Hot History - CLARA BOW: Part 1 - The original 'it' girl

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

You've been asking for her, so here we go. Today we're deep diving into the highs and lows of the original 'it' girl, Clara Bow. From her early years in Brooklyn tenements to the fame and fortune contest that changed her life, we're tracking just how the big-eyed Brooklyn beauty made it to the top of the box office AND the pinnacle of cultural influence. Then come back on Monday for part 2 where we look at her relationship with the press, struggles with mental health, financial situation and how Clara Bow became the muse of one Taylor Swift!Shout out to our incredible researcher Grace McCamish for pulling this together, and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Substack, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and of course, right here! 'Til next week, Ainslie x

Hi, my divas, just jumping in here before we get into the history, all right, to tell you a stat that blew my mind the other day. Did you know that men are statistically more likely to subscribe to their favorite podcast slash YouTubers than women? Yes, something, which just, you know, does not sit right with me. It's not good. We will not let the dudes beat us in both subscriber numbers and the historical record. So let us all do our part today to nudge that.

needle and hit that subscribe or follow button. And if you like this episode of Hot History or our content more broadly, then you can go ahead and leave us a review or share because every single one of you make these episodes possible. So thank you for all of your support, but enough chatter. Right, we are here for the history, so let's roll the whimsical medieval theme. Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. I'm Mainsley Harvey, your hot historian here, ready to chat today, guys, about one of the most highly requested episodes and women in the short but illustrious history of this pod.

Okay, she is the original it girl. She is the muse of Taylor Swift. She is Miss Clara, Beau, and let me tell you, my Divas. It is a big one today. We are splitting up into two parts just to cover the basics. Like, that is how. impactful and significant clara bow is to both culture and history. So we are getting straight into it by rewinding all the way back to July 29, 1905, okay?

Where we find ourselves in Brooklyn, New York. Now, I want to preface right at the top here. That 1905 Brooklyn is not the lonely boy, Dan Humphrey, coffees, bagels and art school kind of vibe, okay? it is a place of terrible, impoverished conditions made up primarily of working class and immigrant families who lived in overcrowded and dangerous tenement buildings, with author Judith McRill saying this was, quote, the most brutal poverty that was known at the time. Which is exactly the world that Clarabot finds herself being born into.

Daughter of Mr. Robert Walter Bow, an aggressive alcoholic who frequented brothels with underage girls, he regarded women, including Clara and her mother Sarah, as objects, which, guys, like, let's be real, if that didn't give him away as a total fucking loser, which it should. Then the fact he was almost constantly out of work and failed to provide much-needed food, clothing, and sanitary conditions for his family should do the trick, but it shouldn't need to, okay? Like, just the fact that he thought women were kind of objects to be used. Like, fuck this guy.

I hate this guy so much from the get-go. Like, I can't deal. Anyway, this, as you can imagine, obviously put massive strain on his wife, Sarah, whose largely untreated schizophrenia saw her endure epileptic seizures that kept her housebound, where she is reported to have entertained men as a sex worker just to try and make ends meet. So her husband's like out drinking and like at a brothel, and she's got to basically, you know, sell her body to try and like keep a roof over her head. So Clara is not coming into a happy world here, all right?

In fact, it was actually largely believed she wouldn't come into the world at all. Born, as we said in July of 1905, this was a really precarious time because the city was in the middle of a massive heat wave, one that was so severe that it raised the infant mortality rate to 80%. I always do think, like, in these kinds of situation, you've got no aircon, like, what do you do when it was a really hot day in the middle of summer? Like, it's crazy. apparently, you know, raised the infant mortality rate and the mortality rate for mothers as well,

where Sarah was told kind of by doctors before, you know, it was really unlikely that she and her child would survive. Something that the big old festering ass wound that is Robert took us a green light to basically run out on his pregnant wife. Okay? So he's like, yeah, oh, well, you're kind of going to die anyway, so I'm just going to go. which saw her then have to return back to her parents, whose own life as immigrants had been shrouded in just as much poverty.

But she was at least being watched over in this really dangerous period of her life by kind eyes, with her mother being present for Clara's birth in a Brooklyn church on July 29th, something which Clara later recounted, saying, quote, I don't suppose two people ever looked death in the face more clearly than the morning I was born. and she wasn't wrong here, guys. Clara was born blue and not breathing until her grandmother picked her up and shook her violently, after which the little baby girl let out a scream,

much to the surprise of doctors and Robert, who was eventually told the news and he's like, oh, fine, I'll come home. And he then kind of returns and moves Sarah and Clara into a Brooklyn tenement, which I'm not exaggerating for a minute here, guys, reminds me of something out of American Horror Story. But worse. Okay?

