let me know below. That year, Bow discovered her secretary and confidant Daisy DeVoe had been mismanaging her money, and took her to court. "[104] The film was released on July 24, 1926,[105] to rave reviews. 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.. 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. However, the lovely Clara Bow certainly wasn't his last high-profile lover. Her parents met as neighbours in a New York State farming neighbourhood. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "He knew it. "[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. Frightful snobs Im a curiosity in Hollywood. Were always looking for your input! 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. Her mother, Sarah Gordon, who was mentally ill as well as an epileptic, was noted for her public and frequent affairs with local firemen. [60] Moore essayed the baseball-playing tomboy and Bow, according to Moore, said "I don't like my part, I wanna play yours. She said she was horrified and hurt by the gesture. But they also discovered Bows biggest, darkest trauma, While in the sanatorium, Bow told doctors about the darkest period of her lifeand it went back to the very beginning. For a time, Bow tried to return to a normal life. Clara Bow was an American film actress who shot to stardom in 1926, then burned out only a few years later. If Clara Bow looks eerily familiar, maybe thats because shes one of the inspirations behind the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. I'm sorry for a lot of it but not awfully sorry. [145][146] She did not return to her family. In 1931, one of Clara Bows best friends turned on her. In 1931, as "Clara had become more than she was worth," (Stenn, 232) the actress and Paramount came to a mutual settlement to terminate her . Her acting artistry and high spirits made her the premier flapper and the film It (1927) made her world famous. One hundred and eleven years ago, Clara Bow was born into violent poverty in Brooklyn, New York. Abuse, in all its ugly forms, was common. [24][25][26] On January 5, 1923, Sarah died at the age of 43 from her epilepsy. When Bow told her mother as a teenager that she wanted to be an actress, Sarahs response was utterly cold-blooded. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. She played games with boys her age, and they didnt seem to mind her patchy sweaters. 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. Rex Bell (born George Francis Beldam; October 16, 1903 - July 4, 1962) was an American actor and politician. 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. The portrait was commissioned by Kende's fellow Hungarian (and another Hollywood legend), Bela Lugosi, with whom Clara Bow had a brief affair. It was her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film "It" that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". True or not, it didnt matter. [14] Her mother, Sarah Frances Bow (ne Gordon, 18801923), was told by a doctor not to become pregnant again, for fear the next baby might die as well. Yeah, sit down Rex. This? She did not have any girlfriends, and school was a "heartache" and her home was "miserable". 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). She landed a role in 1921s Beyond the Rainbow. "[16] Lloyd told the press, "Bow is the personification of the ideal aristocratic flapper, mischievous, pretty, aggressive, quick-tempered and deeply sentimental. Hollywood's first sex symbol, the 'It' girl, Clara Bow was born in the slums of Brooklyn in a family plagued with alcoholism and insanity. That very year, Bow resorted to desperate measures. Thanks for your time! Nicole and Jamal George and Latoya Jackson. Shock treatment was tried and numerous psychological tests performed. Well, this backfired horribly. Never that emotionally stable, the stressors of talkies pushed her over the limit. What a fitting final curtain call for a performer who got her start in a national competition. [53] Alton and Bow rented an apartment at The Hillview near Hollywood Boulevard. 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. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. ", her father is titled "business manager" and Jacobson referred to as her brother.[70]. Sarah didnt listenand the conditions of Claras birth couldnt have been worse. wonderful. Unable to cope with the pressures of a public life or work through the traumas of her childhood, she locked herself up in that bungalow for decades, and passed almost entirely alone. When she watched them, she said, For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world., Bow looked pert and cute, but dont be fooled: She could be as arrogant as any other starlet. Amazingly, Tui and Robert actually went through with it, but not without a handful of drama. Off Market. Was not the smartest move. She was known as "a hard-partying jazz-baby", and wasn't afraid to break a few rules. 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. Clara Bow Height and Physical Info Some people are indeed interested in the weight and height of celebrities, but there is a more important question to ask. "[88] Some critics felt Bow had conquered new territory, "(Bow) presents a whimsical touch to her work that adds greater laurels to her fast ascending star of screen popularity. Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark historyor the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. 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". "With her beauty, her brains, her personality and her genuine acting ability it should not be many moons before she enjoys stardom in the fullest sense of the word. This did not end well. Story of the lives of the people in a small Quaker community and the adventures of a whaling ship. [28] Clara is the total nonconformist. 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. 