Clara Bow
Clara Bow, 1924. (Image from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Clara Bow (1905-1965) was a well-known actress of the silent film era and one of Hollywood’s first “It Girls,” embodying the flapper aesthetic and ideals of the time. Despite her success, Bow’s career lasted only a decade and was riddled with scandal.
Clara Gordon Bow was born in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on July 29, 1905. Her family lived in an apartment at 697 Bergen Street. Bow’s childhood was largely unstable, due to the fact that her mother suffered from seizures and epilepsy-related psychosis and her father was unable to hold down a job. Bow became interested in film and dreamed of being an actress. In 1921, she entered a talent contest in the magazine Motion Picture Classic. Bow won the contest and was granted a screen test as part of her prize which helped generate buzz about the 16 year old. However, Bow’s mother greatly opposed her dreams of becoming an actress. On a winter night in 1922 Bow woke up to find her mother in the midst of a psychotic episode and pressing a knife against her throat. Following the attack, Bow left home forever and her mother entered a psychiatric hospital, only to die a year later.
Determined to become an actress, Bow began to visit and call local studios in Brooklyn and greater New York, asking for roles. In 1922, after many experiences with rejection, she was cast in the film, Down to the Sea in Ships, which centered around the whaling industry in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Bow received rave reviews for her performance in the film and roles in other films soon followed.
Publicity photo from film “Down to the Sea in Ships,” 1922 (Image from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Notably, Bow was cast as a tomboy in the 1923 film, Grit, which was about teenage crime and written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was shot in Astoria, Queens where Bow was approached by a Hollywood executive and offered a contract with Preferred Pictures in Los Angeles.
In the summer of 1923 Bow accepted this contract and moved to California to an apartment off of Hollywood Boulevard. She was given roles in numerous films produced by Preferred Pictures and later, Paramount. Bow was typecast as a flapper, and many involved in the film industry felt she embodied the spirited, headstrong nature that these roles called for. Bow’s biggest and most enduring role came in the 1927 movie, It, where she played a young department store employee in love with the store’s owner. Bow’s performance in the film was celebrated, with F. Scott Fitzgerald commenting that she was, “pretty, impudent, superbly assured, as worldly wise, briefly clad and ‘hard-berled’ as possible” (“Clara Bow”, 2011.) The film won best picture at the first ever Academy Awards.
Although Bow’s professional life was going well, she was surrounded by scandal and gossip about her personal life. Numerous rumors, detailing Bow’s supposed sexual escapades and wild lifestyle, circulated around Hollywood and beyond. Bow had trouble dealing with the stress that these rumors caused. She suffered from insomnia and was overworked. She collapsed on set in 1927 and was sent to rest at the Glendale Sanitarium.
At the end of the 1920’s “talking pictures” forever changed the film industry. Bow made her first “talkie” in 1929. Bow had a thick Brooklyn accent and often spoke with incorrect grammar. She had little formal education and had difficulty memorizing and even understanding her lines. Bow reportedly cried the first time she heard her voice on film. The next few years saw not only a decline in her professional life, but her personal one as well. In 1931 Bow’s former hairdresser and personal assistant, Daisy DeVoe, was charged with attempting to blackmail Bow’s boyfriend, Rex Bell. Over the course of the trial, details about Bow’s romantic life were revealed to the public. This scandal caused Paramount to cancel her contract and at the age of 25, Bow’s career was essentially over.
Bow married Rex Bell and they had two sons. However, for the rest of her life she was plagued by mental health issues. She spent significant time at the Glendale Sanitarium and eventually became a recluse, in large part, refusing to leave her home. Bow died of a heart attack on September 27, 1965. Bow’s career was relatively short and her personal life often tragic. However, she is important to remember for her determination, her talent, and for living her life the way she wanted to at a time when it was shocking for a woman to do so.
Clara Bow portrait (Image from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Resources
Clara Bow. (2011). In Encyclopedia of World Biography (Vol. 31).
Abstract: This encyclopedia entry on Clara Bow provides an overview of her life and career. It includes information on her early life, her career highlights, and later life. It also provides interesting quotes from Bow’s contemporaries, which paint a picture of the actress.
Special to The NewYork Times. (1965, Sep 28). Typified an era. The New York Times. (1923-Current File.)
Abstract: This is a New York Times obituary on Clara Bow. It identifies her success in 1920’s Hollywood and claims that she embodied that era. It also alludes to her scandal-filled personal life.
Stenn, D. (2000). Clara Bow: Runnin’ wild. (2000). New York: Cooper Square Press.
Abstract: This is a 400-page biography of Clara Bow. It takes an in-depth look at her life and career and captures her rise to fame and subsequent fall.
-Amelia George
Researching NYC: Past and Present 