• 3 months ago
Mysteries & Scandals - Episode Clara Bow
Transcript
00:00Has always been linked to sex
00:03Throughout Hollywood's lorid history the name Clara Boe has always been linked to sex her alluring features
00:08Hourglass figure and restless spirit made Clara the leading sex symbol of the 1920s by the age of 21
00:15Clara Boe was known as the it girl because this girl had it all
00:19But this fickle town called Hollywood often destroys the very icons it creates
00:24Clara Boe is no exception a naive girl from Brooklyn turned movie star sex siren
00:29It was just a matter of time before the image was shattered and so was the woman on this episode of mysteries and scandals
00:35Will expose the shocking rumors and accusations that tormented this sexy starlet Clara Boe
00:41Has slept with women koala bears had sex in public and slept with her great Dane
00:46And we'll hear about Clara's sexual exploits from acclaimed screenwriter and novelist Bud Schulberg
00:52Get some good and bad boyfriends up a lot of bad boyfriends will also reveal what made Clara so seductive and bewitching
01:05And will identify the tragic events that led to Clara's sad and lonely end
01:10She was so damaged by the time she arrived in Hollywood that nothing could have saved
01:14I'm AJ Benza join me as we taste the success the sins and the suffering of Hollywood's it girl Clara Boe
01:22I
01:41Clara Boe was born in the slums of Brooklyn, New York on July 29th 1905
01:46Clara's childhood was a nightmare
01:49Her father Robert was AWOL most of the time and according to my before David Sten
01:54Clara's mother Sarah was a prostitute who had no regard for her daughter's well-being
01:58She would bring men home Clara Boe was four years old
02:01She would lock her in a cabinet and Clara Boe would sit there crouched in a little cabinet while her mother
02:06paid the rent and
02:08It was heartbreaking later because she would brag to her friends that she had more uncles than any of them
02:14Because her mother would always introduce these tricks as uncles
02:19USC theater professor Paul Backer says that Clara spent her sad youth dreaming of becoming a star
02:25Clara Boe loved the movies and she read a lot of the famous movie screen magazines
02:29And she heard about this contest called the fame and fortune contest
02:32She was always very careful to point out that it wasn't a beauty contest
02:35It was sponsored by a publisher of fan magazines
02:38The contest required 15 year old Clara to complete an entry form and attach a photograph of herself
02:43She had no money to for a picture to enter the contest her father loaned her a dollar for which she was eternally grateful
02:49She won she beat everyone else
02:51No one was more surprised than she was the contest winner was given a part in a movie
02:56And so she got a bit part most of Clara's performance in the 1922 film Beyond the Rainbow was left on the cutting room floor
03:04But 16 year old Clara was hooked on Hollywood her mother Sarah Boe was violently opposed to her daughter's new profession
03:12Writer Rudy Belmer was the last person to interview Clara Boe
03:16Clara woke up in the middle of the night and saw her mother standing over her with a butcher knife
03:22Now get this apparently Sarah the mother who turned tricks in front of her daughter felt that Hollywood was a bad influence
03:29See mama thought it was her duty to murder her daughter before she made another film
03:33Obviously this woman was completely nuts and was locked up in the nearest insane asylum
03:38After her mother was committed to a public mental institution in Brooklyn Clara Boe's father raped her can this story get any worse?