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. For all that they were making stacks of money off of her, Bows studio executives and directors were incredibly demeaning of their star. Lobbycard of the movie"Children of Divorce" with from left, Esther Ralston and Clara Bow, in 1927. Only this is Clara Bow were talking about, and she didnt have a quitting bone in her. Clara married Charles McConnell Bruno. She became an iconic movie star. [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". Bow was born in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn at 697 Bergen Street,[11] in a "bleak, sparsely furnished room above [a] dilapidated Baptist Church". The great and the good of Tinseltown resented that. 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]. Clara Gordon Bow was born on July 29, 1905 in a tenement in Brooklyn, New York, the only surviving child of a family afflicted with mental illness and Dickensian poverty and physical and emotional abuse. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. One of her more understanding directors, Victor Fleming, compared her to a Stradivarius violin, saying Touch her, and she responded with genius. Take that. Hollywood Divas. She is completing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. Bell primarily appeared in Western films during his career. You lose a lot of your cuteness, because there's no chance for action, and action is the most important thing to me. [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. "[56] It was released on January 4, 1924. She personified the vivacious, emancipated flapper of the 1920s. "I wore sweaters and old skirts didn't want to be treated like a girl". That year, she went out of her house in hand-painted legs, a phenomenon that soon women all over California were taking up. Clara Bow is Update Soon years old in 2022. A tabloid called, The lead character of Peppy Miller from the 2011 film, Bow inspired the name of the player character, Bow is the subject of the 1986 song "Clara Bow", by the cult independent pop group, "Clara Bow" is also the title of a song on alternative rock-band, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 06:03. [6] At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929).[7]. According to those close to Bow on her film sets, the actress was hiding a dark secret. I once directed Clara Bow (Wings). Still, on second thought it might not be safe: Clara uses a dangerous pair of eyes. Its contents were heartbreaking. All Rights Reserved. Bow retired from acting in 1933. 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. Rare oil portrait of silent screen legend Clara Bow, posing nude in 1929 for Hungarian artist Geza Kende. 3 Beds. Clara Bow lingers in the eye, long after the picture has gone. I have to do the best I can," she said. Naturally, Bow wonbut then came the hard part. [96] And in 1981, Budd Schulberg described Bow as "an easy winner of the dumbbell award" who "couldn't act," and compared her to a puppy that his father B. P. Schulberg "trained to become Lassie. In June 1925, Bow was credited for being the first to wear hand-painted legs in public, and was reported to have many followers at the Californian beaches. Clara was always a charmer with men, but she was also deeply damaged. N. Yana. You're terrible!' Clara Bow (1905-1965) F. Scott Fitzgerald said of her, "This girl was the real thing. [23], According to Bow's biographer, David Stenn, Bow was raped by her father at age sixteen while her mother was institutionalized. [75] While Grace Kingsley of the Los Angeles Times said; "Don't miss Wine. Dolores Costello. Maytime was Bow's first Hollywood picture, an adaptation of the popular operetta Maytime, in which she essayed "Alice Tremaine". For all that she hated talkies, she made a cameo as the mystery voice in the 1947 radio show Truth or Consequences in their Mrs. "[16] In 1925, Bow appeared in 14 productions: six for her contract owner, Preferred Pictures, and eight as an "out-loan". In an attempt to overcome her youthful looks, Bow put her hair up and arrived in a dress she "sneaked" from her mother. 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. It was two years before she moved to Hollywood, and another three before she signed a contract with Paramount. Bow dealt with her trauma in a tragic waythat is, she didnt deal with it at all. Bow was born into tragedy. [16] "Why can't I stay in New York and make movies?" She has almost immediately been elected for all the recent flapper parts". Hollywood saw Bow in much the same way she was the scruffy, lower-class kid whose behaviour jarred with the smart set and who had to work twice as hard as the others for her success. "Clara Bow testified today at hearing which freed Robert S. Savage of insanity charges in 'suicide bluff' to win her love. Clara Bow was the screen's first sex symbol--cinema's "It" girl who exuded sex appeal, enticement and excitement. "[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! "[114] Parker in actuality was not referring to Bow or to Bow's character in the film It, but to a different character, Ava Cleveland, in the novel of the same name.[115]. Thats right, followers like Edie Sedgwick and Sienna Miller have Clara Bow to thank. In 1944, when she was still in her 30s, Clara Bow tried to commit suicide, leaving only a note. Both Clara and her mother nearly didnt make it, and Bow later recalled how the two of them looked death in the face that day. 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. She told Bow she would be better off dead than a Hollywood star, then made good on that disturbing promise. "[90], Bow began to date her co-star Gilbert Roland, who became her first fianc. By the time the reclusive Clara Bow passed, almost no one remembered her. 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