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Bacon, Frank
Bacon, Frank (1864–1922), actor and playwright. Born in Marysville, California, he spent time as a journalist and photographer before making his stage debut in San Jose, California, in 1890 as Sample Switchell in Ten Nights in a Barroom. Bacon remained in stock in San Jose for seventeen years, running a small farm to supplement his income, but after the 1906 earthquake he toured for three years as Sam Graham in The Fortune Hunter. In New York he appeared in Stop, Thief (1912), The Miracle Man (1914), The Cinderella Man (1916), and Barbara (1917), but his crowning moment came when he created the role of the boozy, easygoing spinner of tall tales, Lightnin' Bill Jones, in Lightnin', a play that he wrote with Winchell Smith that established a New York long‐run record for its time. Bacon played the part more than two thousand times and was touring with it when he died. Many critics saw his Lightnin' Bill as a latter‐day Rip Van Winkle and compared him, in both the style and quality of his acting, to Joseph Jefferson in the earlier play. Bacon acknowledged that his rough‐hewn but warm characterization was, in fact, modeled on Jefferson's.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Bacon, Frank." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Bacon, Frank." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-BaconFrank.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Bacon, Frank." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-BaconFrank.html |
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Bacon, Frank
Bacon, Frank (1864–1921), American actor and playwright, best remembered for his playing of Bill Jones in his own play Lightnin'. His portrait of a lovable old rogue, who paid his way through life with exciting apocryphal tales of his exploits during the old pioneering days and the war between the states, was based on his memories of his Uncle Morris, known as Lightnin' in recognition of his lackadaisical approach to everything, including work. Lightnin' opened on Broadway in 1918 and ran for three years and a day, a record for the time. It was during its equally successful run in Chicago that Bacon died.
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Bacon, Frank." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Bacon, Frank." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-BaconFrank.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Bacon, Frank." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-BaconFrank.html |
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