159. Remaining Relevant: Clara Bow

[swoosh] Olivia, how many people do you think saw the title Clara Bow when The Tortured Poets Department came out and had no idea who she was?

So many, me included.

[laughs]

You included.

I'm like, "Who is this Clara Bow?" And I feel bad not knowing, but it makes sense with the way generational fame tends to work.

But Clara Bow was the first It Girl.

Wasn't her fame kind of what actually coined the term It Girl? Like, it wasn't that...

It, like, originated with her, no?

Yeah, it did.

It was a nickname that she had.

She was called the It Girl because she starred in a movie called It, and by movie I mean a silent film because that's what she was famous for.

So she was the girl in the movie It, the It Girl.

The It Girl.

And now we use it for completely different reasons, except one thing that has stayed constant is that Clara Bow was a sex symbol.

And when people talk about the It Girl today or the It Girl of the moment, we'll use Sabrina Carpenter 2024.

It was like, "Oh, yeah, she's this summer's It Girl." Well-

Yeah

...

Sabrina Carpenter undeniably a sex symbol at this point in her career, and, uh, yeah, that has stayed pretty constant for 100 years.

[laughs]

Yeah.

That's a real fucking legacy to leave.

No kidding.

But it took a toll on our sweet gal Clara Bow.

Looking into her life, it was really tragic [laughs] in a way that's hard to swallow, because her fame was just almost otherworldly.