This had devastating consequences. [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. Bow was born into tragedy. Sarah Bow was the mother of famed, Old Hollywood "It Girl" Clara Bow and the wife of Robert Bow. [3], Bow appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), and Wings (1927). She became an iconic movie star. He was the youngest daughter of Robert and Sarah Box. All the time the flapper is laughing and dancing, theres a feeling of tragedy underneath, she said once. Documents of Clara Belle Bruno (born Bow) Clara Bow in 1940 United States Federal Census Yet as always with Bow, darker days were just around the corner. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. In spite of this Clara was conceived in fall of 1904. When it came to Lugosi, Bow took her bad girl image into overdrive. When I came into his office a big smile came over his face and he looked just tickled to death. In previous years, other contest winners had found work in the movies. [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. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? Throughout her entire careerand particularly during her tragic endBow was incredibly emotionally fragile. Even when she has the opportunity to woo the audience by displaying her charms in a comedy such a Mantrap (How she vamps with her lamps, praised Variety), her inveterate flirting condemns her to an unhappy ending. "[47] While shooting Grit at Pyramid Studios, in Astoria, New York, Bow was approached by Jack Bachman of independent Hollywood studio Preferred Pictures. When Bow told her mother as a teenager that she wanted to be an actress, Sarahs response was utterly cold-blooded. [16] Still, Bow felt deprived of her childhood; "As a kid I took care of my mother, she didn't take care of me". 111, P.S. "Hollywood Star treatment Clara Bow", Thames Television, 1980, UK. We just lived, that's about all. She personified the vivacious, emancipated flapper of the 1920s. This vivacious young woman exchanged the rags and deprivations of her slum childhood in Brooklyn for the glamour and riches of Hollywood, but lived to regret it. She lives entirely in the present, not even for today, but in the moment. . This was a condition apart from the seizures known to cause disordered thinking, delusion, paranoia, and aggressive behavior. Though Bow lost her fair share of cat fights in Hollywood, she did have one secret weapon. The Legacy Of Clara Bow, America's First Sex Symbol. But the worst was yet to come. Shock treatment was tried and numerous psychological tests performed. Although she refused to believe her mothers attack had anything to do with her problems and left the sanatorium in a huff, she didnt return to her young family. Clara Bow was an American film actress who shot to stardom in 1926, then burned out only a few years later. The diagnosis was disturbing. The pair were obsessed with each other, but as two Hollywood hotties, they also saw other people. They had 3 children. In 1944, when she was still in her 30s, Clara Bow tried to commit suicide, leaving only a note. Hollywood Divas. She was born into abject poverty. After this blow, all her inner torment reached a terrifying climax. Bow and actor Rex Bell (later a lieutenant governor of Nevada) had two sons, Tony Beldam (born 1934, changed name to Rex Anthony Bell, Jr., died 2011) and George Beldam, Jr. (born 1938). Clara Bow, better known by the Family name Clara Gordon Bow, was a popular Actress, Model, Producer,. 98. He committed an unforgivable act. The five different screen tests she had, showed this very plainly, her emotional range of expression provoking a fine enthusiasm from every contest judge who saw the tests. High-class Hollywood society considered her and her brassy ways dreadful because she refused to bow down to them or their old rules. [6] At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929).[7]. 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. Bow had died just before the book came out, aged 60 and living alone. [17] She was later diagnosed with "psychosis due to epilepsy". You lose a lot of your cuteness, because there's no chance for action, and action is the most important thing to me. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. [117] Bow fumed: "They yell at me to be dignified. "To get rid of me, or maybe they really meant to (give me) all the time and were just busy", Bow was introduced to director Christy Cabanne, who cast her in Beyond the Rainbow, produced late 1921 in New York City and released February 19, 1922. After all, Bow was known for her huge eyes and her incredibly expressive face. 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. "[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. Was not the smartest move. After reliving all this trauma in the sanatorium, Bow couldnt go back to the way she was. Schulberg fired Jacobson for leading his starlet into scandaland Bows unhinged reaction was one for the ages. She drew on her lipstick in a now-iconic heart-shaped style, and her unique look soon took the public by storm. [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. Her often absentee and brutish father could not or did not provide and her schizophrenic mother tried to slit Clara's throat when the girl spoke of becoming an actress. Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 - September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. [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". [35] In the summer, she got a "tomboy" part in Grit, a story that dealt with juvenile crime and was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Neighborhood stats provided by third party data sources. 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. Even at the height of her success, she was alone in Hollywood. [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. A tabloid called The Coast . View The Obituary For Clara Bow George of Bowling Green, Virginia. Clara Bow was born on 1905-07-29. Off Market. "[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 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. Soon enough, Bows wild lifestyle caught up to her in a big way. After Moores machinations, Bow reportedly vowed to Get that witch. Instead, fate dealt her a bitter hand. But the studio thinks my voice is great."