Editing Clara Bow (section)

==Career==
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===1921-1922: Early years===
In the early 1920s roughly 50 million Americans—half the [[demographic history of the United States|population at that time]]—attended the movies every week.{{sfn |Kyvig |2002 |p=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinunite00kyvi/page/78/mode/1up 79]}} As Bow grew into womanhood, her stature as a "boy" in her old gang became "impossible". She did not have any girlfriends, and school was a "heartache" and her home was "miserable". On the silver screen she found consolation; "For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world. For the first time I saw distant lands, serene, lovely homes, romance, nobility, glamor". And further; "I always had a queer feeling about actors and actresses on the screen&nbsp;... I knew I would have done it differently. I couldn't analyze it, but I could always feel it".<ref name="photoplay"/> "I'd go home and be a one girl circus, taking the parts of everyone I'd seen, living them before the glass."{{sfn |Shippey |1929 |p=[https://archive.org/details/personalglimpses00ship/page/20/mode/2up 20]}} At 16, Bow says she "knew" she wanted to be a motion pictures actress, even if she was a "square, awkward, funny-faced kid."<ref name="photoplay"/>

Against her mother's wishes but with her father's support, Bow competed in Brewster publications' magazine's annual nationwide acting contest, "Fame and Fortune", in fall 1921. In previous years, other contest winners had found work in the movies.<ref>''Fort Wayne News'' April 29, 1921.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2023}} In the contest's final screen test, Bow was up against an already scene-experienced woman who did "a beautiful piece of acting". A set member later stated that when Bow did the scene, she actually became her character and "lived it".<ref name="parsons1931">
* * {{cite news |last=Parsons |first=Louella |author-link=Louella Parsons |title=Real life story of Clara Bow (16 parts) |date=May–June 1931 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/tags/louella/?pep=clara-bow&pr=20&pc=25699&psi=94&pci=7&pt=10771&ndt=by&ndt=bd&pd=1&pm=5&py=1931&pe=30&pem=6&pey=1931/ |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The San Antonio Light |via=NewspaperArchive.com |oclc=12225885}}
* {{cite web |last1=Parsons |first1=Louella |author1-link=Louella Parsons |title=Clara Bow |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/51973/?e--Publication=1931-5&e--Publication_x=0-0-0&keyword=louella+parsons+%22clara+bow%22&keyword_x=1 |website=[[San Antonio Light]] (San Antonio, Texas) |via=[[Ancestry.com]] |access-date=5 November 2021 |date=May 1931}}
* {{cite web |last1=Parsons |first1=Louella |author1-link=Louella Parsons |title=Clara Bow |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/51973/?e--Publication=1931-6&e--Publication_x=0-0-0&keyword=louella+parsons+%22clara+bow%22&keyword_x=1 |website=[[San Antonio Light]] (San Antonio, Texas) |via=[[Ancestry.com]] |access-date=5 November 2021 |date=June 1931}}
</ref> In the January issues 1922 of ''Motion Picture Classic'', the contest jury, [[Howard Chandler Christy]], [[Neysa McMein]], and [[Harrison Fisher]], concluded:

{{blockquote|text=She is very young, only 16. But she is full of confidence, determination and ambition. She is endowed with a mentality far beyond her years. She has a genuine spark of divine fire. The five different screen tests she had, showed this very plainly, her emotional range of expression provoking a fine enthusiasm from every contest judge who saw the tests. She screens perfectly. Her personal appearance is almost enough to carry her to success without the aid of the brains she indubitably possesses.}}

Bow won an evening gown and a silver trophy, and the publisher committed to help her "gain a role in films", but nothing happened. Bow's father told her to "haunt" Brewster's office, located in Brooklyn, until they came up with something. "To get rid of me, or maybe they really meant to (give me) all the time and were just busy", Bow was introduced to director [[Christy Cabanne]], who cast her in ''[[Beyond the Rainbow]]'', produced late 1921 in New York City and released February 19, 1922.{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA287 p. 287]}} Bow did five scenes and impressed Cabanne with her ability to produce tears on cue, but was cut from the final print.<ref name="photoplay"/> "I was sick to my stomach", she recalled and thought her mother was right about the movie business.

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| caption1  = Bow undercover in ''[[Down to the Sea in Ships (1922 film)|Down to the Sea in Ships]]'', 1922
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| caption2  = Bow singled out in a newspaper ad for ''Ships'', 1923
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Bow dropped out of school in her senior year, after she was notified about winning the "Fame and Fortune Contest", possibly in October 1921, and got an ordinary office job.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=39}} However, movie ads and newspaper editorial comments from 1922 to 1923 suggest that Bow was not cut from ''Beyond the Rainbow''. {{citation needed span|Her name is on the cast list among the other stars, usually tagged "Brewster magazine beauty contest winner" and sometimes even with a picture|date=March 2021|reason= The problem is that the film appears to have been recut to add Bow back in after the initial release - possibly to cash in on her fame after "Down to the Sea in Ships" (1922)}}.

===1922-1924: Early silent films===
Encouraged by her father, Bow continued to visit studio agencies asking for parts. "But there was always something. I was too young, or too little, or too fat. Usually I was too fat."<ref name="photoplay"/> Eventually, director [[Elmer Clifton]] needed a tomboy for his movie ''[[Down to the Sea in Ships (1922 film)|Down to the Sea in Ships]]'', saw Bow in ''Motion Picture Classic'' magazine, and sent for her. In an attempt to overcome her youthful looks, Bow put her hair up and arrived in a dress she "sneaked" from her mother. Clifton said she was too old, but broke into laughter as the stammering Bow made him believe she was the girl in the magazine. Clifton decided to take Bow with him and offered her $35 a week. Bow held out for $50 and Clifton agreed, but he could not say whether she would "fit the part".<ref name="parsons1931"/> Bow later learned that one of Brewsters' subeditors had urged Clifton to give her a chance.{{sfn |Bow |1929 |p=9–?}}

