Clara Bow

Clara Bow had an interesting life. She had a very hard life. I would have never really thought to want to know what Clara Bow's life was like. My TV was on for background noise, as usual, while I was reading a book. I found myself putting the book down (unheard of!) to watch most of her biography.
Her father was an abusive ass, but yet, even when she was rich, she kept him around, and let him sponge off her. She even bought him a 'dry goods' shop, and roller-skated to it to give him publicity. It went under. This idiot wanted to be called "king", and made everyone call him as such. After Clara had children, he would beat one of them. Clara put boxing gloves on the boy, and let him beat the shit out of Grandpa. Lesson learned.
She was a promiscuous little thing, and didn't care who knew it. She actually had SEX with her boyfriends. She announced, repeatedly that marriage was not the only career for women." This was in the 1920-130's. Shocking! She loved being an actress. She had boyfriends from every film. I guess I'd like being an actress, too, if that happened. She survived the advent of 'talkies', and the world discovered she had a Brooklyn accent. Towards the end of her career as an actress, she started having mental problems, and became a little paranoid, even taking her aggressions out on a microphone. She still wasn't sure of these 'talkies'. She finally married one of her co-stars, moved to a ranch in Nevada, and had two boys. He became a politician, and left her alone too often. She moved to Las Vegas to be closer to him, where she died, in 1965, alone, in front of her TV set, watching a rerun of an old movie, called "The Virginian's."
Why am I blogging about Clara Bow? Because, its my blog, and I can. One of my favorite things is learning something new. I especially like hearing about women who tried, (and suceeded!) in breaking the mold of their day. I knew, a little bit, about Clara Bow before today, (I always envisioned her lips,). But I never knew she was a strong, slightly crazy promiscuous broad who made no excuses for enjoying her life the way she wanted to, regardless of what public opinion was of her.