I'm enjoying this cyber-cruise and looking forward to our stopover in Honolulu.
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
A tinge of mystery does surround Kay’s battle with Warners. Did the brothers Warner really use her “liberal sexual adventures” against her in the case? I was not able to find hard evidence for this. In Boze Hadleigh’s interviews with Bette Davis, she pointed out that “it all boiled down to another woman” in Kay’s boudoir. I point out how ridiculous it would have been for Jack Warner to use any such info against Kay– he was hardly a paragon of virtue. (Jack lived with his married mistress for years). If true, it was the old “double standard” rearing its head.
Apparently, Cagney and Bette Davis came up to bat for Kay, but I think Jack and Harry were outraged that their highest paid star had taken them to court. They just wanted to get rid of her. Kay’s diaries were blank during the first two weeks of the trial. On December 23rd 1937, she finally jotted down,” Decided to call off Warner suit.” By that time she had begun a very passionate and romantic affair with Barnekow. On Christmas Eve Kay happily wrote, “We baptized the library floor. Good f**ing!” Kay was pretty much focused on Baron Barnekow while she made her last six “B” films for Warners. And …out of the ashes of Kay Francis’ career rose Bette Davis.
Davis never really showed any gratitude for what she reaped from Kay’s Warner battle and departure from the studio. Roles specifically acquired for Kay: The Sisters, Dark Victory, and the Empress Carlotta in Juarez (the only role that Kay ever requested the studio get for her) – helped redefine Davis’ career. Davis took over Kay’s dressing room and had it remodeled while Kay was still on the lot. Kay simply stated to one reporter, “I have no dressing room anymore.” Instead, she reported directly to the make-up department each morning.
About Kay’s diaries. Let me say I was amazed that someone didn’t write the Kay Francis biography long before I did. Her diaries have been easily accessible for years. George Eells delved into them back in the 70’s for his “Ginger, Loretta, and Irene Who?” (they were at the Museum of the City of New York at that time). And, when Chair of Film Studies at Wesleyan University, Jeanine Basinger (a big Kay fan) came out with her book “A Woman’s View” in 1993, which had Kay on the cover, I thought that she would surely do a Kay bio. After all, the Kay archives and diaries are now held at Wesleyan. But no, nothing. Dozens of books on Bette, Crawford, Dietrich etc., etc., but no Kay Francis. Finally, I said phooey! – I’ll do it myself. However, I must give credit to Mick LaSalle (former guest author here at SSO). I loaned him some Kay films back in the mid-90’s and told him he should do a Kay bio. Mick said, “No, Scott. You should do it.” In the summer of 2004, my partner and I made reservations to fly from California to the east coast to specifically read the diaries of a woman who “couldn’t wait to be forgotten.”
I do all the news archive-magazine interviews/articles-book research-genealogy first. I like to know my subject and their career thoroughly before asking questions of co-stars and making contact with family and friends. The Internet makes all this easier. During the research, one has to be able to decipher studio promoted publicity from more genuine sources. Many columnists and interviewers knew their stuff and could be trusted not to dish out a lot of hype. Gladys Hall, for instance, penned many an article for the fan magazines. She gave honest straightforward appraisals and interviews. As a founding member of the Hollywood Women’s Press Club in 1928, Hall was well aware that she could be booted out of the organization for penning anything that reeked of studio publicity.
Thanks for posing such great questions!
Scott