''Down to the Sea in Ships'', shot on location in [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]], and produced by independent "The Whaling Film Corporation", documented life, love, and work in the whale-hunter community. The production relied on a few less-known actors and local talents. It premiered at the Olympia Theater in New Bedford, on September 25, 1922, and went on general distribution on March 4, 1923. Bow was billed 10th in the film, but shone through:
* "Miss Bow will undoubtedly gain fame as a screen comedienne".<ref name="Dean 1922">{{cite news |last=Dean |first=James W. |title=James W. Dean's Film Reviews |volume=52 |issue=162 |newspaper=The Odgen Standard-Examiner |oclc=1001973408 |publisher=Standard-Examiner Pub. Co. |location=Ogden, UT |date=1922-12-17 |department=Society |page=6 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058393/1922-12-17/ed-1/seq-12/ |via=Chronicling America}}</ref>
* "Clara Bow who has reached the front rank of motion picture principal player ... [has] scored a tremendous hit in ''Down To The Sea In Ships''."<ref name="The Daily News 1923-04-09 p. 7">{{cite news |title=Movie Stars at Academy Music Today |date=1923-04-09 |publication-place=Lebanon, PA, US |newspaper=The Daily News |page=7 |volume=50 |issue=208 |url=https://newspapers.com/clip/120716443/movie-stars-at-academy-music-today/ |via=Newspapers.com |oclc=60628893}}</ref>
* "With her beauty, her brains, her personality and her genuine acting ability it should not be many moons before she enjoys stardom in the fullest sense of the word. You must see 'Down to the Sea in Ships'".<ref name="Eskimo Pies Pacify Pretty Clara Bow 1923">{{cite news |title=Eskimo Pies Pacify Pretty Clara Bow |newspaper=Kokomo Tribune |date=October 6, 1923 |page=10 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-oct-06-1923-3758617/ |url-access=subscription |via=NewspaperArchive.com |oclc=1052670438 |publisher=Kautz & McMonigal |publication-place=Kokomo, IN, US}}</ref>
* "In movie parlance, she 'stole' the picture&nbsp;..."<ref>''Davenport Democrat and Leader'', November 28, 1923.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2023}}

[[File:WAMPAS baby stars 1924.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Bow was chosen the foremost "baby" by [[WAMPAS Baby Stars|WAMPAS]]<ref name="Jungmeyer 1924">{{cite news |last=Jungmeyer |first=Jack |title=Baby Stars of 1924 Flicker for Glory in the New Year's Twinkling Movie Firmament |newspaper=Kokomo Tribune |date=January 1, 1924 |page=10 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-jan-01-1924-3760001/ |url-access=subscription |via=NewspaperArchive.com |oclc=1052670438 |publisher=Kautz & McMonigal |publication-place=Kokomo, IN, US}}</ref>]]
[[File:Gritstrip bow hunter 1923.png|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Cartooned: Bow as "Orchid McGonigle" in ''Grit'', having a hard time keeping her boyfriend "Kid Hart" (Glenn Hunter) on track.<ref name="The Helena independent 1924 p. 2">{{cite news |title='Grit' a Crook Play, With Hero Dressed as 'Sissy' |newspaper=The Helena independent |publisher=Kerley, McQuaid, LaCroix & Co. |publication-place=Helena, MT, US |date=August 11, 1924 |issn=2326-9588 |oclc=9382089 |page=2}}</ref>]]

By mid-December 1923, primarily due to her merits in ''Down to the Sea in Ships'', Bow was chosen the most successful of the 1924 [[WAMPAS Baby Stars]].<ref name ="Bevy of Bay Stars 1923 Part 2 p. 1">{{cite news |title=Bevy of Bay Stars of Filmland Awarded Wampas' Most Coveted Honors |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |publication-place=Los Angeles, CA, US |date=December 17, 1923 |volume=43 |at=Part 2 p. 1 |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/clip/120087210/bevy-of-bay-stars-of-filmland-awarded-wa/ |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Three months before ''Down to the Sea in Ships'' was released, Bow danced on a table, uncredited in ''[[Enemies of Women]]'' (1923).{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=45}} During the year she made a [[short film]], ''[[The Pill Pounder]]'' (1923).<ref name="lundak20240307">{{Cite news |last=Lundak |first=Marlo |date=2024-03-08 |title=EXCLUSIVE: 100 years later, long-lost silent film found in Omaha parking lot |url=https://www.wowt.com/2024/03/08/exclusive-100-years-later-long-lost-silent-film-found-omaha-parking-lot/ |access-date=2024-03-11 |publisher=WOWT 6 News |language=en}}</ref> In spring Bow got a part in ''[[The Daring Years]]'' (1923), where she befriended actress [[Mary Carr]], who taught her how to use make-up.<ref name="parsons1931"/> In the summer, she got a "tomboy" part in ''[[Grit (film)|Grit]]'', a story that dealt with juvenile crime and was written by [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]. Bow met her first boyfriend, cameraman [[Arthur Jacobson]], and she got to know director [[Frank Tuttle]], with whom she worked in five later productions. Tuttle remembered:

{{blockquote|text=Her emotions were close to the surface. She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. She was dynamite, full of nervous energy and vitality and pitifully eager to please everyone.<ref name="parsons1931"/>}}

''Grit'' was released on January 7, 1924. The ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' review said, "Clara Bow lingers in the eye, long after the picture has gone."<ref>''Variety'', February 29, 1924.</ref> While shooting ''Grit'' at Pyramid Studios, in [[Astoria, New York]], Bow was approached by Jack Bachman of independent [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] studio Preferred Pictures. He wanted to contract her for a three-month trial, fare paid, and $50 a week. "It can't do any harm," he said.<ref name="photoplay"/> "Why can't I stay in New York and make movies?" Bow asked her father, but he told her not to worry.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=47}} On July 21, 1923, she befriended [[Louella Parsons]], who interviewed her for the ''[[The Morning Telegraph|New York Morning Telegraph]]''. In 1931, when Bow came under [[tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] scrutiny, Parsons defended her and stuck to her first opinion on Bow:<ref name="parsons1931"/>

{{blockquote|text= She is as refreshingly unaffected as if she had never faced a means to pretend. She hasn't any secrets from the world, she trusts everyone&nbsp;... she is almost too good to be true&nbsp;... (I) only wish some reformer who believes the screen contaminates all who associate with it could meet this child. Still, on second thought it might not be safe: Clara uses a dangerous pair of eyes.}}

The interview also revealed that Bow already was cast in ''Maytime'' and liked [[chop suey]] restaurants.<ref name="Parsons 1923-07-22 p. 4">{{cite news |last=Parsons |first=Louella O. |author-link=Louella O. Parsons |title=In And Out Of Focus: Clara, the Unconscious Flapper |date=1923-07-22 |page=4 |newspaper=The Morning Telegraph |publication-place=New York |publisher=Triangle Publications Inc. |url=https://archive.org/details/MorningTelegraphlouellaParsonsMay-august1923/page/n76 |via=Internet Archive |oclc=9609206}}</ref>

===1923-1925: Preferred Pictures===
[[File:CBpic Maytime recv 201005XX.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Frame of Bow comforting [[Ethel Shannon]] in [[Maytime (1923 film)|''Maytime'' (1923)]], which had been classified as a [[lost film]] until a partial copy was found in [[New Zealand]] in 2009<ref>[http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/maytime-1923 "Preserved Films/Maytime (1923)"], [[National Film Preservation Foundation]], San Francisco, California. Retrieved August 25, 2019.</ref>]]

