Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.—the shortened form of the former official, sometimes still used, formal corporate name: Warner Brothers
studio, and the highest paid American film actress.
Early life
Francis was born Katharine Edwina Gibbs in Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 551,789, with an estimated metro-area population of 1,206,142...
Her parents, Joseph Sprague Gibbs and his actress wife Katharine Clinton Franks, were married on December 3, 1903 in New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
at the Church of the Transfiguration, and they moved to Oklahoma City the following year. But, by the time Katharine was four, her father had left.
Joseph Gibbs, who stood 6’4”, gave his daughter the gift of height -- she was one of Hollywood's tallest leading ladies (5 ft 9 in) in the 1930s, along with Alexis SmithAlexis Smith was a Canadian-born stage, film and television actress.-Career:Born Gladys Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, Smith was raised in Los Angeles. She was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. after being discovered by a talent scout while attending college...
and Ingrid BergmanIngrid Bergman was a Swedish actress. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in the first Tony Award ceremony in 1947. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
,
While she never discouraged rumors that her mother, Katharine ("Kay") Gibbs, was a pioneering businesswoman who established the "Katharine Gibbs" chain of vocational schoolA vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
s, Francis was actually raised in the hardscrabble theatrical circuit of the period. Her mother was actually a moderately successful actress who used the stage name "Katharine Clinton." In later years, confusion over her origins and upbringing, in tandem with her raven hair and relatively dark complexion, led to the emergence of rumors that some of her ancestors were African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
. Her mother's maiden name (Franks) led some to believe she was of Jewish descent.
Young Kay was out on the road with her mother, and attended Catholic schools when it was affordable, such as when she was a student at the Institute of the Holy Angels at age five. After attending Miss Fuller’s School for Young Ladies in Ossining, New YorkOssining is the name of two places in New York:* Ossining , New York* Ossining , New York, which contains the village...
(1919) and the Cathedral School (1920), she enrolled at the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. At age 17, Kay became engaged to a well-to-do Pittsfield, MassachusettsPittsfield is the largest city in and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
man, James Dwight Francis. Their December 1922 marriage at New York’s St. Thomas Church was not to last.
Stage career
In the spring of 1925, Francis went to Paris to get a divorce. While there, she was courted by a former Harvard athlete and member of the Boston Bar AssociationThe Boston Bar Association, which also goes by the acronym BBA, is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States...
, Bill Gaston. Kay and Bill only saw each other on occasion; he was in Boston and Kay had decided to follow her mother’s footsteps and go on the stage in New York. She made her BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
debut as the Player QueenWhat follows is an overview of the main characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, followed by a list and summary of the minor characters from the play...
in a modern-dress version of Shakespeare’s HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then...
in November 1925. Francis claimed she got the part by “lying a lot, to the right people”. One of the “right” people was producer Stuart WalkerStuar Walker was an American film producer and director. He was born Stuart Armstrong Walker in Augusta, Kentucky, and died in Beverly Hills, California.-As Producer:*Opened by Mistake *Seventeen...
, who hired Kay to join his Portmanteau Theatre Company, and she soon found herself commuting between DaytonDayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the 2000 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 848,153 in the 2000 census. Dayton is the fourth largest...
, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, playing wise-cracking secretaries, saucy French floozies, walk-ons, bit parts, and heavies.
By February 1927, Francis returned to Broadway in the play Crime. Sylvia Sidney-Early life:Sidney, born Sophia Kosow in The Bronx, New York, was the daughter of Rebecca , a Romanian Jew, and Victor Kosow, a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked as a clothing salesman. Her parents divorced by 1915 and she was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund Sidney, a dentist...
, although a teenager at the time, had the lead in Crime but would later say that Kay stole the show.
After Kay’s divorce from Gaston, she became engaged to a society playboy, Alan Ryan Jr. She promised Alan's family that she would not return to the stage, however, her promise only lasted a few months and she was back on Broadway as an aviatrix in a Rachel CrothersRachel Crothers was a prolific and successful American playwright and theater director, known for her well-crafted plays. One of the most famous was Susan and God , which was made into a film by MGM in 1940 starring Joan Crawford and Frederic March.Crothers was born in Bloomington, Illinois, USA...
play, Venus.
