The Original Gold-digger: Peggy Joyce

To Peggy Upton Archer Hopkins Joyce Morner Easton Meyer, born Emma Marguerite Upton on May 26, 1893, this #JazzAge #femmefatale notorious for marrying millionaires (at least 4!), ''true love was a heavy diamond bracelet, preferably one that arrived with its price tag intact.'' A barber's daughter from #Berkley #Virginia now #Norfolk, the blonde was determined not to have ''a dull and dreary life". She ran away at the age of 15 or 16 with a vaudeville cyclist, who was potentially performing at Norfolk’s #GranbyStreet vaudeville theater, which still stands today. She began acquiring a personal history the tabloid press would soon find irresistible, for more reasons than one. Arguably more successful than any tabloid girl today, #PeggyHopkinsJoyce (1893-1957) has been called the original gold digger.

Sources:

Jonathan Bing, "Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life", Variety, https://variety.com/2000/more/reviews/gold-digger-the-outrageous-life-and-times-of-peggy-hopkins-joyce-1200462575/

Dancy Mason, "Shameless Facts About #PeggyJoyce ", Factinate, https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-peggy-hopkins-joyce/

Constance Rosenblum, "Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life" (2000).

Callie Freed, "The Norfolk County Chancery Case", The Uncommon Wealth, https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2017/12/13/persecuted-by-his-race-the-norfolk-county-chancery-causes-1718-1913/

Living Places, "Berkley North Historic District", https://www.livingplaces.com/VA/Independent_Cities/Norfolk_City/Berkley_North_Historic_District.html

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