On July 22, 1923, Bow left New York, her father, and her boyfriend behind for Hollywood.<ref name="parsons1931"/> As chaperone for the journey and her subsequent southern California stay, the studio appointed writer/agent Maxine Alton, whom Bow later branded a liar. In late July, Bow entered studio chief [[B. P. Schulberg]]'s office wearing a simple high-school uniform in which she "had won several gold medals on the cinder track".<ref name="ReferenceB">''The Davenport Democrat and Leader'', September 9, 1923</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2023}} She was tested and a press release from early August says Bow had become a member of Preferred Pictures' "permanent stock".<ref name="Hollywood Gossip 1923">{{cite news |title=Hollywood Gossip |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-aug-05-1923-3766934/ |url-access=subscription |newspaper=Lubbock Morning Avalanche |publication-place=Lubbock, TX |date=August 5, 1923 |page=8 |volume=1 |issue=139 |oclc=13539181 |via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> 

Bow signed with Preferred Pictures, also working with other studios.<ref name="Biography.com-Clara-Bow">{{cite web |title=Clara Bow |url=https://www.biography.com/actor/clara-bow |website=[[Biography.com]] |access-date=30 March 2022 |language=en-us}}</ref> Alton and Bow rented an apartment at [[The Hillview]] near [[Hollywood Boulevard]].<ref name="parsons1931"/> [[Preferred Pictures]] was run by Schulberg, who had started as a publicity manager at [[Famous Players–Lasky]], but in the aftermath of the power struggle around the formation of [[United Artists]], ended up on the losing side and lost his job. He founded Preferred in 1919 as a result, at the age of 27.{{sfn|Schulberg|1981|p=100}}

''[[Maytime (1923 film)|Maytime]]'' was Bow's first Hollywood picture, an adaptation of the popular operetta ''[[Maytime (musical)|Maytime]]'', in which she essayed "Alice Tremaine". Before the film was finished, Schulberg announced that Bow was given the lead in the studio's upcoming film ''Poisoned Paradise''.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> But first she was lent to [[First National Pictures]] to co-star in the adaptation of [[Gertrude Atherton]]'s 1923 best seller ''[[Black Oxen]]'', shot in October, and to co-star with [[Colleen Moore]] in ''Painted People'', shot in November.{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA39 p. 39], [https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA289 p. 289]}} Director [[Frank Lloyd]] was casting for the part of high-society flapper Janet Oglethorpe, and more than 50 women auditioned, most with previous screen experience.<ref name="parsons1931"/> Bow reminisced: "but he had not found exactly what he wanted and finally somebody suggested me to him&nbsp;... When I came into his office a big smile came over his face and he looked just tickled to death."<ref name="photoplay"/> Lloyd told the press, "Bow is the personification of the ideal aristocratic [[flapper]], mischievous, pretty, aggressive, quick-tempered and deeply sentimental."<ref name="Hamilton Evening Journal  1924 p. 11">{{cite news |title='Black Oxen' At The Rialto Again Today |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-mar-05-1924-3766950/ |url-access=subscription |newspaper=Hamilton Evening Journal |publication-place=Hamilton, OH |date=March 5, 1924 |page=11 |oclc=17737784 |via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> It was released on January 4, 1924.

[[File:XBlackOxen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bow as Janet, the "horrid" flapper in ''[[Black Oxen]]'' (1923), holding ''[[Flaming Youth (novel)|Flaming Youth]]'' to her chest; with [[Kate Lester]] and [[Tom Ricketts]]]]

"The flapper, impersonated by a young actress, Clara Bow, ... had five speaking titles, and every one of them was so entirely in accord with the character and the mood of the scene that it drew a laugh from what, in film circles, is termed a 'hard-boiled' audience."<ref name="A Hack Title Writer 1923 p. 147">{{cite news |author=A Hack Title Writer |title=Title Work Years Ago |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1923-12-02 |volume=78 |issue=24,053 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/12/02/106023412.html?pageNumber=147 |page=147 |via=TimesMachine |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' commented that "Clara Bow, the prize vulgarian of the lot. She was amusing and spirited but she never belonged in the picture".<ref name="Klumph 1924 p.17">{{cite news |last=Klumph |first=Helen |title=Many Drift Eastward |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=January 13, 1924 |volume=43 |department=Stage and Screen |pages=11, 17 |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/clip/120415980/many-drift-eastward-black-oxen/ |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said that "the horrid little flapper is adorably played".<ref name="Rivera 1924 p. 23">{{cite journal |author=Rivera |title=Film Reviews — Black Oxen |journal=Variety |publisher=Variety, Inc. |volume=73 |issue=7 |date=January 3, 1924 |publication-place=New York City |issn=0042-2738 |oclc=811781177 |page=23 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety73-1924-01/page/n21/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

[[Colleen Moore]] made her flapper debut in a successful adaptation of the daring novel ''[[Flaming Youth (novel)|Flaming Youth]]'', released November 12, 1923, six weeks before ''Black Oxen''. Both films were produced by First National Pictures, and while ''Black Oxen'' was still being edited and ''Flaming Youth'' not yet released, Bow was requested to co-star with Moore as her kid sister in ''Painted People'' (''The Swamp Angel'').{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=59}} Moore essayed the baseball-playing tomboy and Bow, according to Moore, said "I don't like my part, I wanna play yours."{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA40 p. 40]}} 

Moore, a well-established star earning $1200 a week—Bow got $200—took offense and blocked the director from shooting close-ups of Bow. Moore was married to the film's producer and Bow's protests were futile. "I'll get that bitch", she told her boyfriend Jacobson, who had arrived from New York. Bow had sinus problems and decided to have them attended to that very evening. With Bow's face now in bandages, the studio had no choice but to recast her part.{{sfn|Jacobson|Atkins|1991|p=17}}

[[File:CBpic Robert June 1931.png|thumb|upright=0.9|Clara Bow in 1931 with her father, Robert, who married Clara's friend, Mary Lorraine Tui (Tui Lorraine) at Clara's insistence{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA140 pp. 140–141]}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/19714301/|title=Tui Gets Divorce From Clara Bow's Daddy|date=July 29, 1929|publisher=Post-Tribune|location=Jefferson City, Missouri|quote=She no longer is Clara Bow's stepmother. Tui Lorraine Bow |via=newspapers.com|access-date=August 15, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Bicknell 1993 p. 114">{{cite journal |last=Bicknell |first=Graham |title=Tui's Tinseltown memories |journal=Woman's Day |edition=Australia |date=May 31, 1993 |publisher=Are Media |publication-place=Sydney, NSW |oclc=1348983079 |page=114}} Reprinted in {{cite web |last=St. George |first=Ian |title=Tui Lorraine Bow, 1905–1993, Notes on a New Zealand Movie Star |year=2022 |url=https://onadmiralroad.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Tui-Lorraine-Bow.pdf |access-date=2023-03-09}}</ref>]]

