Customer Reviews

Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten

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Scott O'Brien has worked very hard to produce a tremendous biography of the beautiful actress and film star Miss Kay Francis. There are many wonderul photographs and ads, the most interesting being the material from the plays that Kay Francis starred in on Broadway and on tour. There are also several photographs of Kay Francis taken after her retirement and they show her to be a beautiful woman. Some years ago, George Eells produced a book entitled "Ginger, Loretta, and Irene Who?". This book contained a chapter on Kay Francis that provided a compelling life and career history. However, Eells focused on the negative aspects of Kay's life. Scott O'Brien accessed the actress' diaries and had the cooperation of Kay's close friend actress Jetti Preminger Ames and her family. Scott has done a superb job with this biography of an actress who is fondly remembered by some of us. You won't be disappointed with this book! It is one of the greatest biographies of an actress that I have read!

Scott O'Brien--you magnificent, astonishing fool you! Imagine spending so many years of your life researching the life of a forgotten screen actress from the 1930s, a woman who is barely remembered nowadays! Why fling your undoubted energies after such a quixotic goal? If you must write about old Hollywood, why not write about someone people have heard of, like Joan Crawford, Garbo, Clark Gable? If you want to go obscure, how about Norma Shearer? But for goodness sake, Kay Francis!?! Scott O'Brien, you have labored in the vineyards where angels fear to tread!

As it turns out, I CAN'T WAIT TO BE FORGOTTEN is starlore of a very high order, and if you want an engrossing examination of a great Hollywood personality, this is the book for you. Kay Francis may be little remembered today, but all that is about to change as succeeding generations pick up on the glory that is her screen presence. Born in Oklahoma City ("by mistake," she bitterly commented) in 1905, Francis dabbled in high society and became the social secretary to rich dowagers while pining for Broadway stardom in New York. Her own madcap ways were fueled by the great rush to sexual and economic freedom pursued by many women in the wake of World War I, in which they had been asked for so many sacrifices without even having the right to vote. Scott O'Brien is a sensitive cultural historian and writes with perception about this, the so-called "flapper era," showing us that Kay Francis' fabled and open sexuality was part and parcel of the times in which she grew up.

After an interesting apprenticeship at Paramount Studios, Francis signed a long-term contract with Warner Brothers, and for a time in the early 1930s she became the queen of the lot, eventually rising in salary and status to the absolute heights of success. She was the highest paid actor of them all, and therein lay her tragedy, for Jack Warner turned against her and forced her against her will to play out her contract in increasingly shabby B movies. Late in life, she and her Warner Bros rival, Bette Davis, sat down and let down their hair about their disputes with Warners. Why did you keep making those B movies, Bette asked Kay. Because she was in it for the money, Kay replied. Bette said she walked away, because she was in it for the career.

Kay became a victim of public scrutiny for her shabby studio treatment was the talk of the nation. Eventually she left Warners, and the films she made afterwards, for other studios, are indeed, as O'Brien points out, among the best and most rewarding of her career, culminating in the "Monogram Trilogy" (DIVORCE, ALLOTMENT WIVES, WIFE WANTED) which sound like horrors but instead crackle with noir energy and a gritty raw realism miles removed from the somewhat grand products (like THE WHITE ANGEL, a biopic of Florence Nightingale) of Warners' A list.

Despite love affairs with Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, and even gay stars like Nils Asther, Kay's great love seems to have been a German nobleman who broke off their engagement, as the Second World War loomed, to go back and fight for Hitler. Although she never knew it, he killed himself shortly after Pearl Harbor, far away in Nazi Germany. It was like a scene from one of her great romantic movies, but twisted somehow, bizarre and bewildering.

It turns out that she wasn't even a lesbian, not really, though she had some passionate interludes with a woman here and there. That she was a lesbian O'Brien traces back to a canard propagated by Phil Silvers, her co-star in FOUR JILLS AND A JEEP.

When Kay Francis said, "I can't wait to be forgotten," could she have somehow known that indeed the halls of memory would have been so thoroughly scrubbed clean? No matter now, for thanks to the incredible, noble efforts of author Scott O'Brien, and the hard work of the folks at Bear Manor Media, O'Brien's publisher, a new star has risen, and her name is Kay Francis. You can't keep genius down, even if it speaks with a lisp that turns all one's "r"s to "w"s.