These aren't apartments or flats. Like, I don't even know if you could describe them as, as, like, shabby rooms. These are sky high buildings, or, you know, what was kind of considered sky high at the time, that were packed full of multiple families to a single space who all then shared overflowing toilets, resulting in widespread infection and death and disease. all of which became a really common part of daily life, as did the rats and roaches and rodents who kind of scurried about the various floors. So not in any way, shape or form the kind of place you want to live, let alone you want to bring a newborn baby into. But again, this was really

the only option for the bows. So Sarah, Robert and Clara moved in, followed shortly after by Sarah's father after he'd committed his own wife to an asylum. So Clara's grandmother, who'd helped deliver her, to an asylum where she died a year later. Clara spent a lot of the early years of her life away from her parents, whose abuse towards one another often unfortunately extended to Clara. Later reflecting on this time with her grandfather, Clara said it was one of the great lights of her childhood, as the pair spent their time taking trips to the park,

reading stories before bed, and him even making her a homemade swing. All things which made his death when Clara was only three years old, all the more painful. Of his passing, Clara remarked, quote, the first night as he lay in his coffin in the dining room, I crept out of my bed and lay down on the floor beside him because I had a feeling he might be lonely. What's so sad?

My father found me there in the morning almost frozen. I said, hush, you mustn't wake grandfather. He's sleeping. But I knew he was dead and I missed him very much. So almost immediate tragedy and grief for Clara in these early few years of her life, which unfortunately, guys, didn't get any better. The abuse inside the Bo household continued, leaving Clara to search for solace outside the home, which she found in the form of her best friend and fellow neighbour, Johnny.

A quiet boy who lived in the same tenement, Clara and Johnny became each other's refuge, spending their days running around the neighbourhood with other children and dancing through back alleys. for in their minds, while they were poor in cash, they didn't have to be an imagination. But this happiness as well would also come crumbling down around Clara, who returned home one day when she was merely nine years old to find Johnny's apartments in flame. This is so, so sad, guys. And, like, you have to genuinely have a stone heart inside your chest if you do not have immense amounts of empathy. Clara, she's a child. Like a human would barely be able to deal with this level of trauma, but she's

fucking nine years old. So she comes home, kind of Johnny's apartment is in flames, and he had reportedly caught his clothing alight standing by the nearby stove or open flame, and had become badly engulfed in kind of, you know, burns. His mother, during all of this, froze in panic, leaving nine-year-old Clara to grab a nearby carpet, using both it and herself, literally her bare hands, to put out the flames on the young boy whose wounds were so extensive that he died in her arms. Like I said, absolutely fucking traumatizing, right? For this young girl who really could not seem to catch a break from the series of terrible offence that plagued her, which did include, unfortunately, sexual abuse from her own father,

who, you know, I've already said I fucking hate, but I really, really hate this man. He's genuinely like a psychological terrorist, in my opinion. And while yes, Clara did not admit that, you know, kind of any of this happened in her quotes about her father later in life, her biographer, David Sten, pieced together a number of both medical and therapist reports from Clara's archives, which led to the conclusion that she had, in fact, been raped by her father as a teenager. So an unimaginable amount of trauma and grief.

Again, for anyone, but for someone so young, and a young woman to endure. But Clara wasn't anyone, and in comparison to the world around her in Brooklyn, you just had to carry on or die, something that she flat out refused to do, and as such found her way to what would become her glimmering temple of hope, right?

Her one space of freedom and kind of self-identity, the movie theatre. Looking for an escape, and I suppose also maybe just wanting to kind of disappear, for a minute, right? A theatre with its dim lights and kind of anonymity with this crowd of strangers is a really great way to do that. Clara took any chance she had to visit her local theatre, picking up film magazines from the street wherever she could. From whodumets to epic dramas, fanciful comedies and deafening tragedies, Clara lost herself in the world of film and soon found

herself imitating film stars, the most significant of which was Mary Pickford in front of a mirror. imagining just for a moment what it might be like to one day live a different life. A fabulous life, as one of those captivating, talented and rich ladies she watched on screen. And luckily for Clara, and to be honest, perhaps really the only bit of luck in her life so far, she'd get this chance, thanks to Brewsters, a film magazine that Clara picked up secondhand. Turning the inside pages, she found a bold centre page column which read, quote, here, Devers, Through the portal of the fame and fortune contest, you may enter the kingdom of the screen. First prize, a role in a motion picture plus industry introductions.

This was it. Clara felt it in her bones. This was her chance to get out of Brooklyn, to live a life, a real life, not one of poverty, not one of struggle, not one of trauma, but one of power. but one of passion, of destiny, of fame and of fortune. And so, in 1921, at the age of only 16, she persuaded her father to lend her money to have a pair of photographs taken to enter the contest. At first, he was kind of hesitant, before eventually handing over the cash several days later,

to which she may be thinking money for picks, like what do you mean? But remember here, this is the 1920s, and photography had to be done at a price. studio. So, with the coins in her pocket, Clara put on her one nice dress and went to a small family run shop in Cody Island to get her snaps. However, she wasn't confident she'd have any luck here, not because necessarily of how she looked, but rather how others did. Catching a glimpse of some of the other contestants that began being published, she ogled over their expensive jewelry and clothes already, giving the effect of, you know, kind of grown women or movie stars,

unlike Clara, whose simple dress and red curly hair made her look like the wild girl next door. But still, she refused to be beaten down and as such completed the autobiography, attached her new photos, and personally delivered her application to the magazine's office, which she later recalled, saying, I had never had a manicure nor a pair of chiffon stockings in my life. I'd never even been close to the scent of such perfumes as filled that room. I wore the one and only thing I owned, a little plain wool dress, a sweater and a woolly red tan, which, you know, sure, it certainly wasn't fancy, but she did make an impression, with the secretary who received the application writing, called in person, very pretty, on the cover letter.

