While the gossip columnists may have found her affairs and comments ever-so-amusing, there was one affair that studio heads hoped would disappear without trace, as it actually had the potential to derail Clara’s career altogether. The romance in question was a 1928 affair with Dr Earl Pearson, who she met during a stay in hospital. Dr Pearson fell for the redheaded actress as most men did, and bombarded her with telegrams and notes, declaring on 27 September 1928 that he hoped his night-time loneliness would not be for long, and begging her to write to him. Then on 31 March 1929 he exclaimed, “Swiftly my love flies back to you, my own sweet darling. Earl.”
Pearson was obviously more than a little smitten and in return Clara found him intriguing, later describing him as dominating but gentle, before adding, “Sometimes I feel as if he might spank me if I seriously annoyed him.” In the 1920s, comments like these most certainly raised the eyebrows of both the newspaper readers and studio bosses, but that was nothing. Soon an even bigger scandal threatened to erupt when it was discovered that Dr Pearson was actually a married man with a wife who was not about to hand him over without a fight.
Despite Clara’s claims that Dr Pearson and his wife were actually separated, this seems to have been news to Mrs Pearson, who turned up in California and proceeded to threaten to sue Clara for $150,000. Clara later described her shock at being told of Mrs Pearson’s plans: “Blam! Like that! One hundred and fifty thousand smackers. Why, I had never seen that much money before.”
Clara was called to Paramount Studios, where she told furious bosses that she had every intention of fighting the case. However, instead of pleasing the executives with this revelation, they were absolutely mortified. If the scandal got out it could not only completely ruin the reputation of their biggest star, but also the studio itself, so there was no way they would agree to her going to court. They insisted that to keep the case away from the press, Clara should pay Mrs Pearson as much as she could in order to settle out of court. The actress was not at all pleased but felt cornered by her bosses and acceded with their wishes. Against her better judgement, she gave Mrs Pearson $30,000, which she insisted was as much as she could possibly afford.
But the covered-up scandal was not over, as the couple continued seeing each other, much to the dismay of Mrs Pearson, the studio and Dr Pearson’s family. Furious at the lack of respect from either her husband or Clara Bow, the wife hired private detectives to spy on the pair, while the studio told their star that they would be withholding $26,000 on the grounds of a “no scandal” clause in her contract, and $30,000 from several bonuses which came with the same stipulation. Clara was furious.
The concerned family of Dr Pearson decided in their wisdom to bundle him off to Europe in the hope that he would forget all about Clara. He didn’t, of course, and instead continued to write to his beloved, but after losing so much money she had no intention of ever seeing him again. Instead of responding with love letters of her own to Pearson, she instead wrote and told him that it was over, that she was not willing to see him any more and to just move on with his life. But while Clara may have lost a great deal of money over the past few months, as far as Dr Pearson was concerned, he had lost more when robbed of the love of Clara Bow. He continued to bombard her with letters, all of which she apparently ignored.
The studio executives were pleased that their star had ended the relationship, and breathed a sigh of relief when the scandal passed over the gossip columnists without even a sniff. However, it was a short-lived joy, as several years later, in June 1930, Clara Bow got wind that Mrs Pearson had never taken any of the $30,000 she had been offered as an out-of-court settlement. As far as Clara was concerned, she wanted to know exactly what had happened to her hard-earned cash and jumped on a train to Dallas to see her ex-boyfriend, Dr Pearson, and “straighten things out”. Meanwhile, the press found out that the actress was meeting someone in Texas, so happily met her at the station to see what was going on.
The thought of revealing her personal affairs to a pack of newsmen should have been enough to send Clara running back to Los Angeles but, unbelievably, she instead decided to give a full-on conference to the world’s press. There she told them everything from how she met Dr Pearson, to how she had been made to pay $30,000 to his wife (made up of $26,000 from a studio trust fund and $4,000 of her own money), to a blow-by-blow account of everything that had happened during the formerly covered-up scandal.
