Ain't 'IT' a Shame

A long article about Clara Bow ran on today's PopMatters website. In her debut column, the site's classic film columnist argues for the It Girls's place in the pantheon of legendary leading ladies. Within this consideration of Clara Bow,  there is this paragraph. "You can still buy postcards of her acting contemporary, Louise Brooks, at a local 'lifestyle store', but most people, even movie buffs, wouldn't be able to recognize Bow, let alone name one of her films. (I'll help you out; she was the leading lady in Wings (1927), winner of the first Oscar for Best Picture.) Why is Brooks a still-immortalized cult figure and Bow not? Maybe there's something about Brooks' persona as cool, amoral, gender-ambiguous jazz baby with a keen intelligence shining behind her dark eyes that's got more staying power than Bow, the little Brooklyn spitfire full of terrier enthusiasm and effortless charm."