The Kay Francis Box Office Information
This is one of the most difficult projects to complete for any classic film star, finding out how much money their films actually made upon initial release. Unfortunately, it is very time consuming and involves a lot of help from outside sources, for those who helped me I am truly grateful. This list is far from complete, but I want to thank the staff at the University of Southern California Film Library (especially Ned Comstock) for sending me the majority of the grosses for Francis’ films from Warner Bros. Click here to visit their webpage for their Cinematic Arts collection. The financial information I received from USC was taken directly from the William Schaefer ledger, the financial records for the Warner Bros. film studios during the time of Kay Francis’ employment.
For the features Passion Flower (1930), Guilty Hands (1931), and Storm At Daybreak (1933), I took the information from an article titled “MGM Film Grosses, 1924 – 1948” published in the Historical Journal of Film, Television, and Radio, Vol. 12, No. 2 [1992]. The article was written by H. Mark Glancy. That information was taken from the Eddie Mannix financial information for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studios. Unfortunately, in the article there was no information for The Feminine Touch (1941).The information for In Name Only (1939), made at RKO, was taken from “RKO Film Grosses 1929-1951”, published in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Volume 14, Issue 1, [1994]. The article was written by Richard B. Jewell, with a commentary by C.J. Trevlin. Thanks to Jewell for sending me numbers for the other films Francis completed for RKO: Transgression (1931), Little Men (1940), and Play-Girl (1941).
Regarding the two features Kay Francis completed for 20th Century-Fox, Charley’s Aunt (1941) and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944), the financial information available was from Aubrey Solomon’s Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, published in 1988 by Scarecrow Filmmaker Series.
Information for Trouble In Paradise (1932) came from The Complete Kay Francis Career Record, by Lynn Kear and John Rossman, published in 2008 by McFarland. Information regarding profits from Mandalay, Wonder Bar, and Doctor Monica (all 1934) was pulled directly from Mark Vieira’s Sin in Soft Focus, published in 1999 by Abrams. I am not aware of how Mr. Vieira received the numbers for the profits made from those three films.
It should be noted by all readers that the William Schaefer ledger does not include information regarding profits or losses for the film information recorded. In the article “Warner Bros. Film Grosses, 1921-1951”, also published in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, the top ten grossing movies of each year were presented. The films on the following chart in purple text represent the movies which were on that list, indicating that they were indeed on the top-ten list of the highest-grossing films for Warner Bros. in their released years.
The blank spaces on the chart below represent missing data from the films Miss Francis completed between in which no information could be currently found. Please note that this chart begins with Passion Flower, her 14th movie, because no information from her previous films is in my collection. For simplicity, I left the gaps instead of listing the numerous titles for which I have no information. Some films which I have no information are on this because it followed her filmography without leaving enormous blank spaces on the chart. A “-” on the chart indicates I do not have a number for that figure.
If you have any information on where I can obtain box office information for any films of Kay Francis in order to complete this chart, please email me.
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Scott O’Brien, author of Kay Francis: I Can’t Wait to be Forgotten, for putting me in touch with James Robert Parish who co-wrote, among numerous other books, the first retrospect article ever written on Kay Francis. Parish’s “Kay Francis’ Complete Career” was published in the February, 1964 edition of Films in Review. That article is of major importance not only because it was the first of its kind, but because Parish was also able to send a copy to Miss Francis personally. Click here to visit O’Brien’s site. Click here to visit Parish’s site.
A big thanks to Parish for putting me in touch with the right people.
[The cost of production for Trouble in Paradise, as well as the profits listed for Mandalay, Wonder Bar, and Doctor Monica are listed in
the whole numerical amounts.]
| Film | Cost of Production | Domestic Gross | Foreign Gross | Total Gross |
Profit/(Loss)
|
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Passion Flower (1930) | $259 | $470 | $172 | $642 | $138 |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Transgression (1931) | $279 | $269 | $41 | $310 | ($85) |
| Guilty Hands (1931) | $152 | $452 | $234 | $686 | $282 |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Man Wanted (1932) | $171 | $258 | $59 | $317 | – |
| Street of Women (1932) | $195 | $250 | $89 | $339 | – |
| Jewel Robbery (1932) | $308 | $316 | $110 | $426 | – |
| One-Way Passage (1932) | $350 | $791 | $371 | $1,108 | – |
| Trouble In Paradise (1932) | $519,706 | $475 | – | – | – |
| Cynara (1932) | – | – | – | – | – |
| The Keyhole (1933) | $167 | $301 | $227 | $528 | – |
| Storm at Daybreak (1933) | $280 | $302 | $334 | $636 | $121 |
| Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) | $150 | $360 | $139 | $499 | – |
| I Loved A Woman (1933) | $338 | $381 | $168 | $549 | – |
| The House on 56th Street (1933) | $211 | $410 | $284 | $694 | – |
| Mandalay (1934) | $294 | $346 | $273 | $619 | $83,462 |
| Wonder Bar (1934) | $675 | – | – | $2,035 | $756,962 |
| Doctor Monica (1934) | $167 | $294 | $140 | $434 | $70,962 |
| British Agent (1934) | $475 | $532 | $390 | $922 | – |
| Living on Velvet (1935) | $276 | $334 | $170 | $504 | – |
| Stranded (1935) | $348 | $349 | $217 | $566 | – |
| The Goose and the Gander (1935) | $245 | $329 | $177 | $506 | – |
| I Found Stella Parish (1935) | $392 | $461 | $374 | $835 | – |
| The White Angel (1936) | $506 | $886 | $530 | $1,416 | – |
| Give Me Your Heart (1936) | $436 | $633 | $402 | $1,035 | – |
| Stolen Holiday (1937) | $524 | $502 | $272 | $774 | – |
| Another Dawn (1937) | $552 | $572 | $473 | $1,045 | – |
| Confession (1937) | $513 | $457 | $187 | $644 | – |
| First Lady (1937) | $485 | $322 | $102 | $424 | – |
| Women Are Like That (1938) | $403 | $315 | $117 | $432 | – |
| My Bill (1938) | $197 | $376 | $183 | $559 | – |
| Secrets of An Actress (1938) | $345 | $273 | $115 | $388 | – |
| Comet Over Broadway (1938) | $258 | $196 | $149 | $345 | – |
| King of the Underworld (1939) | $235 | $319 | $179 | $498 | – |
| Women in the Wind (1939) | $301 | $260 | $88 | $348 | – |
| In Name Only (1939) | $772 | $926 | $395 | $1,321 | $155 |
| It’s a Date (1940) | – | – | – | – | – |
| When the Daltons Rhode (1940) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Little Men (1940) | $424 | $216 | $118 | $334 | ($214) |
| Play Girl (1941) | $221 | $219 | $95 | $314 | ($16) |
| The Man Who Lost Himself (1941) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Charley’s Aunt (1941) | $650 | $2,400 | – | – | – |
| The Feminine Touch (1941) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Always in My Heart (1942) | $515 | $524 | $1,574 | $2,098 | – |
| Between Us Girls (1942) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) | $1,125 | – | – | – | – |