Between 1922 and 1929, Clara Bow's vitality and sexiness defined the liberated woman of the 1920s.
Clara Bow (1906-1965) became one of Hollywood's brightest lights during this time.
Clara was known as 'The "It" Girl'. "It" symbolized the tremendous progress women were making in society, and leading the way was Clara Bow, the girl of the year, who had "It" in abundance.
On the set she was full of charm and wit. She was also a thorough professional, and this was asserted by people who knew and worked with her, such as Colleen Moore, Diana Serra Cary ("Baby Peggy") and Louise Brooks.
Clara Bow was an actress of range and depth. Clara played a variety of roles including manicurists, waitresses and department store clerks.
In The Plastic Age (Preferred Pictures, 1925), the audience was just warming up to her delicious revelry. It was in her first, bona fide mega-hit Mantrap (Paramount, 1926) that she absolutely enthralled the audience.
They and the usually jaded critics behaved as if she had just arrived in a glorious burst of fireworks, even though she had paid her dues in quite a few earlier pictures. Variety, on July 14, 1926, exclaimed, "Clara Bow! And how! What a 'Mantrap' she is! And how this picture is going to make her!
Miss Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she steps into camera range." It (Paramount, 1927) was the pinnacle of her youthful career and forever made her a household Hollywood goddess.
The "It" Girl was so hot and bright. It was inevitable that she would burn out personally and professionally. It's shocking to think that her career was over in 1933 when she was all of 26 years old.
This was after she had made millions for her studio, Paramount, and had risen to the stature of one of the most well-known stars in the world. We wonder how it happened and why.
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