For all that they were making stacks of money off of her, Bows studio executives and directors were incredibly demeaning of their star. She is endowed with a mentality far beyond her years. It makes a full-sized star of Clara Bow. Clara was the daughter of Robert Walter Bow (1875 - 1959) By his 1st Wife Sarah F. Gordon (1879 - 1923) Robert Walter Bow (1875 - 1959) Married 2nd Wife Idella Elizabeth Mowrey Idella Elizabeth Mowrey (c 1904 - ) Was the daughter of Ella May Cure/Curea (1886 - 1970) and husband John Mowrey (dates unknown) Ella May Cure/Curea (1886 - 1970) As she slipped closer to a major breakdown her manager, B.P. He founded Preferred in 1919 as a result, at the age of 27.[54]. In order to manage her deteriorating mental health in the 1940s, Bow checked herself into a sanatorium again, this time with much worse symptoms. 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. She looks nothing like the other stars of the silent era, who either seemed frozen in puberty (Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish), outrageously "exotic" (Theda Bara, Pola Negri), or untouchably glamorous (Gloria Swanson). This profile was written in response to a request in the comments by Dickthetag. [16] By the time Clara was four and a half, her father was out of work,[18] and between 1905 and 1923, the family lived at 14 different addresses, but seldom outside Prospect Heights, with Clara's father often absent. [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. Im just the whipped cream on top of the pie, she said, and she would come to regret the gratuitous nudity in that role too: I dont want to be remembered as somebody who couldnt do nothin but take her clothes off.. [142] A note was found in which Bow stated she preferred death to a public life. "[16] Bow and her father moved in at 1714 North Kingsley Drive in Hollywood, together with Jacobson, who by then also worked for Preferred. When Bow found out, "She tore up her contract and threw it in his face and told him he couldn't run her private life." RM EC8004 - Clara Bow in 'Hula', a 1927 silent . Clara's grandparents were English and Scottish on her father's side. Her interests include the European Renaissance, popular culture, and Internet history. "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. ? [16], It was snowing. True or not, it didnt matter. 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. She simply didnt have the attention span for long-form literature. Gaylor Hiram Weaver Sarah Gordon Simpson Duke 1817 - 1878 Drake Martha She would go on to become America's most loved and most controversial sex symbol of the silent film era. Tui did complain about Creepy Roberts insatiable appetite in bed, but she put up with it. Bow met her first boyfriend, cameraman Arthur Jacobson, and she got to know director Frank Tuttle, with whom she worked in five later productions. 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. Though school-girls used to tease Bow for her carrot top red hair, her wild locks did earn her another cool nickname when she hit the big time. Bow had died just before the book came out, aged 60 and living alone. Although his famous daughter supported him financially and gave him jobs, Robert always managed to be out of money. [141], Bow spent her last years in Culver City, under the constant care of a nurse, Estalla Smith, living off an estate worth about $500,000 at the time of her death. Profession: Actress Debut: Beyond the Rainbow. Bow was born in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn at 697 Bergen Street,[11] in a "bleak, sparsely furnished room above [a] dilapidated Baptist Church". Bows friends wondered what Tui was possibly getting out of the marriage. 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. [35] Bow later learned that one of Brewsters' subeditors had urged Clifton to give her a chance.[38]. Although doctors never definitively answered her issues, they believed she had schizophrenia and forced her into shock treatments. Clara Bow Sorrells of Slocomb passed away Sunday, November 12, 2017 at Flowers Hospital after a short illness. They had 3 children. "[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]. Along with her tomboy and flapper roles, she starred in boxing films and posed for promotional photographs as a boxer. Its just that they hid it, and Clara didnt. Bow knew the truth. For all her successes, Bow was snubbed by the in-crowd, and for years after her heyday she would be nudged out of history. I'm a curiosity in Hollywood. People called her birdbrain, while another executive named her as the easy winner of the dumbbell award and claimed she couldnt act. However, nothing could be further from the truth. SOLD FEB 15, 2023. We want our readers to trust us. "[68], My life in Hollywood contained plenty of uproar. Clara Bow Education. Bow truly loved movies, but her adoration came from an incredibly dark place. Once she hit Hollywood, Bow gained fame not only for playing flapper roles, but for being a riotous flapper herself. She did not have any girlfriends, and school was a "heartache" and her home was "miserable". But she paid a price for being brazen. "I can't do it." Her maid called Bow's fianc, the cowboy film star Rex Bell, who came over, and realizing the seriousness of the situation, drove Bow to a hospital where doctors determined the actress was suffering from "shattered nerves . Im a curiosity in Hollywood, she said. She said about her childhood, "I never had any clothes. 