Hello One and All!
Today I'm discussing one of the biggest film stars of the late silent era - Clara Bow. Rumours are that there is a biopic in the works, and it's a mystery why there hasn't been one sooner, because her life was filled with twists and turns.
Life of Clara Bow
Sarah Bow went into labour on the 29th July 1905 in Brooklyn. She was warned by doctors that a pregnancy could be fatal for her, but she hoped that this birth would kill her and free her of a miserable existence. Sarah survived though and the baby girl was named Clara Bow by her father (Robert Bow), though the parents were so sure of the baby’s death that they didn’t even bother to get a birth certificate.
When Clara saw her grandfather die before her eyes from an apoplectic fit, her mother told the 3-year old girl that she wished it had been her instead. Her mother would have seizures where her eyes would become glassy and she became short of breath. All that Clara could do in these situations was to massage her throat and hope her mother breathed again.
The Brooklyn tenements that the Bows lived in was one of the roughest areas in the USA in the early 20th century. Denizens included killers for hire, dope peddlers, pimps and hustlers. Clara said of this time “I have known hunger, believe me.”
The family dynamic usually consisted of Sarah goading Robert for his failures then the Bow patriarch would take out his frustration out on Clara, beating her with a leather razor strop. This caused the young girl to grow into a lonely, hypersensitive child who developed a stammer. Her speech impediment and tattered clothes was mocked by the other girls. She chose the company of boys and developed into a tomboy, roaming the streets with ruffians fighting each other with knives, bricks or stones. Clara’s right hook was apparently famous among the boys, and she was always chosen first when there was a game of stickball.
Although respected and feared by some, she didn’t have any friends. Her only real friend was Johnny, an imaginary kid brother that she could play with and protect, and any boy that bullied him got a beating from her. One afternoon in her tenement though she rushed downstairs to find him on fire, and even though she extinguished the fire, he died in her arms.
One constant escape from her hard life were the movies. Clara spent all her spare time attending movies or reading movie magazines, eventually making a friend in a neigbouring kid who was also a movie fan (also named John). When she shared her dream of becoming a movie star with her mother; Sarah ridiculed her daughter for the dream and called her the ugliest mutt in the family without any talent.
In 1919, while Clara was scrubbing clothes in a washtub (her mother being incapacitated a lot of the time), Sarah crept up behind her daughter and hissed in her ear “I think I’ll kill ya. This is a terrible world. You are better off dead.” Clara wasn’t safe at home anymore after that and was yanked out of school, without even finishing eighth grade, and tasked with finding a job.
She did odd jobs until she entered the Fame and Fortune Contest, sponsored by Brewster Publications that put out Motion Picture, her favourite movie magazine. After a grueling contest she won, and with it, the prize of a role in a motion picture.
Clara’s mother was violently opposed to her daughter becoming an actress, believing it to be a profession for women of ill repute. Clara woke one night and found her mother hovering over her with a butcher knife in hand saying “I’m gonna kill ya , Clara.” Sarah pinned the girl’s hands to the bed. “It’ll be better”, then she raised the knife to Clara’s throat but then she fainted. The next morning Sarah Bow had no memory of what she did to her daughter. Clara would carry the haunting incident with her forever though, and it marked the beginning of intense insomnia. After the release of Clara’s first movie, Beyond the Rainbow, Sarah decided it was her “duty” to kill her daughter before she made another movie, so she chased her around the flat with a butcher knife and drove her out to the street. Clara wandered around Coney Island in a daze for two days. This incident was the final straw and Robert Bow committed his wife to an asylum (the same one that her own mother had been committed to).
Although she became an iconic star, she was never accepted in Hollywood society because of her working class background, her Brooklyn accent, and her habit of being blindingly honest.
As Clara said “I’m a curiosity in Hollywood. I’m a big freak because I’m myself.”
Then in 1931 Bow’s personal secretary Daisy DeVoe was convicted of Grand Theft of the actresses’ funds. The court case devastated Clara because Daisy was more than an employee, she was Clara’s best friend who she had relied on.
Studio executives all the while also tried to manipulate her and called her names like “dumbbell” and "bird brain."
Her physical and mental health issues (she reportedly had schizophrenia, like her mother and grandmother) were exacerbated by the pressures of fame. The advent of sound caused Clara a lot of mike fright and anxiety, and she took a lot sedatives to deal with all of it.
She finally retired from film in 1933, at age 28, and lived on a ranch in Nevada as a recluse with her husband Rex Bell. She still struggled with mental health issues, and attempted suicide in 1940s when her husband wanted to re-enter the political sphere. She was also frequently admitted to sanitariums until her death in 1960.
Thank you for reading!
