the mid-1930s. No More Ladies (1935) co-starred Robert Montgomery and then-husband Franchot Tone, and was a success. Crawford had long pleaded with MGM's head Louis B. Mayer to cast her in more dramatic roles, and although he was reluctant, he cast her in the sophisticated comedy-drama I Live My Life (1935), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and it was well received by critics. She next starred in The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), opposite Robert Taylor and Lionel Barrymore, as well as Tone. It was a critical and box-office success, and became one of Crawford's biggest hits of the decade. Love on the Run (1936), a romantic comedy directed by W. S. Van Dyke, was her seventh film co-starring Clark Gable. "Box office poison" Even though Crawford remained a respected MGM actress, and her films still earned profits, her popularity declined in the late 1930s. In 1937, Crawford was proclaimed the first "Queen of the Movies" by Life magazine. She unexpectedly slipped from seventh to sixteenth place at the box office that year, and her public popularity also began to wane. Richard Boleslawski's comedy-drama The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) teamed her opposite William Powell in their sole screen pairing. The film was also Crawford's last box-office success before the onset of her "box office poison" period. She co-starred opposite Franchot Tone for the seventh—and final—time in The Bride Wore Red (1937). The film was generally unfavorably reviewed by the majority of critics. It also ran a financial loss, becoming one of MGM's biggest failures of the year. Mannequin, co-starring Spencer Tracy, also released in 1937 did, as the New York Times stated, "restore Crawford to her throne as queen of the working girls". On May 3, 1938, Crawford—along with Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Luise Rainer, John Barrymore, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Río, and others—was dubbed "Box Office Poison" in an open letter in the Independent Film Journal. The list was submitted by Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association of America. Brandt stated that while these stars had "unquestioned" dramatic abilities, their high salaries did not reflect in their ticket sales, thus hurting the movie exhibitors involved. Crawford's follow-up movie, Frank Borzage's The Shining Hour (1938), also starring Margaret Sullavan and Melvyn Douglas, was well received by critics, but it was a box-office flop. She made a comeback in 1939 with her role as home-wrecker Crystal