Editing Clara Bow (section)

===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/>}}