"Clara Bow: Runnin Wild" by David Stenn



"Clara Bow: Runnin Wild" by David Stenn.

David Stenn provides the best biography to date on a very misunderstood actress. Clara best parallels Marilyn Monroe in her wish to be loved and her inability to find people she could trust. Hers is a heartbreaking and infuriating story, but Stenn makes it impossible to put down. Clara Bow is such an iconic figure - she deserved a truly wonderful biography and she received it here. A great many myths about this beautiful womans life are dispelled and the sad truth beyond that wonderful expressive face is exposed without resorting to dirt or ugliness. This is a beautiful book, beautifully written about a lady whose story should be told truthfully. This is an honest, heart-breaking portrayal of 1920s film star Clara Bow (and yes, that is her real name). Not only does the author do a fabulous job of writing about her filmography, other Hollywood types, and general motion picture history, but he also clears up many a rumor that have been floating around about Clara's life for the past 80 years. The author's style is easy to grasp, not because it is written in a dumbed down way, but because it makes you feel as if you are talking to an old friend, who just happens to be an expert on old Hollywood.

Run-of-the-mill depressing-as-hell entertainment biography that loses a couple of stars for printing all of Bow's quotes and inner thoughts in Noo Yawk dialect. I've been reading a lot of early 20th century celebrity bios, and with the exception of Harpo Marx it seems that almost all the early movie stars were shaped by constant run-ins and relationships with absolute sociopaths in their early years.

Clara Bow could only ever have been a silent film star - so she was born into the right place and time. This book is a seemingly definitive and honest account of her life. I really enjoyed reading about Miss Bow. Not exactly an "easy read" which is why it took me almost a year to finish. I've been obsessed with Clara Bow since I was a kiddo, so I enjoyed it. Overall very good, especially toward the end when things picked up.

This is an engaging documentary of one of the most celebrated actresses on the history of the screen, Clara Bow. The snippets of movies not available to the viewing public is at once wonderful and sad, because unless we make a trip to MoMA, we won't be able to view most of these films. The only thing that makes this less than perfect is that Courtney Love is the narrator. She has an irritating voice, and sounds as if she's falling asleep during parts of the film.

Bow's career continued into the early sound film era. Legend contends that her first talkie, The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner, was a disaster, but audiences crammed into theatres to see it, and the reviews, though they gave the film ...