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Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?: The Autobiography of Hollywood's Pioneer Child Star
Long before Shirley Temple's curls bounced their way into America's heart, Baby Peggy lit up marquee from coast to coast. She was the original child star produced by Hollywood and her amazing journey set the pattern for all those who followed. Discovered when she was only nineteen months old, Baby Peggy with her angelic face and expert mugging for the camera entertained au
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Community Reviews
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I truly wish I could double the stars on this one. My last book of 2014, and it was phenomenal. A couple of months ago I watched a silent film called Captain January on TCM, along with a documentary that followed called "The Elephant in the Room." It was about the first child star, Baby Peggy, someone with whom I wasn't familiar despite the number of silent films I've watched. The documentary was fascinating, and Peggy Montgomery — who has since changed her name to Diana Serra Cary — provided mu
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Who would want to be a child star? (who would want to be a celebrity of any kind, actually, because the hunger for fame is something I've never really understood) And who would want his/her own child to be a child star? It seems disastrous all round. Anyone who devotes themselves to turning a child into a star (whether in films or music or dance or on stage or on the kiddie pageant circuit) is a self-serving narcissist in my books, no matter what high-minded or disingenuous justifications they o
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Feb 24, 2008
Stephanie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in Hollywood history
This is one of the best celebrity autobiographies I've ever read. It's the story of Diana Serra Cary, a.k.a. "Baby Peggy," who was one of the biggest child stars of the silent movie era. Any film historian would greatly benefit from reading this book, which powerfully evokes a time when small movie studios were akin to circuses: filled with scrappy vaudevillians who worked their pants off to eke out a meager living.
Cary's move from Century to Universal is fascinating. Century was just a ragtag, ...more
Cary's move from Century to Universal is fascinating. Century was just a ragtag, ...more
I bought this book after I watched a documentary On "baby Peggy" I found out that she is now known as Diana Serra Cary. and she wrote an autobiography. I was glad I got the chance to read this book. she is very honest about the tough life she had as a child star, over her childhood she made almost two million dollars and ended up with none of that money. thanks to her parents and other relatives who blew the money. very upsetting to think she was the bread winner for her family since she was 19
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This book tells the story of Hollywood's first child star and what befell her. Her life is a harrowing dead broke romp from child star to vaudeville, to Hollywood extra to Mexico and finally to author where she finally finds a voice. Well work reading.
This book is also my bible.
Devastating but touching and hopeful. This woman has been to hell and back and she's beyond magnificent! Great for those even vaguely interested in silent film.
Devastating but touching and hopeful. This woman has been to hell and back and she's beyond magnificent! Great for those even vaguely interested in silent film.
I love silent film history and this is when of the best written books on the subject and from the first child star of the cinema whose memory recall is incredibly detailed
I heard this women speak at the San Francisco Public Library. It is an amazing story and speaks to the conditions of the time period in regards to treatment of children.
I had never heard of her until I read this book. The sad tale of an early Hollywood child star.
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