The "It" Girl
We talk about "It" girls in this town. There's a new flavor every week. It could be Mischa Barton, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba or (famous It girl who went nowhere), Gretchen Mol. We all kind of know what that means. A young starlet, largely untried but definitely gorgeous and sexy. But did you know that the phrase comes from one "It" girl? The original was the one and only Clara Bow. Clara Bow was an original Hollywood legend; born into the tenements of Brooklyn, she broke through the class barriers to become a star. Though she began making movies in 1922, her breakthrough role was in It, based on the book of the same name by Elinor Glyn, who personally chose Bow for the part.
At that time, "It" meant a woman of the times, newly liberated, it was intimated that the main character enjoyed sex, though she slaps her date after a kiss. Clara herself was as freewheeling as her counterpart, but without Victorian hang-ups. She was romantically linked with Bela Lugosi, Gary Cooper, Gilbert Roland, director Victor Fleming and John Gilbert. Word spread and soon midwest moralists were calling Bow "a lowlife and a disgrace to the community." There was even a widespread rumor that she had slept with the entire USC football team (there was no truth to it.)
Being the "It" girl was both a windfall and a curse for Clara Bow, in a time when the phrase was controversial as well as complimentary.
posted by kuaptic. @ 12:20 PM
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