Clara Bow was Hollywood's gem during the Roaring Twenties, a decade of bullets, babes and booze, when probation fueled speakeasies and spawned gangsters. A thrilling undercurrent of rebellion was weaved into the energy and contradictions of the 1920s.
Bow embodied the indulgences of flappers and reshaped Hollywood's destiny for the American film heroine. She ignited independence and possessed something that can't be taught, pure instinct.
Released this year, "Clara Bow My Story" is a three part compilation of Bow's interviews in Photoplay magazine between February, March and April of 1928. Excluding Bow's complete filmography, this book is well under 70 pages with pictures, an easy afternoon read.
The details of living in a Brooklyn Ghetto before 1910 as a child are tragic, yet opportunistic.
Bow details her start in Hollywood at 16-years-old. Most auditions went terrible, I was told I was too fat, too short, too young, usually too fat.
Having seen several of her silent films, I agree with the praise of her peers; She wasn't simply a movie star, she was a revaluation.
At one point, she worked on three movies a day. If memory serves, she appeared or stared in 26 movies in a single year. Regardless, she did stretches of 18 hour days on set.
"I'm jest a woikin' goil," Bow said in her natural Brooklyn accent.
Five stars easy breezy for "Clara Bow My Story."
Mark Izzy Schurr
