Clara Bow: Hollywood’s First ‘It Girl’ and Her Hidden Sorrows
Clara Bow, the original ‘It Girl’ of the silent film era, captivated audiences with her magnetic presence but battled deep personal hardships. Her story is a powerful reflection on the cost of fame and the struggles behind the spotlight.
What does it really mean to be an ‘It Girl’? The label is elusive, reserved for those who seem to have an irresistible charm—youth, intelligence, a touch of mystery, and a style all their own. Over the past century, many have worn the crown, but it all started with a young woman from Brooklyn who changed Hollywood forever.
Early Life and Family Struggles
Clara Bow entered the world on July 29, 1905, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights. Her childhood was marked by loss and hardship. Two sisters died before she was born, and her mother, Sara Frances Bow, was warned against having more children. Clara later recalled in Photoplay magazine in 1928,
“I don’t suppose two people ever looked death in the face more clearly than my mother and I the morning I was born. We were both given up, but somehow we struggled back to life… She idolized me, but with a strange, bitter love, almost as though she was afraid to love me for fear I, too, would be snatched away from her.”
Her mother suffered from epilepsy and, after a serious head injury, periods of psychosis. Clara became her caregiver, their relationship forever shaped by illness and fear. Despite the challenges, Clara dreamed of a different life.
Rising to Stardom
One day, Clara spotted an acting contest in a magazine. With her father’s encouragement and a borrowed dollar for headshots, she entered. After several auditions, the judges saw something special in her, saying,
“She has a genuine spark of divine fire.”
With no formal training, she was driven by her fascination with the movies.
“For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world. For the first time I saw distant lands, serene, lovely homes, romance, nobility, glamour. My whole heart was afire, and my love was the motion picture. Not just the people of the screen, but everything that magic silversheet could represent to a lonely, starved, unhappy child.”
Her mother, however, was unsupportive, once telling her,
“You are going straight to hell. I would rather see you dead.”
The tension at home escalated to violence, and after a terrifying incident, Clara’s mother was institutionalized and died in 1923.
Hollywood’s ‘It Girl’
Clara’s first film role in 1921’s Beyond the Rainbow ended up on the cutting room floor, but she didn’t give up. Her tomboy energy landed her a part in 1922’s Down to the Sea in Ships, and soon she was working steadily. By 1925, she appeared in 14 films, often juggling multiple projects at once. Her unique blend of confidence and vulnerability made her the face of the flapper era, and she challenged gender norms with her androgynous style and bold screen presence.
In 1927, she starred in It, the film that would define her career. The term ‘It Girl’ had floated around British society, but after Elinor Glyn’s definition in Cosmopolitan—
“That quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force. With ‘It’ you win all men if you are a woman and all women if you are a man. ‘It’ can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction.”
—Clara became the living embodiment of the phrase. She embraced her outsider status, once saying,
“I’m a curiosity in Hollywood. I’m a big freak, because I’m myself!”
Fame ’s Heavy Toll
As Hollywood shifted to sound, Clara remained a box office draw, but the pressure mounted. By her mid-twenties, she was already considered past her prime. After a brief retreat to Nevada with her husband, actor Rex Bell, she returned for two successful films with Fox, but retired soon after to focus on her family. Despite her success, mental health struggles haunted her. In 1944, she attempted suicide and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a diagnosis she rejected. She spent her final years in seclusion, passing away from a heart attack in 1965 at age 60.
Clara Bow’s life was a whirlwind of glamour and heartbreak. She set the standard for generations to come, but her story is a stark reminder of the price that can come with being the center of attention. As she once put it,
“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.”