Clara Kimball Young

Clara Kimball Young was once the most popular movie star in America, and the queen of adult society dramas of the 1910s. But by the mid 1920s she was out of films, and when she came back in the 1930s it was largely in bit roles in B pictures. Yet this ebullient woman rode her dramatic ups and downs with grace and good humor, and she is one of the most interesting stars of her era. Though most of her films are lost, several are available on video.

This website is a work in progress, and will be updated as I see more Young films and acquire more articles.


What's new?


America's First First Lady of the Screen

An article about Clara's life and career


Filmography

with a listing of archival holdings, video availability and links to new and vintage reviews


A Clara Kimball Young Picture Gallery

From her personal collection


Clara Kimball Young Films on the Web

Hearts in Exile (1914)
on Internet Archive


Clip of My Official Wife (1914)
on Internet Archive , and someone has also taken it and posted it to YouTube (complete with my uncredited text but mispelling Vitagraph!)


The Old Guard (1913)
on Cinema in Quebec in Silent Era


Put Yourself in Their Place (1913)
on Cinema in Quebec in Silent Era


A Vitagraph Romance (1912)
the EYE youTube channel

Jerry's mother in law (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

Dr. LaFleur's Theory (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

The Picture Idol (1912)
the EYE youTube channel

Delayed Proposals (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

When Mary grew up (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

Lulu's doctor (1912)
the EYE youTube channel

The Lonely princess (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

Lessons in Courtship (1912)
the EYE youTube channel

A Lesson in Jealousy (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

Stenographer troubles (1913)
the EYE youTube channel

The troublesome stepdaughters (1912)
the EYE youTube channel


Onze filmsterren, zesde serie, Original title Photoplay Magazine Screen Supplement #6
online video on the EYE youTube channel (she's at the 8:50 mark)

Eyes of Youth (1919) on YouTube
Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 (the part with Rudolph Valentino, if that's what you're looking for, Part 8, Part 9

Search YouTube for "Clara Kimball Young" for other films or film clips, where as of last time i looked included (aside from the above) Probation, Ants in the Pantry, and The Return of Chandu (1 pt. 1, there are more)

Love Bound AKA Murder on the High Seas (1932) complete film on youTube, and more films: Midchannel, The Worldly Madonna, Kept Husbands, I Can't Escape, She Married her Boss, Hollywood Extra Girl, Oh, Susanna!, The Rogue's Tavern, Dangerously Yours, Mr. Celebrity, Confessions of a Vice Baron, just search the titles on youTube.





Homes and Haunts
Addresses associated with Clara Kimball Young



Contemporary articles

Clara Kimball Young, Artist
by George Blaisdell
Moving Picture World, October 3, 1914, p. 41-42
Clara Kimball Young Discusses Picture Art
by Margaret I. McDonald
Moving Picture World, July 21, 1917, p. 46
Making "Savage Woman" Savage
by Edward Weitzel
Moving Picture World, September 7, 1918, p. 1393
Clothes--Clara Kimball Young--and More Clothes
by Clara Kimball Young
Theatre Magazine, November 1917, p. 319-320
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Untitled fashion spread
Vogue, April 1, 1918
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Untitled fashion spread
Vogue, July 15, 1918,
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Miss Young Creates Fashion Show for Display in "Forbidden Woman"
Moving Picture World, February 14, 1920, p. 1112
The Technique of Lovers
by Clara Kimball Young
Photoplay, March 1920, p. 39-41
Excerpts from an interview with Gareth Hughes, 1963
From Kevin Brownlow's audio interview, edited by Stephen Lyons
(Thanks to you both for providing this unique material)
Assorted old articles
several articles, some unidentified


Films on Video



Selected Bibliography


Other materials on the Web

Clara Kimball Young
By Karen Ward Mahar in the Women Film Pioneers Project
Interview with Clara Kimball Young
By Ray W. Frohman in the Los Angeles Herald, October 29, 1919, reprinted in Taylorology #36
Excerpts from Clara Kimball Young's 1921 diary
Transcribed by Matt McKnight on the Diary File website
Short biography on Golden Silents
"How I Broke Into the Business"
By Edward M. Kimball (Clara's Father), from "Hey Rube, 1933
on the Wisconsin Electronic Reader
Short biography on Silents Are Golden
Short biography on Find A Grave
The First One Hundred Noted Men and Women of the Screen
by Carolyn Lowrey (1920) includes an article on Clara Kimball Young


Links to other general silent film sites

Alt.movies.silent FAQ
Great source of basic information from the alt.movies.silent newsgroup, including links to other silent film sites
Lots of information on silent films, including star profiles, pictures, and video reviews

Silent-movies.org
A wonderful suite of sites edited by David Pearson, including the photogalleries Silent Ladies and Silent Gents, Arbuckemania, and Taylorology, the Blue Book Book of the Screen (1923), and others

The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States : Silent Films
The online version of the AFI catalog contains information about silent features, plus some short films up to 1911. There is also members' only access to catalog entries on sound features.

Media History Digital Library
Scans of extensive runs of several important trade journals and fan magagazines including Moving Picture World, Photoplay, Wids/Film Daily, and others.

The Women Film Pioneers Project
Articles on women filmmakers of the silent era, edited by Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta,

The Silent Film Bookshelf
Original documents from the silent film era, edited by David Pierce

Glen Pringle's Silent Movies
Silent star of the month, links to silent film interest groups, and lots of links to other silent film sites

Silents are Golden
Nice features, lots of vintage reviews, great list of silent films on video.

The Silent Film Still Archive
An ever-growing collection of fascinating film stills of the silent era

Silent Era
A new, but growing, site with information and reviews on silents on DVD and VHS, information about stars, book reviews, and Presumed Lost, a preliminary listing of lost films

100 Years of Hollywood and the Stars of 1910 to 2010
A nice new site by film historian William Drew on the movie stars of the 1910s.

Golden Silents
A nice new site featuring biographical information on many stars, tinted photos, film clips

Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen
Great articles on Silent Film, as well as lots of links

Welcome to Silent Movies
Features, calendars, and assorted facts on the silent film era

Clara Kimball Young home
Unsung Divas

Created and maintained by Greta de Groat
Photos from the author's collection unless otherwise noted
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Special contents © 2001
Last revised, December 25, 2019