So she's done it. Right? At 16 years old, Clara felt hopeful and excited. excited, not in the least here, because her idol that we spoke about before Mary Pickford had actually judged the competition the year prior, but also because she was finally doing something for herself. Right? Not thinking about her mom, not thinking about her dad, not thinking about her grandpa or Johnny or anyone else. And while yes, sure, she had no formal training in acting or singing, but she did have something else, the most important thing, right? The spirit of performer.

which excited her beyond all measure. However, that all but evaporated when she stepped back through the door of the family's Brooklyn Tenement, where her mother, who'd only just found out about her daughter's contest entry, called her a haul, believing that the film industry would corrupt and destroy Clara, who, quote, would be much better off dead. So from the get-go here, guys. Sarah, her mum, is deeply and vehemently against Clara's desire for a life on screen. something which only grew more and more when she received not one, but five callbacks from

the fame and fortune team. So Clara's in with a chance here. You know, and this is really the point that a pretty face and a personally delivered application doesn't cut the must anymore. Clara now had to prove she could, at least in some way, act, or, you know, the very least read a script. Now, lucky for Clara, despite her very short education, she was quite bright, getting good grades at school where she learned to read, but there was one other thing to consider here. She actually had a bit of a stammer, which, while not super noticeable, did disrupt the overall flow of her voice, something which probably would have been a deal breaker if films at the time were talkies from the get-go, but they were largely silent films, again, at least in the first

kind of ten years. So as long as she could read the script and act, she'd be fine. Coming back then, time after time in her shabby clothes and slightly unkept manner, Clara showed the judges what she could do, with her meeks of movement and expression evoking both freedom and passion, which one of the judges remarked was a, quote, cheekiness that cannot be faked. And he wasn't wrong. I mean, charisma after all, guys, is the kind of thing you either have or you don't. And it turned out that Clara Bow had it in spades. Finally, finding out after months of auditions and screen tests,

that she, the self-taught little girl from Brooklyn, had won. Announced to the world in January 1922, Clara was overjoyed, of course, obviously, right? She's done like all these callbacks for months, leaving school almost immediately to pursue the opportunity, something which would ultimately be the final straw for Sarah, who upon hearing the news reportedly pulled a butcher's knife on her daughter in the middle of the night, threatening to kill her herself because it would be better for her to be dead than become an actress. This, of course, was her mental illness definitely at play here which had become so severe and was left so grossly mistreated that the following morning Robert had to commit her to a sanitarium

where she died a year later, something which despite the troubled relationship really broke Clara's heart, who reportedly jumped into her mother's grave at her funeral. So at this point, right, the entire Bo household is turned upside down in a period of the highest of highs, the most exciting news and the lowest of lows. But Clara was still thrilled to pursue this opportunity, which, for my Aussie listeners here, was basically like Miranda Kerr entering the Dolly Mag competition as a teen and then becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel. Okay, it really is life-changing. So what happens next? Well, quick sticks with a small suitcase and her single rumpled dress on, Clara boarded a cross-country train headed straight for Hollywood,

where she filmed five scenes for 1920s beyond the rainbow as her prize for, you know, winning this competition. She was thrilled, of course, showing up to the studio to film across from Harry T. Mori, who was a big star at the time, appearing in more than 200 films across his career. Now, Clara believed she absolutely nailed these scenes, right? She's like, yes, snaps for me.

But that apparently wasn't how everyone felt, dubbing her performance as amateurish, execs and directors made the very painful decision to cut her from the film all together. Yeah, which, like, I would, like, shrivel up inside and die because she found out when she was watching the final product for the first time. I can't even believe. Like, it's soul-crushing, right?

And while they did put them back in and, like, re-release the film years later, this was still devastating for Clara, who felt like this competition didn't deliver on either promise of fame or fortune. She was embarrassed, but not, and this is really important, in a humiliated kind of way, guys, all right? But in a fire, in the belly, like, I'm going to show you all what I'm made of kind of way. And so she got back on the train for New York, showing up day after day, month after month, week after week for meetings, auditions, callbacks with everyone who was willing to meet with her, until eventually she landed a role in 1920s down to the sea in ships. Playing the character of Dot, Clar's role was small, but unlike Beyond the Rainbow, her impact this time was large.

catching the eye of critics, audiences and filmmakers alike, thanks to her now iconic expressions. Now, if you're listening at home, my divas, and you haven't seen a photo of Clara yet, the key thing to note about her is that she had these huge eyes. All right? They literally looked like sources, kind of like Emma Stone. And thanks to them, she was able to convey her every thought and feeling, which was essential because remember, like I said, these are all silent films. So expression and good looks are absolutely necessary, which Clara had.

