It only explains her up to a point -- there's a lot we'll never know. But thanks for contributing your reminiscence. That's a very interesting memory to have.

Hi Ed - thanks for writing, and for pointing out those stupid errors! I appreciate your help. Thanks again!

Thanks, Lance. There will be more Unsung Joes, no doubt, from time to time. There seems to be no end to sad tales of stillborn dreams and thwarted hopes in the golden age of Hollywood. What a heartbreaking place it was...

Well done, Phil! If you get a chance, could you upload a screenshot to a website, or e-mail me a copy? I'd love to put it on my page of pictures of Irving. Thanks! Diarmid (the guy who writes this website)

Thanks Betty. The newspapers didn't record where she was buried, but I found this on a genealogy site: "In an ancestry database I found the following cemetery listing: Wunders Cemetery, Chicago, IL. Dickinson, Faith Bacon. b: 1910 d: 1956" Those are her birth and death years, so I guess that's the right cemetery.

Thanks, Tom. Glad you like it!

I'm very glad to have been of service, Hal. Thanks very much!

Thanks very much indeed. It's good to know this stuff hits its mark, however occasionally!

Thanks very much indeed - I'll go and read all about the Moore brothers now...

I will almost certainly take you up on that offer - thanks!

Interesting. I seem to remember not being sure where the Tough Jews author had got his information about the killing, because it didn't fit with what was reported at Irving's trial or in Burton Turkus's book. To be fair, I think that Mafia stories are always unreliable - people like to embroider the truth and make things more dangerous or glamorous than they were. It's very hard to get to the bottom of these things...

I'm sorry, but I haven't come across any mention of anything like that in connection with Faith Bacon. I'd love to see it, though. I haven't seen that poster, for sure. Sounds like it could be quite valuable. You should take it to a print workshop and see if they can use it to print from. Let me know if you do...

Now I feel guilty for not posting more often! But thanks, Kliph.

Good point! Thanks for writing. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. (And don't feel too bad that you're not Dr Doolittle...)

Hi Jacque, and thanks for writing. Please let me know if you ever find out anything at all - I mean anything!

Hi Barry. Thanks for writing. I'm glad you found the site! I'm afraid that the only things I was able to find out about him are all in this short piece. I'm not sure where you'd be able to find out more. I'll e-mail you a pdf of the newspaper page that features the only interview with him that I came across - I hope it's useful!

That's very interesting news, Steve. I'll see if I can track down a copy. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for writing, Gina! Very glad to hear that Colleen's doing well!

Thanks for writing, Charles. You're right - In retrospect, I feel I shouldn't have been as critical of her as I was. I could have been nicer, and I'm sorry for causing you any sadness. I really appreciate what you wrote about her, and I'm sure she would, too.

Hi Tod! Yes, I'm still here but, as you can tell, The Unsung Joe is on some sort of extended break. It'll come back at some point, but for the next while, I'll be busy with my other blog, Small Town Noir, which tells the stories behind old mug shots from New Castle, Pennsylvania. It's very similar to The Unsung Joe, in a way, as it's concerned with people no one's ever heard of, but it takes its tone from everyday small-town life in the decades around world war two instead of the glamour of Hollywood. Check it out, and let me know what you think! http://smalltownnoir.wordpress.com/

Hi Marc. I assume your dad was either Marcel Bessette or Roger Bessette (I googled Bessette and Hollywood Wlves, and that's who came up). I searched for them in the usual places that might mention either of them in connection with any film work they might have had, but the search came up blank. I would at least have hoped that a sports page article might have noted a bit of movie extra work in passing - but no. I'll keep my eye out for any Bessettes, though. You never know...

Thanks very much, people! And Fabián - yes, it's strange to come across someone like Parry who does what you and I (and certain others) do all the time. The funny thing is, he has a real reason for looking for a bit-part actor. I'm not sure we have the same excuse...

Everything I know about Faith came from old newspapers that I looked up on newspaperarchive.com, a pay site that has thousands of old papers scanned in. There were so many articles about her that I had to leave a lot of stuff out because it wouldn't fit in the sort of piece I was writing about her. For instance, she was really into genealogy, and had traced her lineage back to Francis Bacon, the English renaissance philosopher; Peregrine White, the first child born on the Mayflower; Grover Cleveland; and various high-class California and Missouri families. Or so she claimed. Also, in 1945, she told the press that she had been awarded ownership of a set of nine-ton marble statues that had been donated to the University of California by a 19th century relative of hers. (I find that story a little hard to believe, but there were some nice pictures of the statues in the article.) I just checked out your burlesque film. It looks great! I'd love to see it, and I'll keep an eye out for it appearing in one of the superior cinemas in town.

Hi, David - long time no hear! I'll check out baskervilleoldface.com and e-mail you.

I'm sure she was telling something close to the truth about Dave Allen's treatment of female extras and the scene that went down in her apartment, but I'm also sure that the extras were trying to blackmail Dave Allen. The only thing I don't understand about the blackmail angle is why they wouldn't have photographed the wild party. Were they really that inept as blackmailers?