The Complete Kay Francis Career Record
Title | The Complete Kay Francis Career Record PDF eBook |
Author | Lynn Kear |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 297 |
Release | 2016-03-30 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 1476602875 |
This book is the definitive guide to the film, stage, radio and television career of Kay Francis, one of the most glamorous stars from the golden age of Hollywood. For each film, the authors provide a thorough synopsis plus cast and crew information (including biographies), opening dates, production notes, behind-the-scenes details, and reviews. In addition, information is provided on her stage, radio, and television appearances, and a section is devoted to collecting Kay Francis memorabilia, including such items as cigarette cards, sheet music and soundtracks. Also covered is the stage and vaudeville career of Kay Francis' mother, Katherine Clinton. A brief biography of Kay Francis is provided, along with an insightful foreword by film scholar James Robert Parish. Truly a treasure trove for Kay Francis fans and anyone interested in classic filmmaking in the 1930s and 1940s, the book includes more than 130 illustrations, many of them rare.
Kay Francis
Title | Kay Francis PDF eBook |
Author | Lynn Kear |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 241 |
Release | 2015-02-12 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 0786454997 |
Kay Francis came of age in the Roaring Twenties and relished the era's hedonistic pursuits. Her career as an actress was launched at the same time, and before her death in 1968, she had appeared on many theater stages, in more than 60 films, on radio, in USO tours, as a model, and on television. The tall, stylish actress had a husky voice and dark beauty that was striking on film. Despite her financial success, relaxed morals, and life as a socialite, the millionaire actress shunned luxuries such as limousines and sprawling estates popular among Hollywood elite. The actress, who insisted she wanted to be forgotten, left behind scrapbooks, boxes of memorabilia and detailed diaries. These rich resources help provide an exhaustive look at the life of one of Hollywood's most intriguing early stars. Francis' biography is the heart of this book, beginning with her family background and her upbringing by a vaudevillian actress mother. The story of her extensive career and never-ending romantic pursuits is peppered with comments from the media and her own diaries, and supplemented with ample photographs. A chronology gives dates of theater openings, film releases, marriages, television and radio appearances, births and deaths. A filmography includes complete cast and credit lists.
Kay Francis
Title | Kay Francis PDF eBook |
Author | Scott O'Brien |
Publisher | Bearmanor Media |
Pages | 357 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9781593931063 |
I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten pays tribute to Kay's compassionate nature, her concern for others, her great contributions on behalf of those serving in the armed forces during World War II, and the financial legacy she contributed to The Seeing Eye. Kay felt that being of some service to others was far more important than focusing totally on promoting herself and a film career. Readers will be surprised to learn about the real Kay Francis in retirement. Her godsons paint a portrait of a woman who lived in the moment, and generated a great deal of loving warmth. Many rare, unpublished photos from Kay's youth and retirement years are featured in her biography. Interviews from co-workers, friends and children of her ex's complete the picture of one of Hollywood's most glamorous and intriguing stars.
Lost in New Orleans
Title | Lost in New Orleans PDF eBook |
Author | Lynn Kear |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 233 |
Release | 2023-01-10 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1476647526 |
Katty Stewart, Elizabeth (Moosie) White, Walker Ellis and Walter Stauffer were socialites born in New Orleans around the turn of the 20th century. Among their ancestors were Confederate soldiers, plantation owners, self-made millionaires and even a U.S. President. This book tells the story of four flawed, socially connected people who used newspaper society columns to craft highly curated images of themselves. But the newspapers of the time did not include the more salacious, messy, complicated and secretive details of their lives. This is also a social history of New Orleans during the Jazz Age, including descriptions of queer culture, the French Quarter, European travel, and life in the social circles of Kay Francis, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Waldo Peirce, Caresse and Harry Crosby, Gerald and Sara Murphy and many others. Full of humorous anecdotes, drama, romance and tragedy, this book is an insightful chronicle of a fascinating time in New Orleans' LGBTQ history.
Laurette Taylor, American Stage Legend
Title | Laurette Taylor, American Stage Legend PDF eBook |
Author | Lynn Kear |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 287 |
Release | 2014-01-10 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 0786461934 |
How did Laurette Taylor (1884-1946) become America's most celebrated actress? What training and experience led to her first stage success, Peg o' My Heart, in 1912? How did her failed 1920s silent film career influence her stage technique? What was so remarkable about her portrayal of Amanda Wingfield in the original 1945 Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie that many actors and critics have proclaimed her performance as the greatest they have ever seen, before or since? How did alcoholism affect her career? And why has it been so difficult to tell her story on stage and screen? This biography offers fascinating new insights into the life and craft of Laurette Taylor. Included is a very short play written by the actress, entitled The Dying Wife.
Evelyn Brent
Title | Evelyn Brent PDF eBook |
Author | Lynn Kear |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 313 |
Release | 2009-10-21 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 0786454687 |
Evelyn Brent's life and career were going quite well in 1928. She was happily living with writer Dorothy Herzog following her divorce from producer Bernard Fineman, and the tiny brunette had wowed fans and critics in the silent films The Underworld and The Last Command. She'd also been a sensation in Paramount's first dialogue film, Interference. But by the end of that year Brent was headed for a quick, downward spiral ending in bankruptcy and occasional work as an extra. What happened is a complicated story laced with bad luck, poor decisions, and treachery detailed in this first and only full-length biography.
Glamour in a Golden Age
Title | Glamour in a Golden Age PDF eBook |
Author | Adrienne L. McLean |
Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Pages | 310 |
Release | 2011 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 0813549043 |
Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Gary Cooper-Glamour in a Golden Age presents original essays from eminent film scholars that analyze movie stars of the 1930s against the background of contemporary American cultural history. Stardom is approached as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and industrial contexts that enabled these actors and actresses to be discovered, featured in films, publicized, and to become recognized and admired-sometimes even notorious-parts of the cultural landscape. Using archival and popular material, including fan and mass market magazines, other promotional and publicity material, and of course films themselves, contributors also discuss other artists who were incredibly popular at the time, among them Ann Harding, Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, Kay Francis, and Constance Bennett.