The 1927 movie It was immediately a hit. It wasn’t the story — shopgirl falls for owner, is thwarted by misunderstandings, gets what she wants — so much as the acting. The movie made Clara Bow’s bright star shine even brighter. But she wasn’t alone: a spunky shopgirl needs a shopkeeper. Enter Antonio Moreno.
Moreno had gotten a foothold in Hollywood in the heydey of the silent serials, when Pauline was facing her perils; he fought bad guys and jumped into rushing rivers and rescued helpless heroines. By the time It came around, he’d starred with a galaxy of starlets: Gloria Swanson (My American Wife), Mary Miles Minter (The Trail of Lonesome Pine), Pola Negri (The Spanish Dancer), Bebe Daniels (The Exciters), Constance Talmadge (Learning to Love) and Greta Garbo (The Temptress).
If movie magazines are to be believed (and, generally, they aren’t), Moreno was of a serious demeanor, not inclined to be tempted by flibbertigibbets. In a 1924 Movie Weekly article entitled “The True Story of My Life,” Moreno wrote “I always needed to look up to a woman. That is why a flapper has never seriously intrigued me.” Maybe it was this seriousness — real or constructed for fan mags — that made him such a good foil for Clara Bow in It. Without his slightly stuffy Cyrus, her Betty Lou couldn’t have been so disarming.
While we’re in 1927, a little love for Antonio Moreno.
He seemed old enough to be her dad in the film–I think it was the mustache. That picture you posted above makes Glyn’s statement that he, too, had “IT” a little easier to accept.
[...] and Bow was not expected to survive (she didn’t even have a birth certificate). …1927: Costarring Clara Bow The movie made Clara Bow?s bright star shine even brighter. But she wasn?t alone: a spunky shopgirl [...]
[...] and Bow was not expected to survive (she didn’t even have a birth certificate). …1927: Costarring Clara Bow The movie made Clara Bow?s bright star shine even brighter. But she wasn?t alone: a spunky shopgirl [...]