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Before there was Shirley Temple, there was Baby Peggy. She was one of 3 cute little kid actors in silent film, with way too much talent that the public could not get enough of. But, as with so many other child stars, there was more going on than met the eye...
1918 - 2020
Peggy-Jean Montgomery was born in San Diego, California in 1918. Her father was a former cowboy who worked as a stunt double for Western film star, Tom Mix. As the story goes, at the ripe old age of 19 months, she went along with her mother to visit Century Studios, and the director was very impressed with Peggy's obedience. Any Hollywood director, in any decade, will tell you: well-behaved children are very hard to find! Her (controlling) father often said in later years that her success was not due to talent (!) but it was because she followed orders without questioning them! Peggy was hired to do a series of short films alongside the canine star of Century Studios, Brownie the Wonder Dog.
A very young Baby Peggy, posing with Brownie the Wonder Dog
Baby Peggy often appeared in satirical comedy shorts, imitating adult stars of the time
Old Hollywood had no concept of child labor limitations (as there were no rules yet). They worked Peggy into the ground - 8 hours a day, 6 days per week, in almost 150 short films between 1921 and 1924. In case math isn't your forte, she would have been between the ages of 3 and 6! Peggy also began working for Universal Pictures in 1923 (age 5), starring in full-length feature films as well. She performed her own stunts, including horrifically dangerous ones such as riding underneath a train car and escaping a burning room!
Starring in "Helen's Babies" with Clara Bow, 1924
Another word that was relatively unknown at the time was "exploitation". When the overworked Peggy was not acting in film, she went on strenuous personal appearance tours to promote her films and endorse a good deal of products. She also appeared on major stages in vaudeville skits, including the prestigious Million Dollar Theater, a masterpiece of our friend Sid Grauman. By the time Peggy was 5, she had her own endorsed line of dolls, milk, sheet music and jewelry. She quickly became known as The Million Dollar Baby, and received over 4,000 fan letters PER DAY. Heartbreakingly, Peggy never learned to "play" - her life was always "work"!
Posing for Movie Weekly magazine, 1923
Holding a Baby Peggy doll
So...how much money did she make for all of this? Well, she had a 1.5 million (about 15 million in today's money!) per year contract at Universal alone, not counting the endorsements and appearances! She *should have* been financially set for a comfortable adulthood...but sadly, that wasn't the case. Before there were laws in place protecting the finances of child actors (called the Coogan Act), the parents were the money-handlers. Mmm-hmmm. You know where this is going! Peggy's parents threw her money around like confetti, and did not save much of it up for her future. Her step-grandfather was made vice-president of her trust, called the Peggy-Jean Corporation. One day, he withdrew all of the money in the fund (about $1M) and skipped town. By the time Peggy was 10 years old, none of her money remained.
The Montgomery family (Peggy in center)
As mascot of the Democratic National Convention (Franklin D. Roosevelt on left), 1924
In 1925, her father had a full-on fight with Peggy's studio boss about her salary. Her contract was not renewed and she found herself blacklisted because of her father's history of arguing with studio heads. Way to go, Dad! Peggy managed to find one more minor job in a film, but the well had pretty much run dry. Her father had given her a bad reputation. For the rest of the 1920s, Peggy performed in vaudeville tours and was quite successful. However, the long, strenuous hours and nonstop performances took a toll on her young body, and many times Peggy had to perform while violently ill. She had buckets waiting in the stage wings for the "inevitable".
Teenage Peggy
Even after being pushed out of films, Peggy's parents would not. Stop. Spending! The generous money she made from her performances was squandered away, and when the Crash of '29 hit, the Montgomerys were unprepared. Her father (sheesh, this guy) had originally planned to buy a ranch in Wyoming and convert it into a resort - but with the Great Depression causing financial roadblocks, the family sold their home in Beverly Hills and moved to the ranch themselves, as they'd already paid a deposit! Peggy was more than happy to leave her performing days behind and just relax for once - but after a while they were still struggling to make ends meet, and her parents decided to move the family back to Hollywood.
After some failed attempts to revive Peggy's stardom (against her will), she was forced to work as a lowly extra, to the tune of $3 a day - alongside many former silent film actors who were unable to keep their momentum when sound took over. Their family relied on food coupons from the Motion Picture Relief Fund, a charity project of Mary Pickford's. She went to school regularly for the first time, and made her final screen appearance in 1938, as an uncredited extra. Former child actor Jackie Coogan asked her if she would pursue legal action against her parents for spending all of her money so wastefully. Jackie was already pursuing action against his own parents in a similar situation - more on that in the future! Peggy said no, as she didn't believe it would do any good, and she always maintained that she was not resentful of her parents' actions. We here at SCS would not have been so graceful!
Diana, the young lady (year unknown)
Her autobiography, published in 2008
At age 17, Peggy ran away from home to get away from her parents' control of her life. She married soon after, and sadly they divorced 10 years later. As an adult, Peggy became a writer for radio shows, and changed her name to Diana. She had discovered that once people found out about her former "Baby Peggy" image, they were more interested in that than in her writing! Diana, as she was now known, took Serra as her name when she converted to Catholicism. When she married her second husband, she took his last name and thus became Diana Serra Cary. Diana became an authority on Hollywood history, and wrote many successful books. She eventually found healing from the years of harsh working conditions and ultimately made peace with herself - which is extremely important. Diana kindly gave in-person interviews at her home to many people over the years, including our friend Jessica at Silence is Platinum! Link to the interview below!
Diana in recent years
In February of 2020, Diana - the last living silent film star, passed away of natural causes at the age of 101. Her handprints and signature are on display at Vista Theater in East Hollywood, and there is a GoFundMe campaign to assist with her final expenses. Link below. Sadly, most of her films are considered "lost", although a few remain! She is survived by her son, Mark Cary. Diana's story is one of unshakable resilience and strength, and it's one we hope continues to inspire future generations! View TCM's tribute to her below!
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