Kay Francis-Part I

Kay Francis' charms are tantalizingly out-of-reach for me, and those of my ilk. She was everything that I am not, and therein resides the sweet mockery of her appeal.Perhaps it is a hiccup in my personal psychology, an erratic call-to-arms,but by my creativity and intellect I am drawn to two types of women-as-inspiration:those within my warm reach and those many-a-mile without it.

The dark,leggy, soignee Kay is firmly classified as the latter.(Since DNA decreed me,quite clearly, to be a saucy Nancy Carroll type, the only thing Ms. Francis and I share is an enchanting speech impediment.)She was as cool and smoky as dry ice, with witty and insouciant clothes-sense to burn.It is for her effortless, slightly off-kilter chic that she is remembered at all.She has been reclaimed, shiny and whole, as an edgy,elegant minx of the 'thirties.And, it is true:she wore clothes with a sleek nonchalance seldom approached even by the outre-stylish. Yet,as an actress, she is on the precipice of being entirely forgotten,a quietly echoing fate shared by hundreds of once-enchanted individuals.They all, to varying degrees, deserve at least a cursory reconsideration.Kay Francis is surely among those whose career and critical reputation is worthy of a full,firm rebirth, conceived from a just and judicious reappraisal.

Above even her striking looks, which only pellucid,living celluloid can do proper justice to, rests,immobile, her strongest contribution to film-culture:her womanliness.Kay Francis possessed not a trace of flirty girlishness,owned not a smidgen of nubile coquettishness,however wily.She was a full-on woman from her first film-frame to her last.She was no youthful matron ala Florence Vidor, but an engaging and sensual female with an over-flowing life-source.This quality allowed her to play the vamp, the wronged hoyden, and the misunderstood heroine with pure perfection.Kay Francis also lent grace and sophistication to her diva-in-the-drawing-room roles,which, though less demanding,required a certain level of lacquered precision,a quality that she had,personally, in excess.

Hollywood traditionally allows its actresses to be sexy,complicated,vital and grown for the span of a few years.That triumphant phase is hemmed in by two endless deserts, those of prolonged youth and premature crone-hood.Dishearteningly few women have been able to strike the mold to the ground,breaking it beyond repair.Tallulah Bankhead comes to my mind as a simmering example of commanding and sexual womanhood, but her film career was spotty,contentious and largely marginal.

Kay Francis was Paramount's maven of melodrama for nearly a decade,before her career was hobbled,though not ended, by inclusion on The Hollywood Reporter's underhanded "Box Office Poison" list, in 1938.A reputation for tetchiness and personal drama was certainly no help.Fate is not a mistress of respect;she cares not a whit for talent,or a fig for incandescence:most Hollywood careers are of relatively short duration.In a market constantly over-sated--even 70 years ago, when attention spans were arguably not as fickle as they have become--staying in the spotlight is nearly impossible.Therefore,it is what you do while it flickers across your face that counts.

Kay Francis left a unique impression on film, proving that women are indelibly beautiful and compelling when allowed full expression to be themselves,and to grow into maturation as ripening and rooted beings.

PHOTO:KAY FRANCIS IN 'THE FEMININE TOUCH' (1941)

Stay tuned:In Part II, I will discuss the films of Kay Francis.