Every single upload from you is a life pausing moment

It's stunning how Clara Bow just shines through in movies that are nearly 100 years old - they don't have to define "It" in words, they can just use a picture of her. Or better, a gif.

I get why she stood out. She was unnaturally natural for silent films. She never overplayed like many contemporaries.

You know, there's a lot in Clara Bow's expression and movement that reminds me of Natasha Lyonne.

Wow she seems like a pretty dynamic screen presence for someone who was so young

32:48 Clara Bow felt what some of us feel before sending voice notes.

Opening KZfaq to see we’ve been blessed with a new BKR is always a treat

One of the few KZfaqrs I will stop what I’m doing to watch any new release! 😂

Her gestures and expressions still feel modern and natural, especially in comparison to her contemporaries. Clara truly had 'It"

Be Kind Rewind referencing both Taylor Swift and Karolina Zebrowska in one video is such a treat. ❤❤❤

I knew that "It Girl" came from a Clara Bow film, but I never knew anyone actually tried to define what "it" was.

Wow, I've seen pictures of Clara Bow and thought she was beautiful, sure, but watching her act is something else. She was sensational! Seriously, what an amazing actress. I wish we could bring her back to resume her career in today's world. I think she'd kill it!

Clara Bow sizzles so authentically on screen. What a lost treasure.

Thank you so much for this fine, insightful tribute to the great Clara Bow. I remember vividly reading about her untimely passing almost 60 years ago (when she was only 60 years of age) and I was sad that I never got to meet her or hear her story from Clara herself. It was very difficult way back then to see her movies and learn much about her that was factual. As a young cinephile, I was captivated by the female stars of the 1920s and 1930s, and I am so grateful that you are illuminating the towering talent of one of the great stars of the screen and the tragic nature of her life.

I watched her talkie, Call her Savage a few times. She was mesmerizing and no trace of a Brooklyn accent. She was refreshingly natural and vicious in the fight scene.

I wish they had treated her more kindly. It’s one of those things, and it has me thinking about people in my own life. Who are not famous (obviously) but who deserve kindness after the ordeal of just living their lives. If I could travel through time and pluck her out to hug her and support her DANG I WOULD!

One of the things I am fascinated by is "How did we get here?" socially. So the books you mentioned I now have in my thriftbook wishlist for when I get a chance to buy more! Thanks for such a thorough deep dive. I knew of her, but I truly feel for Clara personally now.

having just finished this video, it makes a lot of sense why taylor swift referenced her. if anyone is experiencing a modern version of what clara bow went through in the public eye, it's taylor swift. excellent video, as always. I'm probably going to give It a try. i was genuinely captivated by the clips you showed of clara so i really do want to see her work for myself

Be Kind Rewind is better than film courses I have taken. In depth, well-researched, and well produced. As a classic film buff, I am learning a lot from each video. And this history lesson about Clara Bow is an outstanding addition. Not only tracing Bow's biography, but also her impact on life at the time - and continuing to this day, with a look at today's "It girl" appellation. Really fascinating. Odd omission: In discussing the film flapper, it's surprising to have no mention of Joan Crawford. In 1928, "Our Dancing Daughters" made Joan Crawford a star and another famous flapper. It's an interesting contrast to see how Crawford transformed from the frivolous flapper to the hard-working professional girl in "Grand Hotel" in 1932 and the strong, independent woman of "Mildred Pierce" in 1941. Theoretically, Bow could have followed the same path. Or she could have continued in comedy roles, evolving into a Jean Harlow or Carole Lombard. (Imagine Bow instead of Harlow in "Dinner at Eight.") Bow truly has a unique screen presence and I hadn't noticed her physical spontaneity before. A few notes: At 4:05, note Mary Astor as one of the past winners of the talent competition. As mentioned, it's interesting to spot Gary Cooper at 20:52. I understand using contemporary images as chapter headings, but still a bit jarring to see Lisa Kudrow at 7:44.

Literally every time you post I want to burst into tears because, not only is the topic exactly the thing I didn’t know I wanted to know about, but I know the quality of research and information will be top notch. Dude, I’ve been here since the beginning with Bette and her doppelgänger, and at this point I think I’m actually in love with you. THANK you!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

8:52 MEME MOTHER HAS ENTERED THE CHAT

The beginning of celebrity culture. 100 years later and now its falling

First, I can't believe that newspaper article published her address (guess stalking wasn't a thing back then?) and second I can't believe I've walked past that address numerous times! I knew she was from Brooklyn but didn't think she was so close to the Bay Ridge neighborhood. Great video about her.

I've seen her films, but not her talkies. She has such a great voice on top of her expressiveness in her silent features. What a talented lady

Not sure if you’ve ever done a video on Shirley Temple but I’m reading her autobiography rn and I’m OBSESSED

You have very little serious competition as a story teller. And you have made subjects that I had no interest in become something worth watching. Please keep up the good work.

Omg this is amazing because Clara Bow is truly one of the OG-est OG icons of cinema. Also, welcome back! P.S. Essie Davis in ‘Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’ had the Classic ‘20s Bob.