Today I'm discussing one of the biggest film stars of the late silent era - Clara Bow. Rumours are that there is a biopic in the works, and it's a mystery why there hasn't been one sooner, because her life was filled with twists and turns.
Life of Clara Bow
Sarah Bow went into labour on the 29th July 1905 in Brooklyn. She was warned by doctors that a pregnancy could be fatal for her, but she hoped that this birth would kill her and free her of a miserable existence. Sarah survived though and the baby girl was named Clara Bow by her father (Robert Bow), though the parents were so sure of the baby’s death that they didn’t even bother to get a birth certificate.
When Clara saw her grandfather die before her eyes from an apoplectic fit, her mother told the 3-year old girl that she wished it had been her instead. Her mother would have seizures where her eyes would become glassy and she became short of breath. All that Clara could do in these situations was to massage her throat and hope her mother breathed again.
The Brooklyn tenements that the Bows lived in was one of the roughest areas in the USA in the early 20th century. Denizens included killers for hire, dope peddlers, pimps and hustlers. Clara said of this time “I have known hunger, believe me.”
The family dynamic usually consisted of Sarah goading Robert for his failures then the Bow patriarch would take out his frustration out on Clara, beating her with a leather razor strop. This caused the young girl to grow into a lonely, hypersensitive child who developed a stammer. Her speech impediment and tattered clothes was mocked by the other girls. She chose the company of boys and developed into a tomboy, roaming the streets with ruffians fighting each other with knives, bricks or stones. Clara’s right hook was apparently famous among the boys, and she was always chosen first when there was a game of stickball.
Although respected and feared by some, she didn’t have any friends. Her only real friend was Johnny, an imaginary kid brother that she could play with and protect, and any boy that bullied him got a beating from her. One afternoon in her tenement though she rushed downstairs to find him on fire, and even though she extinguished the fire, he died in her arms.
One constant escape from her hard life were the movies. Clara spent all her spare time attending movies or reading movie magazines, eventually making a friend in a neigbouring kid who was also a movie fan (also named John). When she shared her dream of becoming a movie star with her mother; Sarah ridiculed her daughter for the dream and called her the ugliest mutt in the family without any talent.
In 1919, while Clara was scrubbing clothes in a washtub (her mother being incapacitated a lot of the time), Sarah crept up behind her daughter and hissed in her ear “I think I’ll kill ya. This is a terrible world. You are better off dead.” Clara wasn’t safe at home anymore after that and was yanked out of school, without even finishing eighth grade, and tasked with finding a job.
She did odd jobs until she entered the Fame and Fortune Contest, sponsored by Brewster Publications that put out Motion Picture, her favourite movie magazine. After a grueling contest she won, and with it, the prize of a role in a motion picture.
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| Clara Bow in 1921 (16 years old) after she won the Fame and Fortune Contest. |
Clara’s mother was violently opposed to her daughter becoming an actress, believing it to be a profession for women of ill repute. Clara woke one night and found her mother hovering over her with a butcher knife in hand saying “I’m gonna kill ya , Clara.” Sarah pinned the girl’s hands to the bed. “It’ll be better”, then she raised the knife to Clara’s throat but then she fainted. The next morning Sarah Bow had no memory of what she did to her daughter. Clara would carry the haunting incident with her forever though, and it marked the beginning of intense insomnia. After the release of Clara’s first movie, Beyond the Rainbow, Sarah decided it was her “duty” to kill her daughter before she made another movie, so she chased her around the flat with a butcher knife and drove her out to the street. Clara wandered around Coney Island in a daze for two days. This incident was the final straw and Robert Bow committed his wife to an asylum (the same one that her own mother had been committed to).
Although she became an iconic star, she was never accepted in Hollywood society because of her working class background, her Brooklyn accent, and her habit of being blindingly honest.
As Clara said “I’m a curiosity in Hollywood. I’m a big freak because I’m myself.”
 |
| Life dealt Clara Bow a tough hand. |
Then in 1931 Bow’s personal secretary Daisy DeVoe was convicted of Grand Theft of the actresses’ funds. The court case devastated Clara because Daisy was more than an employee, she was Clara’s best friend who she had relied on.
Studio executives all the while also tried to manipulate her and called her names like “dumbbell” and "bird brain."
Her physical and mental health issues (she reportedly had schizophrenia, like her mother and grandmother) were exacerbated by the pressures of fame. The advent of sound caused Clara a lot of mike fright and anxiety, and she took a lot sedatives to deal with all of it.
She finally retired from film in 1933, at age 28, and lived on a ranch in Nevada as a recluse with her husband Rex Bell. She still struggled with mental health issues, and attempted suicide in 1940s when her husband wanted to re-enter the political sphere. She was also frequently admitted to sanitariums until her death in 1960.
Thank you for reading!
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