Famous Redhead And Cowboy Actor Deny Secret Nevada Wedding At First – Marriage Climaxes Two-Year Romance
Movie Classics, February 1932
Ending the suspense of their two-year romance, Clara Bow and Rex Bell, cowboy actor and rancher, were quietly married in Las Vegas the night of December third. The following day, reporters discovered their secret, and broadcast it to the world. That same day, Rex denied that there had been any ceremony – though the District Attorney and Deputy County Clerk said they had seen the couple married the previous evening.
The romance of the tall, stalwart young Westerner and Clara began when he played a supporting part in her picture, True to the Navy, and then became her business manager.
It was Rex who counseled her to prosecute her former secretary, Daisy De Voe, for grand larceny, even though Daisy was reported to be in a mood to "tell all." Rex’s advice was, in effect, "Let her tell what she has to tell, which isn’t much – then the slate will be washed clean." Clara won new friends for her courage – but lost her health. To regain it far from the maddening crowd, she went to the faithful Rex’s ranch.
On December 6, the couple went into Las Vegas again and Rex told reporters that the reason for all the secrecy – and denials – had been that they weren’t sure whether or not there was a non-marriage clause in Clara’s new film contract. He had now discovered that there wasn’t.
But on December 8, back at her house in Beverly Hills, Clara revealed she was Mrs. George F. Beldon (Rex’s real name). She explained that they had denied the wedding in the hope of getting some privacy, and added they wished reporters would give them "a break and let a couple of honeymooners alone."
That satisfied everybody – the movie colony, the reporters, and Sam Rork, independent producer, to whom Clara is now under contract. As quoted by the Associated Press, Mr. Rork’s exact words were: "I think marriage is the best thing Clara could have done. She has married a good man, one who will love and protect her, and she will be better than ever for it."
And the story goes that the women’s clubs, which have openly disapproved of Clara’s exciting romances, are also satisfied. Other stars and their prospective husbands may travel to Europe and back on the same trains and the same boars (three have done so only recently) without being frowned upon, but if Clara had climaxed her six months’ convalescence at the Rex Bell ranch with no wedding, the reformers would almost certainly have had something to say. But Clara and Rex broke down any such potential opposition to her return to the screen, whether or not that was their intention by marrying before her comeback. (The article continues, but the rest is missing.)