Peggy Taylor
Encyclopedia
Peggy M. Taylor was an American
singer and actress who later became a radio
and television
announcer
.
and raised in Pasadena
, Taylor attended the University of California, Berkeley
, where she graduated in 1949. A few years afterward, she moved to Chicago
and in 1952 landed a spot as a vocalist on Don McNeill's Breakfast Club http://richsamuels.com/nbcmm/breakfastclub/1953/1952.html. During her time on the program, she recorded for Mercury Records
; later on in the 1950s, she recorded for such labels as Decca and Starlite. After her run on The Breakfast Club ended, she performed in nightclubs and supper club
s in places ranging from the Colony Club in London
to the Fairmont Hotel
in San Francisco
, to places in and around Los Angeles
including the Cocoanut Grove. She also opened once for Red Skelton
in Las Vegas
.
In 1957, Taylor took part in Stan Freberg
's Top 30
hit "Wun'erful, Wun'erful! (Sides uh-one and uh-two)," which parodied Lawrence Welk
and his television program
. On the record, she impersonated Welk's "Champagne Lady" at the time, Alice Lon. It was likely on that basis that she became the resident singer on The Stan Freberg Show
, where she performed cover version
s of popular song
s of the day. She occasionally tackled acting roles on the show, notably on the second edition which aired on July 21, 1957. In a sketch called "Max's Delicatessen," she and Freberg played a perpetually harassed couple who receive constant telephone call
s asking for Max's Delicatessen. The sketch is regarded today as a forerunner in its tone and writing to such modern-day sitcom
s as Seinfeld
. http://www.dawsbutler.com/Freberg1.htm
In the 1960s, Taylor made occasional appearances on television. By the 1970s, she had moved on to announcing work, and in March 1973, she joined the West Coast announcing staff of NBC
in Burbank, California
at a time when women were making inroads in the radio and television industries; in fact, she was the only full-time female staff announcer to be hired by the network on either coast http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t5355.html. During her tenure at NBC, her announcer booth colleagues included Don Stanley
, Donald Rickles
, Victor Bozeman
and, in her early years with the network, Frank Barton.
Taylor's voice was frequently heard on such network shows as NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
and NBC Monday/Tuesday Night at the Movies
, as well as introducing the one-minute NBC News
Updates which aired in the Pacific time zone and occasional voice-over
work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t7374.html. But the bulk of her announcing duties consisted of local live booth announcing for the network's Los Angeles owned-and-operated station
, KNBC
, where she handled program introductions and closes, station identification
s, promos
, bumpers
, teaser
s, public service announcement
s and sign-offs. She was among the rotating announcers who were thanked on the air every night by anchor
John Schubeck
at the start of each edition of the station's NewsCenter 4, for which Taylor also anchored sign-on and sign-off editions out-of-vision. Her announcing career with NBC came to an end around 1989.
Peggy Taylor died of natural causes
at her home in Cambria, California
at age 74.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and actress who later became a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
.
Biography
Born Margaret Tague in Inglewood, CaliforniaInglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
and raised in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, Taylor attended the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where she graduated in 1949. A few years afterward, she moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and in 1952 landed a spot as a vocalist on Don McNeill's Breakfast Club http://richsamuels.com/nbcmm/breakfastclub/1953/1952.html. During her time on the program, she recorded for Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
; later on in the 1950s, she recorded for such labels as Decca and Starlite. After her run on The Breakfast Club ended, she performed in nightclubs and supper club
Supper club
A supper club, in general, refers to a dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to...
s in places ranging from the Colony Club in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to the Fairmont Hotel
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a Canadian-based operator of luxury hotels and resorts. Currently, Fairmont operates properties in 18 countries including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, Barbados, United Kingdom, Monaco, Germany, Switzerland, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, the...
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, to places in and around Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
including the Cocoanut Grove. She also opened once for Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
In 1957, Taylor took part in Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
's Top 30
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
hit "Wun'erful, Wun'erful! (Sides uh-one and uh-two)," which parodied Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
and his television program
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
. On the record, she impersonated Welk's "Champagne Lady" at the time, Alice Lon. It was likely on that basis that she became the resident singer on The Stan Freberg Show
The Stan Freberg Show
The Stan Freberg Show was a weekly radio comedy show that ran on the CBS Radio Network for only fifteen episodes in 1957 from July 14 through October 20...
, where she performed cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of popular song
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
s of the day. She occasionally tackled acting roles on the show, notably on the second edition which aired on July 21, 1957. In a sketch called "Max's Delicatessen," she and Freberg played a perpetually harassed couple who receive constant telephone call
Telephone call
A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party.-Information transmission:A telephone call may carry ordinary voice transmission using a telephone, data transmission when the calling party and called party are using modems, or facsimile...
s asking for Max's Delicatessen. The sketch is regarded today as a forerunner in its tone and writing to such modern-day sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
s as Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. http://www.dawsbutler.com/Freberg1.htm
In the 1960s, Taylor made occasional appearances on television. By the 1970s, she had moved on to announcing work, and in March 1973, she joined the West Coast announcing staff of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
at a time when women were making inroads in the radio and television industries; in fact, she was the only full-time female staff announcer to be hired by the network on either coast http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t5355.html. During her tenure at NBC, her announcer booth colleagues included Don Stanley
Don Stanley
Donald Stanley Uglum , known professionally as Don Stanley, was an American radio and television announcer....
, Donald Rickles
Donald Rickles (announcer)
Donald Newton Rickles was an American radio and television announcer, news anchor, and actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, Rickles began his announcing career at the age of 11 at KBPS in Portland. Later he was chief announcer for KUSC-FM in Los Angeles, California...
, Victor Bozeman
Victor Bozeman
Victor Emanuel Bozeman was an American television announcer, voice-over artist, and actor.In the 1950s, Bozeman was a disc jockey at WLIB in New York City...
and, in her early years with the network, Frank Barton.
Taylor's voice was frequently heard on such network shows as NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
NBC Saturday Night at the Movies, was the first continuing weekly prime time network television series to show relatively recent feature films from major studios in color...
and NBC Monday/Tuesday Night at the Movies
The NBC Monday Movie
The NBC Monday Movie was a television anthology series of films scheduled every Monday night from 1963 to 1999 on NBC. It was referred to as NBC Monday Night at the Movies prior to the mid-1980s...
, as well as introducing the one-minute NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
Updates which aired in the Pacific time zone and occasional voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t7374.html. But the bulk of her announcing duties consisted of local live booth announcing for the network's Los Angeles owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
, KNBC
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
, where she handled program introductions and closes, station identification
Station identification
Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...
s, promos
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
, bumpers
Commercial bumper
In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper or break-bumper is a brief announcement, usually two to 15 seconds that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercial break, and vice versa...
, teaser
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
s, public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
s and sign-offs. She was among the rotating announcers who were thanked on the air every night by anchor
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
John Schubeck
John Schubeck
John Schubeck was an American television reporter and anchor, and one of the few to anchor newscasts on all three network owned-and-operated stations in one major market....
at the start of each edition of the station's NewsCenter 4, for which Taylor also anchored sign-on and sign-off editions out-of-vision. Her announcing career with NBC came to an end around 1989.
Peggy Taylor died of natural causes
Death by natural causes
A death by natural causes, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is one that is primarily attributed to natural agents: usually an illness or an internal malfunction of the body. For example, a person dying from complications from influenza or a heart attack ...
at her home in Cambria, California
Cambria, California
Cambria is a seaside village located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the California State Route 1 . The name Cambria was settled upon in 1869 .It is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States...
at age 74.