But it did also require something else. Again, without dialogue, you really had to show every single emotion, feel every modicant of pain, happiness, suffering and ecstasy to sell to the audience. Which it turns out, Clara could do better than the best. From glee to heartbreak, Clara had an emotive rage wider than the serengeti. wowing actors and producers on set with just how talented she truly was, even guys crying on cue, something that very few actors were able to do at the time,

relying heavily on glycerin, which she said she didn't need, because all she had to do was think of home and the tears flew. Now, if you're thinking, hang on, this story sounds kind of familiar, like I feel like I've seen this before, and chances are you have watched 2002's Babylon by Damien Chazelle. starring Margot Robby in the role of Nellie LaRoy, a young woman from humble origins who propels to fame in 1920s Hollywood by making her way into a party and then eventually to a film set where she cries on cue, speaks with this, you know, thick kind of Brooklyn accent

and carries on rather noughtly on several occasions. She is directly inspired by one Miss Clarabot. With this scene here perfectly encapsulating how this kind of, you know, scene and moment may have gone down. Have a listen. She can't cry. She's just a random whore from all. So Clara Guys is a genuine certified talent, right? Something which led her to several small but again highly impressionable roles at East Coast Film Studios between 1922 and 1923, after which she was selected as one of the Wampas

baby stars, which yes does sound like a prequel to Cardi B's Wop, but is in fact not. Yet another competition of sorts, the Western Association of Motion Pictures Advertis aka Wampus ran the Baby Stars talent program each year for actresses that they deemed were on quote the threshold of movie stardom, something which does perfectly describe 19-year-old Clara at this point, who was picked alongside 12 other young women in 1924. This came with a lot of advantages, right? You had greater access to studios, you had help with screen tests, and of course, coverage in the press, something which will feature heavily in the life of Clara Bo. And yes,

stevers, do not worry. We are going to talk about the Taylor Swift and the Stevie Nix of it all later on. But for now, as one of these baby stars, Clara stood strong and stood out amongst the other young women in the lineup who were all wearing these kind of chic hats and blazers with fancy heels and old school looks while Clara was fierce. Okay, her hair was loose and wild, blowing in the wind like some kind of untamed flaming red mane. Her eyebrows were always slightly raised and those saucer eyes stared directly into every single soul. In many ways, she was almost otherworldly, right? Again, especially in comparison to these other women.

And of course, full of that very, very potent cheekiness, which she showed off boldly by blowing a kiss straight down the barrel of the camera. something that would largely change the history of Hollywood forever. Speaking of which, we should probably do a tiny little moment on, you know, what is Hollywood history up until this point? And it is a good question, to be honest, because Hollywood, right, as we know it, the kind of movie business, was relatively new. Only beginning in 1911, thanks to the Nestor Motion Picture Company establishing the first permanent movie studio in Los Angeles,

there was only one kind of movie star before Clara. All right, they were sophisticated and largely men, with far less actresses becoming household names, but those that did, like Clara's own idol, for example here, Mary Pickford, were graceful, refined and classic, even earning nicknames like America's sweetheart, which, as you can imagine, was basically a relentless gig that required not stepping a single toe out of line.

But Clara, on the other hand, had no intention of keeping herself in any lines at any point in time. She was free and funny, wild and unrelenting, constantly wearing her heart on her sleeve and being open about her struggles and her desires, all of which was topped off by her eccentric style, which represented who she truly was. A real woman, guys. She wasn't polished or primed like the old Hollywood girlies who chose to keep their messy relationships and personality quirks and opinions largely hidden, but a whimsical firecracker of a woman who blew the ideas of early 20th century femininity into another fucking stratosphere here, which one of Clara's fellow actors confirmed saying her, quote, social presence was taboo, and it was rather silly. because God knows Marion Davies and Mary Pickford had plenty to hide.

It's just that they hid it, and Clara didn't. So when it came to Clara sticking out in this lineup of 13 girls like a sore thumb, she didn't mind. In fact, she was different, so she showed it, which was something that ultimately paid off, leading her to a deal with preferred pictures, which is when Clara Bo, the baby star, becomes Clara Bo. the actual star.

Permanently moving to Hollywood in 1924, Clara worked with preferred pictures to release seven films in that year alone. Yeah, guys, I will say up the top, this diva had some serious work ethic, okay, she was going back to back to back on films. The most significant of which, from these first lot, was Black Oxen,

which despite playing a secondary role was really the film that made Hollywood execs sit up, right, and realize that this woman was going to be a star. Something which was confirmed with her next film, wine, which was her first starring role, which is now, guys, very sadly lost, as we don't really know what happened to the original, like, roles of films, the physical copies, but is said by all accounts to be an acting masterpiece by the 19-year-old who skyrocketed to the top of the box office. From there, it was up and up and up, with Clara slowly transforming from

contract actress to a box office name, something which came with. more money and more perks. Earning around $10,000 US dollars annually at the time, Clara was making great money, but she wasn't spending like it. In contrast to her fellow actresses in their designer clothes and fancy apartments and, you know, kind of diamond jewelry, Clara wore modest outfits, renting a small apartment where she barely spent any time.

