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 depiction of a life filled with enough tragedy and heartbreak to give those Greeks a run for their money. God knows this poor woman was exploited  enough in her lifetime, so one can only hope that the real drama of her life would suffice and she would be treated with kindness and respect.

The "It Girl": flappers, speakeasies and hooch in a flask

Unfortunately, kindness and respect were two things that Clara rarely encountered. Raised by a mentally unstable mother who tried to kill her and emotionally chained to a monster of a father who abused her in more ways than one, Clara was desperate for love, but, unguided, ran wild through the Roaring Twenties in Hollywood. Her youthful errors and unsophisticated Brooklyn background made her a target of the press. Her employer, Paramount, used her up and abandoned her. By 26 she was done. Mental and/or emotional illness followed and she lived out the rest of her life as a virtual recluse.

David Stenn's Bow biography, "Runnin' Wild," tells Clara's story with great compassion. Known for the many men in her life (Gary Cooper, Victor Fleming, Harry Richman, and husband Rex Bell to name a few), there is one story of a romantic encounter that stands out and touches my heart: her romance and engagement to actor Gilbert Roland.

Gilbert Roland (born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso in Mexico) thought me might become a bullfighter like his father, but instead tried his hand at acting (his rechristened name being a combo of John Gilbert and Ruth Roland). He was gorgeous and the fact that he barely spoke English didn't matter in the days of silent films. He and Clara met when both were filming The Plastic Age in  1925. Based on a "banned in Boston" novel, The Plastic Age tells the story of those wild college kids of the 20s who do things that would make their parents blush.

Beautiful Clara and beautiful Gilbert, both 20 years old, soon became romantically involved. Clara later described Roland as her "first really big love experience." Young Budd Schulberg, son of producer B.P. Schulberg, was befriended by Clara on the film and recalled the blossoming romance when Roland handed him a note to pass to Clara:

The young lovers of "The Plastic Age"

"I don't know what was in the note because I was too conscientious to read it, especially when I could feel his strong Latin eyes drilling into my back as I caught up with Clara and delivered it. She mumbled 'Oh, thanks, Buddy, sweet of ya,' and took a quick glance over her shoulder at the young bullfighter turned actor. That evening they came into the local hotel dining room together, two head-turning twenty-year-olds whom my father had put together from such totally different worlds - Chihuahua and Brooklyn."

Roland was rugged, but sweet and both shared social insecurities: his because of his limited ability to speak English at that point and hers from a general lack of self-esteem that plagued her throughout her life. "We was real happy," said Clara, "sorta like two youngsters that didn't know what [life] was all about and was scared t'death of it." Bow's monster dad hated Roland because he was Mexican and Catholic (calling him a "greasy Mexican"), but her possessive father hated any man that came near his daughter.

Young Love

Clara and her bullfighter continued to have an ardent relationship for a time, but Clara was the girl of the moment and she could not resist the temptation of the attention of Victor Fleming and socialite Robert Savage who tried to commit suicide when Clara rejected him. When the press called Clara on the carpet for her dalliance with Savage she had a great comment:

"Well, lemme tell ya this. When a man attempts suicide over a woman, he don't cut his wrists with a safety razor blade, then drape himself over a couch with a cigarette between his lips. No, they don't do it that way. They use pistols."

Nevertheless, Clara's wandering ways and Roland's jealousy put an end to the youthful romance, but both remembered one another fondly for the rest of their days. She chose Roland as her costar in one of her last films, the successful Call her Savage. Many years after Clara's career had ended and she was living in seclusion, Roland was one of the few people she allowed to visit her. "Still handsome and still my favorite actor," she said. They spoke regularly and this one letter illustrates why Clara never shut him out of her life:

Hello, Clarita Girl:

I am truly sad that you don't feel well. Sometimes when I go to church and I think of you, I say a prayer. It will be heard. God hears everything.

You tell me that you long for your boys. I share your feelings. My daughters are with their mother in Wiesbaden, Germany. And there is nothing I can do, except cry a little once in a while.

