"film was planned as a special showcase for its popular star Clara Bow, and her spectacular performance introduced the term ""It"" to the cultural lexicon. The film plays with the notion that ""It"" is a quality which eschews definitions and categories; consequently, the girl portrayed by Bow is an amalgam of an ingenue and a femme fatale, with a touch of Madonna's latter day ""Material Girl"" incarnation. By contrast, Bow's rival in the script is equally young and comely (and rich and well-bred to boot), yet she doesn't have ""It"". Since the 1990s, ""It Girl"" or ""It-Girl"" has been used"
"Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the transition to ""talkies"" after 1927. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film ""It"" brought her global fame and the nickname ""The It Girl"". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol. Bow appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as ""Mantrap"" (1926), ""It"" (1927), and ""Wings"" (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and"
"It girl An it girl is an attractive young woman, generally a celebrity, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ""it girl"" originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. It reached global attention in 1927, with the popularity of the Paramount Studios film ""It"", starring Clara Bow. In the earlier usage, a woman was especially perceived as an ""it girl"" if she had achieved a high level of popularity without flaunting her sexuality. Today the term is used more to apply simply to fame and"
"It (1927 film) ""It"" is a 1927 silent romantic comedy film that tells the story of a shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome, wealthy boss of the department store where she works. It is based on a novella by Elinor Glyn that was originally serialized in ""Cosmopolitan"" magazine. This film turned actress Clara Bow into a major star, and led people to label her the ""It girl"". The film had its world premiere in Los Angeles on January 14, 1927, followed by a New York showing on February 5, 1927. """"It"""" was released to the general public"
"via engineering appearances on reality TV shows or series; lacking such an accelerant, their popularity will normally fade. Reflection on the celebrity-focused and celebrity-promoting nature of news media – particularly tabloid newspapers – may be helpful. It girl An it girl is an attractive young woman, generally a celebrity, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ""it girl"" originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. It reached global attention in 1927, with the popularity of the Paramount Studios film ""It"", starring Clara Bow. In the"
"Jacqueline Gadsden Jacqueline Gadsden (August 3, 1900 – August 10, 1986) was an American film actress during the silent era. A native of Southern California, she was born in Lompoc to Gerald F and Jessie H (Salter) Gadsden and is probably best known to modern audiences as the wealthy, haughty other woman in the 1927 Clara Bow vehicle ""It"". She married William Harry Dale (1900–1975) about 1924. In a number of films she was billed as Jacqueline Gadsdon and made two films under the name Jane Daly in 1929, her final year in film. She died in the San Diego"
"County city of San Marcos a week after her 86th birthday. Jacqueline Gadsden Jacqueline Gadsden (August 3, 1900 – August 10, 1986) was an American film actress during the silent era. A native of Southern California, she was born in Lompoc to Gerald F and Jessie H (Salter) Gadsden and is probably best known to modern audiences as the wealthy, haughty other woman in the 1927 Clara Bow vehicle ""It"". She married William Harry Dale (1900–1975) about 1924. In a number of films she was billed as Jacqueline Gadsdon and made two films under the name Jane Daly in 1929,"
"to ""The ""Mind-the-Paint"" Girl"", her most successful American play. The star's girlish charm rivaled her acting ability, and as she dressed to the hilt in fashionable gowns, furs and jewelry, her clothes sense also won the devotion of female audiences. Among the films in which she appeared during this period were ""Arms and the Girl"" (1917), ""The Mysterious Miss Terry"", ""Let's Get a Divorce"" (1918), ""Good Gracious, Annabelle"" (1919), ""Away Goes Prudence"" (1920) and ""The Frisky Mrs. Johnson"" (1920). The actress's beauty and taste made her a major trendsetter throughout the 1910s and 20s. During this time, much of her"