03:45Yeah in 1923 one year after she was institutionalized Clara's mother died
03:51Clara's father Robert was the only family 17 year old Clara had left
03:55Despite his sexual abuse. She always felt bound to her father. It's a classic
04:01Pattern for a sexually abused child is you just keep seeking love from the abusive parent and
04:09He raped her and it makes you wonder why she would stay so loyal to him
04:13She was too loyal and she was constantly taken advantage of despite Clara's personal problems
04:19The aspiring actress caught the attention of acclaimed movie producer BP Schulberg
04:24His son is the Oscar-winning screenwriter Bud Schulberg when my father BP Schulberg told me about her
04:31he said that
04:34when he first saw Clara he was
04:37Struck not only by the fact that she was a very very pretty girl
04:41but that she had some kind of a spirit coming out of her a sort of
04:47Intangible
04:48Magnetism that came across on the screen and the camera that loved Clara Boe
04:52Actress Anita Page remembers Clara Boe just seeing and being with her was wonderful
04:57I loved her thought she was lovely and she was and I'm lovely, too
05:0518 year old Clara moved from Brooklyn to Beverly Hills and her star began to rise
05:09Over the course of three years Clara starred in 34 films
05:14She was the top box-office draw and a celebrated symbol of the times
05:18when you think of the flapper and
05:20The girl who drank bathtub gin and drove in an open Roadster and lived a little too fast and too hard
05:26That was her the 1920s, which was the heyday of Clara's career was called the jazz age or the roaring 20s
05:32there was a sense of the roaring 20s being a decade that was out of control in a lot of ways and the woman who
05:38Was ran the wildest and the boldest and the most out of control was definitely Clara Boe
05:43She embodied her era in 1926 21 year old Clara won the lead in the silent classic wings
05:50It was a very expensive movie to produce
05:53Grand epic and it won the first Academy Award not only for Paramount Pictures
05:57But it was the first Academy Award ever for best film AC Lyles is a producer for Paramount Pictures
06:03He's worked on the studio a lot for more than 60 years wings made Clara Boe a big star
06:08And also there was a man in it a young actor that had one scene. His name was Gary Cooper
06:14He became the biggest star on the lot
06:17Clara's interest in the handsome Gary Cooper made him the toast of Hollywood and the envy of every American man
06:23She fell in love with him. And then meanwhile, she was also in love with Victor Fleming the director from Mantra and
06:29She was engaged to them at the same time. Of course, that was great copy, but it also started a backlash because
06:37everyone knew what engagement was a euphemism for and
06:40There were writers saying things such as Clara's engagements last as long as the average girl's headaches
06:47When she was 21 Clara met trashy romance novelist Eleanor Glynn the Jackie Collins of her day
06:54Eleanor had just written a sinful tale called it Eleanor Glynn and her
06:59Celebrated meeting with Clara Boe in which she said my dear you have it
07:03Which was the word for sex in the 20s people?
07:08They say what was it? Well, they it was animal magnetism it was sex and
07:14she was a sex symbol, but this was an era when
07:18People didn't use that word and suddenly this young 21 year old girl comes along and throws sex in your face
07:24And you can't say that so you say she has it and you say that's the it girl
07:30The novel it was turned into a movie starring Clara Boe
07:34This once troubled kid from Brooklyn was living an almost fairytale existence
07:38But what the ghost from Clara's past come back to haunt her coming up what public accusations left Clara
07:44Humiliated and betrayed and how did Clara's lust for life invite rumors of a shocking sex scandal?
07:55In
07:561926 screen diva Clara Boe starred in a romantic comedy titled it
08:00The film provided 21 year old Clara with her most famous role and forever branded her as the it girl
08:06Her sultry bedroom eyes and provocative smile thrill moviegoers and drove the boys wild
08:11When you describe what a big star is today?
08:13There's no comparison with what a star was then because there was no television
08:18Everyone went to the movies Clara Boe and all of her popularity and all of her success also ahead of sort of a sad
08:25Life sad is right as soon as Clara reached the heights of stardom her troubled past caught up with her in LA
08:32when Clara became
08:34famous in Hollywood
08:36Her father came out and pretty much lived off of Clara's earnings. Well, look at him. He'd already raped her
08:43he was chasing after every extra girl in Hollywood trying trading on her name saying I'm Clara Boe's father and
08:50And he was patronizing whorehouses and father was a real good for nothing
08:55I remember Robert Boe was always about fuzzy for more money a job. I'm trying to help him
09:01Give him money setting up some business
09:04He was sort of a pain in the neck
09:06Clara's father wasn't the only one taking advantage of her the producers at Paramount were also quick to capitalize on Clara's fame
09:13You had an ironic and ultimately very destructive situation where the studio just kept putting her in one
09:20Mediocre movie after another Clara Boe would be working
09:2416 hour days 18 hour days
09:2720 hour days whatever it took it took a health crisis to get Clara off the set in
09:331928 severe stomach pains forced the 22 year old to undergo an emergency appendectomy
09:38Clara's attending physician was William Earl Pearson
09:42Pearson's son Bill recalls his father's first encounter with the young star. She was a patient in the hospital
09:48She fell in love with him. He was married and even Clara Boe made clear
09:53She didn't chase married men
09:55But he said he was estranged from his wife and that they were getting a divorce and she believed him
09:59But to Clara's surprise Pearson hadn't mentioned his divorce plans to his wife
10:04Mrs. Pearson traveled from their Texas home to visit her husband in LA
10:08My mother had gone out there on the train to sing and when she got off the train
10:15Well, he had this car that she knew that he couldn't afford on an intern's pay, you know
