PB’s own ‘It girl’
Editor, The Commercial,
I recently decided to revisit a past topic of interest to see if any new internet entries had appeared for Pine Bluff’s first Hollywood starlet, Peggy Shannon, who had been billed as the next “It girl” when she was hired to replace Clara Bow.
A friend, the late Charlie Okle, had become interested in her story and had researched her sufficiently to produce a short VHS biography.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Peggy Shannon story had finally managed to draw enough attention to warrant a Wikipedia entry, as well as a brief entry on the International Movie Database (IMDb). Another entry was from a site called GlamourGirlsoftheSilverScreen.com. (The British spelling of “glamor” tells me this is likely a UK-based or Canadian site.)
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
While all three reference Peggy’s birth (as Winona Sammon) in Pine Bluff, and her early success in the Ziegfield Follies before heading to Hollywood, the third site adds a few more interesting tidbits to her story, including her inclusion in the mural on Main Street, where she appears alongside Freeman Owens and “Broncho Billy” Anderson.
Any Pine Bluff resident of a certain age is quite familiar with that mural, among the many we once boasted, and I vaguely recalled seeing other faces besides those two men, so I decided to head down to the newly mostly renovated boulevard for a refresher to check out the stunning redhead (from a time when the only redheads were naturals).
Boy, was I disappointed! I knew the murals were in need of a few touch-ups (or maybe a bunch), but that one appears as if somebody may have tried to do a little (like with the “Monkey Jesus” painting in Spain). I had to study the wall for a while to discern where the face of Peggy Shannon likely once was, based on what little could be seen of it now.
Like the mostly ignored Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame, it appears that our fair city’s headlong rush in search of a glorious future chooses to ignore some of our brighter lights from the past. I imagine even Jim Leslie would be aghast.
D.H. Ridgway,
Pine Bluff