After all, to turn out seven to eight movies a year does require six full working days, which Clara never missed a beat on. But while she may not have been lapping up these earlier successes and their comforts, someone else was. Following Clara from New York to Hollywood in 1924, her father, Robert Bow, had not only moved in with his daughter, but was identified by a Los Angeles newspaper at the time as Clara's business manager, although he actually just lumped around in her apartment all day and did

very little, living off the successes of Clara's talent and her hard work, something which This motherfucker didn't know a single thing about, I hate Robert Bow, okay? Putting it on the record. Speaking of hard work, though, let's look at Clarus films. What did she have lined up from 1925 to 1926, now that she's kind of, you know, a successful name? Well, at first she did The Plastic Age, one of the first really successful college romance films like the OG off campus, right? Where she played Cynthia Day, the spirited modern college girl who audiences the U.S. I say over fell in love with.

Something which helped her to be cast in the man trap. This is a big one, my divas, all right? It was directed by Victor Fleming, who later went on to direct Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, so like a serious name here. In this role, Clara played Alvernor Prescott, a flirtatious waitress whose charm turns a remote Canadian town upside down, which sounds like one of my smutty, like, cowboy,

Canadian romance books, but this was not that. It was actually one of Paramount's biggest hits of 1926, making Clara Bow the studio's biggest female star pop-off queen, with variety describing her as a magnetic screen presence. Now, coming back to Margot Robbie, right? Because we've already talked about her and she's just the perfect example here. This, the man trap, was the equivalent of the wolf of Wall Street. Okay, from this point onwards, Clara Bow was projected into atmospheric levels of fame.

She was stopped on the streets. All right, she was cornered in cars. She was adorned by millions and was also really highly respected within the industry by both executives and cast and crew who knew her to be this natural, dynamic, incredibly talented actress in front of the camera and a fun and kind person behind it. She was also known during this period and beyond, to be honest, her whole life, her legacy comes down to this, as having a hell of a good time. And I mean, Medevas, why wouldn't she, right? She's young, she's pretty, she's tough.

And, you know, after these first years of her career, which did see her be more conservative with her kind of funds and free time more broadly, this next phase of Clara's life was characterized by her personification of the first. flapper, which is also probably a good time to ask what the hell even is a flapper, which in the context of Clarabot is a good question to ask, which actually requires us to rewind it back to World War I and before. So prior to the outbreak of the Great War, we have the Victorian, Edwardian and Bell epoch eras, all of which were still conservative in both dress and values. However, after the devastating reality, of humanity's banality and the sheer level of just like death and destruction, right, endured in the First World War, things like propriety and shock.

Overseeing a lady's ankle didn't seem to matter anymore, especially after so many women kept the world moving while men were away at war, which was something that rang particularly true for the nurses, who would just at this point totally desensitized to both male and female anatomy, having stitched up and kind of grieved over so many maimed bodies. So there's a real shift here, right? Where from the late 1910s onward, women weren't viewed as kind of entirely ornamental objects anymore, but rather as functioning members of society, something which apparently took the deaths of millions to happen.

Good to know, right? It was also this post-war environment that saw a massive change in women's lives politically. Because the divas were out here smashing both the judicial and literal patriarchy, resulting in women's suffrage being granted in the US from 1920 onwards. So the 1920s really this kind of new world for women in particular, right? We have the gals fighting for their rights and winning, and we have young women in particular, really for the first time, leading independent lives. With one quarter to one third of urban female workers living alone in private apartments

or boarding houses by 1920. So it's a time of great change. It's really exciting. The morals are looser, expectations of broadening, paired with the boom in new industries and the growing economy, which also meant that something else was popping off, all right? It was on the rise. Parties, fun and freedom,

aka the perfect breeding grounds of the flapper. described by Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as, quote, a young woman, especially one somewhat daring in conduct, speech and dress. So the flapper was really a symbol of this kind of liberation of 1920s femininity, and her most important kind of, you know, attribute was her dress. Now, for those of us who have seen Baz Luhrman's The Great Gats be all my OG sacred text, Downton Abbey, images of the flapper dress will conjure in your mind in two seconds flat. But for those of you who haven't, no worries, my darlings, we are going to break it down.