10:20Well one guess where he got the money
10:23After a little digging Pearson's wife learned her husband's lover was none other than the famous Clara Boe
10:28Mrs. Pearson was determined to make Clara pay
10:31Mrs. Pearson went to Paramount and said I am going to sue my husband for divorce and name Clara Boe as
10:37Correspondent unless you pay me a hundred and fifty thousand dollars
10:40The execs at Paramount didn't want any bad publicity to tarnish the image of 23 year old Clara Boe
10:46So the studio convinced Clara to send Pearson back to his wife
10:50Clara also had to pay mrs. Pearson 30 grand to keep her quiet about the affair
10:55Once again, Clara Boe was victimized by someone else
10:58Clara's producer at Paramount BP Schulberg felt it was time for damage control
11:03Clara's life was a shambles and
11:06Things were not being managed properly and people were taking advantage of her Daisy DeVoe
11:12Who had been a hairdresser at Paramount BB Schulberg made an offer to Daisy
11:17to straighten out Clara's life and be you know her her secretary and companion and run the
11:23household and what-have-you and
11:26So she left the employer Paramount and went to work for Clara Boe
11:30Clara's kind nature bordered on gullibility. She and her new employee Daisy became fast friends
11:37Sadly for Clara, this was just one more relationship that would end in heartache Clara's son Rex Bell explains
11:43Daisy was
11:45Taking money from mother. I don't remember how much but somewhere
11:49She had supposedly embezzled somewhere around the amount of 40,000 which was a lot of money then
11:56After almost two years of service 25 year old Clara accused Daisy of stealing from her DeVoe insisted
12:02She had done no wrong, but Clara didn't buy it
12:04suddenly the spat between best friends became a
12:09Criminal case and Daisy DeVoe was on trial and Daisy DeVoe decided that the best defense was a was a malicious offense
12:16Daisy then started telling tales in court and to the papers and so forth about Clara's behavior and
12:25There all kinds of private things came out Clara Bell had already endured scandal
12:30But there was no way to prepare for what was coming next in the 1931 trial
12:34Daisy DeVoe was determined to ruin the young movie stars career by airing Clara's dirty laundry when we come back
12:40What ugly accusations with Daisy make understand was there any truth to these shameful?
12:45Allegations and when Clara's devoted fans turn against her when she needed them most
12:53She was once the highest paid actress in silent film and a host of forbidden Hollywood parties
12:58So why did this forgotten legend vanish mysteries and scandals spotlights a lot of cinema tomorrow at 730 only on E
13:05fame ain't look bitch
13:09In the 1920s film actress Clara Bell defined the image of the Hollywood sex symbol
13:14But in January 1931 the 25 year old screen sensation faced her most challenging role as a witness for the prosecution
13:22Welcome back to mysteries and scandals. I'm AJ Benza
13:25Clara's former assistant Daisy DeVoe was accused of stealing thousands of dollars from Clara and was charged with grand theft
13:31DeVoe promised that if she was going down she'd bring Clara down with her
13:35Daisy went public with a story of
13:38But the so-called lurid
13:40Details of someone's life. I was just a kid on the lot
13:44But I do remember that it devastated Clara the fact she had to go through
13:50This in court or the fact it was costing Clara so much money literally Daisy DeVoe was on trial
13:55But what that trial became was Clara bow on trial
13:59Daisy DeVoe managed to smear Clara's name by turning the tables on the prosecution
14:04She got on the stand and they would say to her
14:06Why why didn't you tell Clara something? Oh, she was gambling all night. Well, then the prosecution would say well
14:12She's gambling for a penny a point so it would undermine it
14:15But then Daisy DeVoe would say but she was drunk
14:17Press picked it up and the tabloids of the day picked it up and you had these
14:23Rather racy charges going on a newspaper is printed called the coast reporter, which claims that Clara bow
14:31Has slept with women koala bears had sex in public and slept with her Great Dane that she's an alcoholic and has syphilis in
14:391931 from for a newspaper to appear with those kind of claims the public assumed that they had to be true because how could
14:46You print them if they weren't true. That was really the
14:50Breaking of Clara. I think she was humiliated and hurt deeply
14:54It took the jury 48 hours to return a verdict of the 35 counts against her
15:00Daisy DeVoe was found guilty of only one charge of grand theft as a result of it. Daisy was arrested tried and convicted
15:12Daisy's meager jail sentence was a slap in the face to Clara after the public humiliation
15:17She suffered and unfortunately for the 25 year old actress. There was more shame to come
15:21Well, one of the rumors again, there were many things reported on with regard to Clara was that the entire
15:28football squad of USC and were over at Clara's place
15:34In
15:351926 Clara had to become friends with the USC players and she would invite the boys over for an occasional game of touch football
15:41Honestly, that's really all that happened. But by 1931 with Clara's already tarnished reputation
15:47Everybody assumed the worst if you read certain guidebooks of Hollywood now, they will say well
15:53This is the spot where Clara bow took on a team of USC Trojans and it's unfair and it's untrue. There was no
16:01Mass
16:03sexual scenes going on with the team that turned out to be a complete fallacy in light of all the rumors in bad press
16:09The execs at Paramount Pictures decided 26 year old Clara bow was a liability
16:14Certainly didn't do mother any good
16:17Yeah in terms of her health and that mental state the embarrassment and the humiliation
16:23that came out about Clara that people they love that and they ate it up and
16:28in the eating up they sort of ate up Clara to
16:33The feeding frenzy was too much for Clara bow to endure the it girl had lost it along with the love of her fans
16:40Clara's public image and self-esteem crumbled under the weight of scandal life couldn't get any worse for this fallen star or could it?
