"It" (1927), Directed and Produced by Clarence G. Badger - Starring Clara Bow

[DonRocks]

I always had a crush on Clara Bow (until I saw her first "talkie"), the "It" Girl, who starred in a film pretty much named after her: "It", a silent film from 1927 (note that Bow also starred in the very 1st Academy Award Winner for Best Picture: "Wings" (also from 1927) - which I've seen twice now, and highly recommend despite its length) - the action scenes in the air are really quite something, and not just for students of film.

One funny thing I noticed this evening was in a clip from "It": and I wonder if it's possible that this is the first time anyone ever cursed on the big screen. I'm not sure, but I think maybe.

In the very good article, "Scandals of Hollywood: Clara Bow, "˜It' Girl" by Anne Helen Peterson on thehairpin.com, there's a clip about 25% of the way down the page entitled "Clara Bow Dresses For Dinner." At exactly 3:15 in the clip, she gets poked in the shoulder with a pair of scissors, and then, after bouncing up and down a couple times, turns to her right, and seems to say, "Shit!" to the girl who poked her. It's subtle, and you have to watch it a few times in slow motion, but if true (and I think it is), it makes cinematic history for the first time a curse word was captured on screen. At the very least, it makes for a good urban legend.

Not to mention that Clara could then be (amiably) called the "Shit Girl."

(Readers: I don't care if you reproduce this little mini-scandal - just please link to this post and give me credit for finding it. And if you want to know how I did ... it's probably exactly what I would have said, so that's why I noticed! Cheers, Don Rockwell).

Update: I also found the use of profanity in "Wings" (also from 1927). So, whichever one was released first takes home the prize!

[DIShGo]

I went looking for "It" tonight online, but the film was unavailable to stream. I did, however, find this interesting documentary about Clara Bow. She truly was a woman born before her time. The documentary made me think of the 2011 Academy Award winning film, "The Artist." I wouldn't be at all surprised if that film was inspired by her story.