Canadian born, Peggy is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Cartwright of Vancouver and the grand-daughter of Sir Richard Cartwright, the noted statesman. She is the niece of Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Cartwright of Ottawa, prominent in musical circles, and has friends and relatives in every big city from coast to coast of the Dominion.
I visited Peggy behind the scenes at the Victoria Palace where Archie de Bear's new revue is running to packed houses. Pitter-patter down the stairs from the dressing rooms came the chorus of the revue, young men in kilts, girls in backless, skirtless gowns. "Fasten my dress, will you Maisie? . . . how did my line go over? . . . I couldn't hear the words of that last song, could you?" They passed through the Silence Door to the wings. Then Peggy came downstairs, followed by a "dresser" bearing a cloak to wrap round her when she came off stage. Although only eighteen, this diminutive little person is leading danseuse and is also ballet mistress, responsible for every step of dancing in the revue.
Jump from the Chorus
When the show opened last month, Peggy was a humble member of the chorus with an insignificant salary. Within a week she had been picked out for special mention by the newspaper critics, even Hannen Swaffer, the well-known critic of the London Daily Express, declaring her work to be "worthy of most of the Russian dancers." The producer noticed her and her salary bounded up. Peggy stepped out of the chorus and into a big part. She went high and higher still. She was signed on for the next three productions of Mr. de Bear and was offered, too late, a dazzling opening in New York.
How did she "arrive" so suddenly in London and find her name in lights above the theater? Through sheer hard work, Mrs. Cartwright will tell you. On and off the stage since she was five years old, Peggy first starred in Hollywood where she played "little girl" parts for Virginia Valee and did her best piece of work in "The Iron Horse."
School days came and Peggy returned to Vancouver where she attended Crofton House School for a few years and studied dancing under Miss Suzanne Sicklemore, a pupil of Pavlova. But she couldn't do arithmetic and she could draw, so Peggy enrolled as a member of the Vancouver Art School, where her sketches and designs received instant mention. In the evenings Peggy danced, on the Capital stage, in the Belmont cabaret, everywhere. Work, work, work and every month her bank account grew a little larger. As a member of the Vancouver Little Theater, she played several parts and added to her reputation.
Earned Her Own Way
"Few people realize," Mrs. Cartwright told me, "that Peggy earned every penny to bring us both to London." Less than two years ago, Peggy came to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was granted a scholarship which would give her three free terms of training.
In the middle of the first term, she danced at a private performance held in the home of a prominent London hostess, the mother of one of her colleagues at the Academy. She was asked to attend an audition by Mr. C. B. Cochran, wealthy promoter of a number of revues every year. Mr. Cochran had seventeen places to fill in his chorus for the "Cochran's 1930 Revue" and 250 applicants. Peggy was chosen to lead that chorus. She threw up her scholarship and went on the stage.
The performance opened in Manchester and the dress rehearsal lasted from after dinner until six the next morning! The show came to London and ran for several months. Mr. Cochran asked Peggy to take part in his next show, opening in a few momths.
But Archie de Bear had seen her. He wanted her for the "Chelsea Follies" and Peggy hates to be idle.
Wanted on Broadway
New York is beckoning to Peggy. An American producer, Mr. William Hale, has asked her to go to New York to star on Broadway. Perhaps next year, when released from her present contract, she will go.
Already Peggy is understudy to the principal lady in the Chelsea Follies. In the next production she is to have a speaking part. They want her to sing too, so she is studying for hours every day.
Peggy cannot only dance; she has a beautiful speaking voice and can wrestle! Mr. Cochran took Mr. Beverly Nicholls to watch her one day. "Put a half-Nelson on me, Peggy," he suggested, so she threw him neatly to the floor. Mr. Nicholls retired precipitously to the wings!
Productions every night and some afternoons, rehearsals, breaking in new dancers, and occasional, very occasional, parties. Peggy is too busy for much frivolity. She has performed at the benefit performance given under the patronage of the Prince of Wales; she has sat at the right hand of the Duke of Manchester when he entertained stage celebrities at dinner; she has been present when Maurice Chevalier was the guest of honor. Peggy has definitely "arrived."