Famous Flappers - Clara Bow, the "It Girl"
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Famous Flappers Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Famous
Flappers were Clara Bow, .
What were the names of Famous Flappers?
Famous
Flappers
included movie stars, actresses and other
celebrities. The names of Famous
Flappers
included Clara Bow, Coco Chanel, Joan
Crawford, Colleen Moore, Barbara Stanwyck,
Bebe Daniels, Norma Talmadge, Theda Bara,
Norma Shearer, Louise Brooks, Anita Loos and
Gilda Gray "the Shimmy Queen".
Who were the names of African American Flappers?
Famous African American flappers included
Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Adelaide
Hall, Ma Rainey and Lil Hardin Armstrong
Who were the names of African American Flappers?
Famous African American flappers included
Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Adelaide
Hall, Ma Rainey and Lil Hardin Armstrong
Who was the most Famous Flapper?
The most famous flapper was Clara Bow. Clara
Bow, "The It Girl", achieved world wide fame
personified the Roaring Twenties and the
Jazz Age. She is pictured with short bobbed
hair, a bright-colored sweater & scarf that
were typical clothes of the flappers.
Why did Flappers become famous?
Flappers attracted unprecedented publicity
by their fame as movies stars and celebrities together with their
exuberant, unconventional that challenged the traditional ideas by
wearing short skirts, make-up, drinking and smoking in public and
acting in an unladylike fashion.
How Famous Flappers typified the Roaring
Twenties and the Jazz Age
Flappers typified the Roaring Twenties and
the Jazz Age. Colleen Moore, a movie star, and one of the famous
flappers of the 1920's, articulated the barriers that flappers were
breaking down. She was quoted as saying "We were coming out of the
Victorian era and in my pictures I danced the Charleston, I smoked
in public and I drank cocktails. Nice girls didn't do that before."
Colleen Moore went on to describe flappers as smart and
sophisticated with an air of independence who were so casual about
their looks, clothes and manners to be almost slapdash. Flappers
represented modernism and the women of the future who were determined
to free themselves of the Victorian shackles of the pre-World War I
era.
Famous
Flappers
Facts for kids
Flappers typified the clash of values in the 1920s and
the changing status of women. World War One left many young people
disillusioned and led them to question traditional morality and
values which resulted in their outrageous behavior. The 'New Women'
of the 1920's had been given the right to vote, were able to obtain
college degrees, learned to drive and went to work. She was
independent and had money to spend on new fashions and make-up.
Flappers abandoned traditional women's clothes such as long dresses
and corsets, and wore skimpier clothes that were, by Victorian
standards, scandalously provocative. Some Flappers wore
men's clothes, favoring the
flat-chested 'garconne'
look. Refer to
1920's
Fashion for Women.
Pictures
of Famous
Flappers
The photographs and pictures of the famous flappers are
a useful addition to the facts sheet, illustrating the hairstyles,
make-up, fashion and clothes worn by the celebrities and movie stars
of the 1920's who had made their names as famous flappers.
Famous
Flappers
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on Famous Flappers
Facts about
the Famous Flappers
Famous Flappers Fact
1: Colleen Moore:
The photograph shows the famous 'Dutch-boy' bobbed
haircut, copied by many flappers, that Colleen Moore
made famous. Colleen Moore was the top box-office draw
in America, drawing a salary of $12,500 a week. Unlike
many other movie stars of the era she wisely invested
her money and retired to a life of comfort in the early
1930's. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of her: "I was the
spark that lit up FLAMING YOUTH, Colleen Moore was the
torch."
Famous Flappers Fact
2: Norma Shearer:
Norma Shearer was determined and ambitious who became a
famous movie star of the 1920's and married the powerful
film producer, Irving Thalberg.
Her picture is
interesting as it shows the casual, slapdash fashion of
the Roaring Twenties. A mixture of brightly colored
clothes, scarves and stockings with bold, striking Art
Deco designs. Her bell-shaped cloche hat was a defining
fashion statement in the 1920's.