"of the 1920s. Clara Bow later said she wasn't sure what ""It"" meant, although she identified Lana Turner and later Marilyn Monroe as ""It Girls"", and Robert Mitchum as an ""It Man"". The fashion component of the ""It Girl"" originated with the celebrated couturier Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, known professionally as ""Lucile"", the name under which she managed exclusive salons in London, Paris and New York; she was Elinor Glyn's elder sister. As Lucile, Lucy Duff-Gordon was the first designer to present her collections on a stage complete with the theatrical accoutrements of lights and music, inspiring the modern runway or"
"on February 19, 1927. The picture was considered lost for many years, but a Nitrate-copy was found in Prague in the 1960s. In 2001, """"It"""" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ""culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"". Spunky shopgirl Betty Lou Spence (Clara Bow) has a crush on her handsome employer, Cyrus Waltham, Jr. (Antonio Moreno), the new manager of and heir to the ""world's largest store"". However, they belong to different social classes and he is already romantically linked to blonde socialite Adela Van Norman (Jacqueline Gadsden). But"
"in the 1920s. Starting with ""Male and Female"" (1919), he made a series of films that examined sex and were highly successful. Films featuring Hollywood's original ""It girl"" Clara Bow such as ""The Saturday Night Kid"" (released four days before the October 29, 1929, market crash) highlighted Bow's sexual attractiveness. 1920s stars such as Bow, Gloria Swanson, and Norma Talmadge freely displayed their sexuality in a straightforward fashion. The Great Depression presented a unique time for film-making in the United States. The economic disaster brought on by the stock market crash of 1929 changed American values and beliefs in various"
"$4000 a week for the last year."" Bow added that she intended to leave the motion picture business at the expiration of the contract, i.e., in 1931. In 1927, Bow appeared in six Paramount releases: ""It"", ""Children of Divorce"", ""Rough House Rosie"", ""Wings"", ""Hula"" and ""Get Your Man"". In the Cinderella story ""It"", the poor shop-girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) conquers the heart of her employer Cyrus Waltham (Antonio Moreno). The personal quality —""It""— provides the magic to make it happen. The film gave Bow her nickname, ""The 'It' Girl."" Dorothy Parker is often said to have referred to Bow"
"It Girls It Girls is a feature documentary film directed by Robin Melanie Leacock that aired on the Women's Entertainment channel on April 2 and 7 2002. It features wealthy socialites including Casey Johnson, Elisabeth Kieselstein-Cord and Nicky Hilton, as well as appearances by Diane Von Furstenberg, Marisa Berenson and other women. It was filmed in Manhattan during Fashion Week. The film's premise is that anyone can be an it girl. In the documentary, von Furstenberg says ""It's really about being a forever girl!"" Roger Friedman, writing for Fox News, said that this was a ""numbingly mesmerizing documentary"" in which"
"pair. In 1927, Glyn helped to make a star of actress Clara Bow, for whom she coined the sobriquet ""the It girl"". In 1928, Bow also starred in ""Red Hair"", which was based on Glyn's 1905 novel. Apart from being a scriptwriter for the silent movie industry, working for both MGM and Paramount Pictures in Hollywood in the mid-1920s, she had a brief career as one of the earliest female directors. Her family established a company in 1924, Elinor Glyn Ltd, to which she signed her copyrights receiving an income from the firm and an annuity in later life. The"
"Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert (pronounced ""Coal-BEAR""; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American stage and film actress and a leading lady in Hollywood for over two decades, and has been called ""The mixture of inimitable beauty, sophistication, wit, and vivacity"". Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to motion pictures with the advent of sound film. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, she gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in ""It Happened One Night"" (1934), and received two"
"Edie Sedgwick Edith Minturn Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as ""The Girl of the Year"" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s. She was dubbed an ""It Girl"", while ""Vogue"" magazine also named her a ""Youthquaker"". Edie Sedgwick was born in Santa Barbara, California, the seventh of eight children of Alice Delano de Forest (1908–1988) and Francis Minturn Sedgwick (1904–1967), a rancher and sculptor. She was named after her father's"
"Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. Garbo was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress and received an Academy Honorary Award in 1954 for her ""luminous and unforgettable screen performances."" In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film ""The Saga of Gosta"
