Stuntman Tom Steele as The Masked Marvel, the eponymous hero of the 1943 Republic Piuctures film serial.
This serial was a change from the usual formula where the hero spent all the chapters trying to find out the true identity of the Big Bad. Instead, the Marvel's true identity was unknown, although there were four different characters who were considered likely candidates.
At the end of the last chapter The Masked Marvel is revealed to be Bob Barton, portrayed by actor David Bacon. Bacon peels off The Marvel's mask, but it's painfully obvious that it was moulded for Steele's face, not his.
It's also quite obvious that Bacon doesn't have the height or build of The Masked Marvel, but as the serial is over by that point no one really cares.
“David Bacon moved to Los Angeles, California where he met and married an Austrian singer, Greta Keller. In her later years, Keller disclosed that Bacon was homosexual, and that she was lesbian, and that their lavender marriage partly served as what she referred to as a "beard”, allowing both of them to maintain the requisite facade in Hollywood, where they were both attempting to establish film careers.“
“The man said “help me, help me..” I asked him, “who did it?” but there was no answer. He was dead.” - eyewitness account of David Bacon’s last moments before his death
For such a sedate, “kinder, gentler” time, WWII era Southern California was a pretty crazy place. Especially for those who went there to make a name for themselves. This particular one was one of many guys with this dream in mind. He had a very modest career. The newspapers claimed he played the Masked Marvel but in reality he was way down the cast list. Whatever his claim to fame, aspiring actor David Bacon was murdered at the age of 29 with many secrets: a secret diary kept in code, coded annotations in his address book and most of all a secret hideaway about a mile from his home. His murder remains unsolved.
David Bacon, according to astrotheme, was a Aries sun and Pisces moon (the moon is speculative). Born in Massachusetts, he was born Gaspar Griswold Bacon, Jr to a prominent Boston Brahmin family. His father, Gaspar Sr, had been the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, professor of law at Boston University, and lieutenant colonel in the Air Corps in England. The elder Bacon’s father had been Robert Bacon, Secretary of State for Theodore Roosevelt and Ambassador to France during the Taft administration. He and his two brothers spent a charmed life in Barnstable, a town located in Cape Cod. He later attended Harvard, graduating in 1937. While at Harvard, he participated in their Hasty Pudding productions, in which he was apparently quite gifted at portraying women. With aspirations of becoming an actor, he tried to secure several acting jobs, with none of them panning out. He drifted for a few years, settling in New York City. During this time, he took flying classes, and became an commercial pilot, eventually transferring to the Air Force. He got dropped from the Air Force due to health issues. From there, he went to LA to try his luck at breaking into films. Since he was good-looking, he scored a screen test in 1939 with Metro, which was seen by Ginger Rogers, who helped him get further tests. He was signed by Howard Hughes and changed his name to David Bacon. His acting credits included “Ten Gentlemen From West Point” and “Someone to Remember.” In 1939, shortly after his arrival in Hollywood, Bacon was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a 15-year-old newsboy. His sentence was suspended on his promise to leave California for three years. He returned earlier than the court ordered to work on “Ten Gentlemen From West Point,” Because the offense involved a minor, there are no further details, so one can only speculate that the incident might have been plea-bargained down from a more serious offense. In September of 1942, Bacon got engaged to singer Greta Keller, who was 11 years his senior. They married in December of that year. By the fall of 1943, at the age of 40, Keller became pregnant. During this time, Bacon was tapped to play the role for which he is best known, The Masked Marvel.
On September 12, 1943, witnesses saw a car weaving drunkenly on a road before crashing in a field. A man, clad only in swimming trunks, stumbled out of the driver’s seat and collapsed. A neighbour ran to the scene to help the injured stranger only to find out that the man, David Bacon, was fatally stabbed by a single knife wound that pierced his lower heart. It was never clear whether Bacon was stabbed inside or outside the car. The knife was never found. Bacon’s pregnant wife Greta had been hospitalized and her condition had worsened. It was later revealed that she gave birth to a still born baby a week after her husband’s murder at Hollywood Hospital. When the police came to the crime scene, it was revealed that he was supposed to go to a friend’s house to enjoy a day of swimming, however he went elsewhere for what seemed to be an appointment. Next it was discovered that he had recently rented a cottage in Laurel Canyon, at the bottom of Lookout Mountain. His wife explained it was for the use of a man who was going to do some work on their house, but police noted that there was a trailer on the Bacon’s property that was suitable for that use. Also, it was revealed that Bacon was someone recognized as frequenting a certain area of Venice Beach. Bacon’s wife was surprised at this, since she said that he never let her go there, nor did he ever accompany her there. Bacon was seen with a couple of men prior to his killing, one of which was rumoured to have been blackmailing him for an unspecified reason. Food and women’s purses were found in the cottage and removed as evidence. Bacon kept a secret diary written in code; his wife did not know its location. Apart from a few attention seekers, no one ever came forward with any information regarding Bacon’s murder. To me, Bacon seems to fall somewhere into the LGBT spectrum, an area that would put a crimp in the public image of an aspiring movie actor, and a subject which newspapers in the 1940s pretended did not exist. The killing sounds more and more like he picked up a hitchhiker for sex and it went very wrong. I guess we’ll never know; all files pertaining to this case have been destroyed.
