In 1921, after returning to the United States, Bacon ran a hotel known as the Inn-by-the-Sea in Pass Christian, Mississippi, which was a luxury resort built by her husband.
Losing the hotel during the Great Depression, the family lived on board a boat for several months before landing at Dauphin Island, Alabama.
[1][2] Her father was a noted engineer, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, who taught at the University of Pennsylvania and later became president of the Edison Electric Light Company.
[8] Her education ended after a two-year attendance at a boarding school in Dresden, Germany, where she, her mother, and her sister had located to enable Gussie's treatment for rheumatic fever.
who was heading the shipbuilding department of the Foundation Company in New Orleans, Louisiana, bought property to develop as a hotel near Pass Christian, Mississippi.
The large Spanish-influenced property featured a patio ringed with Japanese lanterns which jutted to the water, allowing dancing on the deck.
[31] A 1925 expansion included a crescent of cottages facing the beach, a large water garden, and an ice manufacturing plant[32] and the following year, 36 additional rooms were added.
[27] The couple and their extended family lived a life of luxury, building yachts and sailing,[33] while the children enjoyed the swimming pools and ponies on the estate.
[28] When the stock market crashed in 1929, the family sold their belongings to pay the mortgage and left Mississippi with the children and two servants aboard a borrowed boat.
[28][35] They were able to eke out a living in Alabama until 1935,[34] when the couple discovered a property in Mary Esther, Florida while sailing near Fort Walton Beach in Santa Rosa Sound.
[36] During the war, the hotel was frequented by servicemen stationed at nearby Eglin Field[38] and Jimmy Doolittle and Hap Arnold stayed in a couple of the cottages.
[36][39] In 1949, screenwriter Sy Bartlett and director Henry King completed the script for Twelve O'Clock High while staying at Bacon's-by-the Sea.
Look had secured agreement from the noted restaurant critic to have a film crew accompany him and his wife on a tour throughout America to rate the top 10 hotels out of all 44 states they visited.