Francis was only to appear in one other Broadway production, a play called Elmer the Great in 1928. Written by Ring LardnerRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
and produced by George M. CohanGeorge Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. Known as "the man who owned Broadway" in the decade before World War I, he is considered the father of American musical comedy...
, Walter HustonWalter Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Career:...
was the star. He was so impressed by Francis that he encouraged her to take a screen test for the Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
film Gentlemen of the Press . Francis made this film and the Marx BrothersThe Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
film The CocoanutsThe Cocoanuts is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, it was adapted to the screen by...
(1929) at Paramount's Astoria StudiosThe Kaufman Astoria Studios is located in Queens, New York, and makes television shows including Sesame Street, Johnny and the Sprites, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, and its successor Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, Power of 10, The Cosby Show, Swan's Crossing, Law & Order, Million...
in New York.
Film career
By that time, film studios had started their exodus from New York to California, and many BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
actors had been enticed to travel west to Hollywood to make films, including Ann HardingAnn Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:...
, Aline MacMahonAline MacMahon was an American actress.MacMahon's career began in theatre during the 1920s, and she worked extensively in film and television, until her retirement in the mid 1970s....
, Helen TwelvetreesHelen Twelvetrees was an American stage and screen performer, considered a top female star in the early days of sound films.- Early life and career :...
, Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, Humphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor.After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film...
and Leslie HowardLeslie Howard Steiner , better known by his stage name Leslie Howard, was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer...
. Francis, signed to a Paramount contract, also made the move, and created an immediate impression. She frequently costarred with William PowellWilliam Horatio Powell was an American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical portrayals.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in fourteen films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
, and appeared in as many as six to eight movies a year, making a total of 21 films between 1929 and 1931.
A combination of striking dark beauty, stature, and a deep, supple voice ideally suited to early sound-reproduction technology made Francis one of the top film stars of the early 1930s. So striking were her looks and screen presence that Francis was widely publicized as the epitome of the "American glamour girl" throughout the 1930s. Her success came in spite of a minor, but distinct speech impediment (an inability to pronounce the letter "r") that gave rise to the nickname "Wavishing Kay Fwancis."
Francis' career at Paramount changed gears when Warner Brothers promised her star status at a better salary. Nonetheless she did some fine portrayals in such films as George CukorGeorge Cukor was an American film director who mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed a string of impressive films including What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David...
’s rollicking Girls About TownGirls About Town is a 1931 comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Kay Francis. -Cast:* Kay Francis - Wanda Howard* Joel McCrea - Jim Baker* Lilyan Tashman - Marie Bailey* Eugene Pallette - Benjamin Thomas* Alan Dinehart - Jerry Chase...
(1931) and the dark melodrama Twenty-Four Hours (1931). After Kay’s career skyrocketed at Warners, she would return to Paramount for Ernst LubitschErnst Lubitsch , was a German-born Jewish film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch".- Biography :Born in Berlin, as son of a Jewish...
's Trouble in Paradise .
In 1932, Warner Brothers persuaded both Francis and Powell to join the ranks of Warners stars, along with Ruth ChattertonRuth Chatterton was an American actress.- Early life :Born in New York City on Christmas Eve 1893, of English and French extraction to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton, she was on Broadway by the age of 14, as a dancer.- Film career :Her first film was Sins of the Fathers in 1928, and...
. In exchange, Francis was given roles that allowed her a more sympathetic screen persona than had hitherto been the case - in her first three featured roles she had played a villainess. For example, in The False Madonna , she played a jaded society woman nursing a terminally ill child who learns to appreciate the importance of hearth and home.
At the top
From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warners lot and increasingly her films were developed as star vehicles. By the mid-thirties, Francis was one of the highest-paid people in the United States.
Francis had married writer-director John MeehanJohn Meehan was an American art director and production designer.He was born in Tehachapi, California and attended the University of Southern California...
in New York, but soon after her arrival in Hollywood, she consummated an affair with actor and producer Kenneth MacKennaKenneth MacKenna was an American actor and film director, born Leo Mielziner, Jr. in Canterbury, New Hampshire.-Family:Parents were portrait artist Leo Mielziner, Sr.,...
, whom she married in January 1931. When MacKenna's Hollywood career foundered, he found himself spending more time in New York, and they divorced in 1934.
