by Ruth Kling
Peggy Lee is often referred to as the singer’s singer. She is greatly admired and imitated by those starting out in show business as well as by those who have been around a long time. Miss Lee has come a long way from the serious blonde singing aspirant who hailed from North Dakota. She is Scandinavian by heritage and this has played an important part in her distinctive spiritual and physical strength.
Her talents are many, although most people know her best for her beautiful voice. She makes frequent appearances in supper clubs, television and motion pictures and makes recordings, but she has also won acclaim as composer, artist, actress, writer and philanthropist.
When we met her recently, she was wearing her beautiful blonde hair in a simple, shoulder-length style. She said: “I tried wearing short hair, but I am a tall girl. I measure 5 foot 6 and have a frame to go with my height. I decided that I am just not a short-haired person. When my hair was cut, it seemed to make my personality, my moods, makeup and everything so different. I feel women make a mistake in not looking at their overall proportion instead of deciding on a hairstyle because they happen to have a round or oval face. The over-all look is the one that really counts, especially when choosing a hair style and length.”
She told us that she loves the look of false eyelashes but is still trying different types to find some that will stay on comfortably. She doesn’t like colored eye shadow and uses a soft taupe brown shadow along with a white shadow near the brows for a highlighter effect. In lipsticks, she prefers pale orange or a soft shade of pink but, at present, uses mostly orange shades which complement her coloring very well.
One makeup trick she uses constantly seems to work very well for her. She puts on a very light film foundation, then wipes it off. A little bit always remains on the skin, then she goes over her face again with another application of foundation and wipes that off too. In this way, she manages to achieve the coverage she wants and needs without any heavy artificial look.
Even though Peggy Lee has reached the top spot in her chosen profession, she still practices frequently and is a perfectionist about her performances. In another column soon, we will tell you more about this charming and talented woman.