News quickly got back to executives at Paramount Studios that their star had entertained dozens of reporters with her revelations, and they were absolutely livid. The scandal had been successfully hidden back in 1928, and here was Clara Bow quite happily admitting everything to anyone who would listen. Still, they were determined to play down the confession, and when asked about her statement, B. P. Schulberg, the general manager of the studio, brushed the entire thing off as one of her little pranks. He refused to make an official statement but in his carefully worded reply said, “Miss Bow always has been inclined to make extravagant statements to interviewers. All newspaper men who have ever gone to see her on stories must know this.”
Not surprisingly, Clara received a good telling-off from Schulberg about her behaviour, and was ordered to return to Hollywood immediately. As she left for California via New York, the actress was forced to go back on her claims to the press that she had paid $30,000 to the wife of William Pearson, and backtracked on everything else she had said as well. “I was terribly misquoted,” she complained. “The reporter said things I didn’t say and just put two and two together. Why, I didn’t even know that the doctor was in Dallas until she told me.”
As for the pay-off itself, she was quick to offer this explanation: “I didn’t even have the money to pay such a thing,” she told reporters. “My money is tied up in a bonus trust fund which the studio established, and it can’t be touched by anybody.” This unfortunate statement was a complete contrast to what she had said previously, and sent the press scuttling to their telephones to research exactly what the trust fund was and how it worked. They established that, sure enough, an amount of approximately $25,000 was withdrawn from the California Trust Company on 17 October 1928, the very day Mrs Pearson had filed for divorce.
When asked about it, Clara replied, “Why, that’s ridiculous. I never paid off any lawsuit. As far as the doctor’s wife is concerned, I never met her or saw her . . . How was I to know Dr Pearson was married? Is it for me to inquire into their personal affairs?”
The press thought the whole thing hilarious. “She’s denying everything she claimed on her arrival!” reporters laughed in their editorials. Clara Bow was fed up by this point, especially when current boyfriends began phoning her to see why exactly she was hanging out with Dr Pearson in Dallas. The studio was still on her back and the press continued to camp on her doorstep.
“My contract is up a year from next October, and perhaps after that I can lead my own life. I am going to retire from pictures then,” moaned the tired actress.
Turning the clock back to 1929, when the scandal had not yet been leaked and was very much still brushed under the carpet, Clara Bow was at the very top of her game and enjoying thousands of fan letters every week. But with the advent of talkies, her career was being tested, as she sadly told reporters: “I hate talkies. They’re stiff and limiting.” She then declared her plans to take a long rest at the beach once her contract was over, “and just play and eat and sleep”, as well as settle down with a husband and children.
A new beau in the shape of nightclub-owner turned actor Harry Richman was a welcome distraction from her busy work schedule, though it is true to say he seemed more in love with the publicity she brought than Clara herself. Hungry for headlines, Richman paraded his new girlfriend around like a trophy, and if there was a party to be seen at, they would be there; if there was an opening to go to, he would be grabbing his coat.
The nightclub-owner was besotted with the fame and notoriety that being Clara Bow’s mate brought to his life, thou
gh in all honesty if he thought he was being discreet about his true intentions, he was sorely mistaken. Clara’s friends all became highly suspicious and worried that Richman was using the actress as a ticket to fame, rather than genuinely being in love with her.
It would seem that they were right. Richman’s hunger for fame was unfortunately demonstrated towards the end of 1929 when Clara was admitted to hospital for a gynaecological operation. The surgery was to remove an ovary – a dreadful operation for any woman to go through – but rumour-mongers started whispering that they believed the actress was secretly having an abortion. Any man worth the title of gentleman would have jumped immediately to his partner’s defence, but not Harry. Instead, he remained quiet in order to enhance his own reputation: that of a stud who was capable of getting the “It Girl” pregnant.