Now, firstly, and of course most scandalously here, the flapper dress not only showed foot, right? But it showed ankle. And it not only showed ankle, but it showed full-blown shin. Okay? Yes, steepers, it is hot and steamy in here. A shin. Never. And genuinely, for the Victorians, Edwardians, and even the French ladies of the Bellapok,

this really was fucking wild, because unlike their tightly corseted gowns, the flapper dress was designed for movement with loose straight silhouettes, a dropped waist on the hip, and famous just below the knee hemline, all reflecting the age they lived in. It was also, again, which I do think this is probably like more scandalous. like sleeveless, right? Or at the like very least really short kind of cap sleeves. Exposing more skin than polite society had ever really seen. The materials were also important here, often made from lightweight fabrics such as silk, chiffon, satin or crape, which were lavishly decorated with beads, sequence, embroidery, and fringe. So these dresses, okay, they're fun and embellished

and in many ways very gauche when considering not five years earlier the war was largely at play. But the reality is that it was over, guys, and that in and of itself was a reason to celebrate, to live, to have fun, which is exactly what the flapper embodied. So how then did Clara Bo bring this to life for herself, right? How does she make it different? Well, yes, she wore the dresses, many, many of them. In fact, in 1925 in particular, she wore an almost completely sheer dress, which helped, you know, kind of add to her rise to fame and notoriety. But the real thing that made Clara Bow, the living embodiment of the flapper, was her hair. Yes, my deavers.

Clara Bow was the original owner of the fuck-assbob. And let me tell you, all right, it was just as revolutionary back in the 1920s as Leslie Bibbs' character in the White Lotus. Okay, because pre-Clarra, Hollywood was accustomed to the long, elaborate hairstyles that had really defined the Victorian and Edwardian eras, neither of which represented the 20s and certainly didn't represent Clara. So instead, she embraced what she had. Curly, wild, flaming red hair, which she kept cut to jaw length and styled into soft finger waves, framing her huge eyes and famous Cupid's bow lips, creating not only the signature flapper look, but a style in and of itself. With women around the globe asking their hairdressers for the Clara. Bob, so she's an influencer, right?

She is in many ways comparable here to like the Rachel Green in Friends, the hair-wise, just of the 1920s, right? With women even going so far as to change their hair colour to match Clara's Auburn locks, which randomly I found this out when researching, and I do not understand why. Her hair colour wasn't described as like red or ginger or bourne, but Titan. Like, I don't, I've never heard that before in my whole life. I don't know if it's like a Titanic reference. If anyone knows, let me know in the comments.

But regardless, it was just a sensation. Yeah, with Vogue dubbing Clara as having, quote, the most famous hair in America. Something she herself leaned into, commenting later that she and her fellow flappers had, quote, individuality. We did as we pleased. We stayed up late. We dressed the way we wanted. I used to whizz around Sunset Boulevard in my open kistle with several red chow dogs to match my hair.

So there's this very, very iconic brand, right, that Clara had manufactured for herself. But being a flapper wasn't just about the style. least for Clara in particular. It was really about the lifestyle. And by this point in her career, she was making some serious coin, signing a deal with Paramount in August 1926 for $1,700 per week, which is the equivalent to around $88,400 US per year at the time, which in today's figures is a cool $5.9 million US dollars. This, of course, made her both. glamorous and financially independent, even like we said earlier, supporting her father, which is really a large part of this flapper identity, with women all over the Western world

seeking to emulate this image of success and independence and freedom, something which we see come to life time and time again through pop culture. I know I already mentioned Nellie LaRoy, Margarobie, right, in Babylon, who does sum this up perfectly here with this line saying, quote, there was always something. I was too young or too little or too fat. Usually I was too fat. Which, guess what, Devas? Was actually directly a quote from Clarabot herself.

There's a lot of them in this movie, actually. Like, obviously it's based off of her, but the direct pulls from kind of interviews and quotes herself is wild. I also already did mention down to Nabby. And for my Crawley Stans, who's seen the second film, you'll also pick up on similarities here with Mernard Dagalish. She's the like film star from a poor background who comes across kind of inappropriate and brash while still looking gorgeous and, you know, we'll talk more about her shortly. But the point is here. Yeah? This fun, free, flapper girl lifestyle was the one that Clara actually lived.

There was no PR spin. This wasn't just a phase, but a reflection of herself and the other incredible women of the time who forged their own path, which earned Clara. an even bigger title, one which would go on to inspire the likes of Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Taylor Swift and ultimately the algorithms of women the world over, all right? The It Girl. Now, of course, synonymous with women who possess that certain Geneseeco. You know, think Haley Bieber, Carolyn Beset, Kennedy, Kendall Jenner, yeah? Women who have their kind of fingers on the part.

pulse of culture. They know about fashion. They know about art. They know about society and all managed to be cool while also remaining highly commercial. It's this balancing act that feels impossible for us me mortals to do. After all, guys, I want to be so for real for a second, the thought of wearing, and this is no hate if you do wear these. Like I applaud you. I simply could not wear the Mason, Marcella Tabius, because it just evokes images of labias to me. Okay? I love that for you. If you're into that, like pop off diva, but I cannot pull it off. But I tell you who could have Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Yeah, she would have had four pairs and she would have looked, you know, not for a second like she had vaginas on her feet. So all of these gals are iconic and the

countless columns and how-to-tick-to-tik guides on replicating the itness, you know, all really have to bow down and owe it all to Clara and 1927's It. That's right, Deavers. The It Girl title isn't simply an adjective here, but rather a film. Based on the popular novella at the time, It saw Clara Bow play a poor shopgirl named Betty Lou Spence, who had a crush on her rich employer, Cyrus Wallham, Jr., directed by Clarence G. Badger. The film was an instant box office hit, which took Clara from movie star to global phenomenon.