In the period of her greatest popularity she frequently played long-suffering heroines, in films such as I Found Stella Parrish, Secrets of an Actress, and Comet over Broadway, displaying to good advantage lavish wardrobes that, in some cases, were more memorable than the characters she played—a fact often emphasized by contemporary film reviewers. Too frequently, however, Francis' clotheshorseA clotheshorse or clothes horse, sometimes called a clothes rack, winterdyke, clothes maiden, drying rack, or airer, refers to a frame upon which clothes are hung after washing to enable them to dry...
reputation led Warners to concentrate resources on lavish sets and costumes, designed to appeal to DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era female audiences and capitalize on her reputation as the epitome of chic, rather than on scripts.
Eventually, Francis herself became dissatisfied with these vehicles and began openly to feud with her employers, even threatening a lawsuit against them for inferior treatment. This in turn led to her demotion to programmers such as 's Women in the Wind and, in the same year, to the termination of her contract.
Decline
Some attribute her decline to her basic lack of artistic interest in her career. Many note that, as long as her salary was paid, she was content to report to whatever film successive studios assigned her.
After her release from Warners, Francis was unable to secure another studio contract. Carole LombardCarole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in several classic films of the 1930s, most notably in the 1936 film My Man Godfrey...
, one of the most popular stars of the late 30s and early 1940s (and who had previously been a supporting player in Francis' film, Ladies' Man) tried to bolster Francis' career by insisting Francis be cast in In Name OnlyIn Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis. It was based on the novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer.-Plot:...
.
In this latter film, Francis had a supporting role to Lombard and Cary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was a British-American actor...
, but wisely recognized that the film offered her an opportunity to engage in some serious acting. After this, she moved to characterA character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to secondary leads...
and supporting parts, playing catty professional women - holding her own against Rosalind RussellRosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Auntie Mame in film...
in The Feminine Touch, for example - and as mother to rising young stars such as Deanna DurbinDeanna Durbin is a Canadian singer and actress, nicknamed the "sensational Canadian songbird," who appeared in a number of musical films in 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....
. Francis did have a lead role in the classic Bogart gangster film "King of the Underworld", released in 1939.
World War II era
With the start of World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Francis plunged into volunteer work, including extensive war-zone touring, which was first chronicled in a book attributed to fellow volunteer Carole LandisCarole Landis was an American film and stage actress.- Early life and family :Landis was born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin to a Polish immigrant, Clara Stentek Ridste. Although Mrs. Stenek Ridste was married to Norwegian Alfred Ridste, who abandoned the family before Carole...
, Four Jills in a Jeep. The book became a popular film of the same name, with a cavalcade of stars and Martha RayeMartha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television.-Early life:...
and Mitzi Mayfair joining Landis and Francis to fill out the complement of Jills.
Despite the success of Four Jills, the end of the war found Francis virtually unemployable in Hollywood. She signed a three-film contract with Poverty RowPoverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
studio Monogram PicturesMonogram Pictures Corporation was a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to collectively as Poverty...
that gave her production credit as well as star billing. The results — the films Divorce, Wife Wanted, and Allotment Wives — had limited releases in and . While more lavish than some Monogram productions, they were pale copies of her earlier work.
Francis spent the balance of the 1940s on the stage, appearing with some success in State of the UnionState of the Union is a 1946 play by American playwrights Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay. The play premiered on 14 November 1945 at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 765 performances before closing on 13 September 1947...
and touring in various productions of plays old and new, including one, Windy Hill, backed by former Warners colleague Ruth ChattertonRuth Chatterton was an American actress.- Early life :Born in New York City on Christmas Eve 1893, of English and French extraction to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton, she was on Broadway by the age of 14, as a dancer.- Film career :Her first film was Sins of the Fathers in 1928, and...
. Declining health, aggravated by an accident in 1948 in which she was badly burned by a radiator, hastened her retirement from show business.
Personal life
Francis married five times and had numerous well-publicized affairs. Her diaries, preserved in an academic collection at Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the now secular university was the first institution of higher...
, paint a picture of a woman whose personal life was often in disarray and, at least in published excerpts, emphasize a strong attraction to men, actors Lee TracyWilliam Lee Tracy was an American actor.-Early life:Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then he served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...
and Bob Stevens among them.
In 1966 Francis was diagnosed with breast cancerBreast cancer is a cancer that starts in the breast, usually in the inner lining of the milk ducts or lobules. There are different types of breast cancer, with different stages , aggressiveness, and genetic makeup. With best treatment, 10-year disease-free survival varies from 98% to 10%...
and underwent a mastectomyIn medicine, mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to...
