She’s Got It

Today’s a little drab, and depression tends to sink in with such weather, so let’s talk about someone magical – silent film star Clara Bow, someone who always embodied cheerful, carefree abandon. I have always loved Clara. She always seemed to be having fun no matter what and didn’t give a sh**t what anybody thought of her – at least not on screen. She departed this earth before I was born, giving me no chance of ever meeting her. Same with Marilyn Monroe. Damn, I was just born too late and all the good people were already dead. Well, what can ya do? I always read any information I can get on her and the only biography I could find was David Stenn’s Runnin Wild, which had the blessings of Clara’s sons. I also found a documentary on YouTube, narrated by Courtney Love of all people. At least she seemed to coherent the day it was filmed. I always found her enchanting, Clara that is, not Courtney. How does anyone with such gifts come from such a horrible background? It’s like a flower growing out of dirt. Her story is fascinating. She was born into poverty, reached the pinnacle of success in Hollywood then drifted off into mental illness. Her start in life was awful. She was born in the Brooklyn slums and wasn’t even issued a birth certificate because her mom didn’t expect her to make it. No doubt she was suprised. I’m suprised too. Her father was just a bum who would often take off for unspecified periods of time, leaving Clara and her mom to fend for themselves. That’s where the prostitution came in. Her mom was a mentally disturbed woman who tried to kill her daughter when she was jut starting out in silent films. She thought Clara was a (let’s use the word) “tramp”, because she wanted to go into the showbiz. In Mrs. Bow’s lunacy, she thought she was doing Clara a favor. When Clara was a teenager, her mom kicked the bucket, so it was just her and her father, a sex-crazed ne’er-do-well. Draw your own conclusions there. She finally got out of the ghetto and moved to California as her star rose in Hollywood. No I don’t think she serviced a whole football team nor do I think slept with anything that moved. The most awful rumors still circulate about her, most likely invented by some jealous hags a century ago. Most likely they were more jealous when she finally became THE star. The “IT” girl. They were probably rabid when she bedded the gorgeous Gary Cooper. Georgeous he was. Anyways, she had that charm and flamboyance that lit up the screen. I can still see it from 100 years away. Although she was considered the girl of the moment, she was shut out of parties because they didn’t know what she might do. She was also not invited to attend the premier of her own movie, what nerve! Her career hit the skids with the development of sound. Needless to say, that strong New york accent was not appealing to anyone sitting in a movie theater and probably not anyone anywhere for that matter. Well, it ended her career. Probably not as neatly as I described it but I don’t want to go into anymore details on the invention of  “talkies”. Finally being fed up with the hypocrisy of Hollywood, she got married, moved to Nevada and became a devoted mom. Later in life she got treatment for her ills after a suicide attempt. More likely it was a cry for help than an actual death wish. Life took a turn for the worse when her huband found someone else, then dropped dead. For most people that would be a dream come true. Anyways, she moved back to Cali and lived out a life of seclusion and schizophrenia – probably not a good combination. She often got visits from autograph seekers that somehow found out where she lived. Being a obsessive fan, I definitely would have found out where she lived. I guess she dodged a bullet there. She finally she passed away in her bed watching a Gary Cooper movie. She was probably reminiscing of the good ole days when she drifted off – not a bad way to go. That being said, I’m gonna curl up and hibernate. This weather is way to bleak and dreary. Ciao