Vamp ♦ W.S. Van Dyke ♦ Bayard Veiller ♦ Venus ♦ A Very Private Scandal ♦ The Vice Squad ♦ King Vidor ♦ Helen Vinson ♦ The Virtuous Sin
Vamp. A sexy, seductive (and usually scheming and manipulative) type of character which Kay was typecast in during her early film years. “I don’t want to be a bad woman in too many pictures in succession. Too much glamour, too much sin, repeated often, becomes monotonously dull. I’m speaking now about the screen, of course!” (PL)
Kay played vamps in many of her early films: 1929’s Gentlemen of the Press, Dangerous Curves, Illusion & The Marriage Playground and 1930’s Behind the Make-Up, A Notorious Affair & Passion Flower. She played a sexy con-woman in The Cocoanuts (1929) and The False Madonna (1931). She was the villainous wife of Cary Grant in In Name Only (1939), though the part wasn’t really a sexy one. But she did triumphantly return to the sexy, manipulative character-type in Divorce (1945).
Van Dyke, Woody. Co-directed 1931’s Guilty Hands with Lionel Barrymore and fully directed 1941’s Feminine Touch.
Veiller, Bayard. In October 1927 Kay appeared in the Veiller comedy “Amateur Anne.” Later, he worked on the screenplay for 1931’s Guilty Hands, one of her best early films. Other notable works include two of his writings, The Trial of Mary Dugan (made into a 1929 film with Norma Shearer) and Within the Law (made into a 1930 film titled Paid, with Joan Crawford).
Venus. One of Kay’s stage productions in the 1920s. See the Stage Page for further information.
Very Private Scandal. The working title for Trouble in Paradise.
Vice Squad, The. Paramount, 1931. Directed by John Cromwell. Stars Paul Lukas. Kay has only a small role Paramount originally wanted to give Fay Wray.
Vidor, King. Legendary Hollywood director who directed Ronald Colman and Kay in 1932’s Cynara, which was produced by Samuel Goldwyn.
Vinson, Helen. (September 17, 1907 – October 7, 1999) Supporting actress who worked with Kay in 1932’s Jewel Robbery and in 1939’s In Name Only as Kay’s two-faced friend sleeping with her onscreen husband, Cary Grant (before his affair with Lombard begins in the film).
Virtuous Sin, The. Paramount, 1931. Directed by George Cukor and Louis Gasnier. Kay’s second film with Walter Huston. Her only film with husband Kenneth Mackenna. They met on the set and married the following year.
Cukor of course became famous for directing nearly all of the major actresses of the time, while Gasnier later directed cult films like Reefer Madness. (Odd pairing, right?)