Whitley Heights 101

Clara Bow

Clara Bow (1905-1965) and her “not so direct” connection to Whitley Heights. The once most scandalous star of the 1920s and early 1930s once said:

“All the time the flapper is laughing and dancing, there’s a feeling of tragedy underneath, she’s unhappy and disillusioned, and that’s what people sense.” -Clara Bow

Hollywood’s “It Girl” Clara Bow was born in Brooklyn in 1905; her mother, who had severe mental issues, died when Clara turned 18 years old. Bow had just one an acting contest and received a role in a film against her mother’s wishes. She was now free to move to Hollywood to pursue her acting dream. When she first arrived in 1923, she was hired by BP Schulburg Productions who assigned Maxine Alton to watch over the young girl. Bow first lived an apartment that Alton rented at the Hillview Apartments located at 6533 Hollywood Boulevard, just several blocks south of Whitley Heights. Alton was responsible for bringing Bow to and from the studio each morning.

They only stayed in the tiny apartment a few months before moving out to another place on Sunset Boulevard as Bow’s boyfriend, Arthur ‘Artie’ Jacobson followed her out to Hollywood and they needed a bigger place to live in. Jacobson would later work behind the scenes as a cameraman and then an assistant producer for many years. Alton and Bow parted ways after Bow witnessed her boss, BP Schulburg and Alton having sex and demanded he fire Alton.

The following year, Bow finally earned a starting role in “Wine” for Universal Pictures and was able to pay for her father, Robert, to move to Hollywood with her. The trio moved into a 4 room house located at 1714 N. Kingsley Drive (built in 1920; demolished in 1967). Robert Bow was an unemployed drunk that would spend the rest of his life living off of his daughter. Below, Bow and Artie Jacobson in Brighton Beach in 1923 before Bow moved to Hollywood.

On July 9, 1924, Robert Bow picked up a young dancer named Ella Mowery and decided to get married at Saint Mary of the Church in Hollywood. Clara was not happy and kicked her father out of the house so he checked into Christie’s Hotel with his young bride. The marriage lasted only a month as 48 year old Robert lied on the wedding application about his age claiming to be 37 and Ella also lied about her age and was only 18. Below, Clara and her father in 1931.

Clara then rented a three bedroom house located at 7576 Hollywood Boulevard and her father and boyfriend followed. *This residence still exists and was in danger of being sold to a development company a year ago, but instead was sold to a buyer who wished to retain the home. Bow broke up with Jacobson and started dating actor Gilbert Roland who is very in awe with the young starlet.

In January of 1926, Bow rented 261 Canyon Drive (now 8837 Lookout Mountain Avenue) in Laurel Canyon from actress Bessie Love. Bow also started a love affair with 43 year old director Victor Fleming while she was still seeing Roland.

By the end of 1926, Bow was finally able to buy her own home. She purchased 512 N. Bedford Drive in the flats of Beverly Hills for $15,000. This house had just been built the year before and was 2,852 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Bow lived here with her father while having simultaneous affairs with Roland, Fleming and actor Gary Cooper.

Then there was the college scandal that she was sleeping with the USC football team. Nearby neighbors on Bedford Drive often complained of noise to the police of the rowdy parties she held after the home football games. Eventually, the parties moved to the Garden of Allah, 8150 Sunset Boulevard.

Then Bow found her true love and stopped all of her affairs and college partying. She married western actor Rex Bell on December 3, 1931 and sold her Beverly Hills home.

Bell, who was very money conscious, wanted to buy a ranch in Nevada, in part because there was no state taxes. Bow needed to make more money to pay off some debts so they stayed with her good friend, actress Marion Mack. Mack and her husband, producer Louis Lewyn, were Whitley Heights alums, building a grand estate on Lloyd Lane in the 1920s. Now they were living 110 Stone Canyon Road in Bel-Air. The 10,000 square foot home is still there.

It is unknown when Clara Bow and Marilyn Mack became friends, but Mack visited Bow when she moved to her ranch in Nevada.

Bow retired from acting after she had a baby; in 1937 the Bell’s opened a cafe called Clara Bow’s “It” Cafe in the Plaza Hotel but closed it in 1939 after Bow had her second child.

Bell separated from her husband during the 1950s and returned to Los Angeles living the Los Altos Apartments and the Gramercy Apartments before her stint in a sanitarium. When she got out of the sanitarium, Bow resided in a modest 2-bedroom house located at 12214 Aneta Street in Culver City where she died in her sleep at the age of 60 on September 26, 1965. Bell died in 1962 and they were never officially divorced.

Although Clara Bow never lived in Whitley Heights, she was an interesting movie star to research. One last Clara Bow-Whitley Heights connection can be made through six degrees of separation. Clara Bow was dating Gary Cooper, who dated actress Lupe Velez, whose sister, Josephina Anderson, lived at 6821 Iris Circle in 1945.

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