In May, Moore renewed her efforts in ''The Perfect Flapper'', produced by her husband. Despite good reviews she suddenly withdrew. "No more flappers&nbsp;... they have served their purpose&nbsp;... people are tired of soda-pop love affairs", she told the ''Los Angeles Times'',<ref name="Gebhart 1924 p. 19">{{cite news |last=Gebhart |first=Myrtle |title=Colleen Forswears New Role |department=Stage and Screen |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |publication-place=Los Angeles, CA, US |date=May 18, 1924 |url=https://newspapers.com/clip/120548454/colleen-forswears-new-role-by-myrtle-geb/ |via=Newspapers.com |pages=19–20}}</ref> which had commented a month earlier, "Clara Bow is the one outstanding type. She has almost immediately been elected for all the recent flapper parts".<ref name="Schallert 1924 p. 13">{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |title=Right From The Front |department=Stage and Screen |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |publication-place=Los Angeles, CA, US |date=April 13, 1924 |url=https://newspapers.com/clip/120548818/when-will-some-substitute-be-found-for-t/ |via=Newspapers.com |pages=13, 19}}</ref> In November 1933, looking back to this period of her career, Bow described the atmosphere in Hollywood as like a scene from a movie about the French Revolution, where "women are hollering and waving pitchforks twice as violently as any of the guys&nbsp;... the only ladies in sight are the ones getting their heads cut off."<ref name="KansasCS">{{cite news |last=Moffitt |first=John C. |title=Clara Bow Now Is Content To Be a Vampire Once a Year |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |date=November 26, 1933 |volume=54 |issue=70 |page=1-D |publication-place=Kansas City, MO, US |url=https://newspapers.com/clip/120615689/clara-bow-now-is-content-to-be-a-vampire/ |via=Newspapers.com |issn=0745-1067 |oclc=30542451}}</ref>

By New Year 1924 Bow had defied the possessive {{citation needed span|Maxine Alton|date=March 2021|reason=There is no ref to explain that the Mrs Smith used in the photoplay ref is ACTUALLY Alton. The original ref used photoplay, which does not support this assertion as it uses the Mrs Smith pseudonym throughout maxwelldemille.com/ClaraBow/clarastory.html}} and brought her father to Hollywood. Bow remembered their reunion: "I didn't care a rap, for (her), nor B. P. Schulberg, nor my motion picture career, nor Clara Bow, I just threw myself into his arms and kissed and kissed him, and we both cried like a couple of fool kids. Oh, it was wonderful."<ref name="photoplay"/> Bow felt "Mrs Smith", the pseudonym Alton used, had misused her trust: "She wanted to keep a hold on me so she made me think I wasn't getting over and that nothing but her clever management kept me going."<ref name="photoplay"/> 

Bow and her father moved in at 1714 North Kingsley Drive in Hollywood, together with Jacobson, who by then also worked for Preferred. When Schulberg learned of this arrangement, he fired Jacobson for potentially getting "his big star" into a scandal. When Bow found out, "She tore up her contract and threw it in his face and told him he couldn't run her private life." Jacobson concluded, "[Clara] was the sweetest girl in the world, but you didn't cross her and you didn't do her wrong."{{sfn|Jacobson|Atkins|1991|pp= 15–18}} On September 7, 1924, ''The Los Angeles Times'', in a significant article "A dangerous little devil is Clara, impish, appealing, but oh, how she can act!", her father is titled "business manager" and Jacobson referred to as her brother.<ref name="Whitaker 1924 p. 13">{{cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Alma |title=A Dangerous Little Devil is Clara, Impish, Appealing, But Oh, How She Can Act! |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |volume=63 |publication-place=Los Angeles, California |date=September 7, 1924 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120559893/a-dangerous-little-devil-is-clara-impis/ |via=Newspapers.com |department=Stage and Screen |page=13}}</ref>

[[File:Clara Bow, Stars of the Photoplay.jpg|thumb|Bow in ''Stars of the Photoplay'', 1924]]
Bow appeared in eight releases in 1924, two were released the same day. In ''Poisoned Paradise'', released on February 29, 1924, Bow got her first lead; "the clever little newcomer whose work wins fresh recommendations with every new picture in which she appears".<ref>''The Davenport Democrat and Leader'', April 24, 1924</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2023}} Atypical of that time, her character, "skilled in the art of self-defense, preparedness and all the other devices with which the modern flapper is endowed," fearlessly beats off the villain.<ref name="The Charleston Gazette 1924">{{cite news |title='Poisoned Paradise' Proves New Era of Film Technique |newspaper=The Charleston Gazette |department=Screen and Stage Attractions of the Week |via=NewspaperArchive |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-feb-17-1924-3798722/ |date=February 17, 1924 |page=5, Part 3}}</ref> In ''Daughters of Pleasure'', also released on February 29, 1924, Bow and [[Marie Prevost]] "flapped unhampered as flappers De luxe&nbsp;... I wish somebody could star Clara Bow. I'm sure her 'infinite variety' would keep her from wearying us no matter how many scenes she was in."<ref name="Kingsley 1924 p. 9 (Part II)">{{cite news |last=Kingsley |first=Grace |author-link=Grace Kingsley |title=Flashes: Mission Program is Real Top-Notcher |department=Stage and Screen |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |publication-place=Los Angeles, CA, US |date=June 17, 1924 |url=https://newspapers.com/clip/120617259/mission-program-is-real-top-notcher/ |via=Newspapers.com |page=9 (Part II)}}</ref> 

Lent out to Universal, Bow top-starred, for the first time, in the [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]], [[rum-running|bootleg]] drama/comedy ''[[Wine (1924 film)|Wine]]'', released on August 20, 1924. The picture exposes the widespread [[liquor]] traffic in the upper classes, and Bow portrays an innocent girl who develops into a wild "red-hot mama", "a naughty, inebriated flapper".<ref name="vogue-Yaeger-bow-birthday">{{cite news |last1=Yaeger |first1=Lynn |author1-link=Lynn Yaeger |title=Happy Birthday, Clara Bow! |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/clara-bow-birthday |access-date=30 March 2022 |work=Vogue |date=29 July 2015}}</ref> [[Carl Sandburg]] reviewed it on September 29 saying; "If not taken as information, it is cracking good entertainment".{{sfn |Sandburg |2000 |p=[https://archive.org/details/moviesarecarlsan00sand/page/227/mode/1up 227]}} Alma Whitaker of the ''Los Angeles Times'' observed on September 7, 1924:

[[File:CBadv Wine crop.png|thumb|upright=1.0|Bow's first lead role was in [[Wine (1924 film)|''Wine'']] (1924), a [[Film reel|seven-reel]] feature currently classified as lost by the [[Library of Congress]]<ref name="American Memory">{{cite web |title=Wine / Louis J Gasnier [motion picture]:Bibliographic Record Description: Performing Arts Encyclopedia |publisher=Library of Congress |website=American Memory |url=https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.10672/default.html |access-date=2023-02-28}}</ref>]]

{{blockquote|She radiates [[sex appeal]] tempered with an impish sense of humor&nbsp;... She [[henna]]s her blond hair so that it will photograph dark in the pictures&nbsp;... Her [[decorum#Social decorum|social decorum]] is of that natural, good-natured, pleasantly informal kind&nbsp;... She can act on or off the screen—takes a joyous delight in accepting a challenge to vamp any selected male—the more unpromising specimen the better. When the hapless victim is scared into speechlessness, she gurgles with naughty delight and tries another.}}

