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Mae Bacon (3 April 1897 – 3 June 1981) was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
actress. She was often credited as Mai Bacon. She was the eldest daughter of Hartley Bacon, who was living in
Roundhay Roundhay is a large suburb in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Roundhay had a population of 22,546 in 2011. It sits in the Roundhay (ward), Roundhay electoral, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds North East (UK Parliament constituen ...
, Leeds at the time of
The Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...
.


Promotional activities

Mai Bacon appeared at the Sheffield Aviation Week (28 March - 4 April 1914) sponsored by the ''Sheffield Independent'' newspaper, promoted as "Little Miss Independent". On 2 April she flew in the
Blackburn Type I The Blackburn Type I was a single-engine civil two-seat monoplane built in the United Kingdom in 1913 by the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company, Blackburn Aeroplane Company. Three were produced and used for flying demonstrations and Trainer ( ...
monoplane piloted by Harold Blackburn that delivered souvenir editions of the ''Sheffield Independent'' to Chesterfield.


Early acting career

During the early stages of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, she was often requested to perform at charity concerts and provided entertainment to wounded soldiers in the West Riding of
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. In February 1915, she appeared in a
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
Grosvenor Amateur Dramatic Society’s comedy ‘Brother Officers’. According to a contemporary news report, Bacon's early performances also included comedic male
impersonation An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that ...
routines. She became a professional actress later in 1915. In February 1928, she starred in the musical play ‘Lumber Love’ at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. There she appeared alongside a number of well-known entertainers, actors and singers of the early twentieth century such as Jamieson Dodds,
Joan Lockton Joan Rosamunde Lockton (4 September 1901 – 19 March 1973) was a British actress. In 1925 in Bloomsbury, she married Harry Levy, who managed traveling theatre revues. Selected filmography * '' The Disappearance of the Judge'' (1919) * '' Pill ...
, Dorie Sawyer, Fred Kitchen and Basil Howes' Plaza Tiller Girls. By 1933, she had become a well-known figure to theatre-goers throughout in Yorkshire as a whole and was known for her musical comedy roles.


Start of film career

In 1933, Bacon appeared as a London accented barmaid in the first film adaptation of J.B.Priestley's humorous novel '
The Good Companions ''The Good Companions'' is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929, it follows the fortunes of a Concert Party (entertainment), concert party on a tour of England. It is Priestley's most famous novel and established hi ...
' which featured famous actors such as
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...
. She stated herself in an interview that she went to a screening of the film in
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
and reported that 'Filmwork...is very interesting and fascinating and I hope to do more of it...but for preference please give me a happy laughing audience like this at Blackpool.' During the 1930s, she appeared in further musical comedy films such as The Public Life of Henry the Ninth (1935), the romantic comedy Second Best Bed (1939) and the Victorian set comedy Riding High (1939).


World War 2 and E.N.S.A performances

In 1939, she joined
ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...
and for the duration of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
she performed as a comedian and singer entertaining armed forces personnel at home and overseas. In 1940, Bacon apparently regularly performed with the violinist Arthur Anton as part of her
ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...
concert parties. She also performed with Baritone player Denis Darling and pianist Miss Dorothy James. In March 1940, she returned to London after spending 15 weeks entertaining British troops of the British Expeditionary Force in France. The tour which apparently kept going through the bitterly cold and notoriously bad winter of 1939–40 saw Bacon perform to soldiers in tents in freezing conditions. She claimed she had icicles on her dress during one ENSA concert party. A Yorkshire-based newspaper reported in April 1940 that Bacon had helped to trap two suspected spies whilst she was in France. Everything in the tour had gone as normal, until she arrived at a certain town where British troops were based. There, the military authorities warned her that there were two men in the town who they suspected were conducting espionage. In June 1945, the Lancashire Daily Post reported that she had completed her 2500th show since joining ENSA. This milestone was made while she was entertaining British troops in Germany in the weeks after
VE-Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of German Instrument of Surrender, Germany's unconditional surrender of Wehrmacht, its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official su ...
.


Later film and television career

The years following World War II marked a slight change in direction in her film career. She began taking roles in a wider variety of film genres. In 1951, she appeared in the crime drama Pool of London (1950–51) which was set against the backdrop of shipping and the
Port of London The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Se ...
. She also had a role in the detective drama The Delavine Affair (1955) which starred
Honor Blackman Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress and singer, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...
. She also had a part in the unusual
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
comedy Child's Play (1954) in which children are able to split the atom. She also appeared in an episode of The Veil entitled Jack the Ripper which was part of an American 11 episode horror TV series hosted by
Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...
. She still appeared in comedy-drama films and had a significant role as Maggie, the wife of the protagonist in the
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
centred comedy drama Up For The Cup. In the 1960s and 1970s, she appeared mainly in single episodes of particular television series such as the British police drama
No Hiding Place ''No Hiding Place'' is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV (TV network), ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series ''Murder Bag'' ...
, the BBC hospital drama Angels, and Yorkshire Television's Hadleigh.


Personal life

In early 1916, she married Lionel Calvert, who was the only son of the James Calvert of Danehill, Sussex. He was an officer in the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
. She was widowed shortly after marriage as Lionel was killed on the Western Front. Second-Lieutenant Lionel Calvert was killed on 30 January 1917 at
Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...
whilst assigned to a Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers. Bacon had been introduced to him by another serving officer, who later became a high-ranking officer in the RAF. In 1940, that particular officer, Air Vice Marshal
Patrick Playfair Air Marshal Sir Patrick Henry Lyon Playfair, (22 November 1889 – 23 November 1974) was a commander in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force until his retirement during the Second Worl ...
escorted Bacon to the cemetery where her late husband Lionel Calvert was buried during winter 1939–40. After being left a widow by the Great War, she married fellow movie actor
Morris Harvey Morris Harvey (25 September 187724 August 1944) was a British actor and writer. A renowned character actor, he also wrote for the stage, including material for Broadway theatre, Broadway revues, in which he also appeared. He was the stepfather of ...
, who predeceased her in 1944. Her marriage to Lionel Calvert produced a son named James Lionel. He went on to attend
Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprise ...
between 1931–4 and then joined the Royal Air Force. James had qualified as a pilot sometime before the outbreak of WW2. However, tragedy was to strike the family again on 20 September 1939, when he died of wounds after his
Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Ha ...
light bomber crashed while on a reconnaissance flight whilst serving with the RAF's 150 Squadron. The inscription on James's gravestone reads: "AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM".


Selected filmography

* ''
The Public Life of Henry the Ninth ''The Public Life of Henry the Ninth'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Bernard Mainwaring and starring Leonard Henry, Betty Frankiss, and George Mozart. This film was the first film made by Hammer Productions, and was Henry's film d ...
'' (1935) * '' Chick'' (1936) * '' Riding High'' (1937) * ''
Second Best Bed ''Second Best Bed'' is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Jane Baxter and Veronica Rose. The screenplay was by Ben Travers, based on an earlier story of his. The screenplay concerns a newly married couple who ...
'' (1938) * '' Double or Quits'' (1938) * ''
Ten Days in Paris ''Ten Days in Paris'', also known as ''Missing Ten Days'' and ''Spy in the Pantry'', is a 1940 British spy film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Rex Harrison, Kaaren Verne and C. V. France. The screenplay concerns a man in Paris who turns out ...
'' (1940) * '' Up for the Cup''(1950) * ''
Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were t ...
'' (1951)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Mae 1897 births 1981 deaths British film actresses 20th-century British actresses People from Ilkley Actresses from West Yorkshire Actors educated at Sedbergh School Actors from the City of Bradford