Random Article Summary #149

Mae Bacon (3 April 1897 – 3 June 1981) was a British actress. She was sometimes credited under the name Mai Bacon. At the time of The Great War, her father, Hartley Bacon, lived in Roundhay, Leeds. Mae Bacon was the eldest daughter in her family. Mae Bacon appeared at Sheffield Aviation Week in March–April 1914, sponsored by the Sheffield Independent and promoted as “Little Miss Independent.” On 2 April, she flew in a Blackburn Type I monoplane with pilot Harold Blackburn, helping deliver souvenir copies of the Sheffield Independent to Chesterfield. During the early part of World War I, Mae Bacon performed at charity concerts and entertained wounded soldiers in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In February 1915 she appeared in a Leeds amateur dramatic society comedy, and early reports described her doing comedic male impersonations; she became a professional actress later that year. By 1928 she starred in the musical play Lumber Love in Leeds, and by 1933 she was well known across Yorkshire for her musical comedy roles. In 1933, Mae Bacon played a London-accented barmaid in the first film adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s humorous novel The Good Companions, which starred well-known actors like John Gielgud. She said she enjoyed film work and hoped for more roles, ideally with a happy, laughing audience. In the 1930s, she continued acting in several musical and romantic comedies, including The Public Life of Henry the Ninth (1935), Second Best Bed (1939), and Riding High (1939). In 1939 Mae Bacon joined ENSA and during World War II she entertained armed forces as a comedian and singer, both in Britain and overseas. She regularly appeared in concert parties with musicians such as Arthur Anton and also performed with Denis Darling and Dorothy James, returning to London in March 1940 after 15 weeks entertaining troops in freezing conditions in France. After helping trap two suspected spies while in France, she reached her 2,500th ENSA show in June 1945 while performing for British troops in Germany shortly after VE-Day.