"1923. From 1922-25 produced by B.P. Schulberg. However, she was considered only a minor talent in the film industry, although her curvaceous figure resulted in the nickname of the ""American Beauty"". Her first significant role was her lead role in ""Shark Monroe"" (1918) opposite William S. Hart. She would be featured in a number of silent films, including ""The Squaw Man"" (1918), ""Mr. Fix-It"" (1918), ""Passion's Playground"" (1920) and ""The Infidel"" (1922). Her films typically were romantic dramas. MacDonald only made two pictures after 1923, one each in 1925 and 1926. MacDonald had a public feud with her sister, fellow"
"chapter in the book, wrote to Brownlow, ""You brush off Clara Bow for some old nothing like Brooks. Clara made three pictures that will never be surpassed: ""Dancing Mothers"", ""Mantrap"", and ""It""."" Brownlow made up for this omission by including an entire segment about Bow in his television documentary ""Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film"" (1980), for which he interviewed Brooks. Fictional portrayals Informational notes Citations Bibliography Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the"
"Peggy Shannon Peggy Shannon (born Winona Sammon, January 10, 1907 Shannon began her career as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923 before moving on to Broadway productions. She was signed to Paramount Pictures and groomed to replace Clara Bow as the newest ""It girl"", whom she replaced in the 1931 film, ""The Secret Call"". Her growing dependency on alcohol eventually derailed her career. She appeared in her final film, ""Triple Justice"", in 1940. In May 1941, Shannon died at the age of 34 from a heart attack, brought on by alcoholism. Her husband, Albert G. Roberts, shot himself three weeks after"
"""Fair and Warmer"" (1915), starring Madge Kennedy (filmed in 1919); ""The Gold Diggers"" (1919), starring Ina Claire (filmed in 1923 as ""The Gold Diggers"", in 1928 as ""Gold Diggers of Broadway"" and also as ""Gold Diggers of 1933""); ""Ladies' Night"", 1920, starring Charlie Ruggles (filmed in 1928); the famous mystery play ""The Bat"" (with Mary Roberts Rinehart), 1920 (filmed in 1926 as ""The Bat"", in 1930 as ""The Bat Whispers,"" and in 1959 as ""The Bat""); ""Getting Gertie's Garter"" (with Wilson Collison), 1921, starring Hazel Dawn (filmed in 1927 and 1945); ""The Demi-Virgin"", 1921, also starring Dawn; ""The Alarm Clock"","
"""it girl"" of 1952 and Hedda Hopper described her as the ""cheesecake queen"" turned ""box office smash"". In February, she was named the ""best young box office personality"" by the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood, and began a highly publicized romance with retired New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, who was one of the most famous sports personalities of the era. In March 1952, a scandal broke when Monroe revealed during an interview that in 1949, she had posed for nude pictures, which were now featured in calendars. The studio had learned of the upcoming publication of the calendar some weeks"
"Won't Forget"" in a tight-fitting knit top is sometimes considered the first case of the ""sweater girl"", as Hollywood publicists sought for a catchy phrase to describe the impact she made on the screen. Movie magazines nicknamed her ""The Sweater Girl,"" just as Ann Sheridan was ""The Oomph Girl,"" Dorothy Lamour ""The Sarong Girl,"" and Clara Bow ""The It Girl."" ""Sweater Girl"" is the name of a 1942 film written by Robert Blees and Beulah Marie Dix, directed by William Clemens and starring Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, Phillip Terry, and Betty Jane Rhodes. From the 1944 ""Army–Navy Screen Magazine"" #20,"
"Street. Tom Tryon wrote a novella, ""Fedora"", based on Griffith's claim that she had taken the place of the real actress. Notes Bibliography Corinne Griffith Corinne Mae Griffith (November 21, 1894 – July 13, 1979) was an American film actress, producer and author. Dubbed The Orchid Lady of the Screen, she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in ""The Divine Lady"". Shortly after the advent of sound film, Griffith retired from"
"marrying Lawson, her seventh husband, Dunbar went by the name Dorothy Wells Lawson. She played bridge and golf, and won some trophies. She died at age ninety in Seattle, Washington. Her memorial service was private by family. Dorothy Dunbar Dorothy Dunbar Lawson (May 28, 1902 – October 23, 1992) was an American actress and socialite, who appeared in silent movies in the 1920s. Born in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Lawson appeared on the Broadway stage as a child in ""The School Girl"" (1904). In 1924, Dunbar went to Hollywood, where she starred in several motion pictures, including her role as the"
