Google searches for “Clara Bow” spiked when Taylor Swift revealed the tracklist for her upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department.
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The final song on Swift’s 11th original studio album is named for America’s first-ever “It Girl,” who died in 1965 at age 60.
As with everything Swift does, fans are already eagerly dissecting the track — including Bow’s own descendants.
Clara Bow’s Family Found Out About Taylor Swift’s Song On Social Media
Bow’s great-granddaughters, Nicole Sisneros and Brittany Grace Bell, learned about the song from Swift’s Instagram post just like the rest of the world.
“We could not believe it,” Sisneros told People. “We were shocked and then the intrigue set in because no one from our family has been contacted or knew about this prior.”
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Who Was Clara Bow?
Swifties have immediately begun drawing parallels between Swift and Bow. Both have elements of the underdog in their origin story. Bow grew up poverty-stricken in Brooklyn, won a contest, and was suddenly on everyone’s screens overnight.
However, as with Swift, that narrative is a bit reductive. The magazine’s promise to make Bow a star came up empty. So the starlet made it her mission to “haunt” the publication’s office until her big break came at last with the 1922 silent film “Beyond the Rainbow.”
Like Swift, Bow’s career start was meteoric. She starred in the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. By 1930, she had made 45 movies in six years. Three years later , Bow left Hollywood for good.
How Clara Bow May Have Inspired Taylor Swift
As Bow’s film career soared, the press remained preoccupied with her personal life. Newspaper headlines wondered, “Why can’t the It Girl keep her men?”
Reporters called her “empty hearted and “an idiot.” In one article, the writer blasted Bow for “think[ing] too much” yet knowing “nothing of the art of thinking.”
Is it any wonder that the woman who wrote, “They told me all of my cages were mental/ So I got wasted like all my potential,” found herself drawn to Clara Bow’s story?
Bow’s great-granddaughters believe the actress would have wanted to help Swift navigate a world that is not particularly kind to strong women.
“I think Clara Bow would feel the same kinship and protectiveness over someone who’s of the same level of fame as her in dealing with the media and how heavy the crown is to carry,” Bell said.
Featured image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