, but the cancer had spread and proved fatal. Having no living immediate family members, Francis left over $1,000,000 to a company, Seeing Eye, Inc., which trained guide dogGuide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or vision impaired people around obstacles.Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs. The human half of the guide dog team does the directing,...
s for the blind.
Features
- The Cocoanuts
The Cocoanuts is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, it was adapted to the screen by...
(1929-Events:The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
)
- Gentlemen of the Press (1929)
- Dangerous Curves
Dangerous Curves is an American motion picture starring Clara Bow and Richard Arlen. It was released by Paramount Pictures and was the first Hollywood film for Kay Francis .-Cast:*Clara Bow as Pat Delaney, a circus bareback rider...
(1929)
- Illusion (1929)
- The Marriage Playground (1929)
- Behind the Make-Up (1930
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front - Universal Studios*Best Actress: Norma Shearer - The Divorcee*Best Actor: George Arliss - Disraeli...
)
- Street of Chance
Street of Chance is a 1930 film directed by John Cromwell and starring William Powell, Jean Arthur, Kay Francis and Regis Toomey.- Plot :...
(1930)
- Paramount on Parade
Paramount on Parade is an all-star revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed byseveral directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H...
(1930)
- A Notorious Affair (1930)
- For the Defense (1930)
- Raffles
Raffles is a 1930 film starring Ronald Colman as the popular title character, a gentleman who is also secretly a notorious jewel thief. Kay Francis plays the woman with whom Raffles falls in love. It is based on the 1906 play Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman by E. W...
(1930)
- Let's Go Native
Let's Go Native , aka Nel regno della fantasia in Italy and Tabiata asik in Turkey, is an American black and white comedy musical film, directed by Leo McCarey and released by Paramount Pictures....
(1930)
- The Virtuous Sin
The Virtuous Sin is a 1930 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor and Louis J. Gasnier. The screenplay by Martin Brown and Louise Long is based on the play The General by Lajos Zilahy.-Plot:...
(1930)
- Passion Flower (1930)
- Scandal Sheet
Scandal Sheet is a black-and-white film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film...
(1931-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*Best Actress: Marie Dressler - Min and Bill...
)
- Ladies' Man (1931)
- The Vice Squad (1931)
- Transgression (1931)
- Guilty Hands (1931)
- 24 Hours
24 Hours is a 1931 drama film starring Clive Brook, Kay Francis, and Miriam Hopkins. It was based on the novel Twenty-Four Hours by Louis Bromfield and the play Shattered Glass by Will D. Lengle and Lew Levenson...
(1931)
- Girls About Town
Girls About Town is a 1931 comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Kay Francis. -Cast:* Kay Francis - Wanda Howard* Joel McCrea - Jim Baker* Lilyan Tashman - Marie Bailey* Eugene Pallette - Benjamin Thomas* Alan Dinehart - Jerry Chase...
(1931)
- The False Madonna (1931)
- Strangers in Love (1932
-Events:*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.-Academy Awards:...
)
- Man Wanted (1932)
- Street of Women (1932)
- Jewel Robbery
Jewel Robbery is a 1932 comedy film directed by William Dieterle and starring William Powell and Kay Francis. It was based on the play Ekszerrablás a Váci-uccában by Ladislas Fodor and the English adaptation, Jewel Robbery, by Bertram Bloch....
(1932)
- One Way Passage
One Way Passage is a romantic film starring William Powell and Kay Francis as star-crossed lovers, directed by Tay Garnett and released by Warner Bros.It was remade in 1940 as Til We Meet Again, featuring Merle Oberon and George Brent....
(1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Cynara
Cynara is a genus of about 10 species of thistle-like perennial plants in the family Asteraceae, originally from the Mediterranean region, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands....
(1932)
- The Keyhole (1933
-Events:*British Film Institute founded.*March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey....
)
- Storm at Daybreak (1933)
- Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)
- I Loved a Woman (1933)
- The House on 56th Street (1933)
- Mandalay
Mandalay is the second largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of nearly 1 million, and is the capital of Mandalay Division....
(1934-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...
)
- Wonder Bar
Wonder Bar is a 1934 movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley...
