Editing Clara Bow (section)

===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>