Why would he do such a caddish thing? It was all very simple really. Harry Richman was sterile and thoroughly enjoyed the idea of people thinking he was able to father a child. His ego was such that he would never acknowledge the fact that he could not father children, so he went along with the rumours to enhance his own libido, while allowing his girlfriend’s reputation to be thoroughly discoloured.
Several months before her surgery, however, Clara surprised friends by announcing her engagement to the unscrupulous nightclub-owner. This raised many eyebrows, primarily because Clara had a long list of failed romances, but gossip columnists were nevertheless happy to hear about her plans. “As soon as we complete our pictures, [Harry and I] are going to be married,” she told them. She refused to name a date though, which prompted several newspapers sarcastically to comment that she had been in this situation before – several times.
Richman responded to the negativity by declaring that the wedding would take place shortly before the honeymoon, which would be celebrated on a ship setting sail from New York on 12 September 1929. Wanting to attract the most attention he could, he also announced that the wedding would be a huge affair, attended by many prominent entertainers. Harry was ecstatic about this, of course, but to detract from his headline-grabbing ways, he made sure to add that he and Clara had wanted a small wedding, but friends would hear of no such thing. Then, just for good measure, he also added that he had won his fiancée’s heart with his “caveman tactics”.
Clara was absolutely furious. Not only did she object to Richman talking about their relationship to the media, but she had also never agreed to an actual date for their wedding. Yes, she admitted to reporters, they were engaged, but most certainly they had never discussed a ceremony or a honeymoon location. She then added, “If there is such a thing as love then I am in love with Harry Richman. But I am not going to rush into marriage because I do not want to do anything hasty.”
Quite oddly for someone supposed to be on the brink of marriage, Clara then said, “Our marriage depends on whether we really find we love each other”, before adding her feelings on the “caveman” comment by stating that she could not understand why Richman would make such “ridiculous statements”.
Fearing he was about to lose his fiancée (and the constant source of his new-found fame), Richman in turn released his own statement: “I was thoroughly misquoted,” he claimed, before going on to explain that he was madly in love with Clara and “I think she loves me too.” It wasn’t exactly the most committed of quotes, and newspapers were quick to challenge just how much the couple did actually love each other, and whether or not a marriage would take place at all.
Indeed, it did seem as though the couple were constantly bickering both in the press and at home; and things were made no better when Richman was accused of assault and battery by a dancer called Ellen Franks. According to the woman, the nightclub-owner had drugged and held her prisoner for four hours in his car in March 1929, beating her so much that she was now an invalid. Richman retorted that he did not know the woman in question, but by this time a weary Clara was getting rather tired of her beau’s behaviour and temporarily began a secret affair with her old flame, Gary Cooper.
In October 1929, Clara was in Lake Arrowhead, while Richman was in Hollywood. Lonesome, he decided to send her a telegram which told the actress just how much he missed her and that his greatest wish was to be with her at that moment. “I hope the place is terrible so you will come home to one who loves you more than anything,” he declared, and while her response remains unrecorded, he wrote again shortly afterwards to tell her, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
But while Harry Richman was declaring his undying love for Clara in telegrams, she was readying herself for the operation to remove her ovary, something which worried her no end. To dispel the gossip about an abortion, and to keep their star’s privacy intact, the studio released a statement saying that she had been operated on due to complications from an appendicitis surgery. Richman as we know, decided to stay very quiet about what the operation was for, but he bizarrely released a statement anyway, not about his fiancée’s health, but about the state of their relationship.
“We will get married,” he happily declared once again, before this time announcing that it would take place in New York in April 1930. Clara was not happy with his latest revelations, but she had so far weathered the storm. However, her patience was very much tested when it was announced in the newspapers that several years before his engagement to Bow, Richman had been involved with a married woman in New York. Now, seeing the nightclub owner with his photograph in every newspaper, the woman’s estranged husband had been spurred on to take his revenge. He may have lost his wife, but he could regain his dignity by hitting Richman where it hurt – in his wallet. With that in mind, the man contacted the press to announce what the cad had done to his marriage, and to threaten a lawsuit.
