Gertrude Atherton 
Black Oxen 

Black Oxen is  best-selling 1923 novel by Gertrude Atherton.

When Madame Zatianny appears, seemingly from nowhere on the social scene, everyone is taken by her beauty. The older ones say she is the mirror image of Mary Ogden, who they had known 30 years before. Lee Clavering, a budding playwright (Conway Tearle), manages to meet Madame Zatianny and they fall very much in love. He proposes, and she confesses to be the same Mary Ogden of 30 years prior, her youth restored through a gland operation. But Prince Hohenhauer, an old admirer (Alan Hale), convinces her to leave Clavering by pointing out that she prefers power over love. So she returns to Europe to continue her relief work, while Clavering consoles himself with Janet Oglethorpe, a pretty young flapper (Clara Bow). Future superstar Bow really stood out in this supporting role — she received great notices all around — and not long after the film’s release she would become a WAMPAS Baby Star, which helped promote her fledgling career.|Janiss Garza|