Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was one of the iconic American film stars of the silent era and the original "It" Girl.
The Double Entendre nickname referenced the movie that made her famous: 1927's It. Breaking into the movies by winning a modelling contest at sixteen—after a horrific childhood in the New York slums, during which her mentally ill mother repeatedly tried to kill hernote and her father subsequently raped her—she quickly came to personify the new female freedoms of The Roaring '20s.
In a total of 46 silent films and 11 talkies, nearly all wildly popular (if usually dubious quality) romantic comedies, she invariably played the sexy, sassy, liberated flapper, complete with bobbed red hair and the latest fashion trends, out to land her man by any means necessary. She was the screen's top box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and took second place in 1927 and 1930. In January 1929 alone she was said to have received 45,000 fan letters. Unfortunately, this huge popularity actually worked against her artistically; as long as fans would flock to the silliest dreck imaginable just because she was the star... why bother spending time and more importantly money on producing an actually good film around her?
Offscreen, her similarly breezy, uninhibited and down-to-earth attitude—complete with thick Brooklyn accent—was less of a popular success, earning her the fastidious scorn of a Hollywood establishment that had recently suffered a series of high-profile scandals and was now desperate to portray itself as high-class. Numerous affairs (albeit considerably fewer than legend reports) with the likes of Gary Cooper didn't help. Nor did the fact that she insisted on bringing dear old Creepy Dad to Hollywood with her.note
Ultimately, Bow is also notable for being a Short-Lived, Big Impact actor, in terms of career. Although (also contrary to legend) her accent didn't prevent her from making the move to talking pictures, she did develop a severe case of 'mike fright', unable to keep her eyes off it during filming. note Disenchanted with Hollywood, she abruptly married cowboy star-turned-politician Rex Bell in 1931, moved with him to a Nevada ranch and retired from acting almost immediately thereafter.
Two children, and a series of nervous breakdowns swiftly followed. Diagnosed with schizophrenia probably inherited from her mother, she spent the rest of her life as a quiet, reclusive figure, only rarely granting interviews. She died of a heart attack at age 60.
Selected filmography
- The Plastic Age (1925)
- Get Your Man (1927)
- It (1927)
- Wings (1927)
- Call Her Savage (1932)
Tropes associated with her work:
- '20s Bob Haircut: One of the defining examples, and hers provides one of the page images. She had the messy kind to sell her characters as a bit wild, and she often played with her hair in scenes.
- Actor-Inspired Element: Her memorable role in It? The short story the film was adapted from was supposed to be about a male protagonist, but changed to a woman specifically for Clara to play.
- Costume Backlash: She disliked her military uniform in Wings (1927), as it didn't flatter her figure.
- Creator Backlash: She grew tired of her flapper roles and longed to pursue more serious projects.
- Deleted Role: For her first film, Beyond the Rainbow, she filmed five scenes that were all cut.
- Harpo Does Something Funny: Louise Brooks talked about how Clara would spontaneously start doing something in a scene, such as playing with a doll or stretching herself out across the table, often against the wishes of the director but eventually they just let her do it because it was what sold the Clara Bow persona.
- I Am Not Leonard Nimoy: One of Paramount's manifestos for her was that all of her characters had to be indistinguishable from Clara herself - they all had to be wild girls who wore revealing clothes at some point and pursued her love interest. The one exception was Wings (1927), where she played Girl Next Door caught up in World War I, and even that had a scene where her character improbably dons a skimpy dress.
- Ms. Fanservice: She once joked that Paramount were more concerned with "getting her undressed" than giving her quality roles. She actually appeared topless in Wings, albeit from behind.
- Reclusive Artist: After retiring from films completely, she led a quiet life rarely giving interviews.
- The Red Stapler: Her habit of applying lipstick in the shape of a heart was copied by women, who were said to be putting a Clara Bow on their lips.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Her time at Paramount came to an end through a combination of three incidents:
- She had become involved with a married man, the wife threatened to sue, and Paramount paid her off to avoid the scandal. Clara found out that the woman never accepted the money and travelled to Texas to find out where it went, which led to the press discovering the story.
- An incident at a casino, where she had assumed she was playing with 50 cent chips and went to pay the $69 she thought she owed at the end of the night, only to discover she had been playing with $100 chips and actually owed nearly $14,000. Initially refusing to pay, she was slammed in the press as a "welsher".
- And the kicker - her lifelong friend and assistant Daisy DeVoe ended up fired after a misunderstanding, attempted to blackmail to get the job back, and was later sued for financial mismanagement. But DeVoe as part of her defence had multiple of Clara's private letters read aloud in court, which were then published word for word in the press. This, coupled with years of frustration about how fame left her no private life, led to Clara and Paramount mutually parting ways.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Memorably in Down to the Sea in Ships, where her character is told girls can't be whalers, so she disguises herself as a boy to sneak aboard a ship.
- What Could Have Been:
- Her debut Down to the Sea in Ships was written as a much smaller role, but because she was such a natural on camera, they added more scenes to expand it.
- She was Howard Hughes's first choice for Red-Headed Woman and she liked the script, but she turned it down when Irving Thalberg tried to make her sign a long term studio contract.
- Mary Pickford wanted Clara to play her sister in Secrets, what ended up being the former's final film role.
- She was in consideration for the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, but turned it down because she considered herself retired and wanted to leave fame behind.
- She was also offered a chance to write a memoir, but opted not to, not wanting to embarrass her family.