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. Clara Gordon Bow came silently into the world on the 29th of July 1905, in Brooklyn. Oh, it was wonderful. [35] Preferred Pictures was run by Schulberg, who had started as a publicity manager at Famous Players-Lasky, but in the aftermath of the power struggle around the formation of United Artists, ended up on the losing side and lost his job. The New York Times said, "The flapper, impersonated by a young actress, Clara Bow, had five speaking titles, and every one of them was so entirely in accord with the character and the mood of the scene that it drew a laugh from what, in film circles, is termed a "hard-boiled" audience",[57] while the Los Angeles Times commented that "Clara Bow, the prize vulgarian of the lot was amusing and spirited but didn't belong in the picture",[58] and Variety said that "the horrid little flapper is adorably played". My mom never told me how her best friend died. There was always something. I'm sure her 'infinite variety' would keep her from wearying us no matter how many scenes she was in. She was dynamite, full of nervous energy and vitality and pitifully eager to please everyone. Well, this backfired horribly. 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. Clara Bow always had a cartoonishly beautiful face and an iconic tuft of red hair. "It can't do any harm" he said. Throughout her entire careerand particularly during her tragic endBow was incredibly emotionally fragile. This family portrait of Rex Bell, cowboy actor, and his wife Clara Bow, former. She has almost immediately been elected for all the recent flapper parts". "[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. Bow stated she was 23 years old, i.e., born 1906, contradicting the censuses of 1910 and 1920.[13]. [8][9][10] Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. [121][failed verification] However, Bow, like Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks, and most other silent film stars, did not embrace the novelty: "I hate talkies they're stiff and limiting. In spite of this Clara was conceived in fall of 1904. 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. The great and the good of Tinseltown resented that. It was two years before she moved to Hollywood, and another three before she signed a contract with Paramount. Hollywood Divas. With Paramount on Parade, True to the Navy, Love Among the Millionaires, and Her Wedding Night, Bow was second at the box-office only to Joan Crawford in 1930. The portrait was commissioned by Kende's fellow Hungarian (and another Hollywood legend), Bela Lugosi, with whom Clara Bow had a brief affair. Louise Brooks, who received an entire chapter in the book, wrote to Brownlow, "You brush off Clara Bow for some old nothing like Brooks. "[61] Moore, a well-established star earning $1200 a weekBow got $200took offense and blocked the director from shooting close-ups of Bow. . But when she sat down to watch the film, she was utterly devastated. let me know below. 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. Clara Bow was a Brooklyn native. Girls shunned me because I was so poorly dressed. Bow lived her life to the limit, and became a tabloid staple during the heady years of her fame. [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. . Her film career held more future sadness and scandal than she could have possibly imagined when she signed on the dotted line. The beautiful Bow was pretty indiscriminate about where she lay her head, and her habits always got her into hot water if her bed-mate was actually, uh, married. 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. One of her playmates, a young boy named Johnny who lived in the same building as her family, caught fire in an accident. Shes unhappy and disillusioned, and thats what people sense.. We study audience reactions with great care. [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". Besides her flaming red hair, Bows lips were also a national sensation. Clara increased her list of male lovers that included actors John Gilbert, Norman Kerry and Warren Burke. 