Again, if we come back to Margot Robbie here, this, it, right, is her Barbie movie. All right, this film changed everything, including our vocabularies, with Clara becoming known as that girl in the it movie, or for sure, the it girl, a phrase which very soon detached itself from the film and instead attached itself to Clara's own character. Defined as the quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force, Clara was ascribed this title, yes, of course, for her personality style and talent, but more so for her impact. Right, we get that she was amongst the kind of fapper scene and had, you know, the fuck-ass bob which influenced everyone.

but the real reason she was the it girl was because she had transcended fame, setting a cultural tone for the era more so than anyone else of her time, which is so much bigger than aesthetics, guys, because it really came down as well to what she did for women, especially through the characters she played in her films. They were intentionally independent, modern women who challenge social norms by being bold and brash and confident and charismatic. And this is a real hat's off to Clara here, guys, who actively made really storied and deliberate

choices in how she presented women, right? Once again, challenging the traditional gender roles of that old Hollywood kind of classic vixen, inspiring a new generation of vivacious and strong women who enjoy. embraced their freedom and embraced their sexuality. Yes, my devas, you see, Clara Bo, she wasn't just a fun, naive, free-spirited, neighborhood flapper. She was, in no uncertain terms, the first modern sex symbol. Now, the original was the divine Thedabara, about 10 years earlier, who became famous for playing seductive, dangerous women who lured men to their room.

A.k.a. the vamp. But Clara, 10 years later, changed this entirely. Okay. Gone was the danger, the darker lure, the kind of vampiness. And it was replaced instead by fun, energetic, and most importantly, sexually confident representation. Which is important here, guys, because Clara was largely reflecting the changed attitude of women during the 20s to sex, this kind of, you know, social change. As we mentioned earlier, between one quarter to one third of urban female workers lived alone in private apartments or boarding houses by 1920, which, yes, meant independence and convenience for work, but it also meant the watchful eyes of their parents were no more, resulting in people not only openly talking about, but also having a lot of sex. In fact,

as early as 1913, the Atlantic Monthly announced that it was, quote, sex a clock, in America, with surveys suggesting that 14% of women born before 1900 engaged in pre-marital sex by the age of 25, while as many as 39% of women who came of age in the 1910s and 20s lost their virginity before marriage, helped on, as well, of course, here by the distance and the death of the First World War, granting much-needed perspective on conservative values. So Clara, right, through her life, and like we said, through her roles, really embodied this. pioneering the sex symbol archetype, which would go on to produce the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and of course, Pamela Anderson.

So it, and Clara's role as Betty Lou Spence, is really deeply impactful, so much so that in 2001 it was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its, quote, cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. Fun fact, here, my deavers, which I was like, Of course, this is, like, related to Clara. It was also one of the first examples of a concept film and one of the earliest examples of product placement. Like, you know, when you're watching off campus

and the liquid IV powder kept coming up, you can thank it for that, which was actually sponsored by Cosmopolitan magazine, which appears kind of constantly throughout the film. So a deeply impactful and a deeply, you know, influential, cinematic masterpiece, which really changed and paved the way for a lot of the things that we know about modern cinema today. So let's check back in with Clara at this point. What's going on? Well, by this time, she is one of the most popular actors and people alive,

with old movie reviews at the time really illustrating this. One person said, quote, A silent film viewer's response to Clara Bo is immediate and emotional. She more than any other performer of the silent era represents raw emotion. There is joy in her presence. She's young, healthy, full of fun and really, really pretty. She has a magical star quality. Clara makes me happy.

So it's all going up. But not all that glitters is gold, guys. It never is, all right? Despite her success and her title as the id girl, Clara's scruffy upbringing in Brooklyn left her outside of the Hollywood in crowd. Her unkept behavior, i.e., not knowing. which spoon to use at a dinner and not speaking 24-7 with a transatlantic annoying fucking accent, jarred many Hollywood people and meant she had to work twice as hard as the others for her success.

Clara herself admitted this in a magazine saying, quote, most of my friends are ones I knew before I paid income tax, which I fucking love this from her. But it did mean that she was largely excluded from the cool group, if you will, you know, kind of like she's in high school. Like it's so, it's a petty. But she didn't mind much. in fact preferring the company of the studio crew than the actors and directors who really were more so her peers based on fame as well as her text bracket. Even at the very pinnacle of Clara's success, she was largely alone in Hollywood, with fellow actor Lena Baskett saying she wasn't well liked amongst other women in the film colony.

