Secretaries We Admire

Peggy Fair is a fictional secretary par excellence. In addition to being a snappy dresser (a requirement for any secretary, real or imagined), Peggy is organized, efficient, resourceful, and 100% reliable. She needs very little instruction. Her boss, private detective Joe Mannix, has only to casually utter a few key words in her general direction; the next thing you know, Peggy is coolly presenting him with a neatly typed list of, say, every cab driver in the greater Los Angeles area whose name begins with 'M.' She's that good.

Peggy's full resume can be found at TV Acres:

"Born and raised in Los Angeles, Peggy is a widow, very efficient, and a former Department of Motor Vehicles employee. She now works as the full-time employee of Joe Mannix, an Armenian private eye who lives and works at 17 Paseo Verde Drive in West Los Angeles.

"Peggy married police officer Marcus Fair in January of 1961. They had a little boy named Toby later that year. Unfortunately, Marcus died in the line of duty on March 1968. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Peggy’s only relatives include her mother and some family that lives in Chicago.

"Peggy uses her contacts with the DMV when conducting background checks for Joe‘s clients and sometimes goes undercover as a maid, or hooker to help solve a case. She once even helped Joe battle foreign agents who set out to assassinate African Premier Obuko who was being treated incognito in a nearby hospital.

"Most of the time Peggy likes her job, but from time to time, Peggy quits the employ of “Mr. Mannix” when angered by Joe. But after an appropriate cooling off period she returns to work. When not mad at Joe, Peggy will offer him advice or sometimes even loan him money when he's short of cash. A loyal friend, Peggy was also on hand to nurse Joe through a stretch of temporary blindness when he was shot by a killer's bullet.

"In turn, Joe helped Peggy clear the name of her late husband Marcus Fair, when his name appeared on a list of policemen who were being paid off by a burglary ring. Joe also came to the rescue when Peggy and her son, Toby were held hostage by people who desperately needed a roll of incriminating film and when Peggy was held in the clutches of syndicate thugs who have mistaken her for a potential informer.
"When not helping out Joe Mannix, Peggy is helping her own friends, like the time her friends Brad Turner and Jimmy Whitewing were wrongly accused of murder and Peggy let them hide in her apartment; or the time Peggy's friend Glenn Gerard, a one-time juvenile delinquent (now reformed) was sought for the commission of a crime.

"Occasionally, Peggy finds time for a love life. Her romantic interests included dating a guy named Gabe Johnson who turned out to be a prison road-gang escapee falsely convicted by a sheriff of a small southern community; and boyfriend Floyd Brown whom Mannix accused of stealing of 45 cartons of morphine.

"When not being kidnapped or placed in other perilous situations, Peggy enjoys listening to music (jazz, blues, pop), eating soul food and watching old Humphrey Bogart movies. She also finds time to be a secretary for the local Boy Scout troop meetings. At work, Peggy likes to dress smart. She especially likes short skirts that show off her lovely legs. But, when her boss Joe Mannix fails to notice her new outfits, well, let's just say, it doesn't make Peggy's day."