Kay Francis A favorite of mine, who to my mind did most of her best work in the pre-Code years and just after, was Kay Francis. A stunning tall, dark beauty, her persona was enhanced by a sultry voice inflected with a slight speech impediment— rather like that of Barbara Walters—which led to the nickname “Wavishing Kay Fwancis.” One of her first films was the Marx Brothers’ Cocoanuts (fig. 147), and she then went on to star in another great (though very different) comedy, Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise (fig. 91), which anticipated the screwball comedy style that would thrive after the introduction of the Code, as humor took the place of overt sexuality (at the same time providing opportunities for more subtle eroticism).
left 88. One Way Passage U.S. (1932) Warner Bros. Insert 36 × 14 in. (91.4 × 35.6 cm)
94
above Opposite 89. Jewel Robbery 90. Confession U.S. (1937) U.S. (1932) Warner Bros. Warner Bros. One-sheet One-sheet 41 × 27 in. 41 × 27 in. (104.1 × 68.6 cm) (104.1 × 68.6 cm)