Evelyn Francisco ~ The Bathing Beauty

Evelyn Francisco

Evelyn Francisco was a Mack Sennet bathing beauty who had a brief acting career

She was born Evelyn Francisca Bartman on August 13, 1904 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sadly her father, John Bartman, died in 1910. Evelyn began acting on the stage when she was a child. She and her two sisters, Betty Francisco and Margaret Francisco, performed in vaudeville as the "The Dancing Francisco Sisters". At the age of nineteen she was chosen to be one of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties. Evelyn spent a lot of time posing for pin-up photos on the beach. In 1923 made her film debut in the Mack Sennett comedy short Flip Flops. She appeared in numerous shorts including Bashful Jim, He Who Gets Smacked, His New Mamma, and The Hollywood Kid.

Evelyn FranciscoEvelyn Francisco Magazine

Betty Francisco Evelyn Francisco
Evelyn (right) with her sister Betty Francisco

Unfortunately her acting career never really took off. Her final film was the 1928 drama The Godless Girl. Evelyn married Samuel Bernheim, a wealthy businessman, on September 25, 1929. They had two children - Bernard and Rosemary. Tragically in 1934 her husband Samuel died from a heart ailment. During the 1940s she married Frances Stearns, a rancher. The couple lived a quiet life away from the spotlight. In 1950 her older sister Betty Francisco passed away from a heart attack. Sadly on January 27, 1963 Evelyn died suddenly at the age of fifty-eight. Her cause of death was not made public. She was cremated and her ashes were buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.