Variety of October 13, 1926, in reviewing Kid Boots, which co-starred Eddie Cantor, said, "Clara Bow was just a world of merriment."41
Variety, November 29, 1932, said of Call Her Savage that "[t]he return of Clara Bow to the screen after an absence of more than a year, and in a madcap role, makes a natural, almost irrespective of any other circumstance. Those two factors constitute a situation that is dramatized into box office, and the result is sure to be big money."42
Variety of December 5, 1933, says, Hoopla is a good Clara Bow picture that should do well at the pay box. It presents the star the way her fans fancy her plus a more mature performance which shows her an improved actress. Miss Bow seems ripe to come back strongly with proper handling and this performance will help plenty. Quite a long gap since her last release, but she looks and photographs extremely well."43
Apparently, Variety did not think Clara's comeback vehicles were failures.
Mordaunt Hall, who wrote for The New York Times, reviewed many Bow films. Of The Plastic Age, on July 19, 1926, he wrote that "she radiates an elfin sensuousness."44 Concerning Call Her Savage, reviewed on November 25, 1932, "Miss Bow does quite well by the role of this fiery-tempered impulsive Nasa..."45 Of Wings, reviewed on August 13, 1927, he says, "Clara Bow, bright-eyed and attractive, does her bit to add to the interest of this photoplay."46 Concerning Rough House Rosie, reviewed May 23, 1927, Hall wrote "Miss Bow cavorts charmingly though this stream of clever nonsense, making the most of big, long-lashed brown eyes."47 Of Kidboots, reviewed October 11, 1926, Hall observed that "the fair Clara Bow was captivating in the part of the heart-snatching heroine."48 On March 26, 1928, in reference to Redhair, Hall gushed that "the titian-haired, brown-eyed Clara Bow contributes the stellar performance...It is also the best picture in which Miss Bow has been featured."49
Hall was one of the more well-known critics and reviewers of his day. He illustrated, in these reviews (and many others I have in my collection), that he knew more of what was going on in the industry circles than many critics of today.
Clara had the charisma, the elfin-woman looks, and the voice to justify her stardom. In Photoplay, July, 1930, "Clara Bow, by the way, gives the [sound] mixers very little trouble, as she speaks plainly and naturally."50
Mordaunt Hall, in The New York Times of April 2, 1929, in critque of The Wild Party, inferring the hoopla surrounding Garbo's first talkie, headlines his review "Miss Bow Talks!" Hall states, "Miss Bow's voice is better than the narrative. It is not over melodious in delivery, but it suits her personality. Sometimes it is distinct and during some passages it isn't. It may fall on account of technical deficiencies of the recording device."51
Mildred Martin of The Philadelphia Inquirer reviewed The Saturday Night Kid on October 22, 1929. "Her voice, rather husky and entirely Bow-like, registers well, as it has in her preceding talking pictures..."52
In reviewing True To The Navy, on July, 1930, Photoplay states, "Entertaining, and Clara sings hotsy song with the correct blues inflection for one of the best performances by an actress for the month.
Mordaunt Hall reviewed Paramount on Parade in the April 21, 1930, New York Times and said, "She is vivacious and her voice registers better than in any of her own films."54
In the August, 1927, Photoplay, there is once again the Best Picture of the Year contest for 1926. The 50 finalists include three Clara entries: Dancing Mothers, Kid Boots, and Mantrap. It put her in the same league as Wallace Beery, Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford.
An honor roll compiled by Photoplay in the December, 1926, issue for Hollywood talent who received two or more "Best Performance" designations, Clara kept company with others, including John Barrymore, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, Gloria Swanson and Emil Jannings. Moreover, in the January, 1926, issue of this magazine, six movies in which Clara was cast were reviewed. Clara was loaned out by Schulberg to other studios, including Warners, who eagerly sought her talent. Clearly, at that time, few questioned her box office draw, artistic reliability, and "It."
It would be disingenuous to suggest that reviews of Clara's films were universally glowing. The majority, however, acknowledged her talent as an actress, and even those that didn't suggested or stated that her fans would go to these pictures just to see her. It was frequently written that she was much better than the material.
I have always felt that so-called fans should give something back, and this has been my attempt. But what can I say as a parting worthy of remembrance?
I recall clearly this day: Thursday, October 20, 1988. It was the final day of a series entitled "Clara Bow and Company--It Girl, Flappers, Jazz Babies, and Vamps" at the legendary, but now relocated Film Forum movie theatre/revival house, formerly located at 57 Watts Street in New York City. It was a triple bill of her films Hula, Hoopla,and,My Lady of Whims. I had to leave after the first show at about 6:10 p.m. I saw the line waiting to get into the next performance. People were lined up from the entrance of the theater to the next corner, which is Sixth Avenue. This line extended south to the next corner, three deep, in the rain.
I would like to finish my article with the following remarks. 1)Every reference made in this article exists in the author's collection in original form or reproduction. 2)Anyone wishing to confer with me about this article may reach me directly at 220 85th Street, Apt.4A, Brooklyn, NY 11214. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you wish a reply. 3)This article could not have been accomplished without the editorial help, suggestions, and lightning-fast key strokes of Mark D. McKennon, a film writer, also of Brooklyn.