(1934)
- British Agent
British Agent is a 1934 Espionage film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, William Gargan and Cesar Romero. It is based on Memoirs of a British Agent the 1932 autobiography of R. H. Bruce Lockhart who had spent a number of years working for the British Secret Service...
(1934)
- Living on Velvet (1935
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .* Six year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty - MGM*Best Actor: Victor McLaglen - The Informer...
)
- Stranded (1935)
- The Goose and the Gander (1935)
- I Found Stella Parish
I Found Stella Parish is a 1935 melodrama starring Kay Francis as a beloved actress whose dark secret is revealed to the world.-Plot:In London, Stella Parish has her greatest stage triumph in a play produced and directed by Stephen Norman . However, her happiness is short-lived. She finds a man...
(1935)
- The White Angel (1936
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*nov 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon*February 15 - first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, released*September 28 - The Marx Brothers' Harpo Marx marries actress Susan Fleming...
)
- Give Me Your Heart (1936)
- Stolen Holiday
Stolen Holiday is a 1937 film loosely based on the Stavisky Affair, a French political scandal. A Russian con artist worms his way into the upper reaches of French society, but is finally exposed, with tragic consequences.-Plot:...
(1937The year 1937 in film involved some significant events.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.*May 7 - Shall We Dance premieres in the US.-Top grossing films:#Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs#Maytime#Saratoga...
)
- Another Dawn (1937)
- Confession
The confession of one's sins is a religious practice important to many faiths, e.g., Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.- Christianity :...
(1937)
- First Lady (1937)
- Women Are Like That (1938
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
)
- My Bill (1938)
- Secrets of an Actress
Secrets of an Actress is a 1938 romantic drama film about a love triangle between a stage actress, her financial backer, and his friend.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Fay Carter*George Brent as Dick Orr*Ian Hunter as Peter Snowden*Gloria Dickson as Carla Orr...
(1938)
- Comet Over Broadway (1938)
- King of the Underworld (1939
The year 1939 in film involved some significant events.- Events :Movie historians and film buffs often look back on 1939 as "the greatest year in film history"...
)
- Women in the Wind (1939)
- In Name Only
In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis. It was based on the novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer.-Plot:...
(1939)
- It's a Date
It's a Date is a 1940 Universal musical film directed by William A. Seiter. The film was remade in 1950 as Nancy Goes to Rio.-Plot:The movie begins with Georgia Drake Kay Francis performing on the stage singing, "Gypsy Lullaby" while her daughter, Pamela Deanna Durbin, watches with her boyfriend...
(1940The year 1940 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released.* February 20 - Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon Puss Gets the Boot....
)
- When the Daltons Rode (1940)
- Little Men (1940)
- Play Girl (1941
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
)
- The Man Who Lost Himself (1941)
- Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
(1941)
- The Feminine Touch (1941)
- Always in My Heart (1942
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, Casablanca..-Events:...
)
- Between Us Girls (1942)
- Four Jills in a Jeep (1944
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released.*September 6 - Double Indemnity is released.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:...
)
- Divorce
Divorce is a 1945 drama film about a much-divorced woman who sets her sights on her married childhood friend. It stars Kay Francis, Bruce Cabot, and Helen Mack.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Diane Carter*Bruce Cabot as Bob Phillips*Helen Mack as Martha Phillips...
(1945The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
)
- Allotment Wives
Allotment Wives is a film noir starring Kay Francis in her final screen appearance. An army investigator tries to shut down a scam that preys on soldiers and unknowingly falls in love with the woman behind it.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Sheila Seymour...
(1945)
- Wife Wanted
Wife Wanted was a 1915 American silent short film directed by Henry Otto starring Charlotte Burton, William Bertram, Edward Coxen, George Field, and Winifred Greenwood....
(1946The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
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Short Subjects
- Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3 (1936
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*nov 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon*February 15 - first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, released*September 28 - The Marx Brothers' Harpo Marx marries actress Susan Fleming...
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- Show Business at War
Show Business at War is a short film made in 1943 to tout the United States film industry's contribution to the war effort. Several studios collaborated on the production and approximately 70 stars, producers, directors and studio executives appeared in it....
(1943The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :-16th Academy Awards:*Background to Danger, by Raoul Walsh with Peter Lorre*Bataan*Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, and Anne Shirley...
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External links