I hope someday they show "The Plastic Age." It would be wonderful to see that dancing scene, you and I. It would be pleasant seeing how I looked when I was your beau and you were my dream girl. It would be pleasant seeing that. And then it might be very beautiful, and suddenly it might be very sad.

It seems you are in my thoughts.

It's good to feel that way.

It's good I have never forgotten you.

God bless you.

                                                                Gilbert

Could you have ever parted with a letter like that?

After Clara, Roland went on to romance Norma Talmadge and marry Constance Bennett (the mother of his two children). After divorcing Bennett, he wed again and remained married to the same woman for 40 years (until his death). Known as "Amigo," he was indeed a loyal friend to a fragile woman who was his "dream girl."

Clara Bow & Gilbert Roland in "Call Her Savage"

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SCANDAL! Clara Bow: The It Girl's Lifestyle on Trial

Welcome to 2013 - a year of scandals at A Person in the Dark. Yes, I love movies, but I confess I am a sucker for those juicy Hollywood scandals of old.

October's scandal: Clara Bow and the Hired Help

The irresistible Clara Bow

The troubled life of Clara Bow is legendary. Behind the vivacious and fun-loving persona of the "It Girl" was an uneducated woman whose mad mother had tried to kill her and whose drunken amd worthless father had most likely sexually abused her. Her trusting nature and lack of a support system that had her best interests at heart lead her to be taken advantage of by friends, lovers, family and employers. Paramount Studios had notoriously overworked her and exploited the quintessential flapper in movie after movie and, when she was worn out by life and frightened by the microphone, famously saw her as all washed up at age 25. Her no-good father continued to mooch off of her until his death and lovers used her to get their names in the papers.

Clara never thought she was beautiful, but we disagree

From 1923 - 1929 Clara Bow was one of Hollywood's biggest stars. She was also one of its most provocative, with scandals always swirling about her. Her parade of lovers was legendary (she had four fiancees: Gilbert Roland, Victor Fleming, Harry Richmond and eventual hubby, Rex Bell, as well affairs with Gary Cooper, a married doctor whose wife named her as the "other woman" in a divorce case and maybe Bela Lugosi who kept a nude portrait of Clara until his death) and her devil-may-care attitude shocked many of Hollywood's elite.

Clara's fiancees: Rex Bell, Gilbert Roland, Victor Fleming and Harry Richman

By 1930, Clara was worn out. Tired of the merry-go-round of lovers, the callousness of her studio and scared to death of sound films, Clara thought she had found 2 strokes of good luck when (a) handsome cowboy star Rex Bell entered her life, and (b) private secretary (and former hairdresser) Daisy DeVoe (originally DeBoe) began to set her affairs in order. There was only one problem: Bell and Devoe disliked one another and guarded Clara, and their position in her life, with equal jealously.

In 1929, DeVoe opened a "special account" in which Clara's paychecks were deposited and from which DeVoe paid her bills. Under DeVoe's management, Clara went from near bankruptcy to financial health. However, she lost the power struggle with Bell, who accused Daisy of stealing from Clara and fired her. When Daisy asked for a severance settlement, Bell interpreted this as blackmail and notified the police.

At Bell's and Paramount's request, DeVoe was arrested and questioned for 27 straight hours. Sticking to her guns, she refused to sign a confession and steadfastly asserted her innocence. She was then jailed without the opportunity to contact an attorney. Upon release, she sued the Los Angeles District Attorney for false imprisonment  who, in turn, retaliated by charging Devoe with 37 counts of grand theft.

Clara is smeared 

In the end, DeVoe was cleared of 34 counts and found guilty, unbelievably  of only 1. It was unbelievable because it involved a check for $825 signed by Clara herself and made payable to the IRS for her income taxes. For this offence, DeVoe got 18 months in prison.

Clara testifies to the Grand Jury

But it was Clara Bow who received the harshest punishment. During the trial DeVoe divulged the most intimate and unflattering tales of Clara Bow's life. Tales of wild sexual encounters, drunkenness and gambling kept the public's attention glued to the trial. Smelling blood, a smarmy yellow paper called The Coast Reporter printed unsubstantiated tales of drugs, gang sex with the USC football team, sex in public, sex with multiple partners, sex with men, sex with women and even sex with dogs. Clara was ruined. In the court of public opinion, Clara Bow was morally unfit to appear in films. Adding insult to injury, Paramount cancelled her contract and screwed her out of the money owed to her.

