Peggy Lane Theater Stories series by Virginia Hughes

This is the text of an eBay guide that I created in 2006.  The guides are now orphaned pages that can only be found through an Internet search.  eBay plans to delete the guides in April 2018.

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The Peggy Lane Theater Stories series was published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1962 through 1965.  The series was written by several authors under the pseudonym of Virginia Hughes.  There are eight titles in the series, all of which were printed in picture cover with the picture printed directly on the cover of the book.  The spine and back cover of each book is bright pink; however, some books have a slightly lighter pink color.  

All eight books are harder to find than more popular offerings by Grosset and Dunlap.  The first four titles are the easiest to find and seem to be about equally common.  Volumes 5 through 8 are more difficult to acquire, with volumes 7 and 8 the most scarce.

Prices are usually quite low for the earlier volumes in the series.  The final two volumes are worth quite a bit more, but low demand still keeps the price much lower than scarce titles in other series.  Keep in mind that prices are always changing, but volumes 7 and 8 should be worth a minimum of $25-35.  Volumes 7 and 8 have sometimes sold for higher prices when several buyers are interested at the same time.

List of Titles

  1. Peggy Finds the Theater, 1962
  2. Peggy Plays Off-Broadway, 1962
  3. Peggy Goes Straw Hat, 1963
  4. Peggy on the Road, 1963
  5. Peggy Goes Hollywood, 1964
  6. Peggy's London Debut, 1964
  7. Peggy Plays Paris, 1965
  8. Peggy's Roman Holiday, 1965

Summary

The series centers around Peggy Lane, who is a teenage girl attempting to break into the world of theater in New York City.  Peggy faces several difficulties, but ultimately succeeds.  In true series book style, Peggy's struggles are less than what an actress might expect in the real world and Peggy's success comes sooner than one would expect.  

While the books primarily focus on Peggy's acting career, each book includes either a conflict between characters or a minor mystery.  The books have just a hint of romance since Peggy has several admirers.  This series is an excellent series, in particular the first few books which are extremely well-written and richly descriptive.

This information is a variation of what I have on my series book website.  My website does include more information that what is presented here.