Bow remembered: "All this time I was 'running wild', I guess, in the sense of trying to have a good time&nbsp;... maybe this was a good thing, because I suppose a lot of that excitement, that joy of life, got onto the screen."<ref name="photoplay"/> In 1925, Bow appeared in 14 productions: six for her contract owner, Preferred Pictures, and eight as an "out-loan". ''[[Motion Picture Classic]]'' magazine wrote in June that "Clara Bow&nbsp;... shows alarming symptoms of becoming the sensation of the year", and featured her on the cover.<ref name="Carr 1925 p. 17">{{cite journal |last=Carr |first=Harry |author-link=Harry Carr |title=The Kid Who Sassed Lubitsch |journal=Motion Picture Classic |publisher=M.P. Pub. Co. |publication-place=Brooklyn, NY |date=June 1925 |url={{GBurl |id=82AhAQAAMAAJ |pg=RA11-PA81}} |oclc=919654256 |page=[{{GBurl |id=82AhAQAAMAAJ |pg=RA11-PA3}} cover], [{{GBurl |id=82AhAQAAMAAJ |pg=RA11-PA21}} 21], [{{GBurl |id=82AhAQAAMAAJ |pg=RA11-PA81}} 81] |via=Google Books}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I'm almost never satisfied with myself or my work or anything&nbsp;... by the time I'm ready to be a great star I'll have been on the screen such a long time that everybody will be tired of seeing me&nbsp;... (Tears filled her big round eyes and threatened to fall).<ref>''Motion Picture Stories'', April 14, 1925, p. 29</ref>}}

{{blockquote|I worked in two and even three pictures at once. I played all sorts of parts in all sorts of pictures&nbsp;... It was very hard at the time and I used to be worn out and cry myself to sleep from sheer fatigue after 18 hours a day on different sets, but now [Early 1928] I am glad of it.<ref name="photoplay"/>}}

Preferred Pictures loaned Bow to producers "for sums ranging from $1500 to $2000 a week"<ref name=NewsBee>{{cite news |date=September 11, 1926 |title=Salary |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-5BXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f0QNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3058%2C2298455 |newspaper=The Toledo News-Bee |volume=51 |issue=219 |page=9 |oclc=12759313 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> while paying Bow a salary of $200 to $750 a week. The studio, like any other independent studio or theater at that time, was under attack from "The Big Three", [[MPAA]], which had formed a [[trust (monopoly)|trust]] to [[block booking|block out]] Independents and enforce the [[monopoly|monopolistic]] [[studio system]].<ref name="NYTimes.com 1925a">{{cite news |title=CHARGES DOMINATION OF NEW YORK MOVIES; Trade Board Counsel Sees Zukor and Loew Combination Controlling the Field AND "ELIMINATING" OTHERS Attempt by Them to Control the Whole Industry Is Alleged -- "Divert" Order Is Urged |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1925-10-29 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/10/29/100028214.html?zoom=15.01&pageNumber=5  |volume=75 |issue=24,750 |page=5 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> On October 21, 1925, Schulberg filed Preferred Pictures for bankruptcy, with debts at $820,774 and assets $1,420.<ref name="NYTimes.com 1925b">{{cite news |title=MOVIE PRODUCER BANKRUPT; Benjamin P. Schulberg Lists Debts at $820,774 and Assets $1,420. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1925-10-22 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/10/22/100025951.html?zoom=15.5&pageNumber=18 |page=18 |volume=75 |issue=24,743 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Three days later it was announced that Schulberg would join with [[Adolph Zukor]] to become [[associate producer]] of [[Paramount Pictures]], "catapulted into this position because he had Clara Bow under personal contract".{{sfn |Brooks |1982 |p=[https://archive.org/details/luluinhollywood00broo/page/21/mode/2up 21]}}

Adolph Zukor, Paramount Picture CEO, wrote in his memoirs: "All the skill of directors and all the booming of press-agent drums will not make a star. Only the audiences can do it. We study audience reactions with great care."{{sfn |Zukor |Kramer |1953 |pp=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019349037&view=2up&seq=16 4–5]}} [[Adela Rogers St. Johns]] had a different take. In 1950, she wrote, "If ever a star was made by public demand, it was Clara Bow."<ref name=hollywoodstory>{{cite news |last=St. Johns |first=Adela Rogers |author-link=Adela Rogers St. Johns |title=Clara Bow's Tempestuous Success |series=Love, Laughter, and Tears |department=The American Weekly |newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=December 24, 1950 |issn=2575-5706 |id={{OCLC|18174666|12065651}} |pages=6 to 7 |url=https://newspapers.com/image/100448458/ |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> [[Louise Brooks]] in 1980 stated: "[Bow] became a star without nobody's help".<ref name="Gill Brownlow 1980 Episode 12">{{cite episode |last=Gill |first=David |author-link=David Gill (film historian) |last2=Brownlow |first2=Kevin |author2-link=Kevin Brownlow |title=Star treatment |series=Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film |series-link=Hollywood (British TV series) |publisher=Thames Television |publication-place=Great Britain |date=March 25, 1980 |oclc=922101385 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOQN5vNVYvo}}</ref>

''[[The Plastic Age (film)|The Plastic Age]]'' was Bow's final effort for Preferred Pictures and her biggest hit up to that time. Bow starred as the good-bad college girl, Cynthia Day, against Donald Keith. It was shot on location at [[Pomona College]] in the summer of 1925, and released on December 15. Due to [[block booking]], it was not shown in New York until July 21, 1926. ''[[Photoplay]]'' was displeased: "The college atmosphere is implausible and Clara Bow is not our idea of a college girl."<ref name="Photoplay December 1925 p. 48">{{cite journal |title=The Plastic Age—B. P. Schulberg |journal=Photoplay |publisher=Macfadden Publications |publication-place=Chicago |date=December 1925 |issn=0162-5195 |oclc=7035628 |page=48 |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplay2829movi/page/48/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Theater owners were happy, the manager of The Liberty Theater saying that "The picture is the biggest sensation we ever had in our theater&nbsp;... It is 100 per cent at the [[box-office]]."<ref>Liberty Theater manager, ''The Reel Journal'', July 10, 1926.</ref>  Some critics felt Bow had conquered new territory, "[Bow] presents a whimsical touch to her work that adds greater laurels to her fast ascending star of screen popularity."<ref>''Charleston Daily Mail'', January 24, 1926.</ref>  ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' singled out Bow, complimenting her on saving the picture as, "Only the amusing and facile acting of Clara Bow rescues the picture from the limbo of the impossible."<ref>''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', August 2, 1926.</ref>

Bow began to date her co-star [[Gilbert Roland]], who became her first fiancé. In June 1925, Bow was credited for being the first to wear hand-painted legs in public, and was reported to have many followers at the Californian beaches.<ref>''Southeast Missouri'', June 24, 1925.</ref> Throughout the 1920s, Bow played with gender conventions and sexuality in her public image. Along with her tomboy and flapper roles, she starred in boxing films and posed for promotional photographs as a boxer. By appropriating traditionally androgynous or masculine traits, Bow presented herself as a confident, modern woman.{{sfn|Gammel|2012|p=375}}