This episode certainly did nothing to persuade Clara to marry Richman, and by January 1930 he was back in New York, much to the relief of Bow. But while they may have been on different sides of the country, it still did not stop Richman from continuing to make a fool of himself, this time by boasting that he had recently bought his fiancée a limousine and a diamond bracelet. However, by now even he was suspecting that Clara was having second thoughts about the engagement, though when she finally agreed to come east for a visit, he was still so excited that he hinted to the press that they might just go through with a wedding this time.
“If we do marry it will be in secret,” he told reporters, and anxiously awaited the arrival of his love. Unfortunately for Richman, however, he was in for a shock: Clara had only agreed to come to New York because she had decided to break the engagement, once and for all.
Richman had been so engrossed in the publicity brought on by his relationship with Bow that he had failed to see that there was never any chance of her marrying him. She had refused to name a date, publicly told him off for declaring his love in the newspapers, and even had an affair with Gary Cooper, but still Richman refused to leave her. Clara was struggling to see how she would ever rid herself of her unwanted beau, but in the end she decided to use her fertile imagination. Gathering together reporters in her suite at the Park Central Hotel, she let out a long sigh. “I cannot marry Harry Richman,” she sadly announced, “as I am expecting a nervous breakdown.”
Reporters were bemused that the actress could possibly predict her nervous breakdowns in advance, but Richman at last seemed to take the hint. On 17 February he accompanied his former fiancée to the station to see her off, kissed her on the cheek and left quickly before the train had rolled out of the station. Clara told reporters that publicity had stopped their wedding. “We couldn’t be alone long enough to be married,” she told them, while Harry Richman pretended to be upset about the press situation by declaring, “We were on the front pages all the time – and the things they said about us!” He forgot to mention, of course, that he had revelled in the publicity and had taken every opportunity to propel both himself and his relationship into the headlines.
Despite several meetings and attempts at reconciliation, by June 1930 the “
engagement” was well and truly on its last legs. The last nail in the coffin came when Clara was spotted with her former flame, none other than Dr Pearson, which infuriated Richman to such a degree that he immediately requested the return of his engagement ring. Clara travelled to New York to negotiate with him, and in an attempt to sweeten the deal, described him as “a darling” to the waiting press. “We can never be married as long as I must remain in Hollywood and he in New York . . . But we are still engaged,” she quickly added, though the cynical could be forgiven for thinking this was just her attempt to keep the ring.
But while Richman was quite happy to think he might still be engaged to Clara Bow, another threatened lawsuit was bubbling; this time from his former sweetheart, actress Flo Stanley. She had dated the nightclub-owner some eight years before, but in spite of the fact that the romance had been over for a long time, she still had feelings for her lost love and hoped one day to reconcile. Like a scene from a bad romance movie, the spurned woman took the decision to contact Clara Bow and demand she “keep away from my man”. The actress paid no heed to the request, of course, so Stanley then contacted the newspapers with an outrageous story about planning to sue Clara for $100,000 and Richman for $250,000.
The numerous threatened lawsuits, the rumours of a renewed romance with Dr Pearson and the demands of the studio finally took their toll, and Clara eventually called time on the romance, giving a statement to columnist Alma Whitaker, which said, “No, I’m not going to marry Harry Richman. He’s a nice fellow and was very kind to me, but he is older and so critical.” She then went on to complain that he had been too stubborn, wanted to dominate her all the time and chastised her when he felt she had too much make-up on, or was wearing clothes that were “too loud”.
She added, “I don’t mind a little domination, but I object to being made over after it’s me they fell for. Any girl would . . .” And then as a nod to the rumoured affairs with Gary Cooper and Dr Pearson, she added, “Gee, he couldn’t stand me making goo-goo eyes even in fun with anybody else. So I think that’s all off.”
The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals Page 8
