Peter Garey, from Albert Lea, MN, arrived in Hollywood in 1944 with some background on stage having supported Mady Christians in “Return Engagement,” which closed on Broadway after a total of 8 performances in November of 1940, and, much more successfully, Lunt & Fontanne in the hit play “The Pirate” (1942-'43). Alas, Garey's Hollywood career proved disappointing and he later became a carnival barker touring with Raynell's Girl Show. The latter, which among other places, stopped by the 1955 Indiana State Fair, featured according to one account “a handful of bored, sleepy 'Glamour Girls,'” including the notorious Wild Girl of Wonga Wonga, who, Garey promised the crowd, came “straight from the Folies Bergere in Paris.”
“Well, it kills you, these fairs,” Garey admitted to the Logansport-Pharos Tribune. “You put in 16 hours a day, but it's a good living and it's exciting.”
The veteran performer passed away at the actor's home at the age of 82 in Englewood, NJ in 1999.
Yesterday I found a letter written in 1949 from Peter to my Dad asking about some photos. He says he is tired of the "barking" and is going to try to get into a new Cole Porter show in a few weeks. Looking at the letter I wondered who he was. Now I know more about him and who he was. Thank you.
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