Clara Bow (1905–1965) was a 16-year-old living in the New York City borough of Brooklyn when she won the 1921 nationwide "Fame and Fortune Contest" advertised in Motion Picture Magazine. After submitting their autobiography with a completed entry form clipped from the magazine, finalists were given multiple screen tests. As the winner, she was cast in a small role in the silent era film Beyond the Rainbow. Although her part was eventually edited out, the contest inspired her to pursue an acting career. She relocated to Los Angeles and in 1923 signed with producer B.P. Schulberg. Over the next seven years, she would make more than 40 silent-era films, the majority of them under contract to Paramount Pictures. Her 1927 starring role in It, about an attractive and charismatic young woman, led the public to label Bow the "It girl".

The 1927 film Wings, in which she co-starred with Charles "Buddy" Rogers, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929. Paramount initially released it as a silent film, to accommodate smaller regional theaters that were not yet equipped for sound. They would later release a sound version, informally referred to as a "talkie".

Two of her other Paramount films, The Wild Party and The Saturday Night Kid, were also released in both silent and "talkie" formats. Paramount had a special department for the sole purpose of counting and answering every incoming fan letter. Named the film industry's top box office draw, her admirers flooded Paramount every month with an average of 30,000 fan letters.

Bow dreaded the transition to sound in films, as shenever lost her Brooklyn accent and speech patterns, and was convinced that the new technology would be the end of her career. The studio arranged a special public appearance for her when the "talkie" version of The Wild Party opened at the 4,200-seat Brooklyn Paramount Theater. She addressed the cheering crowd in her hometown neighborhood jargon, "I hope youse all prouda me." Both the audience and the news media gave her rave reviews for her first sound movie.

Bow never completely adapted to the process of making sound pictures, was dissatisfied with her career, and made only nine more films. She married fellow actor (and future lieutenant governor of Nevada) Rex Bell in 1931, moving to their Walking Box Ranch that spanned part of the Mojave Desert across the Nevada and California state lines. The couple split their time between the ranch and Los Angeles, briefly operating the "It Cafe" on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. During most of her husband's 1955–1962 tenure as an office holder in Nevada, Bow was confined to her Culver City, California, residence, where she was in declining health requiring around-the-clock nursing care. Rex Bell died in 1962, Bow dying three years later, in 1965.