"The Speed Girl The Speed Girl is a lost 1921 American silent comedy film produced by Realart Pictures and released through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Maurice Campbell, a Broadway director and producer, and starred Bebe Daniels, then a popular 20-year-old veteran film actress. The film was supposedly expanded into a screenplay from Bebe Daniels's real life jail sentence of 10 days for speeding. As described in a film magazine, screen star Betty Lee (Daniels) is in love with naval officer Tom Manley (von Eltz). Tom is due back on his ship at a certain hour and Betty, not"
"The Girl (2000 film) The Girl is a 2000 American/French romantic drama film directed by Sande Zeig. It is a love story set in Paris between ""the Artist"" (Agathe De La Boulaye) and ""the Girl"" (Claire Keim), based on a story by Zeig's partner Monique Wittig. It was negatively received by critics. The film is narrated by Agathe De La Boulaye as ""The Artist"". She is obsessed with a nightclub singer (Claire Keim) whom she calls ""The Girl"". One night the girl takes the artist to the hotel where she lives and they make love. The girl, who does not"
"(1910). She also starred in major productions including ' (1919), ""Kean"" (1921) and Rudolf Meinert-directed ""Marie Antoinette, the Love of a King"" (1922). These films achieved her much acclaim as a supporting actress. She continued her acting career through the next decade and starred in talkies like ""Between Night and Dawn"" (1931), ', ""The Black Forest Girl"" (both 1933), ""The Girl Irene"" (1936) ""Madame Bovary"" (1937), ""Napoleon Is to Blame for Everything"", ""Five Million Look for an Heir"" (both 1938) and ""Hurrah! I'm a Father"" (1939) to name a few. It was during these two decades that the became one"
"A Girl Like That A Girl Like That is a 1917 American drama silent film directed by Dell Henderson and written by Paul West and Roswell Dague. The film stars Irene Fenwick, Owen Moore, Thomas O'Keefe, Eddie Sturgis, Harry Lee and John T. Dillon. The film was released on January 18, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. The film is now lost. Nell Gordon (Fenwick) is unfortunate in her ancestry; her father is a crook, but she possesses qualities of resourcefulness and loyalty. Though she love her father, she detests his associates, particularly one, Bill Whipple (O'Keefe), who is her constant suitor,"
"known in Hollywood as ""The Boy"" and ""The Girl."" In 1919, she decided to move to greater dramatic roles and accepted a contract offering from Cecil B. DeMille, who gave her secondary roles in such films as ""Male and Female"" (1919), ""Why Change Your Wife?"" (1920), and ""The Affairs of Anatol"" (1921). In the 1920s, Daniels was under contract with Paramount Pictures. She made the transition from child star to adult in Hollywood by 1922 and by 1924 was playing opposite Rudolph Valentino in ""Monsieur Beaucaire"". Following this she was cast in a number of light popular films, namely ""Miss"
"Corinne Griffith Corinne Mae Griffith (November 21, 1894 – July 13, 1979) was an American film actress, producer and author. Dubbed The Orchid Lady of the Screen, she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in ""The Divine Lady"". Shortly after the advent of sound film, Griffith retired from acting and became a successful author and businesswoman. A biographical film about her life was released in 1963 titled ""Papa's Delicate Condition"", based"
"It"" under the title ""The Greeks Had a Word for Them"" in 1932.) Upon leaving the movie world, Norma Talmadge rid herself of all the duties and responsibilities of stardom. She told eager fans who were pressing her for an autograph as she left a restaurant, ""Get away, dears. I don't need you anymore and you don't need me."" Some time before late 1932, Talmadge decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was 11 years her junior and she feared he would eventually leave her. Mother Peg fell ill in 1931, and died in September 1933. In late 1932, Talmadge"
"awaits her. Little Miss Rebellion Little Miss Rebellion is a 1920 American silent comedy drama film directed by George Fawcett and written by Harry Carr and Wells Hastings. The film stars Dorothy Gish, Ralph Graves, George Siegmann, Riley Hatch, and Marie Burke. The film was released on September 19, 1920, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives. As described in a film magazine, the young Grand Duchess Marie Louise (Gish) of Molvenia, weary of life among the aristocracy, eagerly welcomes the relief that comes with the acquaintance of American soldiers that camp near her castle."