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. Only this is Clara Bow were talking about, and she didnt have a quitting bone in her. [34] In the contest's final screen test, Bow was up against an already scene-experienced woman who did "a beautiful piece of acting". But having "It" didn't . If Clara Bow looks eerily familiar, maybe thats because shes one of the inspirations behind the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop. 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. 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. In the Cinderella based story It, the poor shop-girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) conquers the heart of her employer Cyrus Waltham (Antonio Moreno). So I played her as a flirt. A set member later stated that when Bow did the scene, she actually became her character and "lived it". She had no problem carousing late into the night and then rolling into the film set in the early hours of the morning, taking whatever lover she pleased along the way. Her parents met as neighbours in a New York State farming neighbourhood. In 1927, she had the female lead role in "Wings," the first Oscar winning "Best Picture." With the advent of talkies, and despite her thick Brooklyn accent, Clara starred in several hit movies. She is completing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. By the time the reclusive Clara Bow passed, almost no one remembered her. She was born into abject poverty. [75] While Grace Kingsley of the Los Angeles Times said; "Don't miss Wine. [133] In an interview on December 17, Bow detailed her way back to health:[134] sleep, exercise, and food, and the day after it she returned to Hollywood "for the sole purpose of making enough money to be able to stay out of it. [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. Please join us in Loving, Sharing and Memorializing Clara Bow George on this permanent online memorial. When she was trying to make it in movies, the petite and cute Bow said casting directors always turned her downfor one disturbing reason. Clara Bow was born on 1905-07-29. Its an energetic but thankless role but Bow knew full well how inessential she was in that movie. Either way, no one was surprised when it ended, but they were downright astonished by just how quickly things went south. View The Obituary For Clara Bow George of Bowling Green, Virginia. [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. After Moores machinations, Bow reportedly vowed to Get that witch. Instead, fate dealt her a bitter hand. The shift from silent films to talkies was an enormous sea change in Hollywood that drowned many a starbut contrary to popular belief, our gritty Clara survived and thrived. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". [5] With No Limit and Kick In, Bow held the position as fifth at box-office in 1931, but the pressures of fame, public scandals, and overwork, took their toll on Bow's fragile emotional health. "All the time the flapper is laughing and dancing, there's a feeling of tragedy underneath, She's unhappy and disillusioned, and that's what people sense"Bow[140], Bow eventually began showing symptoms of psychiatric illness. 98. Bow was attracted to Lugosi when he was still doing the stage version of Dracula, and sauntered down to a performance one night wearing only her mink coat and bathing suit. [29] The Bows and Bakers shared a housestill standingat 33 Prospect Place in 1920. We just lived, that's about all. Clara Bow doesn't look like a relic. Clara had a devoted pal and live-in secretary, Daisy DeVoe, a former studio hairdresser. Tuttle remembered: Her emotions were close to the surface. Three children were born to his union - Diane, Tom, Randy - and they farmed, ranched, and milked cows on the family farm until moving to Rapid City, SD, in October 1960. It was her own naked portrait. She personified the vivacious, emancipated flapper of the 1920s. [130] In April, Bow was taken to a sanatorium and, at her request, Paramount released her from her final undertaking: City Streets (1931). When audiences first watched her in a talkie, they might have been shocked at what they heard: You see, Bow still had an intense Brooklyn accent. In the morning, Bow's mother had no recollection of the episode, and later she was committed to a "sanatarium" by Robert Bow. My right arm was quite famous. [21][30][31], In the early 1920s roughly 50 million Americanshalf the population at that timeattended the movies every week. Thanks for your time! Clara was different in more ways than one, but nothing was as unique as her rise to stardom. Both films were produced by First National Pictures, and while Black Oxen was still being edited and Flaming Youth not yet released, Bow was requested to co-star with Moore as her kid sister in Painted People (The Swamp Angel). In addition to athletics and acting, Bow was also a fan of poetry and music. Amazingly, Tui and Robert actually went through with it, but not without a handful of drama. 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