLACK LIGHTNING    performer
1924    BLACK OXEN    performer
1924    DAUGHTERS OF PLEASURE    performer
1924    EMPTY HEARTS    performer
1924    GRIT    performer
1924    HELEN'S BABIES    performer
1924    POISONED PARADISE    performer
1924    THIS WOMAN    performer
1924    WINE    performer
1925    THE ADVENTUROUS SEX    performer
1925    THE ANCIENT MARINER    performer
1925    THE BEST BAD MAN    performer
1925    CAPITAL PUNISHMENT    performer
1925    EVE'S LOVER    performer
1925    FREE TO LOVE    performer
1925    THE KEEPER OF THE BEES    performer
1925    KISS ME AGAIN    performer
1925    LAWFUL CHEATERS    performer
1925    MY LADY OF WHIMS    performer
1925    MY LADY'S LIPS    performer
1925    PARISIAN LOVE    performer
1925    THE PLASTIC AGE    performer
1925    THE PRIMROSE PATH    performer
1925    THE SCARLET WEST    performer
1926    DANCING MOTHERS    performer
1926    FASCINATING YOUTH    performer
1926    KID BOOTS    performer
1926    MANTRAP    performer
1926    THE RUNAWAY    performer
1926    THE SHADOW OF THE LAW    performer
1926    TWO CAN PLAY    performer
1927    CHILDREN OF DIVORCE    performer
1927    GET YOUR MAN    performer
1927    HULA    performer
1927    IT    performer
1927    ROUGH HOUSE ROSIE    performer
1927    WINGS    performer
1928    THE FLEET'S IN    performer
1928    LADIES OF THE MOB    performer
1928    RED HAIR    performer
1928    THREE WEEK-ENDS    performer
1929    DANGEROUS CURVES    performer
1929    THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID    performer
1929    THE WILD PARTY    performer
1930    HER WEDDING NIGHT    performer
1930    LOVE AMONG THE MILLIONAIRES    performer
1930    PARAMOUNT ON PARADE    performer
1930    TRUE TO THE NAVY    performer
1931    KICK IN    performer
1931    NO LIMIT    performer
1932    CALL HER SAVAGE    performer
1933    HOOPLA    performer
 


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Written content of the Golden Age of Hollywood Website (except where indicated) copyright Derek McLellan, 2007.