[122]. SOLD FEB 15, 2023. She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. Appropriately chastised, Brownlow included a whole segment on Bow in his next documentary, sparking renewed interest in the lovely, effervescent, and indescribable Clara Bow. She was known as "a hard-partying jazz-baby", and wasn't afraid to break a few rules. Schulberg. "[80] Bow added that she intended to leave the motion picture business at the expiration of the contract, i.e., in 1931. "The Real Clara Bow", NY agent George Frank to Filmjournalen 26/1931. Hollywood Legends. But there is, at long last, a happy ending for Clara Bowand it comes from a most unusual heroine. The studio, like any other independent studio or theater at that time, was under attack from "The Big Three", MPAA, which had formed a trust to block out Independents and enforce the monopolistic studio system. The films she went on to make there included some silent classics: they, and she, were precociously flirtatious, youthful and saucy. This did not end well. 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. To Bows eternal shame, the director cut down her scenes in the final edit of Beyond the Rainbow. Down to the Sea in Ships, shot on location in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and produced by independent "The Whaling Film Corporation", documented life, love, and work in the whale-hunter community. This profile was written in response to a request in the comments by Dickthetag. 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. Not done yet, she began reaming him out for daring to control her private life, and finished by strutting her world-class stems out the door. Bow plays a department store worker in hot pursuit of her handsome boss, and Glyn herself has a cameo. 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. I'm a big freak, because I'm myself! She did not have any girlfriends, and school was a "heartache" and her home was "miserable". Well, that simply wasnt good enough. Oh, it was wonderful. According to those close to Bow on her film sets, the actress was hiding a dark secret. By 1944, the truth was unavoidable. Bow will always be best remembered for It, a romantic caper adapted from Elinor Glyns novel, its title a euphemism for sexual magnetism. They are snobs. "[16] Eventually, director Elmer Clifton needed a tomboy for his movie Down to the Sea in Ships, saw Bow in Motion Picture Classic magazine, and sent for her. Yet the new talkie format still took a huge toll on the actress, In truth, Bow never liked talkies, calling them stiff and limiting and complaining that you lose your cuteness. She also never got comfortable with them. "How I broke into the movies". Who can't? In January 1929, Clara Bow received more than 45,000 letters in a single month. Clara Bow enjoyed a swift rise in Hollywood but then, aged just 25, suffered an equally rapid fall Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images As the silent era made its jerking transition. $299,100. #1 On Your Birthday . Better luck next time, Clara. Up until this point, Bow had been working in her hometown of New York, but Hollywood soon offered her a contract. [53] Alton and Bow rented an apartment at The Hillview near Hollywood Boulevard. Louise Brooks in Branlow, Kevin; Gill, David. "[148] In 1999 the American Film Institute excluded Bow from its finalized "100 Years100 Stars" list,[149] although she was on the list of nominees. Bows father Robert was one unsavory dude. Once she hit Hollywood, Bow gained fame not only for playing flapper roles, but for being a riotous flapper herself. Clara Bow was a great actress. "[118] MGM executive Paul Bern said Bow was "the greatest emotional actress on the screen", "sentimental, simple, childish and sweet," and considered her "hard-boiled attitude" a "defense mechanism". His last appearance was in The Misfits (1961). Although Clara Bows love for Bela Lugosi flamed out fast, she gave the Dracula star a creepy memento of their time together, and it wasnt a chaste lock of hair. She has real courage, because she lives boldly. "[73] Loaned out to Universal, Bow top-starred, for the first time, in the prohibition, bootleg drama/comedy Wine, released on August 20, 1924. By the time the reclusive Clara Bow passed, almost no one remembered her. 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. "[33] At 16, Bow says she "knew" she wanted to be a motion pictures actress, even if she was a "square, awkward, funny-faced kid."[16]. Carl Sandburg reviewed it on September 29 saying; "If not taken as information, it is cracking good entertainment,". "[16] In 1925, Bow appeared in 14 productions: six for her contract owner, Preferred Pictures, and eight as an "out-loan". Bow came to personify the "roaring twenties" and is described as its leading sex symbol. Need I say that Bela was hooked? Moore was married to the film's producer and Bow's protests were futile. 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. She had other two sisters who sadly died while they were still infants. Bell primarily appeared in Western films during his career. [95], Bow's bohemian lifestyle and "dreadful" manners were considered reminders of the Hollywood elite's uneasy position in high society. This? Clara was different in more ways than one, but nothing was as unique as her rise to stardom. Bows character is modern, sexual, compassionate, funny and single-minded. Shes unhappy and disillusioned, and thats what people sense.. Bow was her parents' third child, but her two older sisters, born in 1903 and 1904, had died in infancy. [35] Bow later learned that one of Brewsters' subeditors had urged Clifton to give her a chance.[38]. 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. We want our readers to trust us. [78], I'm almost never satisfied with myself or my work or anything by the time I'm ready to be a great star I'll have been on the screen such a long time that everybody will be tired of seeing me (Tears filled her big round eyes and threatened to fall). She won five medals "at the cinder tracks" and credited her cousin Homer Bakerthe national half-mile (c. 800m) champion (1913 and 1914) and 660-yard (c.600m) world-record holderfor being her trainer. "[86], On April 12, 1926, Bow signed her first contract with Paramount: "to retain your services as an actress for the period of six months from June 6, 1926 to December 6, 1926, at a salary of $750.00 per week". 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. Bow appeared in eight releases in 1924, two were released the same day. Family & Relatives. 98. Clara had a devoted pal and live-in secretary, Daisy DeVoe, a former studio hairdresser. As a part of her beauty routine, she also put henna in her hair to give it extra depth and brightness. In the 1920s, studio systems ruled the roost, and actresses often rose or fell on the power of studio publicity sprees. AFI left her off their iconic 100 Years100 Stars list, and movie historian Kevin Brownlow completely omitted her from his silent film book The Parades Gone By. She became extremely withdrawn and at one point attempted suicide. "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. 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