1James Robert Parish, Paramount Pretties (Secaucus NJ: Castle Books, 1972). Rudy Belmer, Films in Review, October, 1963, p. 451. Ironically enough, in the very next issue of Films in Review, November, 1963, Vol. XIV, No. 9, in the Letters to the Editor, one Henry R. Davis of Dallas, Texas, states, "It's too much ever to expect an actress to give the correct year of her birth, but the older statistics say Bow's was 1904." He also refers to two films I had not previously heard of, The Boomerang and Faint Perfume (both 1925, B.P. Schulberg, producer). In It, That Personality Magazine, October, 1940, Vol.1, No.1, there is an article, "The Original It Girl," which also refers to unheard of films, The Great Sensation and Two Gates. These may have been working titles for other films that she did bit parts in, or those that were never completed.
Film on Film: The History of Hollywood, Chapter 12, "Star Treatment".
Richard Hudson, "Clara Bow: The 'It' Girl," Hollywood Studio Magazine, August, 1981, Vol. 14, No.12.
2Clara Bow, "My Life Story, as told to Adela Rogers St. Johns," Part II, Photoplay, March, 1927.
3Budd Schulberg, Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince (New York: Stein & Day, 1981).
4Film on Film, The History of Hollywood, PBS, Vol.6: "Hollywood: Swanson and Valentino." I would also like to suggest Swanson on Swanson: An Autobiography (New York: Pocketbooks, 1981).
5Mrs. D.W.Griffith [Linda Arvidson], When the Movies Were Young (New York: Dover, 1969; a republication of the original book, New York: E.P.Dutton & Co., 1925). Benjamin B. Hampton, History of the American Film Industry (New York: Dover, 1970).
6I refer again to Stenn's book. Also, Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein, The "It" Girl (New York: Dell, 1976), and "My Life Story," Part I, Photoplay, February 1927. Also, NOrman Zierold, Sex Goddesses of the Silent Screen (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1973).
7Stenn, p.99.
8W.A.Swanberg, Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hears (New York: Charles Scribner, 1961).
9John Kobal, People Will Talk (New York: Knopf, 1985).
10Host Leonard Lopate, WNYC, 830 AM Radio, August 29, 1989.
11Colleen Moore, Silent Star: Colleen Moore Talks About Her Hollywood(New York: Doubleday, 1968).
12Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, Dark Star: The Meteoric Rise and Eclipse of John Gilbert (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., 1985).
13Abel Green and Joe Laurie, Jr., Show Biz from Vaude to Video (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1951).
14The Movie Lover's Guide to New York (New York: Harper & Row, 1988).
15Marc Wanamaker, General Editor, The Hollywood Reporter Star Profiles(London: Octopus Books, 1984).
16Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall, Permanent Californians-An Illustrated Guide to Cemeteries of California (Chelsea VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Co., 1989).
17Richard Wortley, Erotic Movies (London: Crescent Books, 1975).
18Laurie Jacobson, "Star Bashing-Tarnishing the Legends, Hollywood Studio Magazine, I, XXII, Jan 1989).
19Richard Griffith, The Movie Stars (New York: Doubleday, 1970).
20A.L.Wooldridge, "Pet Aversions of the Stars," Picture Play Magazine, XXV, No. 1, Sept. 1926 (source probable but uncertain).
21Edward Wagenknecht, Stars of the Silent (Metuchen NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987).
22---, The Movies in the Age of Innocence (New York: Ballantine Books, 1971).
23"Has Hollywood a Conscience?," Modern Screen, II, NO.2, Jul 1931, 48-49.
24The New York Daily News, 6 Aug 1989, p.9.
25The New York Times Book Review, 6 Nov 1988, p.23.
26IBID., 1 Jan 1989, p.2.
27Maurice Speed, The 1989 Film Diary (Oxfordshire, England: Lime Tree Pubs., 1988).
28Marilyn Monroe, My Story (New York: Stein & Day, 1974).
29Kenneth Anger, Hollywood Babylon (San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1975).
30Ibid.
31"That Awful It," Photoplay, XXXVII, Jul 1930, No.2, 133.
32David Chierichetti, Hollywood Costume Design (New York: Harmony Books, 1976).
33Irving Shulman, Harlow: An Intimate Biography (New York: Bernard Gies Associates, 1964).
34Brief Reviews of Current Pictures," Photoplay, XXXII, No. 2, Jul 1927.
35Brief Reviews of Current Pictures," Photoplay, XLIII, No. 6, May 1933, 12.
36"New Screen Plays," Motion Picture Magazine, XXXIII, No. 3, Oct 1926, 61.
37"Just Helpless Little Girls," Silver Screen, III, No. 10, Aug 1933, 58.
38"Talkie Tips," Filmfun, LVIII, NO. 530, Jun 1933, 54.
39Photoplay, XXXIV, No. 5, Sep 1928, 138.
40"Confidentila Guide to Current Releases," Picture Play, XXVIII, NO. 4, Jun 1928, 65.
41Variety, LXXXIV, No. 13, 13 Oct 1926, 16.
42Variety, CVIII, No. 12, 29 Nov 1932, 18.
43Variety, CXII, No. 13, 5 Dec 1933, 17.
44The New York Times, 19 Jul 1926, p. 13.
45The New York Times, 25 Nov 1932, p. 19.
46The New York Times, 13 Aug., 1927, p.10.
47The New York Times, 23 May 1927, p. 27.
48The New York Times , 11 Oct 1926, p. 18.
49The New York Times, 26 Mar 1928, p. 26.
50Photoplay, XXXVII, No. 2, Jul 1930, 100.
51The New York Times, 2 Apr. 1929, p. 28.
52The Philadelphia Inquirer, CCI, No. 114, 22 Oct 1929, 8.
53Photoplay, XXXVIII, No. 2, Jul 1930, 57.
54The New York Times, 21 Apr. 1930, 20.