Next, I’ll be focusing on another flash in the pan...an intriguing tale of a good girl gone bad who lived fast, died young, and left a good-looking corpse: Gemini Shauna Grant.
Stats
birthdate: March 24, 1914*
*note*: due to the absence of a birth time, this analysis will be even more speculative.
major planets:
Sun: Aries
Moon: Pisces
Rising: unknown
Mercury: Aries
Venus: Taurus
Mars: Cancer
Midheaven: unknown
Jupiter: Sagittarius
Saturn: Scorpio
Uranus: Pisces
Neptune: Cancer
Pluto: Gemini
Overall personality snapshot: He was forceful but diffident, single-minded but dreamy, maverick and very much his own person but kind-hearted and needy of affection and consideration from others. He had plenty of initiative and strong personal motivations, and he seemed to want to be out in the forefront of human activities. Underneath his impressive exterior, however, he was often quaking with doubt and timidity and wondering how he could have made such a challenge or said such an outrageous thing. One part of him was very independent, impulsive, eager for action and rooted in a sense of himself as an opponent of social injustice. This part thrived on self-assertion, on making things happen and feeling at the helm of all the action-making. But another part of him shrunk from excessive exposure, risk, bright lights and noise, and preferred to slip away into the inner sanctuary of his own room, or mind, to brood and worry and often just to dream. This part of him abhorred the brisk self-definition after which his other part strove. He knew what he wanted, but did not feel right about insisting that he got it. He knew what needed to be done and could rally the troops to join his crusade, but all of a sudden he could feel like a stranger in his own crowd – lost, misunderstood, convinced in a self-pitying mood that no one could possibly understand the real him or his true intentions. Masculine assertion versus feminine receptivity; bold defiance versus the soft blurring of boundaries; self-interest or self-sacrifice; sticking his neck out or living it all out in fantasy – this was his dilemma.
The needs of his Arian ego versus his Piscean instinct for self-immolation created a conflict within him. This was perhaps best resolved in a career that brought him both personal recognition as well as a sense of being emotionally involved with people and life. He was an aspiring individual who wanted a unique identity and, well, just a little bit of recognition, but he also needed to feel connected in a broad impersonal way with the world in which he found himself. In some ways he was a maverick, and in other ways he very much needed the support of understanding colleagues and friends. Unusual ideas interested him, and he needed a harmonious environment in which to develop his own self-expression. He felt happier when he got these ideas down on paper, canvas or photographic film – whatever the particular direction he took. When he found himself feeling that life was too harsh and demanding, he could be sure that the gulf between the realist and the idealist within him was widening. It was then time to withdraw, to get in touch with his own feelings and dreams and make sure that they were his own. Then he must work to master a medium of expression so that there was always a bridge of communication between the bold Arian and the elusive Piscean dreamer within him, between the daring child and the artistic visionary. At his very best, he combined the spirit of enterprise with the human touch of care and understanding. Together they made him a powerful force for good in the world.
He was quick-witted, decisive and competitive. He liked to make an impression, and be seen as making an impression. His enthusiasm for something that interested him was astounding. He could be quite impatient and unrealistic, especially when she faced opposition and obstacles. He was also self-willed and confident. In arguments, he could be quite combative, believing that he was right. He tended to have a hot temper that needed a firm hand. Sometimes he could be a little thoughtless and quarrelsome. He and honesty went hand in hand. He loved his freedom and defied anyone to try and stop him. He had a very optimistic and philosophical outlook on life that supported his large-scale ambitions and visions. Sometimes he could be a little reckless and boastful, with a casual attitude to his resources. Without self-discipline, you will find that you soon exhaust your energies. He was very generous and good-spirited and may have had a love for animals, especially horses. He had strong reserves and a powerful sense of purpose. He was very serious when he set about achieving something, not wasting his time with useless efforts. He had enormous expectations of himself and of other people, and could be an extremely hard taskmaster. Sometimes he lacked flexibility and had a tendency to brood. He had a strong will, deep strength and force to his personality. Although he had great depth of feeling, he had enormous difficulty in expressing it.
