Anthony reminds us that Peggy King appeared on "Dragnet" on NBC-TV in the episode "The Big Underground". She portrayed a singer "Betty Martin" and introduced the Arthur Hamilton song, "Any Questions." The video has not yet surfaced, but the radio version, which aired on January 22, 1955, is posted online and the audio can be found here on this website. 
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          In the spirit of the 2013 holiday season Anthony has posted two videos on YouTube which he shares with us here.  Justin Hopkins introduces his mentor Peggy King, who sings her original, unrecorded composition, Here Comes Christmas, accompanied by Andy Kahn.  Recorded at Justin's one-man show at the ACT II Playhouse in Ambler, Pennsylvania on December 22, 2013, the two then join in duet singing Hugh Martin's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas from the score of Meet Me in St. Louis.  Click the images below to view the videos. 
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Here Comes Christmas	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

NOMINATE a Philadelphia Walk of Fame Candidate! 
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          Thank you for your interest in nominating someone to the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame, Philadelphia's largest and most important single monument honoring outstanding contributions to this city's rich and diverse musical heritage. 
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The following are required for your nominee to receive consideration:  
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.....•  He or she must have been born, lived, worked, been educated, or gained fame in Philadelphia or in the greater Philadelphia region;  
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.....• The nominee's body of work must constitute a national or international contribution in the music industry during a period of 15 years or more. 
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If the above qualifications are met, please complete and submit this online form: 
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Your Name ____________________________________________________________________ 
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Your Walk of Fame nomination _____________________________________________________ 
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(NOMINEE INFORMATION, if available)   Address _____________________________________  
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Please describe the nominee's specific association with the Philadelphia region and why you feel he or she should be inducted onto the Walk of Fame:  
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If you prefer, you may print out this nomination form and mail it to: 
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Philadelphia Music Alliance  
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Philadelphia, PA 19103-2301 
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For more information email:  info@philadelpiamusicalliance.org 
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https://www.pmawalk.com/walk_nominate.htm 
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       For classic movies with Peggy King on the internet go to Edison, New Jersey, TV: 
       https://www.edisonnj.org/edison_tv/ 
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      Then go to videos on demand and then latest videos: 
      https://www.edisonnj.org/edison_tv_videos_on_demand/latest_videos/index.php 

      Then scroll down to the bottom: 
      https://www.edisonnj.org/edison_tv_videos_on_demand/latest_videos/index.php 
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Peggy Appears in Atlantic City Jazz Club on August 24th . . .  
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         Click the link below to view a high definition video of Peggy singing more Jerome Kern. 

Peggy Appears at Philadelphia Jazz Club . . . 

        On August 9, 2013, Peggy appeared at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia along with the All Star Jazz Trio featuring Andy Kahn on piano, Bruce Klauber on drums and Bruce Kaminsky on bass.  Anthony has posted three video clips of Peggy singing some standards from the Great American Songbook on YouTube.  Click the links below to view each clip. 
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        Anthony sends us this promotional post card for Peggy's appearance at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco during the mid-50's.  Mitch Miller, Columbia Records A & R man at the time, suggested to the young Johnny Mathis, recently signed to a contract by Columbia, that he attend Peggy's appearance at the Fairmont as a practical learning experience for an aspiring singer. 

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        Peggy will bring some newly discovered clips and will sing some more of the Great American Standard Songs. She will also sign autographs and pictures. 

If You would like to reserve tickets:  
Call Roger @ 215-657-0111 
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      These days fans can hear her reminiscing with stars of yesteryear on her radio show “Off the Cuff,” at www.wyyr.com, at 7 p.m. (EST) on the last Sunday every month.  Recent guests have included Kaye Ballard, Pat Boone, Joel Grey and Rose Marie.  Talent plus petite good looks, an effervescent personality and some amazing serendipity contributed to King’s becoming one of the most popular stars in the early days of television. Recently, relaxing in her Philadelphia apartment and looking out over the city’s skyline, she reminisced about her career. 

      “I graduated from high school at 16, and went to business college,” she says. “I took shorthand – I figured I would need money.  I can still take shorthand and type like a fiend,” she says.  

      She fell back on her secretarial skills more than once, while working her way to the top in show business.  When she was just 17, she went to Cleveland to try out for the show “Audition Ambition.” She won the prize, a week on the show.  

      “At the end of the week the [regular] girl singer ran off with the saxophone player and they offered me the job,” she says.  At the time, the band playing at the Cleveland Hotel was looking for a singer; she got that gig too, and it came with lodging at the hotel. 

      “I come from real poverty,” she says, “All I could think was, ‘I could help my folks.’” When she told her parents about landing two singing jobs in one day, “They were just stunned.” 

      Her career got another boost when a critic who had panned the three singers before her reviewed her. “He said, ‘Rush to the Bronze Room and listen to the new girl singer. They finally have a singer who can sing!’” 

      She had been at the Cleveland Hotel for about nine months when Jack Owens, star of “The Breakfast Club” radio show, heard her.  He introduced her to band leader Charlie Spivak.  “I’m littler than him, so he liked that,” she said.  That kicked off two years of touring with Big Bands – Charlie Spivak, Ralph Flanigan and Ray Anthony. Then she heard that Mel Tormé was getting ready to do a show on CBS.  When she auditioned, she sang “The Boy Next Door.” 

      “Out of the control room came this man, he picked me up, twirled me around and kissed me and said, ‘I’m Hugh Martin – I wrote that song!’” He told Tormé, “Hire her or we’re not friends anymore!”  After about nine months, the show changed direction; she got a gig at the Blue Angel night club in New York.  There, at 19, she caught the eye of Arthur Freed, who had produced “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Easter Parade” with Judy Garland. He signed King to a one-year contract with MGM.  There she met Garland, who “was so wonderful to me,” Fred Astaire, and André Previn, among others.  Although the film Freed had in mind was never made, she had a year of singing, dancing and diction lessons and lost her Pittsburgh accent.  Diction coach Gertrude Fogler, “who got Greta Garbo to speak English,” told her she sounded “like a dog with a bone – she said I had the hardest “r” she’d ever heard.”  There’s not a trace of it left. 

      Her television career began soon after, at NBC’s legendary West Coast studios at Hollywood and Vine, where she performed on a two-hour live show broadcast throughout the region. 

      “One day my agent came to me and said there is a new comedian and he has a show – his name is George Gobel, and he wants you.” Gobel was short, and King was not only talented, pretty and perky – she’s five-foot-two. She was a regular on the nationally broadcast program for almost two years. 

      “Three to four weeks after it began, people were stopping me on the street.”  She appeared on "American Bandstand," the "Tonight Show" with  Johnny Carson, the "Jack Benny Show", the "Bob Hope Show", and the "Ed Sullivan Show," among others.  In 1961, she married Sam Rudofker, founder of After Six formal wear, and settled in the Philadelphia area.  Within a few years she gave birth to a son and a daughter. 

      “I stopped performing,” she says without regret. “I had it all.”  When the children were in their teens, she began accepting selected performing engagements and still performs occasionally in addition to her monthly radio program. 
  
      She will be the Grand Marshall of the Ocean City, New Jersey Doo-Dah Parade in April, joining the ranks of former celebrity Grand Marshalls Mickey Rooney, Joan Rivers and Soupy Sales. 
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