[Dixielandjazz] Liz Smith reviews new Peggy Lee biography

[Robert Ringwald]

The Strange Life of Peggy Lee
Miss Peggy Lee -- so brilliant, so sexy, so strange. James Gavin's new book reveals
all. And... "Is That All There Is?"
by Liz Smith
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
"My life would be much more interesting to audiences than Lena Horne's!"
That's what Peggy Lee said and thought as she prepared to mount the disastrous Broadway
musical version of her life, back in 1983. Maybe I once might have thought the two
great singers were on par, in terms of personal drama. But having just finished James
Gavin's "Is That All There Is? -- The Strange Life of Peggy Lee," I see that Miss
Lee was just being her usual delusional self.
Lena Horne had a real life with real struggles and in time put those struggles on
the table, both to heal herself and make strides for civil rights.
Peggy Lee wallowed in victimization fantasies, spent much of her life in bed, coddling
illness (for years thought to be psychosomatic, then all too real), married a variety
of undistinguished men. (Her first had his issues but seemed the best of the lot.)
And, like many busy/neurotic stars, neglected her child.
James Gavin is the author of a book I much admired, on Lena Horne, titled "Stormy
Weather." It detailed Lena's suffering and humiliations at the hands of nightclub
owners, studio execs (MGM simply didn't know what to do with this great, talented
beauty). Also Lena's gradual, controversial, full awakening as an African American
woman and entertainer, who felt she'd made too many compromises along the away. Lena's
music was electric, highly stylized, often loud, with blazing eyes and bared, perfect
teeth. She taunted her audiences with her sexuality, then pushed them away. (This
era -- the nightclub years -- is when I first became friends with Lena and her husband
Lennie Hayton.)
Peggy Lee, on the other hand, was the epitome of silky, smoky, laid back cool --
so cool, so removed, she sometimes seemed unconscious, or in her own dream world.
She could belt, she could wail, she could shake everything the good Lord gave her.
But she preferred, as time went on, to make her audiences lean forward and hang on
her every syllable. Her minimalism of gesture, her subtle but unmistakably conveyed
sex-appeal, her writing skills (often exaggerated by the lady herself) were worshipped
among music enthusiasts.
And she never stopped trying to incorporate new, modern music into her repertoire,
even if her delivery remained fascinatingly elusive, and her physicality increasingly
immobile. Those who worked with Peggy adored her musicianship and perfectionism,
as grueling as the latter could be.
However, as mightily and as elegantly as author James Gavin tries, he can't quite
bring Peggy Lee to life. Not as a person we should really care about. This isn't
the fault of his writing which is excellent -- and if you know about music, he is
brilliant when reviewing Miss Lee's voice and gradual alterations to her style. But,
as the old expression goes "there's no there, there."
I never grasped the point of what were her obvious, outrageous exaggerations about
her abused childhood -- she was like Judy and Marilyn on steroids in that regard!
(Peggy Lee also tended to over-dramatize, exaggerate and create from whole cloth
everything in her life.) She had pain, no doubt. But she could never let it go, using
it to fuel her art and many aspects of her life; it was a cushion and bludgeon. Garland
did this too, but Judy was a legendary wit. Miss Lee was not.
Peggy, admirably ambitious and hard-working, seemed to live only to be famous, to
excel in her craft and engage in a series of wildly disappointing marriages and affairs.
She was eternally anxious, depressed or bitchy, drinking or over-medicated (though
the effects of this abuse didn't show up for years, a testament to the good heath
she continuingly denied). She appeared to have absolutely no interest in anything
that did not concern her directly. The world's problems were not hers, though she
strove mightily for "inner peace" and a spiritual approach to life -- her life.
She was highly sexed. Those who were aroused by her steamy renditions of "Lover"
or "Fever" were not being put on. She liked men -- to paraphrase one of her own compositions.
It wasn't all bad. There were certainly plenty of people who loved her. But they
generally seemed to feel she needed to be treated either like a child or an empress.
(Her musicians and most of the people she worked with professionally were a different
story. She was at her best, defining herself as an artist. Her great early influence
was Billie Holiday. Lee, however, became more ethereal, Billie was ever earthbound.)
After a while, the litany of sad/crazy stories began to wear on me. I myself thought,
"Is That All There Is?" The sections on her ill-fated Broadway venture, "Peg," and
the lawsuit against Disney for royalties from "Lady and the Tramp" are interesting.
(Lee's producer was Zev Buffman, who was also Elizabeth Taylor's producer/business
partner/lover. Peggy was wildly insecure in Taylor's presence, and loathed Buffman
for bringing Taylor to a party where the "Peg" score would be performed.)
Author Gavin digs up this column's critique on Peggy and her behavior, after the
show closed, and our reference to the show as "The Lady and Her Misery." (Gavin incorrectly
attributes the source of this item to hairdresser Vincent Roppatte. It was actually
my then-fledgling assistant Denis Ferrara, who provided a good deal of that "dish.")
The lawsuit chapters are intriguing. Peggy proved herself -- though in a wheelchair
and on oxygen -- a worthy opponent to the Disney monolith. (I remember defending
the merit of Peggy's legalities vs. Disney and I won a great friend and lawyer, David
Blasband, as a result.)
But Disney wouldn't settle quickly; no doubt hoping the frail star would die! She
didn't. She won, although not to the monetary tune she'd hoped and Disney's appeals
wore her out financially. But she never gave in.
Still, at the conclusion of "Is That All There Is?" I was no closer to understanding
Miss Peggy Lee than I had been on the first page of the book. She remained as vaporous
as many of her latter-day public appearances, and as confounding as some of her most
esoteric, ambiguous songs.
James Gavin does pay monumental and expert tribute to Peggy Lee's unique talent,
the impact she had on contemporaries (Marilyn Monroe!) and generations of singers
after (kd lang, Madonna). She was a great artist.
Was that all there was? Maybe. And since most of us didn't know her, I'd say her
artistry was quite enough.
The book is worth the effort. The author's understanding of her music alone is superb.
But please remember the subtitle -- "The Strange Life of Peggy Lee."
__________
Photos, etc. here:
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/guest-diary/2014/liz-smith-the-strange-life-of-peggy-lee
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