'The Toy Theatre Folk' (The Daily Express, 1 December 1922).
Nothing is known about the British illustrator Peter Bacon, except that he illustrated the picture story 'The Toy Theatre Folk' for the Daily Express in November-December 1922.
The Toy Theatre Folk
The story tells the adventures of the puppets Harlequin, Pantaloon, Pierette and Pierrot, who sneak out of their nursery to discover the world. It was was serialized between 27 November and 19 December 1922 with one image a day and a text caption in rhyme. The short-lived serial appeared during a gap between two of Mary Tourtel's 'Rupert Bear' stories. The iconic bear had been created two years earlier, but wasn't the paper's only ongoing picture story feature yet. During these early years, his adventures were alternated with Tourtel's own 'Margot the Midget', but also picture stories by other cartoonists, including Peter Bacon ('The Toy Theatre Folk'), Dora Gibbon ('Muffy in Moonland'), Tom Cottrell ('Paper Cap') and Weir Browne ('The Robin's Surprise'), as well as an illustrated text serial by Vera C. Alexander and Blanche Keppel Reede ('Adventures in Opal Land'). By 1923, 'Rupert Bear' became the Daily Express' fulltime children's story.
'The Toy Theatre Folk' carries a "Copyright U.S.A." notice, so Peter Bacon might as well be American. But on the other hand, some 'Rupert Bear' episodes carry the same byline, and they are as British as can be!
'The Toy Theatre Folk' (The Daily Express, 1 December 1922).