He was part of a generation gifted with original and unusual artistic talents, highly imaginative, secretive and visionary. As a member of this generation, he felt uncomfortable facing reality, finding the world a difficult place to survive in. He preferred to seek meaning in new forms of mysticism, religion and ideals. The unknown and the taboo appealed to him, because he wanted to have the freedom to explore and think for himself. He was part of a very artistically talented and creative generation that wanted to escape from the demands of the world around them into a world of excitement and glamour. He was part of an emotionally sensitive generation that was extremely conscious of the domestic environment and the atmosphere surrounding their home place and home country. In fact, he could be quite nostalgic about his homeland, religion and traditions, often seeing them in a romantic light. He felt a degree of escapism from everyday reality, and was very sensitive to the moods of those around him. David Bacon embodied all of these Cancer Neptunian ideals. As a Gemini Plutonian, he showed an enormous amount of mental vitality, originality and perception. Traditional customs and taboos were examined and rejected for newer and more original ways of doing things.
Love/sex life: He was an easy-going lover who didn’t like to rush. He avoided the emotional extremes of other lovers of this type because he was more practical and more inclined to concentrate on the pleasures of the body rather than the angst of his inner child. This made him one of the sexiest of the Mars in Cancer lovers, a person who combined layers and layers of emotional complexity with a surface that was totally devoted to fun. By nature he was a quiet, conservative lover but his love of pleasure often got in the way of this cautious approach and brought much more attention than he would have liked. His appreciation of physical pleasure combined with his emotional sensitivity made him doubly dependent upon the person he loved. Material security was just as important as emotional security to him and he expected his lover to provide him with both. These high expectations not only limited his choice of partners, they placed him in a very vulnerable position if he made the wrong choice. Fortunately, he was a very practical over, as well as an extremely cautious one, and he rarely found himself at a disadvantage for long.
minor asteroids and points:
North Node: Virgo
Lilith: Gemini
Vertex: Cancer
Fortune: Sagittarius
East Point: Sagittarius
Chiron: Pisces
Juno: Aries
Pallas: Capricorn
Ceres: Aquarius
Vesta: Taurus
His North Node in Virgo dictated that his tendency to dream and be disorganized needed to be tempered by developing more practical and down-to-earth attitudes. His Lilith in Gemini ensured that he was dangerously attracted to those with a kaleidoscopic psyche who were wily, witty, and able to best anyone in a debate and weren’t above flirting, cajoling, wiring, and talking their way to the top. His Vertex in Cancer, 8th house dictated that he had a dream for an almost womblike environment that shut out all discordant noise or interference from the outside. There were very deep desires regarding the ideal structure or family and home life. When he did commit himself in a relationship he was really deeply committed and if he felt that his partner was not similarly serious then he’d strike out at them in defense. His expectations of others were unrealistic and were based on his own feelings of insecurity. He had an internal yearning for an inseparable union with and total commitment from another, come what may. This need was so intense that he may have fantasized all manner of unspeakable actions and reactions if the final dream, once attained, was even threatened. The dark side was that when the reality of his partner didn’t fit this model (and it rarely did totally) we have a difficult time adjusting if faced with a breach of contract of any sort. Once badly hurt he tended to become jaded and guarded in future relationships, thereby passing up the opportunity to explore interactions which might just fulfill out his intense needs perfectly.
His Part of Fortune in Sagittarius and Part of Spirit in Gemini dictated that her destiny lay in seeking truth, justice and fairness in any given situation. Fortune came through higher education, travel and philosophy. He found his greatest fortune in places far from his home. Happiness and success came from looking outside himself. His soul’s purpose asked him to communicate fully and explore all forms of learning and knowledge. He felt spiritual connections and the spark of the divine through words and writing. East Point in Sagittarius dictated that he was more concerned with finding final answers. His goal seeking was oriented toward questions of meaning, truth, philosophy and religion. He may have aggressively pursued ultimate values and belief systems. His idea of perfection may have been defined as having all the right answers to all the right questions; as being witty, charming and fun; as traveling to all the right places, etc. Seeking perfection in the form of some higher meaning in life was usually more satisfying to him than trying to play God personally. Chiron in Pisces, he was tempted to often play the victim, and tried to help or heal those down on their luck. Juno in Aries, he wanted to find a strong, pioneering mate who was active in public affairs and would penalize him for all indiscretions. Pallas in Capricorn, he accepted and carried out responsibility willingly. He judged fairly according to both ability and effort. Ceres in Aquarius, he had tact and the ability to compromise. Vesta in Taurus, he had intense physical energies which required moral fortitude to control. He was in constant conflict between duties and personal wishes.
