Betsy Ross
About Betsy Ross
Betsy Griscom, played by Alice Brady, meets the British officer Clarence Vernon against her Quaker parents' wishes. He promises to marry her when he returns. Her sister Clarissa marries the trader Joseph Ashburn. Joseph fights Vernon and strikes him down. A year later Betsy marries John Ross. After his death she keeps a small shop, hides Clarissa, who was turned out when she could not show a marriage certificate, and is asked by General Washington to make the first American flag. She is accused of hiding a spy who is in fact Clarissa's husband. The relations are explained and the film ends on that clearing.
Cast & crew
More about Betsy Ross
Travers Vale directed. Alice Brady's father, William A. Brady, produced and distributed the picture. Arthur L. Todd and Max Schneider are credited on the camera. George MacQuarrie plays Washington. Frank Mayo plays Vernon and John Bowers plays Ashburn. The film survives.
Themes
Background
The story uses the Revolutionary War and the commission to sew a flag for Washington.
Look
Arthur L. Todd and Max Schneider photographed the historical drama.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The Chicago Board of Censors ordered cuts of a sword thrust, a second death in the duel, two intertitles, a vision of the duel, and the firing of an execution squad.
- One of the cut intertitles is a racial insult. It is not repeated here.
Scenes
- Washington commissions Betsy to make the flag.
- She is accused of sheltering a spy who is her sister's husband.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-betsy-ross)