Scott O'Brien has pulled off an amazing feat. Kay Francis lived a vigorous and, for the time, unconventional life that could easily be turned into the sleazy tabloid fare all too common (and popular)today. Yet O'Brien has managed to present a vivid, highly readable, and scrupulously researched account without a single trace of nudge-nudge-wink-wink salaciousness or its nearly as unpleasant opposite, sychophantic can-do-no-wrong fan worship. I confess I had started reading with the plan to hop-skip to films I know and love, but I found myself engrossed on every page. I have long been a great fan of Miss Francis's films, but I now appreciate her work far more. (The ONLY small flaw with the book is the typos noted by other reviewers, but this could easily be fixed in a subsequent edition.) The writing is bright and lively. The pictures are great. The author's ability to present a complex and fascinating personality in the context of her times is superb.

Scott O'brien's biography takes a determinedly positive look at the life and career of one of classic film's enigmas, Kay Francis. For a time the highest-paid woman in the U.S. as well as one of Hollywood's most popular stars, Francis fell quickly from the public eye and never achieved the lasting fame that even today keeps vital the reputations of many of her contemporaries.

The author makes a relatively convincing case that, in many ways, that relative obscurity would not have a posed a problem for this distinctive and definitely underrated star. He chronicles her climb to the top, her unwillingness to fight to stay there, and the many ways in which she occupied the decades that followed her departure from the screen in the mid-forties. As other reviewers have noted, the book is if nothing else a balance to earlier writing on Francis's life, which has concentrated on rumors of alcoholism and personal misery at the expense of her professional and personal reputation.

Two things keep "I Can't Wait to be Forgotten" from the front-ranks of Hollywood biographies. The first is beyond the author's control: with little primary material to draw on nearly forty years after the actress's death, O'brien is forced to rely heavily on contemporary magazine stories and the relatively few previous sources that have commented on Francis's life and work. The second, however, could have been remedied and sadly impedes the reader's progress as well as one's confidence in the author's reliability, and that is editing: the book is littered with typos and minor errors (ranging from referring to Russia's last tsarina as "Empress Alexandria" to mentioning the gods who live on "Mr. Olympus") that force one to wonder about what other problems may be lurking.

Still, the comparative dearth of material on this important figure make the book a welcome addition to one's bookshelf, if only because it provides an opportunity to reflect on a life that is both a classic tale of a performer's rise and fall and a look at how Kay Francis in the end resisted being defined only by her onscreen image.

Finally a biography on that great forgotten 30's star Kay Francis! Except for a chapter in George Eels book, "Ginger, Loretta and Irene Who?" which came out 30 yrs ago, nothing has been written about this fascinating, elegant lady. Now within a space of a month, there are 2 books out. About time. I have not read the other book, but I can give this book an unqualified RAVE. Kay was one of the biggest stars of the 30's, but you'd hardly know that now as she's largely forgotten, except by film buffs. She was hugely popular among women fans who flocked to her every film to see Kay suffer nobly in 30's soap operas while wearing over the top Orry-Kelly gowns. Sadly, she was sabotaged by her own studio, Warner Brothers, who, while trying to get her to break her contract, forced her to finish out her days on the lot making B movies. Kay had the last laugh, forcing them to pay her huge salarly and staying on till the end. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and her career never recovered, though she continued to make films into the mid-40's. Why exactly Warner Bros. sacrificed its biggest female star still remains a mystery, as does Kay's decision to endure the humiliation when she could have easily free lanced elsewhere. Was it all about money? Most of her Warner Bros work doesnt hold up well, but that's not Kay's fault. Time after time she was cast in formula soap operas where the plots seldom changed only the actors (and sometimes not even them!) Yet, watching them today (thanks to Turner Classic Movies which owns the Warner Bros. catalog from that time), Kay, while perhaps not making the movies believable, makes you believe SHE believes in the stories. No small feat. And the rare times she was given a first rate script, she always rose to the occasion. Check out her performances in Girls About Town, One Way Passage, Trouble In Paradise, In Name Only and you will see what I mean. She was more than a glamorous clothes horse. In hindsight, Kay would have been better off staying at Paramount (wish those Pre-Code films would show up on tv, as they sound more interesting than most of the scripts she was handed at Warner Bros.) as her personality was more simpatico with the European sensibilities and sophisticated comedies being made there. Warner Bros. was very much a man's studio and didnt know how to showcase her talent. This is a wonderfully written and researched book, long overdo about a much neglected star. A woman, who in many ways, lived a private life more interesting than any role she played. Eels' book portrayed her as a bitter, alcoholic recluse in her later years, but this seems not to be the case along with much that he wrote about her. Despite the title (a quote from Kay), I think she would be pleased that people DO remember her (though I doubt she'd be happy about the details of her hectic love life). And this book will go far in reestablishing her reputation. My only complaint is the cheap quality paper and the fact that none of the pictures (and there are many) are printed on glossy stock. I know this keeps the price down, but beautiful Kay deserved better. But if that helps the book sell better and more people read about Kay, maybe that's all for the good. Kay Francis deserves NOT to be forgotten! This is MUST reading for anyone interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood!