elemental dominance:
water
air
He had high sensitivity and elevation through feelings. His heart and his emotions were his driving forces, and he couldn’t do anything on earth if he didn’t feel a strong effective charge. He needed to love in order to understand, and to feel in order to take action, which caused a certain vulnerability which he should (and often did) fight against. He was communicative, quick and mentally agile, and he liked to stir things up. He was likely a havoc-seeker on some level. He was oriented more toward thinking than feeling. He carried information and the seeds of ideas. Out of balance, he lived in her head and could be insensitive to the feelings of others. But at his best, he helped others form connections in all spheres of their daily lives.
modality dominance:
mutable
He wasn’t particularly interested in spearheading new ventures or dealing with the day-to-day challenges of organization and management. He excelled at performing tasks and producing outcomes. He was flexible and liked to finish things. Was also likely undependable, lacking in initiative, and disorganized. Had an itchy restlessness and an unwillingness to buckle down to the task at hand. Probably had a chronic inability to commit—to a job, a relationship, or even to a set of values.
planet dominants:
Saturn
Moon
Mars
He believed in the fact that lessons in life were sometimes harsh, that structure and foundation was a great issue in his life, and he had to be taught through through experience what he needed in order to grow. He paid attention to limitations he had and had to learn the rules of the game in this physical reality. He tended to have a practical, prudent outlook. He also likely held rigid beliefs. He was defined by his inner world; by his emotional reactions to situations, how emotions flowed through him, motivating and compelling him—or limiting him and holding him back. He held great capacity to become a part of the whole rather than attempting to master the parts. He wanted to become whatever it is that he sought.
sign dominants:
Pisces
Aquarius
Aries
He needed to explore his world through his emotions. He felt things so deeply that quite often he became a kind of psychic sponge, absorbing the emotions of people around him. As such, he gravitated toward the arts, in general, to theater and film specifically. He could be ambivalent and indecisive simply because he was so impressionable. He also tended to be moody because he felt the very height of joy and the utter depths of despair. Love and romance were essential for him. These fulfilled him emotionally, and he generally flourished within stable relationships. He was a physically oriented individual who took pride in his body. He was bold, courageous, and resourceful. He always seemed to know what he believed, what he wanted from life, and where he was going. He could be dynamic and aggressive (sometimes, to a fault) in pursuing his goals—whatever they might be. Could be argumentative, lacked tact, and had a bad temper. On the other hand, his anger rarely lasted long, and he could be warm and loving with those he cared about.
Read more about him under the cut.
David Bacon was born on March 24, 1914 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA as David Gaspar Griswold Bacon. He was an actor, known for The Masked Marvel (1943), The Boss of Big Town (1942) and Gals, Incorporated (1943). He was married to Greta Keller. He died on September 13, 1943 in Hollywood, California, USA. (x)
Howard Hughes was a film director who, in 1942, met struggling actor David Bacon, and signed him to a contract and brought him to Los Angeles, California. He had intended on Bacon playing Billy the Kid in The Outlaw. However, after a screen test, it became clear that the clean cut man from New England was unsuitable to play the role. While in Los Angeles, Bacon met Austrian singer, Greta Keller, and later on in her life, she would confess that she was a lesbian and that Bacon was gay. Their marriage was what would be referred to as a “beard” and allowed both parties to maintain their façade in Hollywood.
Shortly after 5PM on the 12th of September, 1943, a Sedan was spotted driving erratically and meandering through Washington Blvd., barely missing a telephone pole before crashing into a bean field. A man emerged from the wreckage wearing just a pair of white swimming trunks. He was covered in blood and stumbled into the field before collapsing and perishing there in the field. The man was soon identified as David Bacon.
While at first glance, it appeared as though Bacon had been the victim of an automobile accident, a medical examiner found a single knife wound that had pierced his lower heart. He determined that somebody with such a wound could have survived for 20 minutes. Moreover, the inside of Bacon’s car was covered in blood. An extensive search of the car and crash scene failed to turn up the knife. It became clear that this was no accident; David Bacon had been murdered. Upon hearing of her husband’s murder, Keller - who had been pregnant with their child - suffered from a stillbirth.
Several witnesses claimed to have seen a man and a woman in the car with Bacon earlier in the day. A wool sweater was discovered in his car which would be identified as the type given to Venice High School athletes around six years prior. It was determined that the knife used to kill Bacon was around 6 inches long with a handle that would make it a foot long. Therefore, medical examiners deduced that it was unlikely that such a knife could have been used with such force in a small car leading them to believe Bacon was stabbed elsewhere.
Even more peculiar, police found a camera in the back seat of the car. After having the camera developed, they found one single photo showing a nude and smiling David Bacon, posing on the beach. Police theorised that Bacon’s killer had taken the photograph and killed him shortly thereafter. As of yet, his killer remains unidentified.
