Aileen Allen

Mary Aileen Allen, born Mary Conquest, (December 22, 1888 – September 4, 1950) was a Canadian-born American diver, swimmer, actress, and sports coach. Born on Prince Edward Island, she was raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and studied physical education at what is today the College of New Jersey. She spent two years studying law at George Washington University in Washington D.C., where she met and married her husband Arthur Allen. After her marriage, Allen moved to California where she was a competitive swimmer and diver, and she appeared as a bathing beauty and diver in several short silent films made with Keystone Studios and Pathé Exchange in the 1910s. She also appeared in stage productions in California.

Allen won multiple national diving competitions and competed as a diver in the 1920 Summer Olympics. After 1920 she worked as a coach for swimming, diving, and track and field in Pasadena and Los Angeles for the remainder of her life. She was the coach for the United States women's track and field team at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the coach for the United States women's swim team during the 1932 Summer Olympics. Her students included Olympic medalist Caroline Fletcher and swimmer and movie star Esther Williams.

Life and career Mary Aileen Conquest was born on December 22, 1888 on Prince Edward Island in Alberton, Canada. She was raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, United States, and graduated from Perth Amboy High School. She studied physical education at the Trenton School (now The College of New Jersey), and then pursued further studies in law for two years at George Washington University in Washington D.C. where she met and married Arthur Allen. Allen and her husband moved from Washington D.C. to California where she began competing as a competitive swimmer and diver. In 1913, she was one of the founding members of an all-woman swimming club at the Bimini Baths in Los Angeles, California, which was formed in response to strict dress codes imposed by other clubs. She was later elected captain of the club.

After winning both swimming and diving competitions held in Ocean Park, Santa Monica, she was cast as a water nymph in Norman K. Whisler's The Mystic Pool which was staged at the Hippodrome Theatre in Los Angeles in the summer of 1914. After this she became a member of Vivian Marshall's Bathing Beauties with whom she performed at the Pantages Theatre in San Francisco in October 1914. In January 1915 she returned to the Hippodrome Theatre; appearing in the featured act "Aileen Allen and her California Mermaids" in the musical extravaganza Hippodrome's Passing Show of 1914.

While maintaining a schedule as a competitive and exhibitionist diver and swimmer, Allen worked as an actress in silent films. She performed in several short films for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios (KS) in which she appeared as one of the earliest bathing / diving beauties. The first of these was Their Husbands (1913) in which she appeared as herself. Other KS films she appeared in included Those Bitter Sweets (1915, as beach girl at picnic), and Settled at the Seaside (1915, as girl on pier). During World War I, she sold war bonds as a representative of KS.

Allen's other film work included an appearance in the newsreel series Mutual Weekly (No. 37 in 1915), and two short films for Pathé Exchange released in 1916: Luke and the Mermaids and Luke's Speedy Club Life. She appeared in one feature-length film for Metro Pictures; portraying Mrs. Westfall in Mister 44 in 1916. That same year she won the national competition in the ten foot springboard diving content. In 1917 she won the national high diving competition held in Rye, New York, and from 1915 to 1921 she had consecutive championship wins in far western and Pacific coast diving championships.

Allen competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp where she finished fourth in the 3 metre springboard event. where she was also active as a diving coach. One her students in Pasadena, Caroline Fletcher, won the national diving championship in 1923 and a bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics. During the 1928 Summer Olympics, Allen served as the coach for the United States women's track and field team. She also coached the United States women's swim team during the 1932 Summer Olympics.

After leaving Pasadena, Allen was a longtime diving and swimming coach at the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC).