CLARA BOW: From Hollywood to Searchlight Desert Serenity
by N. RON SAFRAN
Left: Clara Bow and Rex Bell, with her own award sitting behind them. Top right: Clara Bow, with her donkey, Beautiful, in Searchlight, Nevada. [Walking Box Photograph Collection, 1930-1970]. Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Between Nipton, California, and Searchlight, Nevada, the enigmatic aura of Walking Box Ranch weaves a captivating narrative. This remote desert retreat, a place of beauty and solace, once offered refuge to one of Hollywood's most iconic stars, Clara Bow. It was at Walking Box Ranch where the celestial beauty above and the tranquility of the landscape below would mirror the luminescence of her silent film stardom, providing Clara the profound escape she craved from a hectic history. Her story, intertwined with the allure of this dreamlike landscape, reveals a tale of escapism, renewal, and the enduring appeal of the Nevada desert.
The name Clara Bow is one that resonates with the grandeur of Hollywood's golden age. She wasn't just an actress, but a star whose presence on the silver screen could illuminate even the darkest of theaters with a unique charm that was all her own. Clara epitomized the exuberance of “The Roaring Twenties," becoming Hollywood's quintessential flapper girl. With hit films such as “Wings” and "It" (1927), she embodied female empowerment during a time of great societal change for women, earning her the title of the “It” girl. Receiving 45,000 fan letters in just one month, the public undoubtedly adored her, yet the tale of Clara Bow and Walking Box Ranch begins a world away from the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Clara faced a tumultuous childhood marked by her mother's mental health struggles. Growing up, she experienced some harrowing incidents; from her mother threatening her with injury to her childhood friend dying in her arms. Clara sought refuge in the world of magazines, and after winning a local beauty contest, she catapulted quickly into the spotlight of silent cinema. The red-haired sensation’s meteoric rise to fame was accompanied, however, by scandal and controversy.
As Hollywood's first true sex symbol, setting the standard for future icons like Marilyn Monroe, she faced relentless scrutiny for her unapologetic embrace of youthful femininity. Amidst the turbulent Hollywood scene, Clara's life was a whirlwind of excesses and high-profile relationships, including romances with luminaries like Bela Lugosi and Gary Cooper. Her personal life was closely followed by the media, who exploited the dramas of her offscreen life to the point of making them legendary, and her presence in the gossip columns was a constant source of fascination for the public at large. When Clara’s secretary, Daisy De Voe, publicly accused her of promiscuity and erratic behavior, resulting in a litany of lawsuits, the media eagerly reported on her alleged crimes, gambling debts, and courtroom battles, and her reputation took a hit as the public turned against her.
During these trying times, one man remained her anchor—Rex Bell. The popular Western film star, whose arrival marked a turning point in Clara Bow's life, starred alongside her in "The Legion of the Condemned” (1928) and "True to the Navy” (1930), showcasing their undeniable chemistry. As Clara faced unprecedented libel from Daisy's smear campaigns, Rex was a constant source of support. Clara felt betrayed and devastated, and her health deteriorated to the point where doctors recommended institutionalization in 1931. Wanting something more real and lasting than Hollywood could offer, a new beginning beckoned her. Enter Walking Box Ranch, the ideal opportunity to escape and start a new life, away from the pressures of fame and the big city.
On their journeys through Las Vegas, Clara and Rex's affection for the desert deepened. Before the Hoover Dam boom, when nearby Las Vegas’ population was only 5,000, the unlikely town of Nipton is where Walking Box Ranch was born, becoming a landmark in the trajectory of Clara’s life. The pair was captivated by the quanit, five-room accommodation called ‘Hotel Nipton,’ where they often stayed in room 3. Clara would gaze out of the windows onto the vast and serene desert landscape—a stark contrast to the frenetic world of Hollywood.
Now affectionately known as the “Clara Bow Room,” UNLV English Instructor and Nipton resident, Shannon Salter, explains that the hotel would have been rustic and cozy in Clara’s time. An adobe built of clay and rainroad ties, “you could sit on the porch and watch the train day and night.”
Hotel Nipton. [Walking Box Photograph Collection, 1930-1970]. Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
It was here where Clara and Rex heard about an opportunity that would change the course of their lives; a large property was for sale only fifteen miles from Nipton called “Woolf Ranch.” The Joshua tree filled landscape beckoned the two newlyweds with dreams of embracing a slower-paced, cowboy way of life. In 1931, John Woolf sold the ranch to Rex Bell, who initially dubbed it “Bell Ranch” but later named it Walking Box (named after the type of camera used in early motion pictures that made him and his beloved famous). This sprawling 500,000-acre property became the canvas of Clara’s reams and a haven for their friends including Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, John Wayne, and a young Clint Eastwood.