Famous Flappers Fact
3: Marie Provost:
Marie Provost, a 1920's movie star, was one of the
famous flappers whose outrageous behavior, clothing and
fashion attracted vast amounts of publicity in the Jazz
Age 1920's. Marie Provost participated in numerous
publicity events - her photo shows a mixture of flapper
fashion: bobbed hair, feather headband, revealing
bathing suit, rolled down stockings and galoshes. Marie
Provost constantly changed her hair color from blonde to
brunette and then blond again which was perceived as a
flappers sexual self- expression.
Famous Flappers Fact
4: Joan Crawford:
Joan Crawford was one of the most famous movie stars and
flappers of the 1920's. Unlike many movie stars of the
era Joan Crawford made a successful transition to
talkies in the late 1920s and her career survived into
the 1960's. To gain publicity the highly ambitious and
flamboyant Crawford often entered and won dance
competitions with her performances of the famous dances
loved by flappers - Charleston and the Black Bottom. Her
picture illustrates the cloche hat favored by all the
famous flappers and millions of women in the 1920's.
Continued...
Facts about
the Famous Flappers
Facts
about the Famous Flappers for kids
The following fact sheet continues with facts about Famous Flappers
Facts about
the Famous Flappers
Famous Flappers Fact
5: Barbara
Stanwyck: Barbara Stanwyck
started her career working in 1920's speakeasies of the
Prohibition era. Her career took off as she became a
Ziegfeld girl singing and dancing in the world famous
the Ziegfeld Follies. She then worked in the theaters
and shows on Broadway. In 1927 made the move to
Hollywood, took a screen test and made her first movie
appearance as a fan dancer. She led a glamorous life as
a flapper in the Jazz Age, became noticed and became a
famous movie star.
Famous Flappers Fact
6: Bebe Daniels:
Bebe Daniels started her a career as a child actress in
the early silent movies. By 1924 she had made the
transition to and adult movie star playing opposite
Rudolph Valentino in 'Monsieur Beaucaire'. Bebe Daniels
was one of the earliest famous 1920's flappers and her
outrageous exploits, such as being arrested for
speeding, attracted considerable publicity. Bebe Daniels
married Ben Lyons in 1930 and they made a successful
career as a radio and movie double act.
Famous Flappers Fact
7: Norma Talmadge:
Norma Talmadge, a "brunette of glowing beauty,” was the
eldest of three daughters who all achieved fame as the
Talmadge sisters. Norma Talmadge was a confident,
independent 'New Woman' who achieved fame as both a
movie star and film producer. In 1923 she was named the
number one box office star, had a legion of fans and was
earning $10,000 a week. It was Norma Talmadge who
started a famous Hollywood tradition in 1927 when she
accidentally stepped into wet concrete in front of
Grauman's Chinese Theater.
Famous Flappers Fact
8: Clara Bow:
Clara Bow, "The It Girl", personified the famous
flappers of the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age. Clara
Bow one of the first silver screen sex sirens and was
surrounded by controversy.
Clara Bow retired
in 1931 amid a tangle of scandals surrounding affairs,
money and her addiction to alcohol. The scandals earned
her the nickname of "Crisis-a-Day-Clara", she was all of
28 years old.
Famous Flappers Fact
9: Louise Brooks:
Louise Brooks was a silent movie legend and an
independent spirit. She starred in 17 silent movies and
in eight "talkies". She starred on Broadway in George
White's Scandals and then went on to the Ziegfeld
Follies before making it as a movie star in Hollywood.
Hollywood blacklisted her for her defiance and in a
final act of independence she decided to end her own
acting career in 1938. The picture shows her trademark
bobbed hairstyle. Her hairstyle must have influenced
that chosen by Catherine Zeta-Jones who sang the song
“All That Jazz” in the 2002 movie 'Chicago'.