Clara comes back in "Call Her Savage" looking beautiful and
supported by old friend Gilbert Roland

Clara, bruised and exhausted, married Bell and retreated from the public eye. She made a comeback with Fox Pictures in 1932 making 2 films that were successful. But, Clara had had enough. The remainder of her life was lived largely out of the public gaze, although Bell went on to have a political career in Nevada. While she struggled mightily with her demons for the rest of her life, she and Bell remained married and she had 2 sons who worshiped their mother until the day she died. Ex-fiancee Gilbert Roland never abandoned her completely and wrote her tender and affectionate letters throughout her life.

Although Clara and Rex had a rocky marriage,
she was devoted to her 2 beautiful boys

The story of Clara's dysfunctional Hollywood home eventually found itself as the basis for the Jean Harlow film, "Bombshell." Directed by ex-flame Victor Fleming, he knew first hand how the leeches that surround a star can drain the life out of her. Although it was played for laughs, the vulnerability and hurt that was Clara's was never forgotten by the man who once loved her.

Clara as she is remembered best: sexy, adorable and modern

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MOVIE BOOKS I LOVE: CLARA BOW: RUNNIN' WILD BY DAVID STENN

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 about classic Hollywood was through books, books and more books. I've cleared away the clutter over the years, but many remain permanent residents in my home. You'd never throw out an old friend, now would you?

Anyone out there read Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon"? I'm among the many ashamed to say I did. But, then again, when it came out in 1975, what did I know about the stars of the silent era? Not much and, unfortunately, the sordid gossip that passed for truth in this pile of trash was my first introduction to Clara Bow. Sadly, it was another abuse heaped upon a woman whose life was defined by it.

Lucky for me, the great Kenneth Brownlow and David Gil series "Hollywood" gave me a proper introduction to the beautiful Clara and it was the beginning of a devotion that grows stronger every day. Watching Clara's films, it is easy to see why she was such a tremendous star. She is talented, beautiful, and so vivacious and full of life. Not many could resist her. She is the penultimate '20s flapper, but also the girl next door, the perfect sweetheart, the perfect best friend and one hot tamale. She makes you feel happy.

"I was seventeen an office boy - a messenger is what I was hired for. Clara Bow had just made 'Wings,' and I thought she was sensational. She dashed into the office one day, and the publicity department just stopped dead. She was just flying around - she was happiness personified. I've never taken dope, but it was like a shot of dope when you looked at this girl." - John Engstead

As always, when I am intrigued by someone, I want to immediately know more! I managed to find a few books that mentioned her (usually referring to the notorious Anger book or to her scandal-plagued personal life), but nothing really satisfying until I managed to get my hands on a copy of David Stenn's 1988 book (a thrilling $50 find at Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood. It is now available in paperback at a much more reasonable price.).


Clara Bow's story is more dramatic and heartbreaking than an Hollywood screenwriter could imagine and Stenn tells this harrowing story with great compassion. Clara's early life was one of unspeakable poverty and abuse. How she managed to not only survive, but to thrive and succeed, is a miracle. 

Clara at 16: "It was easy for me to cry. 
All I hadda do was think of home."

Stenn follows her life from Brooklyn to Hollywood and beyond, supporting his narrative with interviews with the people who knew her and loved her. Managing to get away from her squalid and terrifying upbringing, she traded one kind of abuse for another. She was ill-used by Paramount Studios, and B.P. Schulberg, in particular. Stenn calls her Hollywood's most overworked and underpaid star. Always self-conscious about her lack of education, Clara was cruelly looked down upon by a town whose social elites were once waitresses and truck drivers.

