Frances Upton

Biography

Actress/comedienne Frances Upton appeared on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s with featured roles in 'Ziegfeld Follies of 1928' and 'Whoopee' co-starring Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in the 'George White's Scandals' revues and played the Palace Theater in New York, the most prestigious vaudeville house in America. She performed on a 1929 NBC network shortwave radio broadcast to Admiral Byrd's expedition to the South Pole. In 1931 she starred on one of the very first experimental television broadcasts in New York City, appearing with Gertrude lawrence, Lionel Atwill and boxer Primo Carnera. She is also reported to have written at least two mystery novels while affiliated with the Ziegfeld Follies. Her father Francis Upton was a decorated New York City detective (he arrested associates of Charles Becker, who was convicted and executed for the 1912 murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal) and World War I veteran. Her grandfather William Cleary Upton was an Irish nationalist and author of a controversial novel, "Uncle Pat's Cabin," detailing Irish tenant farming in the 1880s She retired from show business in 1933 upon marrying Philadelphia businessman deBenneville "Bert" Bell; she lent him the money to purchase the Philadelphia Eagles NFL franchise, which he owned until 1940. He was commissioner of the NFL from 1946 until his death in 1959.