IRVING BACON

September 6, 1893

Irving Bacon was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, as Irving Von Peters. He was a character actor who appeared in hundreds of films, mostly as bewildered small-town blue collar workers. His film debut came in 1923 with a small role in a silent film of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie starring Blanche Sweet. 

He appeared in three Best Picture Oscar winners: It Happened One Night (1934), You Can’t Take It with You (1938), and Gone with the Wind (1939). In 1939 alone he made 35 films! 

Additionally, he filmed a total of seven movies with Lucille Ball, but they share the big screen only five times due to both being left on the cutting room floor! 

The Bowery (1933) in which Lucy and Bacon played uncredited roles.

Broadway Bill (1934) in which Lucy played a telephone operator and Bacon a hamburger stand owner – both uncredited. 

I’ll Love You Always (1935) in which Lucille played a small role using her own first name and Bacon played a theatre manager. Again, both were uncredited. 

There Goes My Girl (1937) starred Lucy’s RKO friend Ann Sothern. Bacon played a policeman (uncredited). Although Lucille Ball filmed scenes for the film, they were deleted prior to release. 

You Can’t Fool Your Wife (1940) finally saw Lucille Ball above the title, although Irving Bacon remained uncredited as a clerk. 

A Girl, a Guy and a Gob (1941) with Lucille Ball as the leading lady, Dot Duncan, and Bacon (finally credited) as Albert Merney. 

Look Who’s Laughing (1941) starred Lucille Ball as Julie Patterson. Bacon filmed scenes for the comedy, but they were deleted. 

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played the weary postman in Columbia Pictures’ Blondie film series. One of his bigger roles was as a similarly flustered postman in the thriller Cause for Alarm! in 1951 (above, with Loretta Young). He even played a postman on a 1957 episode of “Leave It To Beaver”. 

His first foray into the medium of television was on “Silver Theatre” (1949-50), a CBS anthology series in May 1950 based on the successful radio show of the same name. Bacon played a policeman in “Lady With Ideas.”  His second job on television would be on “I Love Lucy.” 

His first appearance on “I Love Lucy” was as Mr. Willoughby in “The Marriage License” (ILL S1;E26), in 1952. Mr. Willoughby was the proprietor of the Eagle Hotel in Connecticut, where Lucy and Ricky get stranded after Ricky forgets his wallet at home on the way to the Byram River Beagle Club to re-affirm his marriage vows. 

Mr. Willoughby wore many hats – everyone except the Mayor, which was the purview of his wife, played by future Mrs. Trumbull Elizabeth Patterson. Patterson did eight films with Bacon from 1932 to 1950. One of his hats was a bellboy’s cap that provided a clever on-air plug for the show’s sponsor, Philip Morris, imitating the call of cigarette maker’s living mascot, Johnny Roventini. Conveniently, Mr. Willoughby forgets the name of the product – but certainly TV viewers didn’t!  

In between appearances on “I Love Lucy” Bacon was seen three times on “My Little Margie” (1952-55). Although it was not a Desilu show, it premiered on CBS as the first summer replacement for “I Love Lucy” on June 16, 1952, under the sponsorship of Philip Morris cigarettes. By the time Bacon appeared on the series in 1954, however, the show had moved to NBC with Scott Paper as its sponsor. 

Bacon returned to “I Love Lucy” in early 1955 as Ethel Mertz’s father, Will Potter, in “Ethel’s Hometown” (ILL S4;E15), despite being only eight years older than Vivian Vance. Although all four of the principal characters had living mothers (two of whom were characters on the show), only Ethel’s father is alive and well and appears on screen. 

A year later, Bacon was back at Desilu to film an episode of their other hit sitcom, “December Bride”. Both episode plot lines were essentially borrowed from “I Love Lucy.”  

In “Chicken Farm” (January 14, 1957) Bacon plays a chicken farmer where Hilda loses a ring during a tour of a hatchery they are hoping to invest in. This combines the plots of “Lucy Raises Chickens” (ILL S6;E19) filmed just three days after this “December Bride” first aired and “Building A Bar-B-Q” (ILL S6;E24) filmed March 14, 1957. Perhaps Desilu got a discount on baby chicks and wanted to put them to maximum use? 

His second episode was “Handcuffs” (March 14, 1956) which was very similar to “The Handcuffs” (ILL S2;E4) from 1952. In this episode, Bacon played the locksmith, cleverly named Mr. Bolton. Coincidentally, on “I Love Lucy” the locksmith was played by Will Wright (above center), who appeared with Bacon in “Chicken Farm!”  Just like Bacon, Wright also returned to “I Love Lucy” as a totally different character; the Sheriff of Ben Fork in “Tennessee Bound” (ILL S4;E15), both during the Hollywood trip. 

In 1958, Bacon was back on the Desilu backlot for an episode of ABC’s “The Real McCoys”. The episode co-starred Madge Blake, who also played two different characters on “I Love Lucy”: hat store owner Mrs. Mulford, and prospective new tenant Martha who is afraid of heights. 

In 1959, Bacon was again employed by Desilu for and episode of their helicopter series “Whirlybirds”, which was inspired by their experiences filming “Bon Voyage” (ILL S5;E13). 

His final screen appearances was a posthumous one, on an episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” that aired three weeks after his death on February 5, 1965.  The series was filmed at Desilu Cahuenga Studios and Bacon played a shoe store customer. He shared the screen with “Lucy” performers Richard Deacon, Milton Frome, and Amzie Strickland. 

In 1921 Bacon married Freda Lee Scoville, and they had a son and a daughter. She died in 1928 and in June 1930, he married Margaret Beaver, and they had a son, Frank. They divorced in 1934 and Bacon married Bernice Peters in 1937. They were married for the rest of his life.