This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

Now, for something completely different. I was watching one of my favorite silent films, and I’m sure one of yours,  “It.” It was one of the biggest films of 1927. Starring Clara Bow as Betty Lou, the “It” girl. IMDB calls it a romcom but that misses the point entirely. It’s like saying Sar Wars was jut another space movie. “It” is a cultural historic document. This film is about people in 1927 portraying people living in 1927. How they dressed and lived and about their changing moral values.

“It” is that indescribable characteristic which makes one person stand out in a crowd. Who everyone is instantly attracted to, and who always gets their way by having this mythical quality of “it.” Clara Bow has “it” and more. Smart, pretty, clever, resourceful, thrifty, brave and reverent. One hundred years later, it might appear frumpy, but this was a cultural film. Men wanted to be with Clara Bow and women wanted to be like her. Like Marylin Monroe or Farrah Faucet, Clara was a trend setter out on the far edge of the modern world.

Working in Waltham’s department store Clara spots the new owner and declares, “Santa bring me him.” She goes out of her way to get noticed and soon attracts the attention of the owner’s friend “Monty.” He invited her into his chauffeur driven car for a ride home . But Clara’s no fool. She says yes but only if they can take her car. A crowded city bus.

Monty asks her to dinner, and Clara says yes if it’s the Ritz. Having to dress for dinner Clara takes sheers and turns her ordinary work dress into an evening gown. Because that’s what “it” is all about. She can do anything! She’s a young, modern woman. Once at the Ritz, she sees Mr. Waltham the object of her affection sitting with his fiancé.  The waiter tries to put her and Monty in and out of the way table. But Clara won’t have it. She wants to sit in the middle of the room and says so. Because that’s what modern women do, they speak up. The fiancé is a well to do society woman with servants and gowns, but she doesn’t have “it.”

Mr. Waltham can’t help but notice Clara. Clara is shocked by the prices on the menu: $2.50 for a salad and $4.50 for an entrée. Clara realizes she’s made a mistake. This isn’t her kind of stuffy stiff-necked place. So, when Mr. Waltham asks Clara out and asks where she’d like to go. Clara say the Beach (Coney Island) to an amusement park for hot dogs and a fun house! Let’s go have some fun!

A generation before a young woman simply wouldn’t go out on a date with a man, she barely knows unchaperoned. And certainly not to such a rowdy place as Coney Island. But Clara is fun and vivacious, and Mr. Waltham is smitten, and Clara is very happy. Clara’s roommate was an unwed mother out of work due to sickness. The Bitty Committee shows up claiming the woman has no means of support and they want to take her baby away. Clara to the rescue! She charges in and claims it is her baby and she has a job, so GET OUT! But now, Monty and Mr. Waltham think Clara is a fallen woman.

Monty drops by with a gift basket and gifts just to let Clara know he’s forgiven her. Clara asks, “forgiven her for what?” And Monty explains, well, the ah. You know, the baby. Clara laughs, “you didn’t really think it was mine, did you?” Would our Clara ever do a bad thing?

The Bittys are very important to the story and are our clearest example of the new versus the old. The Bitty Committee wear heavy dresses and large bonnets with their hair up in buns. Clara wore loose fitting dresses, short hair and slouch hat. Women cutting their hair short was a big deal back in the day. Not until the 1960s would you see such a generation gap on the screen again. The Bittys were mean, judgmental and cruel. Clara was the opposite. She was a modern girl who knew her mind and knew her heart. She wouldn’t be bossed around not by Bittys or by men. Of course, the film has a happy ending, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

But if you ever wondered what 1927 looked like, this is the film for you. What men’s suits or women’s work dresses or fashions looked like. The cars and the minutia everywhere. Because it was 1927, there’s no CGI. No breast implants or botoxed lips. The younger women wore rouge and lipstick, but not the older ones.

“It’ is a film about modern American women (in 1927) coming out of the shadows of the 19^th Century. Smart, capable and fearless. Clara Bow came to represent the entire flapper generation. She was a role model to your grandmothers and your great grandmothers. She had “it.”

“My, she doesn’t seem to show much reserve.”

She’s got plenty in reserve!