Famous Flappers Fact
10: Gilda Gray:
Gilda Gray, "the Shimmy Queen", was a voluptuous blonde
actress and dancer who popularized a 1920's dance called
the "shimmy". An anecdote says that When she was asked
about her shimmy dancing style, she answered "I'm
shaking my chemise". (The chemise was a loose-fitting
undergarment, that came to be known as a camisole, which
replaced the tight fitting corsets of the Victorian
era.) Gilda Gray was a famous 'Ziegfeld Girl'. Her
picture shows her wearing a scarf, favored by fashion
conscious flappers. 1920's scarves were rolled and tied
around the head just above the browline and knotted at
the back or side.
Famous Flappers Fact
11: Josephine Baker:
Josephine Baker, aka the "Black Pearl" and the "Bronze
Venus", was a dancer and singer who became immensely
popular in France during the 1920s - receiving more than
1,000 marriage proposals. She started her career in
America and worked in New York City performing in
Chocolate Dandies and in the floor show of the Plantation
Club. Josephine Baker caused a sensation when she moved
to France. She performed at the Folies Bergère music
hall in 'La Folie du Jour'in which she danced wearing
little more than a skirt made of 16 bananas..
Famous Flappers Fact
12: Bessie Smith:
Bessie Smith, the 'Empress of the Blues', made her first
record Downhearted Blues in 1923 which became an instant
success. She became the highest-paid African-American
entertainer of the era.
She was a great
friend of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (the “Mother of the
Blues") recorded “St. Louis Blues” with Louis Armstrong.
Bessie Smith died tragically in a car accident in 1937.
Famous Flappers Fact
13: Theda Bara:
Theda Bara was a popular American silent movie star who
became one of Hollywood's first and most notorious
Vamps. The name Theda Bara became synonymous with
exoticism and she was famous for playing roles such as
Salome, Cleopatra, and Madame DuBarry. Theda Bara, the
Vamp, represented the sexually free goddess who ushered
in the era of the Flapper and of new freedom for women.
Her movies led to the Egyptian style fashion.
Famous Flappers Fact
14: Zelda
Fitzgerald: Zelda Fitzgerald was the flamboyant wife
of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote the Great
Gatsby. They were the golden couple of a golden age.
Zelda Fitzgerald was the embodiment of all things
modern, unconventional and new and dubbed by her famous
husband "the first American Flapper." Zelda
Fitzgerald lived a life of wild abandon and excess in
the Roaring Twenties and was famous for riding on top of
taxi cabs and splashing about in the Plaza Hotel
fountain.
Famous Flappers Fact
15: Coco Chanel: Coco Chanel was a
French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand
and credited with liberating women from the constraints
of the "corseted silhouette" during the Roaring Twenties and
the Jazz Age.
Coco Chanel had a major impact on the
fashions worn by the famous flappers introducing sporty,
casual chic to the modern women of the era
Facts about
the Famous Flappers
1920's
Famous Flappers Facts for kids: List of
Famous Flappers
Many of the names of
1920's Famous Flappers are detailed on the following list, a
description of each of these flappers can be found in the facts
file.
List of
Famous Flappers Clara Bow
● Coco
Chanel ● Joan
Crawford ● Colleen
Moore ● Barbara
Stanwyck ● Anita
Loos ● Louise
Brooks ● Norma
Shearer ● Norma
Talmadge ● Bebe
Daniels ● Gilda
Gray ● Josephine
Baker ● Bessie
Smith ● Zelda
Fitzgerald ● Mary
Pickford
List of
Famous Flappers
Facts
about
Famous Flappers: The
Roaring Twenties
For visitors interested in the history of
the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age and Flappers refer to the following articles:
Famous Flappers
The article on the
Famous Flappers provides
detailed facts and a summary of
this era in the history of the
United States
- a crash course in
American History. The following video will
give you additional important facts, history and dates about the
personal and political lives of all the US Presidents.
Famous Flappers
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Interesting Facts about Famous Flappers for kids and schools
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Famous Flappers for kids
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The Famous Flappers, the
celebrities and movie stars of the 1920's
● Names
of the Famous Flappers in 1920's Jazz Age
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Fast, fun facts about the Famous Flappers with pictures
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Famous Flappers Pictures and fashion
● Fast, Fun Facts about the
Famous Flappers for schools,
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