While her intentions to stay in Nevada were steadfast, Fox offered Clara $150,000 for a comeback, a staggering wage during The Great Depression. “Call Her Savage” and “Hoopla” (1932) were her final performances on the big screen when she retired at only 28 years old. “Nothing else except happiness and health count in this life. I have never had much of either but I am going to find them both,” said Clara.
From then on, her earnings from Fox helped her vision materialize as she and Rex constructed a Spanish Colonial Revival style fanch house on their new property. Rex nicknamed the ranch headquarters “Rancho Clarita” (Little Clara’s Ranch in Spanish). The house was thoughtfully oriented on the ranch to capture the mesmerizing sights, including a stunning view of Spirit Mountain from the upper floor. The main home featured a pool deck, game room, guesthouse, barn, cellar, rock garden, and miles and miles of desert.
Clara cherished the silence of the area, finding respite from her past. Equipped with every available utility at the time except a telephone, Clara finally found her peace, tending to the rock and cactus gardens, riding horses through miles of sagebrush, sunbathing under the blue sky, and gazing at the brilliant desert stars at night.
Clara would “[ride] along with Rex on their cattle drives. They took the cattle to Nipton and loaded them onto the Union Pacific,” says Salter. Living out the life of Rex’s fictional characters, Salter imagines that their rides to Nipton through the dense Wee Thump Joshua tree forest were met with the beautiful blue sky, the Castle Mountains, and juniper and pines. “As they descended towards Nipton, they would have had the whole valley spread out before them, with that fantastic swoop of sky which now frames the Mojave Preserve from across the 15 freeway.”
Walking Box Ranch was truly a paradise where she’d raise her two sons Rex Jr. and George, and even look after her estranged father, Robert, who once found himself a part of an infamous, yet comical kitchen catastrophe. The story goes that in the midst of hosting a dinner party for political dignitaries at the Ranch, Rex assigned Clara the unusual task of preparing the meal, despite her limited culinary skills. Clara’s expertise extended only to macaroni and cheese, but when her farther tasted the creation and found it to be less than palatable, he couldn’t hide his disappointment. What followed was a playful yet dramatic macaroni and cheese fight between Clara and her father in the kitchen, all while their guests waited unsuspectingly in the dining room.
Clara Bow, in the kitchen of Walking Box Ranch. Clara Bow in the kitchen at Walking Box Ranch. [Walking Box Photograph Collection, 1930-1970]. Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Macaroni illustration by Rachel Hillberg.
Clara Bow’s unconventional personal blossomed at the Ranch through expereinces like these. However, their simple lifestyle took an unexpected turn as Rex’s political and business success grew, starting in the mid-forties, and propelled him into various offices such as Lieutenant Governor of Nevada. Under the umbrella of Rexco, Inc., Rex and his brother even opened a novelty shop, and more notably, a Western clothing store bearing the label, “Rex Bell’s Walking Box Brand.”
As the Ranch inspired his public ventures to flourish, Clara found herself inadvertently thrust back into the limelight. Now in her forties, struggling with insomnia, anxiety and persistent discomfort, finding stillness became elusive at Walking Box Ranch and Clara’s paradise was no longer enough to aid her in finding a peaceful life. They both ultimately left the ranch, and in 1951 it was sold and later acquired by the Burearu of Land Management (BLM). Clara lived in California until she died in 1965 while watching a Western film, but her legacy, dreams, and visions endure.
Today, the Walking Box Ranch serves as an educational and preservation destination, celebrated for its unique ecosystem and historical significance linked to Clara and Rex. The tiny town that started the Walking Box narrative, Nipton, CA, continues to acknowledge the Walking Box story on their town historic marker and information kiosk outside Hotel Nipton. Standing as a testament to Clara Bow’s enduring spirit, Walking Box Ranch remains a site where one can feel the power and remnants of this Hollywood icon’s sanctuary, witness the stunning desert vistas and perhaps even feel the presence of a bygone era.
N. Ron Safran is president of the Board of Directors of Friends of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, which encompasses Walking Box Ranch. A former California resident and retired attorney, Ron began volunteering at Walking Box Ranch in May 2018 as an assistant tour guide with BLM. The history of the ranch and its connection to early Hollywood is of particular interest to Ron, who became acquainted through his late father with several silent era film actors during his service as a “goodwill ambassador,” volunteer, and photographer at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Country Home and Hospital in California.
Note: Since the publication of this article, Taylor Swift has released a beautiful song named “Clara Bow,” dedicated to the legacy of the original Hollywood “it girl.” We are so excited that more people are learning about Clara Bow’s story and will appreciate the Mojave landscape which she loved so dearly.