Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become "The It Girl", was born on July 29, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in poverty and violence. 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.

Bow, nonetheless, won a photo beauty contest which launched her movie career that would eventually number 58 films, from 1922 to 1933.

She lived in a seven-room bungalow at 512 N. Bedford Dr. in Beverly Hills at one point. She also lived in a Spanish-style house on Hollywood Blvd. between 1925 and 1927, and her last home was on Aneta Street in Culver City. She reportedly preferred playing poker with her cook, maid, and chauffeur over attending her movie premieres. Some of the properties in question are shown in Hollywood Mouth 2 (2014), whose director, Jordan Mohr lived near the Culver City property as a child and recognized the name of the street while reading David Stenn's biography of the actress.

The movie It (1927) defined her career. The film starred Clara as a shopgirl who was asked out by the store's owner. As you watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared for her date with the boss, her friend trying hard to assist her. She used a pair of scissors to modify her dress to try to look "sexier. " The movie did much to change society's mores as there were only a few years between World War I and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. In the film she presented a worldly wisdom that somehow sex meant having a good time. But the movie shouldn't mislead the viewer, because when her boss tries to kiss her goodnight, she slaps him. At the height of her popularity she received over 45,000 fan letters a month. Also, she was probably the most overworked and underpaid star in the industry. With the coming of sound, her popularity waned. Clara was also involved in several court battles ranging from unpaid taxes to being in divorce court for "stealing" women's husbands. After the court trials, she made a couple of attempts to get back in the public eye.

1928: She became the highest paid movie star, receiving $35,000 per week.

She had a rare singing role (sang "I'm True To The Navy") in Paramount on Parade (1930), a talkie and one of her last films.

Had a turbulent love affair with actor Bela Lugosi (who had yet to deliver his career-making legendary performance in Dracula (1931) on the big screen) in the late 1920s. Lugosi had a nude portrait of Bow hanging in the bedroom of his small Hollywood apartment for the rest of his life.

One was Call Her Savage (1932) in 1932.

It was somewhat of a failure at the box office and her last was in 1933 in a film called Hoopla (1933). She then married cowboy star Rex Bell at 26 and retired from the film world at 28. She doted on her two sons and did everything to please them. Haunted by a weight problem and a mental imbalance, she never re-entered show business. She was confined to sanitariums from time to time and prohibited access to her beloved sons.

Sons, by Rex Bell: Rex Bell Jr.. (b. 1934) and George Robert (b. 1938).

1949: After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, her regimen included shock treatments. Later in her life her husband sent her to one of the top mental institutions in the nation.

During the 1950s, she and actor Marlon Brando were pen pals. They corresponded regularly until her death in 1965.

She died of a heart attack in West Los Angeles, on September 26, 1965 at age 60. Today she is finding a renaissance among movie buffs, who are recently discovering the virtues of silent film.

Pictured on one of ten 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating stars of the silent screen, issued 27 April 1994. Designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, this set of stamps also honored Rudolph Valentino, Charles Chaplin, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Zasu Pitts, Harold Lloyd, Theda Bara, Buster Keaton, and the Keystone Kops.