Examining the Films and Career of Child Actress and Singer Betty Brewer
This is a bit of a different episode. There are two mid 19th century actresses and singers by the name of Betty Brewer and though efforts have been made online to separate their careers, they remain enmeshed. Indeed, I found that newspapers were confusing the two even back when they were active. This episode distinguishes who did what, focusing on the Betty Brewer who was a singer before she became a child actress, daughter of an Ozark lead miner. This was part of the studio hype, that she came from harsh circumstances, which was questioned by some reviewers (it was true). Another part of the studio hype was that she was unattractive, which wasn't true, she instead wasn't glamorous. She was supposed to connect as the honest, down home girl. Betty came out strong and quickly faded. I don't know what happened, but as a distant relative I took an interest, watched her films, and was surprised at how good she was. This episode examines the several movies she was in that are available for viewing.