Taylor Swift (R) has named a track on her upcoming album after the Previous Hollywood star Clara Bow (L), however who was she? (Getty)
Taylor Swift thrilled her followers throughout her acceptance speech on the 2024 Grammys by saying that she is going to quickly be releasing a brand new album, The Tortured Poets Division – and one of many tracks, “Clara Bow”, has caught individuals’s consideration.
What’s extra a shocking observe checklist inclusion has caught numerous eyes – the identify of Twenties silent movie legend Clara Bow. However what’s the connection between Swift and the convention-defying Previous Hollywood star of yesteryear, who’s believed to have been bisexual (or on the very least to have had a couple of flings with girls?)
The 2 stars definitely have rather a lot in widespread. So, why did Taylor Swift identify a track after Clara Bow? Let’s discover out extra.
Who’s Clara Bow?
Within the heyday of Hollywood’s champagne-soaked, hedonistic golden period, one identify shone brighter than most: Clara Bow. This vivacious and gifted actress captivated audiences throughout the roaring Twenties along with her infectious attraction and plain display screen presence. Dubbed the “It Lady” by Elinor Glyn, Bow grew to become an icon of the silent movie period, leaving an indelible mark on cinema historical past.
Born into poverty in Brooklyn, New York, in 1905, Clara Bow’s journey to stardom was nothing wanting outstanding. Regardless of dealing with quite a few hardships – together with having to take care of her mom who had epilepsy and may very well be violent – she discovered solace within the magic of the silver display screen. Her rise to fame was meteoric, largely due to the very fact she was blessed with pure magnificence and an innate expertise for performing.
Her breakthrough got here in 1927 with the movie It, the place she portrayed a store woman who captures the guts of a rich playboy. The film was a smash hit, catapulting Bow to worldwide fame and solidifying her standing as a Hollywood sensation. Audiences couldn’t get sufficient of her infectious power and charming smile.
Sadly, all good issues should come to an finish, and Bow’s profession was one among them. Because the silent movie period gave strategy to talkies, jobs dried up for her. Her thick Brooklyn accent proved difficult for the transition to sound movies, and he or she struggled to adapt: actually, her story is just like the plot of the fictional Nineteen Fifties musical Singin’ within the Rain, which sees the three performers caught up within the transition from silent movies to talkies.
Was Clara Bow bisexual?
Clara Bow has lengthy been rumoured to be bisexual, along with her sexual orientation the topic of hypothesis over time. Bow was additionally well-known for her relationships with males, together with a number of high-profile romances with fellow actors. She was married twice, first to actor Rex Bell and later to actor Artwork Aragon.
Clara Bow’s look in Name Her Savage, a groundbreaking 1932 drama that includes depictions of homosexuality, additionally fuelled conjecture. In it, Clara’s character interacts with flamboyant males at a homosexual bar.
She was additionally identified for her friendship with high-profile members of the LGBTQ+ group, together with overtly homosexual actor William Haines and pioneering lesbian director Dorothy Arzner. Actually, it was rumoured that Bow had a fling with Arzner, who directed Clara within the famously lesbian-themed The Wild Get together.
She additionally performed with gender conventions and sexuality in her public picture, taking over a number of ‘tomboy’ roles.
It was mentioned that earlier than she discovered fame, she was identified for dancing bare on tables, and had flings with women and men. Actually, Bow’s bohemian way of life and “unhealthy” manners made her a little bit of an outsider in Hollywood society. Adela Rogers St. Johns, a screenwriter who had executed quite a lot of footage with Clara Bow, wrote:
“There appears to be no sample, no goal to her life. She swings from one emotion to a different, however she features nothing, shops up nothing for the longer term. She lives totally within the current, not even for as we speak, however within the second. Clara is the entire nonconformist. What she desires she will get, if she will be able to. She has actual braveness, as a result of she lives boldly. Who’re we, in any case, to say she is fallacious?”
Clara Bow Hollywood Stroll of Fame
As befits such an enormous, impactful Hollywood legend, Clara Bow has her personal star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame on the nook of Sundown and Vine.
Clara Bow Taylor Swift track
So, why has Taylor Swift determined to call a track after the Twenties icon? Effectively, Swift’s adoration for Previous Hollywood isn’t any secret: it’s evident in her music movies in addition to her lyrical references.
One concept presently gaining traction amongst Swifties is the parallel between Swift’s private journey and Bow’s profession trajectory. Throughout her relationship with Joe Alwyn, Swift retreated from the limelight, presumably mirroring Bow’s time in her very personal ‘silent period’.
May this track mark Swift’s reclaiming of her voice after a interval of silence? Followers suppose so.
We’ll in all probability have to attend for The Tortured Poets Division to come back out to search out out for certain.