Theatrical releases

+ Feature-length film (silent except where noted) credits of Clara BowTitleYearRoleStudioNotes Beyond the Rainbow1922Virginia GardenerRobertson-Cole PicturesExtantDown to the Sea in Ships1922Dot MorganWhaling Film CorpExtant The Pill Pounder 1923 W.W. Hodkinson CorporationOriginally lost, a print was found at an auction by filmmaker Gary Huggins in Omaha, Nebraska in 2023. 1923 Mary Daniel Carson Goodman production Lost film Enemies of Women1923Girl dancing on tableCosmopolitan ProductionsUncredited An incomplete copy exists at the Library of Congress, missing reels 3 and 9 of 11 totalMaytime1923Alice TremaineB. P. SchulbergAn incomplete copy exists missing 3 of the 7 reels totalBlack Oxen1923Janet OgelthorpeFrank Lloyd Productions Several incomplete copies exist This Woman1924Aline SturdevantWarner Bros.ExtantGrit1924Orchid McGonigleFilm Guild ProductionsLost filmPoisoned Paradise: The Forbidden Story of Monte Carlo1924Margot LeBlancB. P. SchulbergAn incomplete copy is preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveDaughters of Pleasure1924Lila MillasB.F. ZeidmanAn incomplete copy is held at the Library of CongressWine1924Angela WarrinerUniversal PicturesLost filmEmpty Hearts1924RosalieBanner Pictures CorporationAn incomplete copy is preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveHelen's Babies1924 Alice MaytonPrincipal PicturesExtant Black Lightning 1924Martha LarnedGotham ProductionsExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveCapital Punishment1925Delia TateB.P. Schulberg Productions Extant 1925 The Girl Howard Estabrook Productions Lost film Eve's Lover1925 Rena D'ArcyWarner Bros.Lost film 1925Molly BurnsB.P. Schulberg ProductionsLost film1925MiriamFirst National PicturesLost filmTrailer survives My Lady's Lips 1925 Lola LombardB.P. Schulberg ProductionsExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveParisian Love1925 MarieB.P. SchulbergExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveKiss Me Again1925 Grizette Warner Bros.Lost film1925 Lolly CameronGene Stratton Porter ProductionsLost filmTrailer exists 1925 Marilyn MerrillEmbassy PicturesExtantFree to Love 1925 Marie AnthonyB.P. Schulberg ProductionsExtant1925 Peggy Swain Fox Film CorporationExtant1925 Doris Fox Film Corporation Lost film My Lady of Whims1925Prudence SevernDallas M. Fitzgerald ProductionsExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive 1925Cynthia DayB.P. Schulberg ProductionsExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive Shadow of the Law1926 Mary Brophy Embassy PicturesLost film Two Can Play1926Dorothy HammisEncore PicturesLost filmFragments existDancing Mothers1926 Kittens WestcourtParamount Famous Players LaskyExtantFascinating Youth1926 Herself Paramount Famous Players Lasky Trailer exists 1926 Cynthia Meade Paramount Famous Players Lasky Fragment existsMantrap1926 AlvernaParamount Famous Players–LaskyExtant Preserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive Kid Boots1926 Clara McCoyParamount Famous Players LaskyExtant It1927 Betty Lou Spence Paramount Famous Players–LaskyExtant Children of Divorce1927Kitty FlandersParamount Famous Players LaskyExtant Rough House Rosie1927Rosie O'ReillyParamount Famous Players LaskyLost filmTrailer exists Wings1927 Mary Preston Paramount Famous Players–LaskyExtant Won the first Oscar for Outstanding Picture in 1929released in both silent and sound versionsHula1927 Hula CalhounParamount Famous Players LaskyExtantGet Your Man1927 Nancy Worthington Paramount Famous Players Lasky An Incomplete print exists, missing two of its six reels.Red Hair1928 Bubbles McCoy Paramount Famous Players LaskyFragments exist, including the only known color footage of Bow)Ladies of the Mob1928 Yvonne Paramount Famous Players Lasky Lost film1928 Peaches Deane Paramount Famous Players LaskyLost film Three Week-Ends1928 Gladys O'Brien Paramount Famous Players LaskyFragments exist 1929 Stella AmesParamount PicturesExtant Both sound and silent versionsPreserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive1929 MaymeParamount PicturesExtant Alternative title: Love 'Em and Leave 'EmBoth sound and silent versionsPreserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveDangerous Curves1929 Pat DelaneyParamount Famous Players LaskyExtant Sound filmParamount on Parade 1930 HerselfParamount PicturesExtant Sound filmEnglish and Spanish versions (Galas de la Paramount)Preserved at UCLA Film and Television ArchiveLove Among the Millionaires1930 Pepper WhippleParamount-Publix CorpExtant Sound filmHer Wedding Night1930 Norma MartinParamount-Publix CorpExtant Sound filmPreserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive True to the Navy 1930 Ruby NolanParamount-Publix CorpExtant Sound filmNo Limit1931 Helen "Bunny" O'DayParamount-Publix CorpExtant Sound filmKick In1931Molly HewesParamount-Publix CorpExtant Sound film Call Her Savage1932 Nasa SpringerFox Film CorporationExtant Sound filmHoop-La1933 LouFox Film CorporationExtant Sound film

Miscellaneous

+ Various shorts related to Clara BowTitleYearNotes Untitled documentary about the 1920s1927Footage of multiple celebritiesWarner Bros.Clara Bow, former It Girl, and husband Rex Bell open the "It Cafe" in Hollywood, California1937Hearst vault materialPreserved at UCLA Film and Television Archive Screen Snapshots Series 20, No. 11940 Columbia Pictures 20th anniversary show Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner1949 Short subject – Clara Bow, Rex Bell and other celebrities in Las Vegas Screen Snapshots Series 35, No. 41958 "Ramblin' round Hollywood" Columbia Pictures 20th anniversary show.Footage shot by Ken Murray, produced by Ralph Staub.

Bibliography

References

External links Clara Bow at the Library of Congress Silent Film Database