as the cartoon closely resembled another star of the era named Clara Bow (pictured below). "How I broke into the movies". 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. It was a fateful decision. . Clara's family needed help . Clara Gordon Bow (/ b o /; 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.Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". She was dynamite, full of nervous energy and vitality and pitifully eager to please everyone. Bow came to personify the . . [130] In April, Bow was taken to a sanatorium and, at her request, Paramount released her from her final undertaking: City Streets (1931). When Schulberg learned of this arrangement, he fired Jacobson for potentially getting "his big star" into a scandal. A jaw-dropping Turner Classic Movies documentary, "Discovering the 'It' Girl" (debuting Monday at 8 p.m. EDT, 5 p.m. PDT), reveals that Bow was a generous and plucky gal, on-screen and off. N. Yana. It was two years before she moved to Hollywood, and another three before she signed a contract with Paramount. However, they noted, "Miss Bow is presented in her dancing duds as often as possible, and her dancing duds wouldn't weigh two pounds soaking wet. "[122] A visibly nervous Bow had to do a number of retakes in The Wild Party because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead. In the 1920s, studio systems ruled the roost, and actresses often rose or fell on the power of studio publicity sprees. As well see, it only got weirder from there. Her personal appearance is almost enough to carry her to success without the aid of the brains she indubitably possesses. Although his famous daughter supported him financially and gave him jobs, Robert always managed to be out of money. Only the audiences can do it. 6.1. 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. [103] In Victor Fleming's comedy-triangle Mantrap Bow, as Alverna the manicurist, cures lonely hearts Joe Easter (Ernest Torrence) of the great northern, as well as pill-popping New York divorce attorney runaway Ralph Prescott (Percy Marmont). This had devastating consequences. I used to sing at home and people would say, 'Pipe down! In "Hollywood, the Pioneers", (the Brownlow/Gill mini-series on silent movies), she mentioned Clara Bow as being one of the two "most utterly talented actors' she knew. In 1931, one of Clara Bows best friends turned on her. John Gilbert was the other. In January of 1961, Cooper took his family out to Sun Valley for a vacationthe last one they'd ever share . Find out where Clara Bow was born, their birthday and details about their professions, education, religion, family and other life details and facts. I didn't get indignant. After reading The Parades Gone By, Bows fellow silent film star Louise Brooks personally wrote to Kevin Brownlow and admonished him for giving her a whole chapter while giving Bow zilch. "[16], When Bow's mother was 16, she fell from a second-story window and suffered a severe head injury. She was only 25 years old. Usually I was too fat, she remembered. Appropriately chastised, Brownlow included a whole segment on Bow in his next documentary, sparking renewed interest in the lovely, effervescent, and indescribable Clara Bow. "Miss Bow will undoubtedly gain fame as a screen comedienne". Clara Bow (1905-1965) F. Scott Fitzgerald said of her, "This girl was the real thing. Her birthplace is Brooklyn. She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. "[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. My right arm was developed from pitching so much Once I hopped a ride on behind a big fire engine. Bow became a hugely popular actor, and, in tabloid-speak, a notorious wild child. [35], Grit was released on January 7, 1924. Clara Bow Clara Bow born (July 29, 1905) was an American actress who rose to stardom in the 1920s. Please join us in Loving, Sharing and Memorializing Clara Bow George on this permanent online memorial. Never that emotionally stable, the stressors of talkies pushed her over the limit. And the reason Weeks cited for the split? Clara bow Stock Photos and Images. 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. We study audience reactions with great care. Clara Bow was born on 1905-07-29. Oh, it was wonderful. I wish somebody could star Clara Bow. Family & Relatives. He continued to take occasional roles in westerns over the years. What she desires to do she does. She swings from one emotion to another, but she gains nothing, stores up nothing for the future. 2.5 Baths. She had other two sisters who sadly died while they were still infants. Bow was billed 10th in the film, but shone through: By mid-December 1923, primarily due to her merits in Down to the Sea in Ships, Bow was chosen the most successful of the 1924 WAMPAS Baby Stars. She had a miserable home life and few friends, yet films were different. [21][30][31], In the early 1920s roughly 50 million Americanshalf the population at that timeattended the movies every week. "[69] On September 7, 1924, The Los Angeles Times, in a significant article "A dangerous little devil is Clara, impish, appealing, but oh, how she can act! Her . 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. In an almost cruel twist of fate, Sarah had survived the pregnancy, and the baby, whom they still hoped would die, was named Clara. In 1924, Bow was on the set ofPainted People with the more famous star Colleen Moore;the still-green Bow was due to play a bit part as Moores kid sister. Clara's mother hoped that the heat would kill both her and her child and didn't bother with a birth certificate. The production relied on a few less-known actors and local talents. Skip to the beginning of the carousel. Medium. As a part of her beauty routine, she also put henna in her hair to give it extra depth and brightness. 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. If there is an aspect of silent cinema you would like to see featured in Silent but deadly! "[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. In Poisoned Paradise, released on February 29, 1924, Bow got her first lead; "the clever little newcomer whose work wins fresh recommendations with every new picture in which she appears". [83], Adolph Zukor, Paramount Picture CEO, wrote in his memoirs: "All the skill of directors and all the booming of press-agent drums will not make a star. Even at the height of her success, she was alone in Hollywood. She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. [150], Film historian Kevin Brownlow did not mention Bow in his 1968 book on silent films, The Parade's Gone By. I'm sure her 'infinite variety' would keep her from wearying us no matter how many scenes she was in. True or not, it didnt matter. 