"I spent most of my life as a nobody."

December 1, 2015 2:49 PM

Diana Serra Cary, also known as Baby Peggy, is one of the last living silent film actors, and possibly the only major star of the 1920s still alive.

During her heyday, she was most famous for films such as Captain January (1924, later remade starring Shirley Temple in 1936), Peg O the Mounted, and The Family Affair. However, much of her work has been lost to the degradation and destruction of silent films as a whole, or exists only in fragments.

As an adult, she's written several well-regarded books on Hollywood history, and one of them, Hollywood's Children, was influential in updating the Coogan law, which affects how children are allowed to work in movies today.

She's now 97, and earlier this year, did an intensive interview with the Guardian. Several days ago, she made the news again after a fan site reported that Cary had been denied in-home assistance by the Motion Picture and Television Fund, founded in 1921 by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith.

See also the excellent 2012 documentary: Baby Peggy: the Elephant in the Room.

posted by Bourbonesque (14 comments total)

I don't know if it was Iwerebor's documentary, but I recall watching something in the past year about Baby Peggy, and was astonished. My film history knowledge of the silent era is, sadly, thin, and I had never even heard of Baby Peggy or Cary. Great post!
posted by Thorzdad at 3:08 PM on December 1, 2015

Very cool, thank you for posting this.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:09 PM on December 1, 2015

Thank you for the FPP
posted by infini at 3:12 PM on December 1, 2015

Actually, she's only the fourth oldest living silent film star.

The three older were all bit players, so she's definitely the most important oldest silent film star still alive today.
posted by blob at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2015

So, "the only major star... still alive," as the post says, seems quite correct.
posted by koeselitz at 3:45 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd say she's about due for a career resurgence. Someone get Tarantino on the phone!
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:55 PM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

"Peg O The Mounted" (hoo-boy, funny how meanings shift) was made the year my 91 year old mother was born. I'm kind of embarrassed to say she'd find the title funny, too. As she said last week: "inside of every 91year old is a youngster who wonders what happened."
posted by Floydd at 5:04 PM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

A few years ago I taught a student/activist whose main research concern was with what happens to children in the entertainment industry (especially afterwards, when they are no longer useful in the same way as when they were young, and tend to get discarded). I had never given this a lot of thought -- it embarrasses me to admit this -- and I very much appreciated the schooling she gave me and her classmates that semester. Baby Peggy's re-emergence into the public eye is so important. Thanks for posting this.
posted by sophieblue at 6:03 PM on December 1, 2015

I love Baby Peggy, loved Diana Serra Cary's books which are a great insight into not only her life but the Hollywood system of that early era. Really fascinating.

Also wanted to share that I got an email from the MPTF saying that they looked into her case, that she is in no danger of being homeless and does have resources and in-home care, and that the reason she wanted the money was something that doesn't fall under the assistance the MPTG gives. Just wanted to put that out there because they've been getting a lot of hate mail.
posted by OolooKitty at 6:42 PM on December 1, 2015 [7 favorites]

Excellent post, Bourbonesque; many thanks!
posted by On the Corner at 2:18 AM on December 2, 2015

I've always been curious about what ever happened to Cheryl Holt, who played the baby in It. That was in 1927. She might still be alive.
posted by deanc at 6:16 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

TCM recently played that documentary. It's sitting on my SO's DVR right now, waiting for me to get to it.
posted by pmurray63 at 8:29 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I feel like I should recommend, for anyone who wants some more context on this period in film, a recent documentary called "The Story Of Film: An Odyssey." In 15 one-hour episodes it brilliantly and artfully discusses the history of film whilst dealing thoughtfully with its conceptual and spiritual underpinnings – and all in the calm, compelling lilt of its northern Irish director, Mark Cousins. It's really the greatest survey of the history of film I know of, both technically careful and well-researched and also unafraid to make strong pronouncements; before the first ten minutes are over, Cousins gives an overview of our experience of film, and insists that "the money men don't know the secrets of the human heart or the brilliance of the medium of film."

Cousins' early episodes on the 1910s and 1920s in film are really amazingly illuminating and also rousing, both detailed and also wide-ranging across world cinema – which is in fact a characteristic of the whole series; early in the first episode he declares that "it's time to redraw the map of movie history that we have in our heads; it's factually inaccurate and racist by omission." He and his interviewees discuss what a huge role women played in early cinema, before the advent of sound meant that more money could be made, prompting men to toss the women out.

Anyway, I could go on about how great it is all day, but I just wanted to recommend it. It's all on Netflix; here's the first episode on Youtube.
posted by koeselitz at 11:42 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

all in the calm, compelling lilt of its northern Irish director, Mark Cousins

Not trying to be snarky, but for some of us, "compelling" was more like "sleep-inducing." I'm serious. His narration made it tough for us. About half of the episodes were still unwatched when that DVR died. I don't want to discourage anyone from looking it up, because I agree with most of your description ... But not that part.
posted by pmurray63 at 7:49 PM on December 2, 2015