Clara Bow's life and successes are the embodiment of "Of you've got nothing, you got nothing to lose." Her childhood and family life had been so bad, she had no where to go but "up." It was a good break for her, until life again took up cudgels against her.

I think Clara Bow would fit in perfect with the social media landscape of today. Even if she was teleported from 1930 she would still be able to adjust to the present without difficulty.

So happy you made this. Ever since I read "Runnin' Wild" I've been expecting a great biopic of her life. I'm astonished it hasn't happened. ("Babylon" doesn't count.)

Thank you so happy you are talking about Clara Bow she needs to be talked about so much more than she is so glad you are have never been so excited to watch a KZfaq video before

This is a treasure! Love her so much! She really got "IT"! ❤❤❤

Given her recent resurgence, a biopic of her life would not surprise me. She certainly deserves one

Love the Karolina shoutout. You're both two of my favorite creators. 😀

🎵 You look like Clara Bow, in this light, remarkable. All your life, did you know, you’d be picked like a rose? 🎵

this is the best film channel on youtube

You get a true sense of her personality in that short clip at the dinner party. Utterly enchanting 😊❤

Thank you for this insightful video! I’m a Taylor swift fan and this definitely made me understand lyrics like “did you know you’d be picked like a rose.”

Getting ready for an event i don’t want to go to tonight and needed something good to watch 😭😭😭 perfect timing

48:20-49:02 She is so mesmerizing that I had to rewind multiple times to be able to listen to the words Izzy was saying lol

That criticism of her not learning to grow up at 25, and retiring from movies at 28 really tells you how overworked and commified she was as a person. She was, after all, in the same age group (possibly) as Joan Crawford. Theda Bara had a similiar decline in movies, though not having the mental health issues, her retirement from movies was at least to be the rich housewife/socialite that neither could have been without early beauty and talent.

Nice to see a shout out to Karolina Zebrowska - her videos are fantastic. Fun and informative.

Bow's hairstyle is still Iconic, she was ahead of her Time.

Haha I’m loving the slides in between. Great job! Your editing game is formidable.

Glad TTPD made Clara Bow famous again in the limelight. She was the first It girl. Thanks for the video. Her childhood was so sad tho.

When you were talking about her difficult childhood, I was thinking about how Mary Astor described her difficult childhood in her autobiography, then I noticed her name on the page with the advertisement Clara Bow answered. Got me wondering what angle a Mary Astor BKR video would take.

I first began to learn about Clara Bow when I read David Stenn's wonderful biography about her life. My fantasy is she could time travel to the future and play Velma Kelly. I would love to hear and see Clara perform "All That Jazz" and "The Cell Block Tango." I would also wish a better childhood for her. Be Kind Rewind is the very best show about Hollywood history on the internet. None of the others come close. Thank you for being on KZfaq!

33:42 your laugh is great hahaha

This is so perfectly timed, Im doing a project on 1920s cinema for an English project for the Great Gatsby

At 4:06 one of the 1920 Fame And Fortune contest winners was Mary Astor! She had a very good career.

Clara Bow is reminding me of Natasha Lyonne. Did not expect that

Another great video! One note on "flapper" actresses: yes, Colleen Moore was the comic flapper, but Louise Brooks wasn't her contrast. Louise Brooks became the "tragic" flapper when she went to Europe to star in two films directed by G. W. Pabst, PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (and neither film made much of an impact in the US because they got lost in the changeover to sound). In most of her American films, she played comedy roles, in movies like LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM, IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME, A GIRL IN EVERY PORT. (One of her few dramatic roles was in William Wellman's BEGGARS OF LIFE, Wellman's precursor to his Depression work WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD, and in BEGGARS OF LIFE, Brooks spends most of the film in disguise.)

This is why I stay subscribed, I love these stars

She was so charismatic here! 48:46

First learned about Clara Bow via a song, but not Taylor Swift. It was also a song called Clara Bow, by Kristin Hersh's 50 Foot Wave project in 2004. Kristin was friends with actress Betty Hutton, and I think I read somewhere that she learned of Clara Bow through Betty Hutton. At any rate, Clara Bow has been of interest to me ever since. Until this video though, I'd never seen so much of Clara in action on screen, and her "it"-ness, I realize now, cannot be truly understood without it. She is, as you said, mesmerizing, and it truly is as if there's nothing worth watching but her!

Just a shout out to Louise brookes. What an icon and girls girl

So good I adore Clara Bow! I don’t know if u consider requests, but there’s an important actress who really started portraying the flapper image my other fav “Olive Thomas” u played parts of her movie “The flapper” in the video 🥰 a lot of people don’t know of Olive Thomas who was before Clara bow and after Mary Pickford she’s right in between

I was desperately waiting for you to make a video on Clara Bow & you lived up to my expectations! Loved it! ❤️ Please make more & more videos on classic Hollywood actresses of the 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s! 🙏☺️

NOT YOU MENTIONING CAROLINA'S WORK THAT JUST MAKES SENSE I LOVE YOU BOTH

Such a nice topic! I love Taylor's new song and it's nice to learn about Clara's career.