The "It" Girl": The Ultimate Flapper and a Great Star

The legendary "It Girl"  was a girl who was ill-equipped for the challenges and temptations presented to the life of a movie star whose every action was always on public display. Many men loved her (Gary Cooper, Gilbert Roland, Victor Fleming and husband Rex Bell are just a few), but none could still the terror and sadness that lived in her heart. Gilbert Roland's devotion and enduring affection for her is especially touching.

"A temperament that responded like a great violin. Touch her and she answered with genius." - Victor Fleming

Clara and scandal seemed to go hand in hand. Because she had no one to protect her and to guide her, her trusting and generous nature got her into a lot of trouble. The end of her career came when, her health failing and the pressure of talking pictures crushing her fragile self-esteem, she called it quits. She was just 26 years old.

"She was the biggest star, the biggest money-maker in Hollywood - above Garbo, above them all. I was fascinated with her." - Louise Brooks

Her marriage to Rex Bell should have been a happy one. He was a stabilizing force in her life, he loved her and gave her and their 2 sons a happy life in Nevada, away from the spotlight and the insatiable press that perpetually dogged Clara.

Clara and Rex: "He's my man and I worship him."

Although Clara was a good mother (her sons were totally devoted to her), mental and physical illness prevented her from enjoying the love of her family.

Rex, Sr., Rex, Jr. & Mom, Clara

For those who have not read the book, I don't want to divulge too much. For those that have, you know her story is tragic.


Reasons I love this book

1. Stenn always treats his subject with great respect, something Clara did not     get enough of in her lifetime.

2. Interviews: Stenn conducts great interviews with such Clara contemporaries as Esther Ralston, Lew Ayres, Baby Peggy, William "Buster" Collier, Marion Mack, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Joel McRae and Colleen Moore. Even better, he speaks to family members, friends, and some pivotal characters in Clara's scandal-plagued life: personal secretary Daisy DeVoe , Paramount publicist Teet Carle and, friend and briefly her step-mother, Tui Lorraine Bow. There is also a long-running interview with first love and ever-after devoted friend, Artie Jacobson.


3. A great cast of characters: All of the great Hollywood and show business characters - both behind the scenes and in the spotlight -  are here. The Roaring Twenties would not have roared as loudly without the likes of Clara and her co-workers and friends.


This book has a permanent place on my bookshelf and I highly recommend it. Sometimes, truth is more dramatic, hilarious, compelling and tragic than fiction. Her story would make a great film if only there were someone out there equal to the task of playing Clara. Unfortunately, I can't think of a soul who is her equal.

Even now I can't trust life. It did too many awful things t'me as a kid. - Clara Bow

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THAT'S HOT! 10 SEXY PERFORMANCES FOR A STEAMY SUMMER

Yes, it's hot here in my neck of the woods. Words like steamy and sultry and sizzling are bandied about and, while it should make me think of air conditioning, it is making me think of sexy movies (I know, I'm hopeless!). Because they all come rushing into my head like bargain hunters at a one-hour sale at Walmart, I need to put them in some order. Otherwise, I may just pass out from the excitement!

So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 sexy male and female film performances. This list is totally subjective and based upon my feelings today (things change on a daily basis here sometimes).

*** WARNING ***

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ABOVE-THE-WAIST INTELLECTUAL DISSECTION OF WHAT MAKES THE LIBIDO TICK, MOVE ON!

Women

1. Clara Bow in "Call her Savage"

This poster pretty much says it all: "The throbbing adventures of a woman who unleashed her heart... so revelatory... so courageous in its searching depiction of the secret things in a woman's life that its burning words left a trail of readers breathless and amazed."

Clara is unbelievably sexy in this one, especially when she is horsewhipping Gilbert Roland's "Moonglow" (don't ask) and frolicking - clearly sans undergarments - on the floor with her Great Danes. Just outrageous pre-code stuff.

Clara, just 27, would only make one more film.

2. Rita Hayworth in "Gilda"

If you have never seen this, all I can say is fasten your safety belts. While my lists of top 5 may change ever so slightly depending on mood, this one will never fall out. 

This is one of the sexiest female performances ever committed to film. Rita is beautiful, daring and totally uninhibited. In other words, she is Gilda.

3. Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box"

The legendary Louise Brooks is so unconsciously sexy as the conscienceless Lulu that it is impossible to take your eyes off of her.

Besides that face, that hair, that attitude, she also had a beautiful back and neck, with which Pabst was apparently fascinated!

4. Ingrid Bergman "Notorious"

I admit that I am a sucker for Hitchcock and Grant and think those 2 could make any woman feel and act sexy. However, for Ingrid, who was plenty sexy enough, this combo just upped the ante.

As the good-bad-girl who dabbles in espionage, she is all woman. Little girls need not apply for this role!

5. Eva Marie Saint "North by Northwest"

This one will never fall off of my list of tops, either. Eva is Hitchcock's sexiest leading lady in this film - bar none. 

Always cool, always a lady (no matter how many men she beds), but sexy down to her tippy-toes, she is a sweetheart underneath it all (not to mention a knock-out in those fabulous Edith Head costumes). She is fearlessly sexy in this film -  alarmingly, but charmingly, so.

Men

1. Rudolph Valentino in "The Son of the Sheik"

Unself-consciously romantic, macho and hot, Valentino lays it all out there for the world to adore.

Who needs subtlety when you look like that, kiss like that and have biceps like that? 


2. William Holden in "Picnic"

Need I say more?

Okay, if you insist. Aside from the fact that Holden was at the peak of his beauty and that the shirt kept coming off at the drop of a hat, when he and Kim Novak started dancing to "Moonglow," which segued into the "Theme from Picnic" there were never 2 more beautiful people on a lantern-lit dance floor.

3. Gene Kelly in "The Pirate"

Gene Kelly is a beautiufl, sexy man. Period.

In this film he gets to showcase his Fairbanksian charm, devastating smile and dangerous edge. His joie de vivre was never more evident as "Mack the Black" and he was never sexier. And that's saying a lot.

4. Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights"

Again - you need more?

Okay, besides being impossibly handsome, earthy and sexy, his heartbreak over Cathy's demise was unutterably romantic. Great actor and great looks - some people get it all!

5. Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember"

Notice how Cary crept into a few of the women's performances? Well, I can't help it and I really have a hard time just picking one, so I'm going with "An Affair to Remember," even though it is far from my favorite Cary Grant film.

I'm selecting this film because here Cary plays the pursuer. He is usually more the object of desire than the initiator ('though he always finishes up just fine). Here he is is the playboy who really wants Deborah Kerr. And what Cary wants, Cary should get! I can't think of anything sexier than being pursued by Cary Grant.

And finally, I am adding this photo because it looks fine on any day, but on a 104 degree day? I'd love to cool off with Cary, but I have a feeling you'd be able to boil an egg in that water!

Well, I could go on and on and on and on and have left out so many, but I did limit it to 5. Sorry Clark, Greta, Marilyn, Paul, etc.

So, how about you? Who steams up your glasses and sets you heart racing over the long, hot summer?

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The Flappers: Free, Female & 21

Fourth in a series about strong women in film. Strong women are independent, beautiful, sexy, feminine and just want everything in life that a man wants and believe that they have every right to have it!

The 1920s, that youth-worshiping decade of freedom and abandon, spawned a female phenomena known as "The Flapper." Skirts were higher, hair was bobbed and women were voting, working and living on their own. It was this independence that made these young women the antithesis of earlier women film stars with a more demure attitude (though strong in their own way) such as Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish.

The Flappers, though outwardly carefree and fun-loving, set the stage for the strong film women of the 1930s and beyond. They made their own money, bought their own fashionable clothes, lived away from Mom & Dad (either on their own or with a room mate) and pursued men as eagerly as men pursued them. Although  the mores of the times dictated that there be no sex before marriage (though they frequently came close), the audience knew these girls were no innocents. To the young men so scarred from World War I, the Flappers were a tonic.

Louise Brooks: The Perfect Image of the Flapper

Louise Brooks had the look and the life. She is totally "today" in her attitude, her minimalist method of acting and her elegant sense of style. It is fashionable to prefer her to such bigger stars of the era such as Clara Bow or Collen Moore, who look a little dated to us today. As an actress, we rely heavily on her splendid performances in her two German films, "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl" as proof of her star power. However, her American films many times showcase her as the fun-loving girl of the '20s, a lifestyle this ex-Follies dancer knew all too well.

