"Music," as every bonehead knows who has read Act I, Scene I of William Congreve's The Mourning Bride, "hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." Now, Mr. Congreve's Restoration pen was a facile one, and we had always chalked off this high-blown phrase as a pleasant enough bit of fluff, but little more. That's what we thought until catching our first long glimpse of big-eyed, full-mouthed, eminently-configured Meg Myles – sometime singer, sometime dancer, sometime actress and fulltime woman. Mr. Congreve, our savage breast is soothed.
Meg just recently came tumbling into the public eye, batting her heavy lashes up and down at the photographer, romping o'er fields and microphones for Capitol Records and assorted night clubs. Star-eyed press agents have billed her as a "sultry singer" with a "big voice" that in turn boasts "distinctive qualities." whatever it is that Meg's got, she certainly has enough of it to set her well out in front of most other popular vocalists today.
Pulling a neat switch on the singer-turned actress gambit, Meggin Myles (whose given name means "Mountains" in Welsh) first assaulted Hollywood in April, 1953. as a straight dramatic aspirant, never dreaming what latent wonders lay smoklering in her larynx. Other than the usual bathroom balladry? Meg didn't know she could sing a lick until June, 1955. But Meg is obviously the kind of a girl who could whomp up a
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LYNX (continued from page 59)tubful of interest even if she possessed a voice like Aldo Ray's (she doesn't: Meg's is a throaty, throbbing contralto), and it wasn't too long before she found herself cast as the steamy blues singer in The Phenix City Story.
From then on, little McGgin's career took the high road, with a successful engagement at Las Vegas' Royal Nevada Hotel, a tour of the country's smarter supper clubs, and a Capitol recording contract.
Meg has long been a Sinatra fan and not too long ago, she finally met her idol at a disc date in New York. "I just stood there and couldn't say a word, not even 'hello,' "blushed Meg. "I was really tongue-tied, but after a couple of seconds, I did manage to smile." Frank was far from speechless and it is reported on good authority that he turned in one of the most inspired recording sessions of his career.
Meg is aware that men like the way she looks. NBC was sufficiently impressed by the Myles of Meggin that they selected her as their TVenus, whatever that means, and The Tuberculosis Fund has named her "The Girl with the Best Lungs in California," and we know exactly what that means. We're sufficiently impressed to give the girl three choice pages in playboy.
