Long Lost Clara Bow Silent Film Found Accidently in Omaha Auction

Have you ever been tempted to buy an inexpensive group of miscellaneous items at an auction, just in case there’s an overlooked treasure in there? Filmmaker and film collector Gary Huggins traveled to Omaha, Neb., last year for an auction that included films from a local distributor that had gone out of business. Huggins was drawn to an old cartoon that was part of one stack of film reels, but to buy it, he had to buy the entire stack, which cost $20. When he returned to his home in Kansas City, he discovered that one of the films was a little-known silent comedy short from 1923. Called “The Pill Pounder,” it starred Charles Murray (then billed as Charlie) as a poker-playing druggist. But the star who caught Huggins’ eye was a young, up-and-coming actress named Clara Bow.

Circa 1928: Hollywood film actress Clara Bow (1905 – 1965) rests her chin on her hands.
Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images

Bow would go on to become one of the silent era’s greatest stars—in fact, one of the film industry’s all-time greatest stars. She was the original “It Girl,” thanks to her 1927 movie “It,” a romantic comedy about a department store sales clerk, played by Bow, who falls in love with the store owner’s handsome son (“Sweet Santa Claus, give me him!”). Her stylish, spirited, uninhibited characters set the tone for the flappers of the 1920s.

Antonio Moreno and Clara Bow in movie art for the film ‘It,’ 1927.
Photo by Paramount/Getty Images

David Stenn, film historian, restorer, and Clara Bow biographer and author of the book “Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild,“ says, “Men wanted to have her, and women wanted to be her,” calling Bow “the first truly liberated woman on screen.” Huggins sold his copy of “The Pill Pounder” to Stenn, who had never expected to find the film since Bow herself had never mentioned it in her papers. Stenn has had the film restored, and it will be shown before another Bow film, “Dancing Mothers,” at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival this April.

Stenn estimates that 80 percent of all silent films have been lost. According to the National Film Preservation Foundation, about half of all American films produced before 1950 no longer exist. This is because film used to be made with nitrate, which disintegrates over time. Moreover, if nitrate film is stored in an airtight container, the gases released as it deteriorates can build up, generate heat, and cause fires. That makes Huggins’ purchase, probably the only existing copy of “The Pill Pounder,” an especially rare and lucky find.