Louise Brooks is a Flapper whose fame rests largely on the brilliant gallery of still photographs that beguile us to this day. Her beauty is evident, but there is a stubborn streak of independence and strength that cuts through the 2-dimensional glossies. No matter what, this woman is not going back to the days before the liberating 1920s!

Clara Bow:Jazz Baby Supreme

Clara Bow was the definitive Flapper. The original "Jazz Baby," she was fun-loving, independent, pretty and presumably reckless. Her most famous film, "It," showcased all of the elements of the Flapper. Her character worked and made her own money, she was saucy and knew how to have fun, and she was impudent enough to pursue the boss because she wanted him and knew she was irresistible to him.

Clara Bow's Flapper stressed the joys of youth, freedom and strength. There was never any doubt that Clara was strong. She was proudly a girl from Brooklyn, and if you messed with her - watch out. In many ways she pre-dated Joan Crawford's 1930s determined shop girl, usually playing a "regular" gal of modest means. More than anything, Clara's Flapper was fun. But always there was a far-away look in her eyes, the hint of sadness that was just right for the desperately fun-loving 20s.

Constance Talmadge: Silent Screwball

Constance Talmadge was sophisticated and funny. Like a glass of French champagne, she was bubbly and a little forbidden (in those days of Prohibition). And maybe a little out of reach.

Connie, sister to the dramatic Norma and sister-in-law to Buster Keaton via her sister Natalie's marriage, was the zany, fun-loving girl who didn't take sex very seriously. Though a great comedienne, her image was also chic. She was a genuine Hollywood Star. Though her range was wide (her first important role was that of the Mountain Girl in Griffith's "Intolerance"), she seemed most at home in a mansion with servants and a very nice wardrobe. Her image and temperament somewhat predated Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfrey" and Katharine Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby."  Her confidence in her right to be delightful on her own terms and her devil-may-care insouciance in such films as "Her Night of Romance" and "Her Sister from Paris" offer a breath of fresh air that places her firmly in the company of these fabulous Flappers.

Colleen Moore: Ground Breaker

Colleen Moore was an actress who played the part of the Flapper. While Louise Brooks, Clara Bow and Constance Talmadge all lived, to some degree, the life of a Flapper in real life, Colleen merely portrayed this type of woman on screen. Off screen, she was a thoughtful woman who took her career very seriously.

Yet, here she is, bobbed hair, short skirts and all. Films such as "Flaming Youth" and "Synthetic Sin" made her one of the very first cinema Flappers, although the emphasis on sex was more innocent than most others. Another first-rate comedienne, she was the healthy, fun-loving collegiate just sampling the first taste of freedom. Sadly,many of her films are lost today.

The Flappers and the Great Depression
The crash of 1929 heralded the end of the Roaring 20s and its representative woman, the Flapper. Each of the above-referenced woman's career either ended or stalled in the 30s and none of them would ever achieve the career luster they enjoyed in the 20s. The revolutionary aspect of their character, their insistence on freedom in the bedroom, the workplace and society suddenly became obsolete. Interestingly, all except Colleen Moore struggled with great personal unhappiness in their maturity.

And then there is Joan Crawford...

Joan Crawford was also a representative Flapper. Unlike her contemporaries, however, she did not meet the same end. Her image evolved from that of the carefree woman to the free woman with cares; in other words, a mature woman. Crawford offered a bridge between the fledgling Flapper and a full-fledged woman of true strength and freedom.


These Bright Young Things, as much girls as women, paved the way for the strong women in film that followed for ever after. Their look, their style and their attitude gave women a new way to look, not just at the world, but at themselves, their place in it and the possibilities that lie ahead.

To them, we raise a glass of forbidden bubbly!

And a shout out to other film flappers Olive Thomas, Leatrice Joy and Billie Dove!

Olive Thomas

Leatrice Joy

Billie Dove

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