37 Facts About Daisy Bacon

Daisy Sarah Bacon was an American pulp fiction magazine editor and writer who was best known as the editor of Love Story Magazine from 1928 to 1947.

Love Story was one of the most successful pulp magazines, and Bacon was frequently interviewed about her role and her opinions of modern romance.

Daisy Bacon wrote a romance novel of her own in the 1930s but could not get it published, and in the 1950s, worked on a novel set in the publishing industry.

Daisy Bacon struggled with depression and alcoholism for much of her life and attempted suicide at least once.

Daisy Sarah Bacon was born on May 23,1898, in Union City, Pennsylvania.

Daisy Bacon was taught to read and write at age three by her maternal grandmother, Sarah Ann Holbrook.

In 1909 Jessie left the farm and moved into Westfield, where Daisy Bacon attended the local high school, Westfield Academy.

Daisy Bacon graduated from high school in 1917 as valedictorian, and was awarded a $100 scholarship to Barnard College, though she never enrolled there.

Daisy Bacon worked at several different jobs when she first moved to New York.

Daisy Bacon was briefly a photographer's model, before taking a job at the Harry Livingston Auction Company, which sold unclaimed luggage left at hotels by guests.

Daisy Bacon wrote and submitted articles and fiction to the magazines of the day, but she was not immediately successful in selling her work.

Daisy Bacon continued writing, without further success, later recalling that she "worked like slaves to get into Liberty and never made it".

In March 1928 Ruth Abeling, the editor of Love Story, was fired, and Daisy Bacon was made editor in her stead.

Daisy Bacon hired her sister Esther as her assistant; to ensure that their relationship appeared professional at the office, the two of them switched to using their last names, Bacon and Ford, for each other, both in and out of the office.

Circulation was strong at the time Daisy Bacon became editor, at perhaps 400,000, a very high figure for a pulp magazine.

The serial had already begun when Daisy Bacon took over as editor, even though Ayres had not sent the last installment by the time the first one appeared in print.

Daisy Bacon was criticized for the ending, but Ayre's own version of the installment, which finally arrived, had the wife die in the same way.

Daisy Bacon became friends with some of her writers, inviting them to her apartment and buying them lunch.

In 1935 Daisy Bacon submitted a manuscript of a romance novel to William Morrow.

Daisy Bacon later recorded that she showed up at the office that day unaware of Winchell's piece, and was "blissfully unaware that everyone in the office was lying in wait for me".

The Special Services Division planned to distribute copies of Detective Story to men in the armed services overseas, and as the editor, Daisy Bacon temporarily became their part-time employee.

Daisy Bacon converted both magazines from digest size to their original larger pulp format, and later claimed that this had immediately led to a 25 percent increase in circulation for The Shadow.

Daisy Bacon told Walter Gibson, who wrote the lead novels for The Shadow, not to change his approach to the fiction, but asked Lester Dent, the lead writer for Doc Savage, to return to the adventure format mixed with science fiction elements that had characterized the early issues of the magazine.

Daisy Bacon was let go and Ford was given the task of managing the production of the last issues of each magazine, that summer.

On July 10,1922 or 1923, Daisy Bacon met Henry Wise Miller, the husband of Alice Duer Miller.

Daisy Bacon began to suffer from depression during the mid-1920s.

In 1931 Daisy Bacon rented a house in Morris Plains, New Jersey, with plans to write a novel there.

Daisy Bacon often took Esther and her mother with her; the other two would frequently be left to themselves as Miller would come to pick her up and take her to Botts.

Daisy Bacon's mother died in 1936, and Daisy Bacon's journals from that time start to record that she was aware she was drinking too much.

The habit probably started during Prohibition, and in early 1937 Ford's journals began to include a symbol on some days that almost certainly meant Daisy Bacon had been drunk that day.

Daisy Bacon was probably seeing other men by 1942: photographs of her from that time include two of her with another man.

Daisy Bacon was initially happy in retirement; she bought a house in Port Washington, on Long Island, and planned to write a novel, "a scandalous tell-all" about publishing, to be titled Love Story Diary.

Daisy Bacon mostly gave up work on the novel after this for a while, eventually returning to it in 1952, and then decided instead to write a non-fiction book about how to write romance stories.

In 1963 Daisy Bacon started an imprint, Gemini Books, to reprint it, this time under the title Love Story Editor.

Daisy Bacon never finished working on Love Story Diary; it was never published, and the manuscript was lost.

Daisy Bacon died on March 25,1986, and was buried in Port Washington; Ford died three years later.

In 2016 the Baxter Estates Village Hall in Port Washington held an exhibit about Daisy Bacon, including her desk, photographs, manuscripts, and typewriter.