Peggy Fears
Peggy Fears | |
|---|---|
A. C. Blumenthal (m. 1927-1950) |
Peggy Fears (June 1, 1903 – August 24, 1994) was an American actress, who appeared in
musical comedies
during the 1920s and 1930s before becoming a Broadway producer.
Theater
Leaving New Orleans at the age of 16, she attended the Semple School.
Florenz Ziegfeld.[citation needed
]
Beginning with Have a Heart (1917). Fears performed in ten
The Lottery Lover
(1935).
In 1971,
W.C. Fields
in 1925:
- The fifth floor dressing-room lost its exclusive atmosphere when Peggy Fears, who had also transferred from Louie the 14th to the Follies, decided to become my best friend. She was a darling girl, with a sweet singing voice, from Dallas, Texas. Her smooth chestnut-coloured hair was untouched by dyes or permanent waves. Instead of the expensive gowns of a Follies girl, she wore schoolgirl sweaters and skirts. Perhaps it was her whimsical sense of fun that attracted her to me. And what could be more fun than Peggy, the most popular girl in the show, becoming friends with its most abominated member--me? One night she crashed our dressing-room carrying a Wedgwood teapot full of corn whiskey and, knowing my literary pretensions, two disgustingly vulgar magazines, Broadway Brevities and the Police Gazette. A week later we were living together in the Gladstone Hotel off Park Avenue, where swarmed Peggy's friends until September when she went on tour with the Follies and I went into The American Venus at Paramount's Long Island studio.
- It was through Peggy Fears that I came to know Bill Fields. Before the matinée, at the Rosary Florist, she would select a bouquet to be wrapped in waxed paper and presented to Bill in his dressing-room. It touched his heart. Bill adored beautiful girls, but few were invited to his dressing-room. He was morbidly sensitive about the skin disease which inflamed his nose and sometimes erupted on his hands, making it necessary for him to learn to juggle wearing gloves. After several devastating experiences with beautiful girls he had decided to restrict his choice of girl friends to those less attractive whom he would not find adrift with saxophone players.
- Bill entertained Peggy and me with distinction. His bar was an open wardrobe trunk fitted with shelves, planted, as if it were an objet d'art, beside his chair. While Shorty, the silent dwarf who was his valet and assistant on the stage, went about preparing our drinks, Peggy and I would dance around Bill who sat at his make-up shelf, listening to our nonsense with gracious attention.[1]
Marriages and relationships
On June 19, 1927, she married Alfred Cleveland Blumenthal.[2] As Broadway producers during the early 1930s, they co-produced Music in the Air, written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The show had a run of 342 performances in 1932-33.
Blumenthal earned $15 million during the first three years of their marriage. Fears purchased five
Rolls-Royce autos and a $65,000 chinchilla
coat, retaining only $300 in her bank account. The couple fought and split up. Eventually, they reunited and renewed their vows during three different marriage ceremonies. In 1950, Fears and Blumenthal separated permanently. Fears entertained in night clubs, and Blumenthal lived in Mexico.
Although she had been married, Fears is described by those who knew her as having been
bisexual or lesbian, primarily preferring the company of women in her private life. According to actress Louise Brooks, she and Fears were involved with one another, but Brooks never allowed herself to let the affair develop into a serious relationship.[3][4]
Death of mother
In 1938, her mother was found dead from
asphyxiation.[5]
Real estate
Fears built
cinderblock hotel which still stands. She invested $10,000 and bought an inlet on Great South Bay. In 1959, she paid off the last of her debt on her property. It was then valued at $350,000.[citation needed
]
While a resident of
Monitor. Thurman was interviewed about her life with Fears for Crayton Robey's documentary film, When Ocean Meets Sky (2003), which features Sara Ramirez as the voice of Peggy Fears.[6] In 1966, she sold out her interest to John B. Whyte.[7]
Death
Fears died August 24, 1994, at the age of 91 in La Crescenta-Montrose, California.[8]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
1935
|
Lottery Lover | Gaby Aimee | first and final film role |
See also
- List of caricatures at Sardi's restaurant
References
- ^ "Brooks, Louise. "The Other Face of W.C. Fields", Sight and Sound (Spring 1971)". Psykickgirl.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ "Peggy Fears To Wed Today. Actress to Become the Bride of A.C. Blumenthal at the Ambassador". New York Times. June 19, 1927. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis, ed. (12 July 2004). Where Ocean Meets Sky. Variety. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ISBN 9780517504437. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Peggy Fears' Mother Found Dead From Gas". Los Angeles Times. October 20, 1938. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
- ^ When Ocean Meets Sky Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Koppel, Lily (April 12, 2004). "John B. Whyte, 75, Model And Fire Island Developer". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
- ^ "Peggy Fears. Ziegfeld Follies Showgirl". Los Angeles Times. August 27, 1994. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
Sources
- Brooks, Louise. Lulu in Hollywood. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.
- Charleston Daily Mail, "In the Wonderful World of Jim Bishop," Friday, September 2, 1960, Page 5.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peggy Fears.
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