Masterpiece Selection that Capture the Essence of Betsy Ross: Cult Guide

Dir: George Cowl

After being betrayed and then cast off by attorney Phidias Trent, Rita Castle places her infant daughter Alicia in a convent. A short time later, Rita marries Ralph Christie, a widower and the father of a little boy, Dick. When Christie learns of Rita's past, however, he divorces her. Years later, Trent, now happily married, is nominated for district attorney, and Rita, who has become a political lobbyist, decides that it is time to extract her revenge and threatens to expose Trent. Trent's campaign manager, Hal Clement, in turn threatens to reveal Rita's former life to Alicia, who has met and fallen in love with Dick. Clement then assaults Alicia, and Rita, returning home, shoots and kills him. It is the duty of Trent, the new district attorney, to prosecute Rita. She informs him that her daughter is also his child. Ralph and Dick come to Rita's aid, but she dies of heart failure in Trent's office after declaring that Alicia is an adopted child, thus shielding her daughter's name from disgrace.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Betsy Ross perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: George Cowl

Kindhearted Charles Wendel, who has built his pushcart grocery business into a prosperous enterprise, adopts little eight-year-old Mary Brian after her mother dies in poverty. The little girl becomes the angel of the house, beloved by all. Wendel's dream is that his son Ralph will carry on the business, but when Ralph graduates from college, he decides that he is too good for the grocery business. Instead, he goes to work in a bank where he falls prey to swindlers who convince him to forge his father's name on a $100,000 check. When the forgery is discovered, the old man covers the check at the cost of his own financial ruin. Ralph, chagrined, leaves home to make good and soon after returns, prosperous, to wed Mary and restore the fortune and happiness of the Wendel family.