Peggy Bernier

Peggy Bernier was a comedian and film actress who was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

She was born in 1907 in Providence RI but spent her childhood in Newtown MA. Her father was a French Canadian immigrant who worked in the worsted mills, her mother was an Irish immigrant. Peggy excelled in school and won many amateur theatrical contests. Her first engagement came in 1922, when she and her mother approached George M. Cohan and begged her a small part in Little Nelly Kelly which was then in tryouts in Boston. According to Bernier, this landed her a part in the show at agebut this story may be apocryphal as her name does not appear on any cast lists for this play. She spent several years living with a cousin in New York City. At the age 17, she landed a job in the chorus of Al Jolsons 1925 musical Big Boy. The show disbanded in Chicago, Illinois when Jolson became ill. Temporarily stranded in Chicago, she began performing her Jolson impersonation in cafes and clubs. Paul Ash and his wife caught her act. Ash offered her an engagement. Bernier accompanied Ash, was a suc

Source: Wikipedia