16:53By 1933 the party was over for film goddess Clara bow
16:57Tinseltown's premiere sex siren vaulted from obscurity to celebrity to infamy in the course of 13 years
17:05Vicious accusations and backstabbing branded Clara damaged goods and at the age of 28
17:10she was finished in Hollywood all of the excesses of the roaring 20s were now seen as
17:16Extravagantly wasteful and she took a lot of the blame for that
17:19She sort of embodied her era and therefore when the era was over
17:23Public opinion turned against her during all these scandals Rex Bell who was a cowboy star stuck by her and she decided this is the
17:30man
17:31for me Rex Bell was
17:35Someone who was on the level, but he was a very solid citizen and in a sense thought he could save her
17:41I think really too when all of these scandals struck he stood by her
17:45he was really the only person that did and he said you don't need this and
17:50he took her to a ranch in Nevada to recuperate and
17:54then
17:55They married Clara sought salvation by devoting herself to her husband at home by 1938
18:0133 year old Clara and 35 year old Rex had two sons
18:05Clara was finally part of a happy family, but peace of mind still eluded her
18:10she had been so burned in Hollywood that she wanted privacy and
18:14Rex wanted a career in politics and obviously being a political wife did not allow for much privacy
18:20So there's there was a rift that developed because she really wanted him home with the family
18:26Over the next decade Clara cut herself off from the outside world her isolation began to have severe physical and mental consequences
18:33in 1949
18:35She decided that all that was wrong with her was insomnia
18:38So she went to the Institute of Living was a very posh clinic in Connecticut
18:41She went there to try and figure out what was why she couldn't sleep
18:45And of course the reason she couldn't sleep is what had happened to her in her childhood
18:50She was gone for a year. We know that Institute of Living
18:54She went through shock treatment and Clara's marriage to Rex also had its ups and downs
18:59Clara felt abandoned by her career minded husband. She needed him to give her the constant attention and validation
19:05She once got from Hollywood and her fans. It's almost a feminist parable in a way
19:09It's her work that kept her going and once she didn't have her work anymore. She lost her sense of self
19:15She lost her identity in
19:171950 45 year old Clara moved back to Los Angeles to be near a therapist her estranged husband and two sons remained in Nevada
19:25Clara's father Robert Bo the man who abused her as a child moved in with Clara and lived with her until his death in
19:321959 Clara's husband Rex died three years later for the rest of her life. She stayed home. She had a live-in nurse
19:39And her sons would come and visit her. She lived a very decent life there
19:43Right up to her passing just passed away of a heart attack all of a sudden without any real showing of heart problem
19:50Clara Bo died on September 26
19:531965 supposedly while she was watching the 1929 Western the Virginian on TV
19:59The picture starred Gary Cooper and was directed by Victor Fleming two men from Clara's past
20:04At age 60 Clara was finally laid to rest here at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles right beside her husband Rex
20:11She's remembered by her son Rex jr. I think that mother was
20:16so outgoing so friendly really didn't look the bad side of people and
20:22Didn't all through her life. She was a mother to my brother myself and a very good mother
20:28No one stands out to me more in my memory and my admiration
20:34than
20:36Her genuineness her the depth of feeling her ability to communicate
20:41It's felt and it's still very powerful today
20:43and I think that the fact that she survived and she was able to live a full life and have a family that loved her and
20:51Maintain her independence and end up financially secure in a way. She triumphed over Hollywood
20:59Like it or not
21:00Clara Bo's turbulent career was the model for so many actresses who followed
21:05Jean Harlow Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield also had to bear the blessing and the curse of being a Hollywood sex symbol
21:11And it's certainly no job for the weary. I'm AJ Benza. Join me the next time
21:15We take a stroll down the flip side of the Walk of Fame
21:18You
21:27Times are changing in Tinseltown. I'm AJ Benza host of mysteries and scandals beginning Monday, August 2nd
21:34Join me at our new time 8 30 p.m. Weeknight right here on E

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