{"id":582,"date":"2013-01-17T03:22:42","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T03:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peggylee.com\/wp\/?p=582"},"modified":"2021-08-04T10:19:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T14:19:30","slug":"now-they-call-her-actress-peggy-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/now-they-call-her-actress-peggy-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Now They Call Her Actress Peggy Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Muriel Fischer<\/p>\n

Peggy Lee makes a career of careers.<\/p>\n

The pretty, blond North Dakota lass, who spent her growing-up years acquiring a working knowledge of farms and railroads, then skipped to fame as a singer and later cut another niche as lyricist, now makes her debut as an actress.<\/p>\n

In her first film, The Jazz Singer<\/em>, which premieres here January 13, Miss Lee costars with Danny Thomas in the Technicolor musical remake of the screen\u2019s first talkie.<\/p>\n

This last should be just about \u201cit\u201d for the sweet-faced, honey-voiced star who was born Norma Egstrom, daughter of a railroader. The seventh of eight children, left motherless early in life, Norma worked on farms in the summertime \u2013 and sold tickets in the Fargo railroad office after school.<\/p>\n

A graduation watch, pawned for $18, launched her on the first of her artistic careers: Peggy Lee, singer.<\/p>\n

As much as Miss Lee relishes her latest entry \u2013 emoter, par eloquence \u2013 it\u2019s just as appetizer to an elaborate seven-course career.<\/p>\n

She is inclined to be modestly oblivious to the Hollywood laurels sailing her way via preview notices. Nor does she sit and contemplate her possibilities as a contender for the cherished Academy Award.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, when the curtain parts at the Paramount Theater the night of the premiere, and the title lights up on the screen \u2013 Peggy will likely jut forward, mouth slightly ajar, and wait with bated breath.<\/p>\n

Miss Lee will be eagerly awaiting the flashing of her credits \u2013 a lightning-like operation usually met by a restless audience anxious for the \u201cshow\u201d to get on.<\/p>\n

For Miss Lee, however, the credits are the \u201cshow.\u201d<\/p>\n

There, under the heading of songs, in small but personally discernible print will be the magic letters spelling \u201cby Peggy Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine,\u201d she enthused during a recent interview, \u201cthere, in the credits \u2013 songs by Rodgers and Hart, by Cole Porter \u2013 and by golly (small voice) me. Oh,\u201d she pressed her palms together with childish glee, \u201cwhen I heard about it, I flipped!\u201d<\/p>\n

(Flipped, in songwriters lingo, is an untranslatable term used to depict real gone joy.)<\/p>\n

The words-and-music acknowledgment accorded Peggy in the credits of the forthcoming Jazz Singer is for a tune aptly titled: \u201cThis Is a Very Special Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t Peggy\u2019s first composing contribution. She has penned lyrics for some 25 songs, many of which reached the million mark in platinum sales. Among the hits, written in collaboration with her ex-husband, guitarist Dave Barbour, was the ballad \u201cI Don\u2019t Know Enough About You\u201d (which tallied 17 weeks among the top 10 in the Hit Parade), and the calypso crowner \u201cMa\u00f1ana\u201d (which topped the two-million mark in record sales.)<\/p>\n

Another of the hummers that\/ earn do-re-mi plaudits for the Barbour-Lee combine was \u201cIt\u2019s a Good Day\u201d \u2013 after which Peggy\u2019s all-by-herself \u201cSpecial Day\u201d is patterned.<\/p>\n

Withal, however, Miss Lee takes especial pride in her place among the greats in the credit listings of The Jazz Singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those wonderful people \u2013 and me,\u201d she repeats happily.<\/p>\n

But Peggy\u2019s imposing collection of careers does not end there \u2013 not nearly.<\/p>\n

While at work in The Jazz Singer<\/em> \u2013 with nothing to do but follow Michael Curtiz\u2019 able direction during the day, double in Ciro\u2019s spotlight at night (where Curtiz discovered her \u201cnatural acting\u201d ability) and fill singing engagements on radio and TV \u2013 Peggy spent her rare spare moments on the set compiling a poetry book.<\/p>\n

