Rain Bow Academy

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Friday, 8 October 2010

Clara Bow: I Want to Be Happy

Posted on 16:08 by Unknown
Now you know I love the stars and like to have fun with them, but I can only gush about Clara Bow. Forgive me for being a little serious, but our Clara deserves respect!

A silent film viewer's response to Clara Bow is immediate and emotional. She, more than any other performer of the silent era, represents raw emotion. There is joy in her presence. She is young, healthy and full of fun, and really, really pretty. She has magical star quality. Clara makes me happy.


Was she a good actress? She was great, but it is her electric presence that grabs you. She was the essence of the flapper. According to Wikipedia,
“the term flappers in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms.” 
That was Clara, but that was not all that she was.

Across the decades, Clara continues to cast a spell. She is the best girlfriend, the sexy sweetheart, the seductive minx. She is a regular person from Brooklyn. Even though Clara is gorgeous, we believe she is real, just like you and I, only more vibrant and vivacious. She has the qualities of the great ones who are set apart from the rest. There is a generosity in her spirit that translates to film. She wants to have fun. What makes Clara oh-so-special is that she wants you to have fun, too.

Clara was the original "It Girl," a term that is still with us today and one that is associated with sex appeal. She is excessively pretty and sexy, especially in sad photos, but I like to see her happy. Of course, the sadness of her life is legend and we don't have to dwell on all that. The sad Clara is gone, but the young, peppy flapper is still with us. Clara's biography, "Running Wild" by David Stenn,  tells all and it is a harrowing story much more dramatic than any film she ever made. I prefer to watch Clara on the screen where she is forever young, pretty and happy.

Let Clara's face speak for itself:

Clara Bow belongs totally to the 20s and the Jazz Age. If you look closely at Clara's pictures, you can always see a hint of sadness. Just like the 20s, there is desperation underneath and maybe a premonition of disaster around the corner. But let's not go there. Let's keep it light and skim along the surface. Like stones tossed out on dangerous waters, she skips lightly and joyously. She is a magnificent silent screen star.

Here is Clara having fun and just being Clara at Coney Island (with a most unworthy Antonio Moreno) in 1927's "It." Don't you just wish you could be there with her?
.









Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in Clara Bow, Classic Film Stars, Silent Films | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Remembering Natalie Wood: You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone
    For no particular reason, I have been thinking of Natalie Wood a lot lately and missing her.  She was ever present in my life as a pre-teen,...
  • The Tattooed Police Horse: It's All About the Hair!
    This is my contribution to the Hoseathon hosted by " My Love of Old Hollywood . " Giddyup over here and check out the rest of the...
  • Giving Them The Slip: When Passion Meets Fashion
    This is my contribution to The Hollywood Revue's Fashion in Film Blogathon. Click HERE for more fashion, more fun and more fabulosity!...
  • Movie Books I Love: People Will Talk by John Kobal
    This is an occasional series featuring my favorite movie books. Before TCM and the internet, the only way to satisfy my passion to know more...
  • True Classics Movie Limerick Contest: My Inner Poet Says: Sunset Boulevard
    This is my entry in  True Classics Limerick Contest .  Click HERE and check out all of the  fun and  fabulous entries! Sunset Boulevard A J...
  • Marlene Dietrich - In Her Own Words
    "A Personal Biography" A review of the new book "Marlene" by Charlotte Chandler.  I approached "Marlene" by ...
  • What is it About Those Westerns?
    I never say that I am a fan of the Western film. Ask me what kind of movies I like, and they are generally anything but Westerns or war movi...
  • Stars Who Scare Me! A Halloween Tribute
    I love the stars, I really  do, but there are those few who have always scared me. There is something about them that starts the negative vi...
  • Buster Meets the Media (and the Honeymoon is Over) - #5 of a Series of 7
    President Buster had an especially bruising week as he held his first press conference and made the rounds to various "news" stati...
  • Clara Bow and Gilbert Roland: Brief Romance, Lasting Tenderness
    I am hoping that someday a movie will be made about the life of Clara Bow. Not a trashy version based on scandals, but an insightful depicti...