Kay Francis most likely won't get her wish, thanks to Scott O'Brien's carefully researched book. As long as her work on film endures, I believe, there will be interest and curiosity about who she really was away from the camera. "I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten" gives us a very clear picture of how she came to be one of the most glamourous and admired women in Hollywood. We get a glimpse of what gave her joy and what caused her pain. We also get an honest look at her character weaknesses and the over riding traits... honesty, courage, compassion and generosity. I highly recommend this book to movie fans who enjoy the films and stars of Hollywood's golden age.

"I Can't Wait to be Forgotten" does a remarkable job of paying homage to the stage and film career of Kay Francis. Background info, anecdotes and reviews show the breadth of Francis' work ...I have to take my hat off to the author... the book makes for fascinating reading. The author uses information from Francis' diaries to give a vivid impression of the real woman; O'Brien has integrated excerpts from Francis interviews: her voice, humor and intelligence carry the story. Francis' personal relationships consumed a lot of her energy - I was surprised to see just how prolific her love life was. When I finished, I felt like I knew the real Kay Francis and that's saying a lot considering most film biographies out there. I have seen only a few of her Paramount films, but O'Brien gives just enough detail to bring Francis' early film work to life. Highly recommended.

As a collector of fan magazines from the Twenties and Thirties, I became interested in Kay Francis, whose portraits
graced many a magazine cover and fashion feature. I rarely saw her movies on TV, and knew nothing about her except what I read in those old magazines. I was delighted to hear about the two recent biographies about her, and I found Scott O'Brien's book a
wonderful way to "get to know" this elusive star.
Exhaustingly researched, and highlighted with rare pictures, I quite honestly found it hard to put down. From Warner Brothers top actress in the early Thirties, to a featured player at the low budget Monogram Studios in the Forties, Miss
Francis handled her life with dignity, treating coworkers and
the public with respect and honesty. I felt that I knew her after reading this book, and I liked her very much.
Perhaps Miss Francis wanted to be forgotten, but thanks to wonderful books like Mr O'Brien's, she won't be. I recommend this book very highly. It's a wonderful tribute to a great personality.

I have always adored Kay Francis and wondered why she is so "forgotten". I guess she got her wish according to the title of this wonderfully written book.

Finally I feel like I know this wonderful actress. Anyone who gets TCM will appreciate their love for this actress. Many of her movies are shown regularly on this channel and I recommend many of them.

Lots of great never before seen pictures of Kay and details about each movie, her feelings,and parts of her personal diary are highlighted in this book.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who wishes to know more about Kay Francis.

Many do not know she left much of her money to charities and was a giving woman who helped many people in her lifetime. She had a wonderful philosophy of life that many can learn from.

Scott O'Brien did a lot of homework to present us with a highly readable review of a woman who lived well, made a lot of movies, treated her fellow human beings and her animals with respect, and is, thanks to TCM and two recent biographies, having a much-deserved revival. Some of us have been watching Kay's movies for a long time and have our favorites--there are classics like One Way Passage or Trouble In Paradise, but there is vintage wine, too, sweet sleepers like Mandalay or House on 56th Street or Confession--well-made soaps that are living fashion shows, magic with the designs of fashion master Orry-Kelly. (My nephew and I used to like to watch Kay's films and count the number of costume changes in a short 65 to 75 minute film!) O'Brien's book takes a conventional chronological approach to Kay's career, and has the advantage of notations from her succinct, no-nonsense diary, which often backs up or comments on her more public utterances, and certainly offers fascinating commentary on her numerous relationships. What I admire about O'Brien's book is his matter-of-fact approach, mainly avoiding sensationalism or salaciousness, and including details on almost every film, including contemporary as well as period criticism of her films. The big drawback to this first edition is mainly the cheap paper utilized for photographs--Kay, like Garbo and Dietrich, loved the camera and a selection of stills in the center would have been nice; there was also perhaps too much reliance on opinions from old friend Jetti Aimes, but her enthusiasm for Kay's honesty is understandable. Perhaps the success of this and other books will hasten the availability of more of her films on DVD--how about it, TCM?