Noel Francis

Pretty Noel Francis came to Hollywood after attracting the attention of Fox talent scouts and was signed to a contract in 1929. Born in Temple, Texas, she grew up in Dallas and had studied at Southern Methodist University and Columbia. Like so many other hopefuls who had little theatrical background, she thought to get by on good looks alone. As it turned out, Noel had quite a bit of talent, but perhaps not quite enough to propel her to stardom. She did have a stint back in 1925 in the Ziegfeld Follies and made a minor splash with Wheeler and Woolsey in "Rio Rita". Alas, musicals were briefly out of vogue in the early 30s and Noel was dropped by Fox. Luckily for her, she was contracted by Warner Brothers in 1932 for an entirely different genre and ended up as a street-wise gangsters moll in the company of James Cagney (Blonde Crazy (1931)), Edward G. Robinson (Smart Money (1931)), Humphrey Bogart (Up the River (1930)), Edmund Lowe (Guilty as Hell (1932)), George Raft (Under-Cover Man (1932)) and Paul Muni (I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)). Though Noel turned out to be very much at home as a minor wisecracking blonde in supporting roles, her tenure at Warners was sadly short-lived and she was eventually dumped by the studio and relegated to (what at least amounted to starring) in low-budget Poverty Row productions like Reform Girl (1933) and What's Your Racket? (1934). She made one final attempt to resuscitate her stage career on Broadway with a lead in "Satellite", a farce which closed miserably after a solitary showing in November 1935. Thereafter, it was all downhill for poor Noel. Her looks now fading, her last three films were all second feature westerns at Universal -- courtesy of her close friend, Buck Jones, -- and she left the movie business for good in 1937.