Categories

  • "Love Affair." Irene Dunne
  • 2011 CiMBA Nominations
  • 2014 calendar
  • 7 x 7 Award
  • A Song in the Dark
  • A Touch of Class
  • Abbott and Costello
  • Academy Awards
  • Actors in Drag
  • Aging Stars
  • Amazon.com
  • Ann Dvorak
  • Ann Sheridan
  • Anna Karenina
  • Auction
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Barbara Stanwyck
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Basil Rathbone
  • Baz Luhrmann
  • Ben Model
  • Bette Davis
  • Big Night
  • Billie Dove
  • Billy Wilder
  • Bing Crosby
  • Bitches and Blaggards
  • Blazing Saddles
  • Blue Jasmine
  • Bob Hope
  • Burt Lancaster
  • Buster Keaton
  • Carey Mulligan
  • Carole Lombard
  • Cary Grant
  • Castle on the Hudson
  • Cate Blanchett
  • Chaplin the Musical
  • Charles Boyer
  • Charlie Chaplin
  • Cher
  • Chicago
  • Christina Rice
  • Christmas
  • City for Conquest
  • Clara Bow
  • Clark Gable
  • Classic Film Six Degrees of Separation
  • Classic Film Stars
  • Classic Films
  • Clifton Webb
  • CMBA Blogathon
  • Colleen Moore
  • Constance Talmadge
  • Contrance Talmadge
  • Dana Andrews
  • Dark Ladies of Warners
  • Debbie Reynolds
  • Doris Day
  • Dorothy Lamour
  • Double Indemnity
  • Douglas Fairbanks
  • Dueling Divas Blogothon
  • Edna Purviance
  • Elizabeth Taylor
  • Elvia Presley
  • Erich Von Stroheim
  • Errol Flynn
  • Eva Marie Saint
  • Exotic Actors
  • Exotic Actresses
  • favorite movie scenes
  • Film Fashion
  • Food
  • Frank Sinatra
  • From Scarface to Scarlett
  • Gail Patrick
  • Gals with guns
  • Gary Cooper
  • Gaslight
  • Gene Kelly
  • Gene Tierney
  • George Sanders
  • Georges Melies
  • Ghosts
  • Gilbert Roland
  • Glenn Close
  • Gloria Swanson
  • Gossip
  • Grace Kelly
  • Greta Garbo
  • Guilty Pleasures
  • Haiku
  • Halloween
  • Hayley Mills
  • Helen Morgan
  • Her Sister From Paris
  • Holiday (1930)
  • How To Steal a Million
  • Hugo
  • Humphrey Bogart
  • Ingrid Bergman
  • Irene Dunne
  • Isn't it Romantic?
  • Jack Palance
  • James Cagney
  • James Mason
  • James Stewart
  • Jane Greer
  • Jane Russell
  • Jean Hagen
  • Jean Harlow
  • Jeanette MacDonald
  • Jeanne Eagles
  • Joan Blondell
  • Joan Crawford
  • Joan Fontaine
  • John Barrymore
  • John Garfield
  • John Gilbert
  • John Kobal
  • Journalism
  • Jude Law
  • Judith Anderson
  • Judy Garland
  • July 4th
  • Katharine Hepburn
  • Kay Francis
  • Keira Knightley
  • Kendra Bean
  • Kiki
  • Kim Novak
  • Lana Turner
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Leave Her to Heaven
  • Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Liebster Award
  • Lina Lamont
  • Lita Grey
  • Lizabeth Scott
  • Loretta Young
  • Louise Brooks
  • Love Me Tonight
  • Mabel Normand
  • Mae Murray
  • Mae West
  • Maggie Smith
  • Manhattan
  • Marilyn Miller
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Marjorie Morningstar
  • Marlene Dietrich
  • Marlon Brando
  • Martin Scorsese
  • Mary Astor
  • Mary Miles Minter
  • Mary Pickford
  • Maurice Chevalier
  • Mediums
  • men who smoke
  • Michael Douglas
  • Michael G. Ankerich
  • Miriam Cooper
  • Miriam Hopkins
  • Movie Book I Love
  • Movie Books I Love
  • Movie Crushes
  • Movie Musicals
  • Movie Snob
  • movie star mad libs
  • My Favorite Movie Books
  • My Movie Dream Book
  • Myrna Loy
  • Nancy Carroll
  • Natalie Wood
  • New Years 2013
  • New York City
  • Norma Desmond
  • Norma Talmadge
  • Obsessions
  • Olive Thomas
  • On the Waterfront
  • Orson Welles
  • Pamela Franklin
  • Paramount
  • Paris
  • Paulette Goddard
  • Peter O'Toole
  • Photoplay Magazine
  • Picture Snatcher
  • Platinum Blonde
  • Pola Negri
  • Portrait Photographers
  • Pre-Code Films
  • Psychics
  • Queen Kelly
  • Rear Window
  • recycled Hollywood costumes
  • Richard Widmark
  • Rita Hayworth
  • Robert Preston
  • Robert Redford
  • Roberto Rossellini
  • Robin Hood
  • Ronald Colman
  • Roscoe Arbuckle
  • Rudolph Valentino
  • Scandal
  • Sex and the City
  • Sexy Stars
  • Shirley Jones
  • Silent Films
  • Singing in the Rain
  • Spirits
  • Stars portraying stars
  • Stars who died young
  • Strong Women in film
  • Sunset Boulevard
  • Susan Hayward
  • Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise
  • Sweet Blogger
  • Take Her For a Ride
  • TCM Tour
  • Thaksgiving
  • The Apartment
  • The Artist
  • The Godfather
  • The Great Gatsby
  • The Kid
  • The New York Hat
  • The Norma Desmond Chronicles
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  • The Producers
  • The Public Enemy
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • The Tattooed Police Horse
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Theda Bara
  • These Amazing Shadows
  • Three on a Match
  • Tony Randall
  • Twentieth Century
  • Valentines Day
  • Vertigo
  • Vivien Leigh
  • Walt Disney
  • Warren William
  • westerns
  • William Desmond Taylor
  • William Holden
  • William Wyler
  • Woody Allen
  • Ziegfeld

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (41)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (3)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  April (5)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (3)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2012 (56)
    • ►  December (3)
    • ►  November (5)
    • ►  October (5)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (5)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (5)
    • ►  April (5)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (5)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2011 (90)
    • ►  December (7)
    • ►  November (7)
    • ►  October (9)
    • ►  September (7)
    • ►  August (9)
    • ►  July (6)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (10)
    • ►  April (11)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (4)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ▼  2010 (23)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ▼  October (5)
      • President-Elect Keaton Unveils His Cabinet: Welcom...
      • Stars Who Scare Me! A Halloween Tribute
      • President-Elect Keaton's 5-Point Program to Save A...
      • Clara Bow: I Want to Be Happy
      • Theda Bara: What I Learned From My Jenny Craig Con...
    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (4)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile