As for an education, little is known about where Kay received her school learning. Both her mother and Kay herself later made claims about Kay’s childhood that aren’t true. For instance, Katharine (Kay’s mom) said Kay attended Holy Angels in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and Notre Dame Academy in Roxbury, Massachusetts, but there are no records of Kay’s attendance at either school. In reality, Kay received her education at the Ossining School for Girls in Ossining, New York and St. Mary’s School in Garden City, NY. Kay ticked her mother off when she dropped out of high school, but Kay made plans for secretarial school where she ditched the idea to marry James Dwight Francis on December 4, 1922. James was 25 to Kay’s 17, and from what she implied in her diary, he was somewhat of a sexual deviant, though Kay didn’t seem to mind, as her diary entries conclude. Predictably, the marriage ended in the spring of 1925, and Kay left for Pairs where she indulged herself sexually with both men and women, resulting in her first abortion. After returning from Europe, Kay set her sights on the acting game.

In reality, it made sense for Kay to want a life on the stage; she had practically been raised on one. Her mother doubted her daughter’s abilities to make a career as an actress. By the 1920s, Katharine Clinton (Kay’s mom) was still a complete unknown and her chances at superstardom where slim to none (by then, Katharine had also done some prostitution for money). Kay’s friends didn’t offer much support either. As with her future contemporaries, Kay’s ambition would lead her to the top of her profession, but it was a long road to the top. She started modeling in 1925, her picture had even appeared in the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar. However, she had two major setbacks against her: her height (5’7) and her speech impediment which not only slurred her ‘r’s and ‘l’s, but also left her with a slight stutter. But she managed to get a part in The Shanghai Gesture and a small role in Hamlet -neither was a success, Hamlet only lasted eighty-eight performances.

Her next Broadway feature was in a 1927 production of Crime, in which she played Marjorie Grey, in a show which ran for 186 performances. After that, Kay was cast in Venus, in which she played Diana Gibbs, in a play which ran for only eight performances and was a devastating flop. Between performances, Kay was the ideal flapper of the 1920s. She enjoyed partying, drinking, and her sexual adventures with both men and women. In 1937, a writer for Silver Screen magazine later recalled of Kay’s New York adventure, “It was in those gay pre-depression days of 1927 to 1930 that our Miss Francis practically became the belle of New York. Charming, chic, poised, and the most smartly dressed woman in any night club, it is no wonder that men went mad over her.”

It was Neysa McMein, a portrait artist, who secured Kay with the job which turned her entire career around, a portrait of Kay for the cover of McCall’s magazine. After being cast in the Broadway production of Elmer the Great, there are a few versions of what convinced Paramount to sign Kay for her film debut in Gentlemen of the Press. Two of the stories involve the very popular Walter Huston. The first says that Kay had to pay Walter for the part, the other says she just asked and got it. However, Ward Morehouse, a screenwriter for Gentlemen of the Press, claimed that he was responsible for Kay’s casting. The latter two are more than likely true. But Kay’s film debut was hailed by critics as, “The best film debut by an actor ever made.”

In testing for the role, Kay latter remembered, “My face was shiny and I looked like the devil. I disappeared for ten days. When they finally found me and said they wanted me to sign a contract, I nearly dropped dead.” That contract was for the Paramount Astoria Studio in New York City. The studio didn’t know what to do with Kay and her physical traits didn’t help, at first. With her mannish haircut, lean build and grey eyes, studio executives accused her of looking “too butch lesbian.” But audiences took note of her Art Deco, vamp-like looks, and she was brought out to Hollywood in 1929 after completing two films for the Astoria Studio. Her first Hollywood production was Dangerous Curves, with Clara Bow in the leading role. In retrospect, it was the typical Hollywood tale of the new star on the set of one whose appeal is dimming considerably.

On the Paramount lot, Kay fit in immediately into the social life, including sexual relationships with a few of the younger female starlets, like herself, on the lot. She had affairs with Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, and even Gary Cooper. Kay’s Paramount features are extremely interesting because of their rarity. Not one, with the exception of Raffles, with Ronald Colman, and Trouble in Paradise are ever revived on television or film festivals. But within her first few months in Hollywood, Kay had appeared in several features, including a Technicolor act in Paramount’s revue-like feature, Paramount on Parade.

With films like The Virtuous Sin, Notorious Affair, and Girls About Town, and a few pairings with William Powell, Kay was becoming a star in her own right. But when she switched over to the Warner Brothers lot for more money, Kay would become a major star in little, old Hollywood, only to seriously regret the Paramount-Warners transition for the rest of her Hollywood days.