The poems, soon to be published, are Peggy\u2019s own, naturally. \u201cSome new \u2013 but mostly old ones that just stepped back into my memory. Some sonnets, mostly lyrical, with a few short humorous rhymes mixed in, \u201cthe poems come under the collective title of Softly, with Feeling<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Peggy blushed and stammered when asked if perhaps the title was indicative of the Lee singing style \u2013 or personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell now, I don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. \u201cI always sing softly \u2013 but I had to, because I started singing in noisy nightclubs. And I found the only way to keep the audience quiet was to lower my own voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a long, tough climb, she reflected about those noisy night spots and obscure radio jobs to the Buttery in Chicago\u2019s Ambassador Hotel, where maestro Benny Goodman band discovered her.<\/p>\n

Peggy toured the country with the Goodman band for two years. Then, in 1943, following her marriage to Dave Barbour, the Goodman guitar man, she retired to dedicate herself to a career of domesticity. She pursued the art of cooking and lent her soft voice solely to singing lullabies to baby Nicki.<\/p>\n

Then, one day she whipped up some words to some Barbour melodies. Right out of the musical oven popped: \u201cWhat More Can a Woman Do?,\u201d basted neatly on the reverse side with \u201cYou Was Right, Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team scored a \u201cnatural.\u201d And Peggy\u2019s artful waxing served to take her right out of the kitchen \u2013 and put her back on the airwaves. And launched her on a new level of stardom.<\/p>\n

Peggy and Dave were divorced a year ago May. But they continue to collaborate on songs. \u201cWe have some scheduled for after the first of the year,\u201d she reported.<\/p>\n

Also, Miss Lee recently linked her lyrics to Victor Young\u2019s melodying for the soon-to-be-released \u201cGoodbye, My Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my favorite of all favorites,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n

And then there are the songs she wrote with Sammy Burke for the forthcoming Walt Disney feature Lady and the Tramp. Peggy also dubs some of the voices of the animal characters in the cat and dog love story.<\/p>\n

You would think that the multiplicity of Lee\u2019s talents divided into the normal 24-hour day would equal one tense, tired and\/or neurotic woman.<\/p>\n

Not so, says Peggy. \u201cSo long as I can get home and do some digging in my garden, I\u2019m all right. Marvelous therapy, gardening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home is Westwood Hills, Los Angeles, \u201cseven-eighths of an acre of house and land \u2013 with trees and grass and flowers and beautiful rock gardens (all Peggy-planted, of course).\u201d And home is with Nicki, a petite, shiny-haired, bright-eyed youngster who wears glasses and loves to dance on her toes.<\/p>\n

Mama Peggy says \u201cNicki\u2019s getting too old for me to be telling her age anymore,\u201d but she\u2019ll proudly tell of Nicki\u2019s many talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe can dance, sing and paint \u2013 but dancing\u2019s her favorite,\u201d her mother reported. \u201cAnd she loves to chase the dogs \u2013 two collies named Banjo and Gay. Banjo\u2019s the daughter of Lassie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also at home is Peggy\u2019s \u201cmoody music room\u201d with the candelabra bird boy which throws a lustrous candlelight glow on the rock garden \u2013 and makes it look like another world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here Peggy can relax and write music, or words, or poetry \u2013 or study a script \u2013 or contemplate any other career which she has not yet tackled.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s painting, for instance, which up to now has just been a Lee hobby. And there\u2019s the novel \u2013 something Miss Lee has been \u201cthinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u00f1ana maybe,\u201d she says of the latter with a grin.<\/p>\n

Well, ma\u00f1ana maybe be good enough for you and me \u2013 but it\u2019s better with Miss Lee. For Peggy has a way of making ma\u00f1ana pay \u2013 by making it today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Muriel Fischer Peggy Lee makes a career of careers. The pretty, blond North Dakota lass, who spent her growing-up years acquiring a working knowledge of farms and railroads, then skipped to fame as a singer and later cut another niche as lyricist, now makes her debut as an actress.[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library"],"yoast_head":"\nNow They Call Her Actress Peggy Lee - Peggy Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/now-they-call-her-actress-peggy-lee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now They Call Her Actress Peggy Lee - Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Muriel Fischer Peggy Lee makes a career of careers. 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