===1925-1928: Paramount Pictures===
"Rehearsals sap my pep", Bow explained in November 1929,<ref name="Photoplay November 1925 p. 108">{{cite journal |last=York |first=Cal |title=Gossip of All The Studios: CLARA-BOW-DE-OH-DO |journal=Photoplay |publisher=Macfadden Publications |publication-place=Chicago |date=November 1925 |issn=0162-5195 |oclc=7035628 |page=108 |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplay3637movi/page/n705 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and from the beginning of her career she relied on immediate direction: "Tell me what I have to do and I'll do it."{{sfn|Jacobson|Atkins|1991|p=16}} Bow was keen on poetry and music, but according to Rogers St. Johns, her attention span did not allow her to appreciate novels.<ref name="Clara Bow 1975">Clara Bow, the playgirl of Hollywood, Liberty, spring 1975, 1929 retro special</ref> Bow's focal point was the scene, and her creativity made directors call in extra cameras to cover her spontaneous actions, rather than holding her down.{{sfn|Jacobson|Atkins|1991|p=16}}

Years after Bow left Hollywood, director [[Victor Fleming]] compared Bow to a [[Stradivarius]] [[violin]]: "Touch her, and she responded with genius."<ref name=hollywoodstory/> Director [[William Wellman]] was less poetic: "Movie stardom isn't acting ability—its personality and temperament&nbsp;... I once directed Clara Bow (''Wings''). She was mad and crazy, but WHAT a personality!".<ref>"In Hollywood with Erskine Johnson", ''Lowell Sunday'', April 27, 1952.</ref> And in 1981, [[Budd Schulberg]] described Bow as "an easy winner of the dumbbell award" who "couldn't act," and compared her to a puppy that his father B. P. Schulberg "trained to become [[Lassie]]."{{sfn|Schulberg|1981|pp=157–58}}

[[File:CBpic Bow Tearl Mothers.png|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Bow as "Kittens" in ''[[Dancing Mothers]]'' (1926) is moments from realizing that her mother is her rival. [[Conway Tearle]] as "Jerry" is caught in between.]]
[[File:Clara Bow 1927.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Bow as "Rosie O'Reilly" in ''[[Rough House Rosie]]'', 1927]]
[[File:Clara Bow in Wings trailer 2 crop.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Bow as "Mary Preston" in ''[[Wings (1927 film)|Wings]]'', 1927]]

Bow appeared in eight releases in 1926: five for Paramount, including the film version of the musical ''[[Kid Boots (film)|Kid Boots]]'' with [[Eddie Cantor]], and three loan-outs that had been filmed in 1925. In late 1925, Bow returned to New York to co-star in the [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsenesque]]{{sfn |Koszarski |2008 |p=[https://archive.org/details/hollywoodonhudso0000kosz/page/55/mode/1up 55]}}
drama ''[[Dancing Mothers]]'', as the good/bad "flapperish" upper-class daughter Kittens. [[Alice Joyce]] starred as her dancing mother, with [[Conway Tearle]] as "bad-boy" Naughton. The picture was released on March 1, 1926.{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|p=297}} Local reviews were very positive; "Clara Bow, known as the screen's perfect flapper, does her stuff as the child, and does it well",<ref>''Lacrosse Tribune and Leader'', March 24, 1926.</ref> and "her remarkable performance in Dancing Mothers&nbsp;... ".<ref>''Bakersfield Californian'', August 13, 1926</ref>  [[Louise Brooks]] remembered her in Brownlow's book; "She was absolutely sensational in the United States&nbsp;... in ''Dancing Mothers''&nbsp;... she just swept the country&nbsp;... I know I saw her&nbsp;... and I thought&nbsp;... wonderful."<ref name="Gill Brownlow 1980 Episode 12"/>

On April 12, 1926, Bow signed her first contract with Paramount: "to retain your services as an actress for the period of six months from June 6, 1926 to December 6, 1926, at a salary of $750.00 per week".<ref name="Famous Players–Lasky – Clara Bow Signed Contract 1926">{{cite web |title=Famous Players–Lasky – Clara Bow Signed Contract |via=Heritage Auctions |date=1926-04-12 |url=https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/documents-signed/clara-bow-and-sam-jaffe-signed-contract-a-single-page-contract-dated-april-12-1926-signed-in-black-ink-by-famous-players-/a/616-20151.s |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227005718/https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/documents-signed/clara-bow-and-sam-jaffe-signed-contract-a-single-page-contract-dated-april-12-1926-signed-in-black-ink-by-famous-players-/a/616-20151.s |archive-date=2021-02-27 |url-status=live}}</ref> Bow negotiated her Paramount contract to not have a [[morals clause]].<ref name="theguardian-Hutchinson-Bow">{{cite news |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Pamela |title=Clara Bow: the hard-partying jazz-baby airbrushed from Hollywood history |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/jun/21/clara-bow-wild-child-hollywood-history-silent-film |access-date=30 March 2022 |work=[[the Guardian]] |date=21 June 2016 |language=en}}</ref> In [[Victor Fleming]]'s comedy-triangle ''[[Mantrap (1926 film)|Mantrap]]'' Bow, as Alverna the manicurist, cures lonely hearts Joe Easter ([[Ernest Torrence]]) of the great northern, as well as pill-popping New York divorce attorney runaway Ralph Prescott ([[Percy Marmont]]). Bow commented: "(Alverna]&nbsp;... was bad in the book, but—darn it!—of course, they couldn't make her that way in the picture. So I played her as a flirt."<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', July 15, 1926</ref> 

The film was released on July 24, 1926,{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA299 p. 299]}} to rave reviews. ''Variety'' said that "Clara Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she walks into camera range",<ref>''Variety'', July 1, 1926</ref> while ''Photoplay'' told readers that "When she is on the screen nothing else matters. When she is off, the same is true."<ref name="Photoplay August 1926 p. 54">{{cite journal |date=August 1926 |title=The Shadow Stage, A Review of the New Picture: Mantrap—Paramount |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplay3031movi/page/n353/mode/1up |journal=Photoplay |publisher=Macfadden Publications |publication-place=Chicago |page=54 |issn=0162-5195 |oclc=7035628 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Carl Sandburg wrote that it was "The smartest and swiftest work as yet seen from Miss Clara Bow."{{sfn |Sandburg |2000 |p=308}} and Sam Carver of the Newman Theater was quoted in ''[[The Reel Journal]]'' as saying that "Clara Bow is taking the place of [[Gloria Swanson]]...(and)...filling a long need for a popular taste movie actress."<ref>"Sam Carver, manager of 'first run' theater 'Newman' in Kansas City to industrial journal," ''The Reel Journal'', p. 13, August 7, 1926.</ref>
[[File:Clara Bow in Hula.jpg|thumb|Bow as "Hula Calhoun" in [[Hula (film)|''Hula'']] (1927)]]
On August 16, 1926, Bow's agreement with Paramount was renewed into a five-year deal: "Her salary will start at $1700 a week and advance yearly to $4000 a week for the last year."<ref name=NewsBee/> Bow added that she intended to leave the motion picture business at the expiration of the contract, i.e., in 1931.<ref name=NewsBee/> In 1927 Bow appeared in six Paramount releases: ''[[It (1927 film)|It]]'', ''[[Children of Divorce (1927 film)|Children of Divorce]]'', ''[[Rough House Rosie]]'', ''[[Wings (1927 film)|Wings]]'', ''[[Hula (film)|Hula]]'' and ''[[Get Your Man (1927)|Get Your Man]]''. In the [[Cinderella]] based story ''[[It (1927 film)|It]]'', the poor shop-girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) conquers the heart of her employer Cyrus Waltham ([[Antonio Moreno]]). The personal quality—"It"— provides the magic to make it happen. The film gave Bow her nickname, "[[It girl|The 'It' Girl]]." Reviews were nothing less than outstanding: ''The New York Times'' said that "(Bow)...is vivacious and, as Betty Lou, saucy, which perhaps is one of the ingredients of ''It''."<ref name="Hall 1927">{{cite news |last=Hall |first=Mordaunt |author-link=Mordaunt Hall |title=An Elinor Glyn Story |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1927-02-07 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/02/07/118500955.html?zoom=15.57&pageNumber=17 |page=17 |volume=76 |issue=25,216 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> 

''[[The Film Daily]]'' wrote that "Clara Bow gets a real chance and carries it off with honors...(and)...she is really the whole show",<ref>''The Film Daily'', February 13, 1927</ref> and ''Variety'' said "You can't get away from this Clara Bow girl. She certainly has that certain 'It'...and she just runs away with the film."<ref>January 1(private showing), 1927, ''Variety''.</ref>  Carl Sandburg wrote that "'It' is smart, funny and real. It makes a full-sized star of Clara Bow."{{sfn |Sandburg |2000 |p=340}} [[Dorothy Parker]] is often said to have referred to Bow when she wrote, "It, hell; she had Those."<ref name=Snopes>[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/clarabow.asp Clara Bow Peep], ''[[Snopes.com]]''</ref> Parker in actuality was not referring to Bow or to Bow's character in the film ''It'', but to a different character, Ava Cleveland, in the novel of the same name.<ref>''The New Yorker'', November 26, 1927.</ref>

In 1927, Bow starred in ''Wings'', a war picture rewritten to accommodate her, as she was Paramount's biggest star, but was not happy about her part: "[''Wings'' is]...a man's picture and I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie."{{sfn |Porter |2005 |p=[https://archive.org/details/howardhugheshell00darw/page/n153/mode/1up 147]}} The film went on to win the first [[Academy Award for Best Picture]]. In 1928, Bow appeared in four Paramount releases: ''[[Red Hair (film)|Red Hair]]'', ''[[Ladies of the Mob]]'', ''[[The Fleet's In (1928 film)|The Fleet's In]]'', and ''[[Three Week-Ends]]'', all of which are lost. [[Adela Rogers St. Johns]], a noted screenwriter who had done a number of pictures with Bow, wrote about her:

{{blockquote|[T]here seems to be no pattern, no purpose to her life. She swings from one emotion to another, but she gains nothing, stores up nothing for the future. She lives entirely in the present, not even for today, but in the moment.{{sfn |Savage |2007 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/teenagecreationo00sava_0/page/227/mode/1up 227]–[https://archive.org/details/teenagecreationo00sava_0/page/228/mode/1up 228]}} Clara is the total nonconformist. What she wants she gets, if she can. What she desires to do she does. She has a big heart, a remarkable brain, and the most utter contempt for the world in general. Time doesn't exist for her, except that she thinks it will stop tomorrow. She has real courage, because she lives boldly. Who are we, after all, to say she is wrong?<ref name="Clara Bow 1975"/>}}

Bow's [[bohemianism|bohemian]] lifestyle and "dreadful" manners were considered reminders of the Hollywood elite's uneasy position in high society.{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA116 pp. 116–117]}} Bow fumed: "They yell at me to be dignified. But what are the dignified people like? The people who are held up as examples for me? They are snobs. Frightful snobs&nbsp;... I'm a curiosity in Hollywood. I'm a big freak, because I'm myself!"<ref name="Shirley October 1929 p. 29">{{cite journal |last=Shirley |first=Lois |title=Empty hearted |journal=Photoplay |volume=36 |issue=5 |publication-place=Chicago |date=October 1929 |issn=0162-5195 |oclc=7035628 |page=29 |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplay3637movi/page/n470/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> [[MGM]] executive [[Paul Bern]] said Bow was "the greatest emotional actress on the screen, ... she is sentimental, simple, childish and sweet and the hard-boiled attitude is a defense mechanism."<ref name="Thornley June 1929 p. 36">{{cite journal |last=Thornley |first=Grace |title=The Favorites Pick |journal=Photoplay |volume=36 |issue=1 |publication-place=Chicago |date=October 1929 |issn=0162-5195 |oclc=7035628 |page=46 |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplay3536movi/page/36/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===1929-1933: Sound films===
[[File:Clara Bow in Call Her Savage - The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1932 (page 1153 crop).jpg|right|upright=1.0|thumb|Bow in ''[[Call Her Savage]]'', 1932]]

With "[[talkies]]" ''[[The Wild Party (1929 film)|The Wild Party]]'', ''[[Dangerous Curves (1929 film)|Dangerous Curves]]'', and ''[[The Saturday Night Kid]]'', all released in 1929, Bow kept her position as the top box-office draw and queen of Hollywood.{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA157 pp. 157–162]}} Neither the quality of Bow's voice nor her [[Brooklyn accent]] was an issue to Bow, her fans, or Paramount.{{sfn |Zukor |Kramer |1953 |pp=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019349037&view=2up&seq=283 254–255]}}{{failed verification |date=February 2023}} However, Bow, like [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[Louise Brooks]], and most other silent film stars, did not embrace the novelty: "I hate talkies ... they're stiff and limiting. You lose a lot of your cuteness, because there's no chance for action, and action is the most important thing to me."<ref name="ReferenceC">Goldbeck, Elisabeth. "The Real Clara Bow", ''Motion Picture Classic'', September 1930</ref> 

A visibly nervous Bow had to do a number of retakes in ''The Wild Party'' because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead. "I can't buck progress ... I have to do the best I can," she said.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> In October 1929 Bow described her nerves as "all shot", saying that she had reached "the breaking point", and ''Photoplay'' cited reports of "rows of bottles of sedatives" by her bed.<ref name="Shirley October 1929 p. 29"/> "Now they're having me sing. I sort of [[Sprechgesang|half-sing, half-talk]], with hips-and-eye stuff. You know what I mean—like [[Maurice Chevalier]]. I used to sing at home and people would say, 'Pipe down! You're terrible!' But the studio thinks my voice is great."<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

With ''[[Paramount on Parade]]'', ''[[True to the Navy]]'', ''[[Love Among the Millionaires]]'', and ''[[Her Wedding Night]]'', Bow was second at the box-office only to [[Joan Crawford]] in 1930.<ref name="Exhibitors Herald"/> With ''[[No Limit (1931 film)|No Limit]]'' and ''[[Kick In (1931 film)|Kick In]]'', Bow held the position as fifth at box-office in 1931, but the pressures of fame, public scandals, and overwork, took their toll on Bow's fragile emotional health.

