Bannon's friend Madame Laure, 1903

Charlotte Bannon was born in Portsmouth, Ohio on 6 January 1874. She prepared for college with tutors in Portsmouth and Northampton, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College where she was noted for "songs...and histrionic ability," and was graduated in 1895. From 1896 to 1904, Bannon taught Latin and history at Portsmouth High School. She was superintendent of Keith's Bijou Theatre in Boston from 1909 to 1912, then spent a year working at the Academy of Music in Northampton. During World War I she worked in the personnel office of the American Red Cross Department of Civilian Relief in Paris, assuming responsibility for newly arrived Red Cross workers. In 1919 Bannon was appointed Associate Director of Personnel. After the Armistice, Bannon traveled to other parts of France and Europe during vacations. She returned to the United States in October 1921 where she managed the Lyric Theatre in Portsmouth until 1924 when she moved to Boston to manage a movie theatre. Charlotte Bannon died on 15 March 1961.