When the Daltons Rode / 1940 Part 2 / Kay Francis


as time goes by / peggy lee
written by herman hupfeld / 1931

I thought I’d do a bit on Kay Francis – co-Star of When the Daltons Rode.
As usual, this project turned out to be MUCH larger than I figured.
But it was a rather amazing project.

Randolph Scott / Key Francis

Kay Francis – A short Bio

     Kay Francis is possibly the biggest of the ‘forgotten stars‘ from Hollywood’s Golden Era. Yet, for a while in the 1930s, she ranked as one of the most popular actresses of the day. By 1935 she was earning a yearly salary of $115,000 (compared to Bette Davis with $18,000). And by the mid-thirties, she was one of the highest-paid people in the United States – playing sophisticated seductresses opposite stars like William Powell and Ronald Colman.

      From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warner Brothers Studios lot and increasingly her films were developed as star vehicles.  From the years 1930 to 1937, Kay appeared on the covers of 38 film magazines, the most for any adult performer and second only to Shirley Temple.

       With the start of World War II, Francis did volunteer work, including extensive war-zone touring, which was first chronicled in a book attributed to fellow volunteer Carole Landis, Four Jills in a Jeep, which became a popular 1944 film of the same name.

      Kay Francis filmography is 64 movies.

Kay’s Pics

I didn’t intend to post this many of Kay’s images. But I could easily have posted dozens more – they are so amazing. Judge for yourself.

The thing about these images is their incredible quality. This is Art. A lost Art. Publicity photos??! Many of these pics qualify as Masterpieces of Portrait Photography. Simple as that.

What can I say? Stunning.

Kay had more than a couple of ounces of Charisma though.

The many moods … 

… of Kay Francis.

It’s hard to believe … 

…. these are all Kay Francis ….

… but they are. 

 

Got carried away.
No apology.

The fundamentals still apply …
as time goes by.

Author: jcalberta

Howdy! I love Westerns. ... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new. This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates. All this - and more ... Yee Haw ... !! - jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator

2 thoughts on “When the Daltons Rode / 1940 Part 2 / Kay Francis”

  1. What a great post on The Dalton Rode. I really like the amazing black and white portraits. I also really like how they used a little bit of colour in the black and white pictures. I will be working on my next post.

    1. Thanks. As I said, Portrait Photography seems to be a lost art these days – compared to that era. And the variety of moods and techniques is amazing.

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