Who Is Clara Bow? Taylor Swift Song Not the First to Reference It Girl

Taylor Swift may or may not be aligned with the interests of the U.S. government (she’s definitely not), but she does wield immense cultural power. Every time the 14-time Grammy winner includes an obscure lyrical reference in her songs, it creates an opportunity for the nerds who recognize it to say something like, oh, “But do you know what’s really cool about Clara Bow?” 

So … do you know what’s really cool about Clara Bow? 

Until this week, Clara Bow was just another silent movie star whose career got reduced to a persona in popular culture (the hedonistic “It Girl” both in the movie “It” and in her real life). But now that her name is revealed as inspiring a track on Swfit’s upcoming album “The Tortured Poets Department,” expect Bow to become a sensation all over again, 100 years after her heyday.

New Yorkers have the chance to get ahead of the curve with Film Forum’s SAPPH-O-RAMA series, which includes screenings of Bow’s first talkie, 1929’s “The Wild Party,” on Friday, February 9 and Tuesday, February 13. (Those unable to attend either screening can find Bow’s classics “It” and the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Wings” streaming on Tubi and a few more films on YouTube.)

There’s a fair bit of mythology around “The Wild Party” — legend has it Bow blew out the microphones with her untrained voice when it came time to film — including writer/director Damien Chazelle using the fraught production…