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Before we get started, a quick warning, this

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episode contains mentions of suicide. Hello

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for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan

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and this is Womanica.

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Historically, women have been told to make themselves

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smaller, to diminish themselves. Some

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have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing

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into new identities. For others,

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a disappearance was the end to their stories,

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but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies.

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This month, we're telling the stories of these women.

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We're talking about disappearing acts. Today's

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Womaniquin was the talk of the town during her

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sparkling film career. She

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inspired girls across the country to cut their

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hair and hem their dresses, to rouge

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their knees and make themselves seen when

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etiquette books encouraged them to stay

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home and stay quiet. Even

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as a silent star, she was loud and boisterous

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for twenty eight years until she quickly

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and quietly disappeared from public life.

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Let's talk about Clairearah Beow. Clara

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was born on July twenty ninth, nineteen oh

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five, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Her

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early life was tough. She was

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the only one of three siblings to survive childhood.

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Born to an abusive father and a mother with

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mercurial moods. Clara's

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mom likely had severe mental illness.

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Untreated, she became more erratic as Clara

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got older. Clara

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sought an escape, and she found

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it when she could get away in the dark

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of a theater hall, in the silver glow of

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a movie screen. Clara

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loved watching films. At that

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point, an industry taking its first steps,

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Hollywood was already rattling with promise.

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Charlie Chaplin had immortalized himself on

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two real prints. Clara

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knew she had to get out there somehow.

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In nineteen twenty two, she got her first bite

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at stardom when she won a magazine's beauty

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contest, her face

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plucked from obscurity. The

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prize was a small part in a nineteen twenty

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two film, Beyond the Rainbow, but

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Clara scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

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Undeterred, Clara landed a different

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part in a different movie that same year, another

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bit part, sure, but that was

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all she needed. Clara

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Bow was on film. Within

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the next year, Clara had made her way out

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west and signed with a small production company.

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She started a string of silent films. Re

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signed with the much bigger Paramount Pictures,

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and then in nineteen twenty seven, Clara

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Bow hit the big time. Clara

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became the first ever it girl. The

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phrase actually comes from Clara's first big

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success, a movie called It. She

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played a poor shop girl whose natural charm

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wins her the heart of her rich boss. Plot

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aside, one thing was clear. Clara

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had it. Her pout, her bobbed

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hair, a music sort of magnetism

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that translated through the screen. As

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one Paramount Boss put it, she

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danced even when her feet were not moving. Clara

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was a star. Over

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the next decade, Clara made fifty seven films.

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The majority were silent, but she made a seamless

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jump to talkies, a shift that stunted

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the careers of many of Clara's peers.

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Oh it's just another sculving I've

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heard a thousand times before, Nasa,

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you don't seem like a daughter of Line.

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I know, I know, but he's going to live. She

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also made film history co starring in Wings,

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the first movie to win the Best Picture Oscar. Off

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screen, Clara lived a life noisy enough

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to rival her greatest on screen roles.

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Her red sports car laden with her seven

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Chihuahuas was a common sight in

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Hollywood. Thousands

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of fan letters poured in for her each week. She

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was a fun, loving, jazzy, free living

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kid. At

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least that's what she told

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the world. In

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nineteen twenty eight, when she was twenty two years

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old, Clara gave a tell all interview for

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the magazine Photoplay. In

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it, she spilled everything her

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difficult upbringing, her rise to stardom,

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even her own insecurities. At

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the top of the article, she wrote, There's

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only one thing you can do when you're very young

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and not a philosopher. If

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life has frightened you by its cruelty and made

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you distrust its most glittering promises,

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you must make living a sort of gay curtain

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to throw across the abyss into which you've

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looked and wear, lie dread memories.

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Partly due to this tell all, partly due

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to a public legal trial, and partly

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due to the rigorous schedule required of Hollywood

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starlets, time started

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to catch up with Clara. She

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was called crisis a day Clara and

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her final two movies weren't exactly successes.

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Unbeknownst to the public, Clara was

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also struggling with her mend untill health. At

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just twenty eight years old, Clara Bow retired

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from acting. In

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just a few years, one of the biggest stars in show

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business had erased herself off the map.

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In nineteen thirty one, Clara entered a sanitarium

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and after a few weeks, moved to her home in Nevada.

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That same year, Clara, whose love life

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had always been the subject of tabloid gossip,

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quietly married actor Rex Bell. Together

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they had two sons. Making

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Clara Bow, the Hollywood starlet disappear

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was quite the trick, But

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Clara, the girl from Bayridge, was only

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human. She'd vanished

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from the public eye to take a break, and

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things weren't any easier in Nevada. She

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attempted suicide and was eventually diagnosed

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with schizophrenia. While

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Rex, her husband, remained in the headlines through

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his acting career and his later run for governor,

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Clara stayed out of the spotlight. When

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she appeared quietly at his funeral,

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she sent newspapers buzzing, as

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if to test just how thoroughly Clara

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completed her disappearing act. She

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voiced a character called Missus Hush on the nineteen

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forty seven radio show Truth or Consequences,

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Listeners could call in if they thought they could identify

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the voice behind Missus Hush.

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Fourteen years after retiring from acting,

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Clara stumped a nation of listeners with

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her voice. It took three

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months of broadcasts for someone to call in

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and identify Clara,

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the sports car driving jazz baby of the

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twenties, lived the rest of her life in relative

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peace. Clara

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Bo died on September twenty seventh, nineteen

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sixty five, in Los Angeles. Though

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she disappeared on her own terms in her own

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lifetime, Clara's print

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on film history is undeniable. Just

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in March of twenty twenty four, a thought

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to be lost movie of hers resurfaced at a

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garage sale in Omaha, inciting

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new appreciation from film lovers.

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Her face, her dancing feet are

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what helped bring around Hollywood as we know it,

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the first Oscar winning movie and

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smiles to countless faces in countless

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dark theater halls. A

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disappearing act, she may be, but forgotten

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she is not. All

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month we're talking about disappearing acts. For

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more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram

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at Wollmanica Podcast Special

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Thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and

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co creator. As always,

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we'll be taking a break for the weekend. Talk

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to you on Monday.