Your content is a safe place. Thank you.

This is the one you send to Sundance. So good.

Even though I know about Clara, there was a great documentary on the BBC here in the UK, I could never not watch your videos and your own analyses and as always excellent. I would love a video on Louise Brooks.

I was wondering if you’d cover this topic!!! So excited.

I’m loving the variety of topics that you are doing as of late. Keep up the good work!!

Always so excited to see a new video from you, BKR! thank you!!!!

I think this is your best yet! Thank you for the time and research you put into these. I can just feel your love for classic movies with every video.

I am delighted every time you post a video! They are always so interesting! :)

Ah always a blast seeing a long video!

I cannot tell you how beyond excited I was to see this upload. What a great way to spend a Saturday night!

I'm always so excited when you post a new video.

This was absolutely fascinating. These deep-dives you’ve been doing are FIRE! 💕

Saw the Waters exhibit and it was worth it. Thank you for mentioning it and Nebula

Remarkable video. As always ❤

Wow this is so exciting ive been waiting for more videos about the silent age of films

Hooray! A video about Clara Bow!

The Queen has uploaded! Need to put everything else aside.

What a yummy topic! Thank you for bringing her back into the contemporary conversation... it's well-deserved.

The parallels of Clara Bow's life and Swift's... I'm actually crying. Sht's so scary for famous women. Fame itself is the ultimate commodification of humanity and to be consumed like that... I can't even begin to fathom it.

Really great episode; thank you for your effort and insight.

You express these ideas so exquisitely precisely.

There are few joys more amazing than seeing a Be Kind Rewind video new at top of one’s KZfaq homepage. Thanks boo! You’re the best. ❤️

I SCREAMEDDDD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS

I had no idea Taylor Swift sung about Clara. I was mildly obsessed with her a couple of years ago, especially about her refusal to practice before shoots and how strongly she believed adding audio to cinema was a mistake. Not to mention the kinds of roles she played, since it was (almost?) all pre-Code. I also related to a few aspects of her history, namely familial relationships. I always side-eye "but she's got a wisdom beyond her years!" type rhetoric, so the fact that the talent-contest entry announcement brought that up made me immediately suspect she'd had something bad happen to her (long before I actually read about a fraction of what she'd gone through). Also I suppose the fact that we have somewhat similar cheekbones and lips, so her visual pulled me to relate to her as well as her history and personality. Definitely a perfect storm of reasons for me to binge her surviving pictures a couple years ago! I always focused on the slightly-more sapphic aspects of the films, no matter how tenuous or presented as Just Very Good Friends. Oh gosh, I'd forgotten it was largely the magazine gossip that drove her away from acting. If only she'd been given that break she asked for, she might've acted for the rest of her life. (Great economics from Paramount's "but we've got a contract!" guys.) I also totally understand her decision there. About a decade ago I'd stumbled into having a few thousand people paying attention to me instead of just a few hundred, and that led to a couple-dozen people coming-up with all sorts of stories about me. Completely amongst themselves, and on their own time. It was really weird, but I put up with it as a curiosity until it did lead to some directly invasive/harassing behaviour. That alone was enough to get me to retreat and scale-back, I can't imagine what effect having millions of people doing that would have on me.

So excited to watch

I read Margot Robbie's character in Babylon was based off Clara Bow.

Here I am bored at work and then boom, this pops up 🎉🎉🎉🎉

So cool! I love Clara and her iconic style! Your narration is one of the best of any Documentaries. Your voice is so cool, clear and never loses your interest.

Thank you for uploading this. It's sad that even though she laid such important groundwork as an actress a lot of her work has been lost. I've read about her before and it's heartbreaking just how badly she was screwed over by the industry, by her family and friends, and didn't get the kind of work and respect she deserved. However, she was and remains an icon and an utter joy to watch in her works that remain.

I've watched this three times! Excellent.

Karolina is everything! Her videos are incredible! Thank you for including her.

Fantastic video!

YYYAAASSS thank you so much! You’re revolutionizing an appreciation for cinema unlike any other! Also, Clara Bow has been my favorite for YEARS! 🩵💃🏼

I love this essay giving such a wonderful overview of Clara Bow, even though I do know some film history i didnt know about her until the taylor swift song, and im glad i've learned so much and am eager to learn more.its really good to have this essay on hand and to give context to ppl like myself that are just learning about clara It makes me want to re-listen to the album and think about it in clara bow's perspective too bc there are clear parallels between taylor (and other famous women) and clara and its interesting to see how applicable her life and experiences are to taylors art/perspective as well.

this BE KIND REWIND episode is a keeper!

Facinating and Well Produced! 😃

Thanks for the vid

She really reminds me of Natasha Leon. She doesn't only look like her, but they have a similar energy and mannerisms. Does anyone else see it?

Thank you so much for this. Clara Bow is one of my absolute favorites.

I cheered so hard at this notification ha. Can't wait to watch