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Post by topbilled on Feb 6, 2024 21:15:43 GMT
Kay Francis started in motion pictures at the very beginning of the sound era. Her first contract was with Paramount but a talent raid in 1932 brought her over to Warner Brothers. She was quickly given roles in melodramas, the kinds of stories that had been played at the studio by Ruth Chatterton. The actress was a hit with audiences in tearjerkers like THE HOUSE ON 56TH STREET; DR. MONICA and I FOUND STELLA PARISH, where she usually essayed strong but troubled career women. Leading men included George Brent, Claude Rains, Errol Flynn and Ian Hunter. Near the end of her time at the studio, a disagreement over scripts and salary led to her being demoted to B pictures in order to finish out her contract. But even these films were hits with the public. Kay left Warners in 1939, but she did return for one more picture in 1942, ALWAYS IN MY HEART, opposite Walter Huston.
Check out:
STREET OF WOMEN (1932)
MARY STEVENS M.D. (1933)
BRITISH AGENT (1934) |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Feb 6, 2024 22:37:50 GMT
I looked up the last 5 films Francis made for Warner Bros while under contract and none of them have any budget and box-office stats.
I find that odd. Did WB withhold such information because it would undermine their claim that she was box-office-poison? I.e. WB wanted to redo or buy out Kay's contract and if her films were making money for the studio (she was not box-office-poison), that would have required WB to make a larger offer?
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Post by topbilled on Feb 6, 2024 23:49:04 GMT
I looked up the last 5 films Francis made for Warner Bros while under contract and none of them have any budget and box-office stats. I find that odd. Did WB withhold such information because it would undermine their claim that she was box-office-poison? I.e. WB wanted to redo or buy out Kay's contract and if her films were making money for the studio (she was not box-office-poison), that would have required WB to make a larger offer?
If she was really poison (LOL) they could have negotiated a buy-out, but that didn't happen. I think they were just trying to get out of paying her weekly salary for awhile.
They hoped by forcing Kay Francis into the B-film unit at the studio, she'd balk at the scripts and go on suspension. Any star on suspension forfeited their weekly salary, unless another studio requested them for a loan-out.
But she actually agreed to do those scripts...and she had such a loyal following, her fans still turned out for those films. WOMEN IN THE WIND is one that I read somewhere, did very well...it made as much as some of the studio "A" pics in 1939.
Probably because those B flicks at the end did so well, they decided to ask her back for one more picture in 1942 as a freelancer. They must've realized what a mistake they made.
Another thing that the studios did was they sometimes offered the stars a percentage of their weekly salary upfront with the rest deferred (put into some retirement account) to cut down on taxes. But if the star broke the contract, then the studio was able to keep the deferred money. That happened to Esther Williams in the mid-50s when she quarreled with Dore Schary at MGM and broke her contract. It resulted in a huge loss of earnings for her. It was part of why she had to reinvent herself as a designer and seller of bathing suits.
In the Kay Francis situation, she did not go on suspension or break her contract...so the studio was forced to keep paying her all that money specified in the contract (plus any retirement funds owed her). |
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Post by marysara1 on Feb 8, 2024 12:04:08 GMT
Maybe it was the cliffhanger? In the day they had a double feature. Who's to say with all the parts, which was the draw.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 8, 2024 14:07:04 GMT
Maybe it was the cliffhanger? In the day they had a double feature. Who's to say with all the parts, which was the draw.
Personally, I think the label 'box office poison' helped studio bosses keep stars who were still quite popular from getting paid more. If a star had a film that flopped or barely broke even, it could be blamed on the star and thus sabotage the star's career.
Clark Gable had the biggest flop of his career in 1937-- PARNELL-- but he wasn't labeled box office poison and MGM didn't put him in 'B' films because of it. They just went right ahead and put him into another 'A' film and made sure the next release went over well with audiences. He was someone they didn't want to sabotage.
Similarly Greer Garson had a flop with DESIRE ME (1947) but that didn't mean MGM was ready to pull the plug on her. She kept making films at the studio until 1954. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 8, 2024 14:12:21 GMT
Jeanine Basinger used Kay's image on the cover of her 1993 book about how women were portrayed in classic film, settling on Kay as being the most representative. It's a great read and I've gone back to it several times.  |
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