Descriptive Summary
Important Information for Users of the Collection
Biography
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Lloyd Bacon papers
Date (inclusive): 1929-1963
Date (bulk): 1940s
Collection number: 223
Creator:
Bacon, Lloyd
Extent:
9 linear feet of papers.
1 linear feet of photographs.
Repository:
Margaret Herrick Library. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Languages:
English
Important Information for Users of the Collection
Access
Available by appointment only.
Publication rights
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Margaret Herrick Library. Researchers are
responsible for obtaining all necessary rights, licenses, or permissions from the appropriate companies
or individuals before quoting from or publishing materials obtained from the library.
Preferred Citation
Lloyd Bacon papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Margaret Keyser, on behalf of the (Mrs.) Lloyd Bacon estate, 1989-1992
Biography
Lloyd Francis Bacon, son of film actor and writer Frank Bacon, was born in 1889 in San Jose, California. He was an actor and
director active in film from 1914 to 1954. He played supporting and lead roles in comedies directed by Charlie Chaplin in
the 1910s, and he directed Lloyd Hamilton and Mack Sennett short comedies in the 1920s. His acting and directing careers overlapped
in the 1920s, but by the 1930s Bacon was focused solely on directing feature films. As a feature director he specialized in
Warner Bros. musical comedies choreographed by Busby Berkeley. In later years, he directed many different film genres while
under contract to Twentieth Century-Fox.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The Lloyd Bacon papers span the years 1929-1963 (bulk 1940s) and encompass approximately 9 linear feet. The collection contains
production files, television files, and subject files.
In the production files, film titles containing scripts include A BLONDE LIKE THAT! (1963), DON’T TRUST YOUR HUSBAND (1949),
THE FRENCH LINE (1954), and THE SULLIVANS (1944). Various films in this series containing studio correspondence include CALL
ME MISTER (1951), CAPTAIN EDDIE (1945), DON’T TRUST YOUR HUSBAND (1949), THE FROGMEN (1951), I WONDER WHO’S KISSING HER NOW
(1947), NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947), THE SULLIVANS (1944), SUNDAY DINNER FOR A SOLDIER (1944), WAKE UP AND DREAM (1946), YOU WERE
MEANT FOR ME (1947), and WINGS OF THE NAVY (1939). Numerous files contain production correspondence from both producer Darryl
F. Zanuck and agent and producer Sam Jaffe. The file for the 1937 film EVER SINCE EVE contains detailed correspondence from
William Randolph Hearst to Bacon regarding Marion Davies’s role in the film. Production material can be found in the files
for DON’T TRUST YOUR HUSBAND (1949), THE FRENCH LINE (1954), and THE SULLIVANS (1944). There is extensive material for the
unproduced films BARNSTORMING, a proposed film on the life of Frank Bacon, and THE GLITTERING HILL, which contains script
solicitation letters to Fred MacMurray and Humphrey Bogart. The television files include extensive script material on two
unproduced television series, THE O’LEARY’S and VENUS MAHONEY.
The majority of the subject files are comprised of correspondence. These files, arranged alphabetically, contain business,
personal, and miscellaneous letters and telegrams, including extensive correspondence from Sam Jaffe, and span the years 1942
through 1954. The file pertaining to Twentieth Century-Fox contains numerous internal studio memos from Darryl F. Zanuck.
A legal file includes Bacon’s employment contracts with Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century-Fox, his representation contract
with the Sam Jaffe Agency, and a settlement in the case of Lloyd Bacon and Humphrey Bogart v. Alan Hale, circa 1943.
Arrangement
Arranged in the following series: Boxes 1 though 3: 1. Production files, subseries A-B as follows: A.
Produced; B Unproduced; 2. Television files, subseries A as follows: A. Unproduced; 3. Subject files.
Boxes four though nine are not arranged in series.
Indexing Terms
Bacon, Lloyd , 1889-1955--Archives.
actors
directors