Blonde American silent screen actress Betty Francisco (born Elizabeth Bartman) had appeared in two seasons with the Follies when she made her screen debut opposite William Desmond in The Broadway Cowboy (1920). It was a co-starring role but it didn't make Francisco a star; for that, frankly, her talent was far too limited and she was far better cast in "other woman" roles opposite major female stars such as Norma Talmadge or Barbara La Marr. Francisco was voted a 1923 WAMPAS Baby Star by the Hollywood publicists but the title did less for her than such contemporaries as Eleanor Boardman and Laura La Plante. She did her share of leads, of course, but mainly in what can only very generously be termed B-movies. Although she survived the changeover to sound, Francisco's name dropped to near the bottom of the cast lists in films such as Broadway Bad (1933), a terrible backstage melodrama which the New York Times deemed an accurate description only if read backwards. A sister, the equally beautiful Evelyn Francisco, appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1929) and a few other films.
by Hans J. Wollstein
biography