Her social presence was taboo and it was rather silly because God knows Marian Davies and Mary Pickford had plenty to hide. I kind of already quoted that before, but I do think it's relevant to bring back up here to kind of reflect Clara's isolation. But when elements within Hollywood tried to reject her, she simply went bigger. Guys, she went bolder, she went badder, admitting herself that, quote, I'm a curiosity in Hollywood, because I'm myself. I'm a big freak. And while I certainly wouldn't use that language because I think she's just so fucking iconic, she kind of wasn't wrong here. Okay, she pushed the envelope further and further. For example, here, driving around in her little red sports car with seven chihuahuas in the back seat,

and then showing up at one point to a formal dinner wearing nothing but a bathing suit so that she could show off her hand-painted legs, apparently was the thing she did. She, like, would draw and paint on her legs. To Hollywood's inner circle, they of course see this as vulgar, right? She's this Brooklyn low person who simply could not behave in a sense. civilised manner, displayed very, very well by Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy in this scene. Have a listen. I can't believe you.

Why not? Why haven't you heard what they say about me? I'm a degenerate fucking animal. Oh, oh, Nelly, look at them. Oh, who knows what she might do? She's from Jersey, you know. This is what a degenerate fucking animal from Jersey does. Your champagne flutes, up your rose smelling, candy taste, and snow-white fucking assholes.

Which, I think that pretty well sums that I think we get the point, right? Yep. But not everyone's, a champagne flute drinking caviar snorting snop. And for the truly cool people, i.e. the Taylor Swift's of the world, Clara Bow was brave because she was herself. living her life on her own terms and paving the way for other women to live authentically under the scrutiny of fame. However, while we look at as admirable and charming, it was something else for the press. A fucking gold mine. As the it girl, the tabloids began hunting for any and every ounce

of information on Clara. As one of the most recognizable women in the world, she really was as famous as Taylor Swift. Like I just want to say that right now, okay? in-care, her underwear, her dining habits, her living quarters, and of course, most importantly, again, bringing back Taylor Swift here, her relationships became front-page news. And by 1928, the press were desperate for every piece of dirt they could dig up on Claribo. First, they went sniffing around her initial dalliance in Hollywood and, very short engagement, with Mexican-born actor Gilbert Rowland. and then spun the rumor meal out of control, blaming Clara, who was not even 20 years old at the time,

for Man-Trap director Victor Fleming's obsessive for landering. Then there was Gary Cooper, who co-starred with Clara in the 1927 film Children of Divorce, who the tabloids reported shared an intense six-month romance with the star that ended when Cooper's mother didn't like Clara, which she then reported that he had the biggest cock in Hollywood and no ass to push it with. That's her quote, not mine. Then there was rumors of affairs with billionaire aviator Howard Hughes, Hungarian actor Bella Legosi, best known for playing Count Dracula, and the very handsome, very married doctor who treated Clara for a case of nerves,

after which his wife sued for divorce. Now, I want to be clear here, my divas, okay? Because yes, Clara liked men, and yes, Clara liked sex, and no, Clara would not be ashamed by either of those things. But my God, guys, was she a victim of some of the worst slut shaming in Hollywood history? Which really is fucking saying something, right? Tabloids, the press, and the rumour mill all made the subject of Clara Bo's sexuality a matter of international news. The misogyny was insane, with the vilification of Clara setting a lot of the priest and the likes of Marilyn, Paris Hilton, Miley, Brittany, right?

And so many more have endured sense. All incredibly strong, unique women who were turned into punchlines and all but driven to the outskirts of Hollywood by the press for living life on their terms. something which took its toll on Clara, who began suffering from mental health issues. Describing her life as a gilded cage, Clara commented on this post-it period of her life, saying, quote, all the time the flapper is laughing and dancing this feeling of tragedy underneath. She's unhappy and disillusioned, which, to be honest, guys, is a pretty fair description here. Keep in mind as well, at this point in Clara's life, she's pumping. out still seven plus films a year. And as such is being prescribed lots of pills for both sleep

and to pep her up, which, as we know, is not an isolated experience. I mean, you know, I think of Judy Garland, I think of Marilyn Monroe, who kind of both come to mind here. But this was all really exacerbated by Clara's family history of mental illness, which she shared very vulnerably in her 1928 memoir, written by Adela Rogers St. John's. Published in photo play, this was basically the equivalent of the Princess Diana Panorama interview, okay, in which Clara was painfully, painfully honest about her struggles. She goes into details about mental health and kind of her family's history of mental health, like I mentioned. She talks about gambling. She talks about the

awfully experiences of her youth and the reality of overworking in Hollywood. Some think which, instead, right, of inspiring support and empathy, ended up having the opposite effect. It is so vile what's happened here, with the press basically taking everything that she said and then twisting her words and manufacturing kind of this rage bait and outcry, of which the public were absolutely horrified by this kind of perfect. star their vision of this life that Clara lived being shattered. And soon Clara found herself at the very top of Hollywood, where nowhere left to go, but down. After all, as they say, the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Clara was the biggest star Lala Land had ever seen. So what's the next move?

Well, you'll have to tune in to part two, which you can find in your feeds on Monday morning for your drive to work, hot girl walk or just general diva time. Okay, guys? In the meantime, though, it's been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you. And as always, if you're looking for some more Hot History, you can follow us on Instagram and substack at Hot History Club and on YouTube and TikTok at Hot.Hot history. I will speak to you all on Monday, my Divas.

Thank you so much. Love you. Bye.