3 Beds. Gaylor Hiram Weaver Sarah Gordon Simpson Duke 1817 - 1878 Drake Martha Little Clara came into the world in a bleak, sparsely furnished room above [a] dilapidated Baptist Church, and these very humble beginnings were about to turn into an absolute nightmare. [citation needed], Bow was her parents' third child, but her two older sisters, born in 1903 and 1904, had died in infancy. A damaging court trial charging her secretary Daisy DeVoe with financial mismanagement,[124][125] by Paramount-friendly officials: Los Angeles District Attorney Buron Fitts, Assistant District Attorney David Clark, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Clara was fascinated with the Trojan players, particularly captain and All-American quarterback Morley Drury. All Rights Reserved. Reportedly, all she had to do was listen to the lullaby Rock-a-Bye Baby to turn the faucet on. "I wore sweaters and old skirts didn't want to be treated like a girl". Need I say that Bela was hooked? A woman even once brought Bow to divorce court for stealing her husband. Miss Bow and Michael Cudahy, a witness, appear above." c.1926 Robert S. Savage, son of Duluth, Minnesota steel millionaire, was a football hero at Yale; he was known as a man who never lost his head at a crucial moment. [8][9][10] Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. Clara Bow was the original "It Girl" and was one of Hollywood's biggest stars during the flapper era. [145][146] She did not return to her family. The 1930 census indicates 1906,[13] and on her gravestone of 1965, the inscription says 1907, but 1905 is the year accepted by a majority of sources. It was her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". She simply didnt have the attention span for long-form literature. Half her playmates nursed crushes on the young Bow, and one of her best school friends friends even tried to kiss her. 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. Shocked and appalled at Bows total disregard for the fame food chain, Moore flexed her power in the cruellest way she knew how. It was her own naked portrait. 1930: Clara Bow (1905 - 1965), American leading lady of the 'flapper' era poses seductively in a scene from 'Her Wedding Night', directed by Frank Tuttle for Paramount. Though Bow lost her fair share of cat fights in Hollywood, she did have one secret weapon. "[85] And Louise Brooks (from 1980): "(Bow) became a star without nobody's help". I wasn't sore. 338 pp. wonderful. Clara Bow Education. Tui wanted to be closer to Clarasince she was actually in unrequited love with the star. You must see 'Down to the Sea in Ships'". Jacobson concluded, "[Clara] was the sweetest girl in the world, but you didn't cross her and you didn't do her wrong. Its an energetic but thankless role but Bow knew full well how inessential she was in that movie. Carl Sandburg reviewed it on September 29 saying; "If not taken as information, it is cracking good entertainment,". Bow confessed that her mothers mental issues often made her mean to her, but as the years passed, Sarahs hostile episodes got worse and worse. The October 1934, Family Circle Film Guide rated the film as "pretty good entertainment" and stated: "This is the most acceptable bit of talkie acting Miss Bow has done." Bow asked her father, but he told her not to worry. She almost never went out of the house and refused to socialize, but she also hated if her husband left her alone. Bow retired from acting in 1933. [16] "I'd go home and be a one girl circus, taking the parts of everyone I'd seen, living them before the glass. let me know below. Oh, but itll get creepier, Bow starred in the first movie to ever win Best Picture at the Oscars. In his book "Seductive Cinema" (1994: Knopf . On the silver screen, however, she found consolation; "For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world. Rare oil portrait of silent screen legend Clara Bow, posing nude in 1929 for Hungarian artist Geza Kende. Clara Bow, of course. 1. [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". [22] Sarah worsened gradually, and when she realized her daughter was set for a movie career, Bow's mother told her she "would be much better off dead". The young girl was miraculously able to escape and then disarm her mother before she could hurt her, and she quickly locked Sarah up. As it turned out, the director actually wanted a young tomboy type for the part, and Bows disguise worked a little too well. And lots of time didn't have anything to eat. The brassy Bow wasnt afraid to get into scuffles, either. Bows response? If you ever felt even a little bad for Claras father, you should know one thing. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". I wanna play yours. Moores response was swift and brutal. The portrait was commissioned by Kende's fellow Hungarian (and another Hollywood legend), Bela Lugosi, with whom Clara Bow had a brief affair. [16] "Why can't I stay in New York and make movies?" If that werent unhinged enough, Bow then tried to jump into her mothers grave. I make the big bucks in this family, and this brought in the paycheck. When Bell saw Hoop-La, he raised his eyebrows higher than anyone, and he and Bow got into an explosive fight about her scantily-clad acting. For a time, Bow tried to return to a normal life. Her mother Sarah was mentally ill, probably schizophrenic. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. "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. Nicole and Jamal George and Latoya Jackson. [citation needed] Brownlow made up for this omission by including an entire segment about Bow in his television documentary Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980), for which he interviewed Brooks. Schulberg. Adela Rogers St. Johns, a noted screenwriter who had done a number of pictures with Bow, wrote about her: [T]here seems to be no pattern, no purpose to her life. As Bow once retorted, They are snobs. TIMES STAFF WRITER. Alice Joyce starred as her dancing mother, with Conway Tearle as "bad-boy" Naughton. Build Voluptuous [16], Preferred Pictures loaned Bow to producers "for sums ranging from $1500 to $2000 a week"[80] while paying Bow a salary of $200 to $750 a week. Eventually, Bows scraping and begging paid offsort of. Usually I was too fat. I made a place for myself on the screen and you can't do that by being Mrs. Alcott's idea of a Little Woman.[68]. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. As it should be. [29] The Bows and Bakers shared a housestill standingat 33 Prospect Place in 1920. Although doctors never definitively answered her issues, they believed she had schizophrenia and forced her into shock treatments. 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