A damaging court trial charged her secretary Daisy DeVoe with financial mismanagement,<ref name="lamag-Renner-DeVoe">{{cite web |last1=Renner |first1=Joan |title=Revenge of the Celebrity Secretary: The Career-Ending Extortion of Screen Star Clara Bow Los Angeles Magazine |url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/revenge-of-the-celebrity-secretary-the-career-ending-extortion-of-screen-star-clara-bow/ |website=[[Los Angeles Magazine]] |access-date=30 March 2022 |date=4 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="forejustice-Sherrer-clarabow">{{cite journal |last1=Sherrer |first1=Hans |title=Clara Bow – Her Personal Secretary Was Wrongly Convicted of Grand Theft |journal=Justice Denied Magazine |volume=2 |issue=7 |url=https://www.forejustice.org/wc/clarabow.htm |access-date=30 March 2022 |publisher=forejustice.org}}</ref> by Paramount-friendly officials: Los Angeles District Attorney Buron Fitts, Assistant District Attorney David Clark, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge [[William C. Doran]].{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mm3gQqcl20UC&pg=PA164 pp. 164—236]}}<ref name="spiegel.de-it-girls">{{cite news |last1=Iken |first1=Katja |title=Geschichte der It-Girls - Paris Hiltons Vor-vor-vorbild |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/geschichte-der-it-girls-paris-hiltons-vor-vor-vorbild-a-947086.html |access-date=30 March 2022 |work=Der Spiegel |date=25 February 2011 |language=de}}</ref><ref name="historyofyesterday-a436b1d6e81">{{cite web |last1=Voll |first1=C. S. |title=Clara Bow: The Haunted Sex Icon of the '20s |url=https://historyofyesterday.com/clara-bow-the-haunted-sex-icon-of-the-20s-a436b1d6e81 |website=History of Yesterday |publisher=Medium |access-date=30 March 2022 |language=en |date=15 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Turan |first1=Kenneth |title='Clara Bow's' Anguish |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/21/clara-bows-anguish/7b41b397-fcb1-4dd2-bf93-66db30325f01/ |access-date=30 March 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=21 October 1988}}</ref>

According to the 1930 [[United States Census|census]], Bow lived at 512 Bedford Drive, together with her secretary and hairdresser, Daisy DeBoe (later DeVoe), in a house valued $25,000 with neighbors titled "Horse-keeper", "Physician", "Builder". Bow stated she was 23 years old, i.e., born 1906, contradicting the censuses of 1910 and 1920.<ref name="Census, Population Schedule 1930"/>

As she slipped closer to a major breakdown her manager, B.P. Schulberg, began referring to her as "Crisis-a-day-Clara".{{sfnp|Stenn|2000|p=231}} In April, Bow was taken to a [[sanatorium]] and, at her request, Paramount released her from her final undertaking: ''[[City Streets (1931 film)|City Streets]]'' (1931). At 25 her career was essentially over.{{sfn |Savage |2007 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/teenagecreationo00sava_0/page/227/mode/1up 227]–[https://archive.org/details/teenagecreationo00sava_0/page/228/mode/1up 228]}} B. P. Schulberg tried to replace Bow with his girlfriend [[Sylvia Sidney]], but Paramount went into receivership, lost its position as the biggest studio (to MGM), and fired Schulberg. [[David Selznick]] explained:

{{blockquote|...[when] Bow was at her height in pictures we could make a story with her in it and gross a million and a half, where another actress would gross half a million in the same picture and with the same cast.—[[David Selznick|Selznick]]<ref>''The Day'' (December 12, 1931)</ref>}}

[[File:Clara Bow and Rex Bell's Nevada ranch cattle brand (cropped).png|thumb|A cattle brand from Clara Bow's & Rex Bell's Nevada ranch]]

Bow left Hollywood for [[Rex Bell]]'s ranch in [[Nevada]], her "desert paradise", in June<ref>''Nevada State Journal'' (June 17, 1931)</ref> and married him in then small-town [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] in December.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=259}} In an interview on December 17, Bow detailed her way back to health:<ref>''San Antonio Light'' 311217</ref> sleep, exercise, and food, and the day after it she returned to Hollywood "for the sole purpose of making enough money to be able to stay out of it."{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=265}} Soon every studio in Hollywood (except Paramount) and even overseas wanted her services.<ref>NY agent George Frank to Filmjournalen 26/1931</ref> [[Mary Pickford]] stated that Bow "was a very great actress" and wanted her to play her sister in ''[[Secrets (1933 film)|Secrets]]'' (1933),{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1976|p=259}} 

[[Howard Hughes]] offered her a three-picture deal, and MGM wanted her to star in ''[[Red-Headed Woman]]'' (1932). Bow agreed to the script, but eventually rejected the offer since [[Irving Thalberg]] required her to sign a long-term contract.<ref>''The Evening Independent'' (February 18, 1932)</ref> On April 28, 1932, Bow signed a two-picture deal with [[Fox Film Corporation]], for ''[[Call Her Savage]]'' (1932) and ''[[Hoop-La]]'' (1933). Both were successful. ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' favored ''[[Hoop-La]]''. The October 1934, ''Family Circle'' Film Guide rated the film as "pretty good entertainment" and stated: "This is the most acceptable bit of talkie acting Miss Bow has done." However, they noted, "Miss Bow is presented in her dancing duds as often as possible, and her dancing duds wouldn't weigh two pounds soaking wet."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Clara Bow |journal=The Family Circle |date=January 19, 1934 |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=16}}</ref> Bow commented on her revealing costume in ''Hoop-La'': "Rex accused me of enjoying showing myself off. Then I got a little sore. He knew darn well I was doing it because we could use a little money these days. Who can't?"<ref name=KansasCS/>
{{Listen|filename = True To The Navy.ogg|title = True to the Navy (1930)|description = Bow sings in [[Paramount on Parade]] (1930)|pos=right}}
Bow reflected on her career:

{{blockquote|My life in Hollywood contained plenty of uproar. I'm sorry for a lot of it but not awfully sorry. I never did anything to hurt anyone else. I made a place for myself on the screen and you can't do that by being [[Louisa May Alcott|Mrs. Alcott's]] idea of a [[Little Women|Little Woman]].<ref name=KansasCS/>}}