Milestone Films

Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room

Name: Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room
Brand: Milestone Films
Price: 249.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Buy the DVD

Stream or Download Now

Hollywood discovered Peggy-Jean Montgomery when she was 19 months old and made her a star by the age of two. By the time she was six, she had made more than 150 popular shorts and a star of feature films. In fact, she was one of the most popular stars in Hollywood with a line of Baby Peggy products sold in stores around the world.

By the age of 11, however, she was a has-been, forced to work eight shows a day in Vaudeville. And soon, like rival silent film star Jackie Coogan, she was broke, her money squandered by her family. Over the course of the next six decades she reinvented herself as Diana Serra Cary, a respected film historian and advocate for laws protecting child performers. With narration co-written by Cary, Vera Iwerebor's documentary combines rare clips from Baby Peggy's films — most of which were lost when her first studio, Century, burned in 1926 — with a personal glimpse of a woman who lost her childhood to the movies. Although Cary was once rejected by Hollywood, where she was blacklisted after her father feuded with producer Sol Lesser, her remaining films, including the first movie version of Captain January (1924), have been rediscovered, bringing her a new generation of fans. Documentarian Vera Iwerebor has created a film, that like Ms. Cary, is filled of warmth, humor and a love for cinema and life.

BONUS FEATURES

Captain January (1924) 64 minutes. Starring Hobart Bosworth, Baby Peggy and Irene Rich. Music composed and performed by Donald Sosin. With Joanna Seaton (vocals).

Three short films starring Baby Peggy: Carmen, Jr. (1923), Peg O’ the Mounted (1924) and Such is Life (1924). Music composed and performed by Guenter Buchwald.

Song: “That’s My Baby” performed by Donald Sosin (piano) and Joanna Seaton (vocals).

VIDEO LIBRARIAN

November-December 2013

Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room ***1/2

Filmmaker Vera Iwerebor's excellent documentary tells the strange and often tragic story of Diana Serra Cary, who is now in her 90s but became one of Hollywood's biggest stars -- known as Baby Peggy -- before the age of 10. Discovered as a mere toddler when her father, Jack, moved his family to Hollywood to work as a stuntman and horseman, Baby Peggy was on par with Jackie Coogan and Shirley Temple as a box-office draw, at one point making $1.5 million annually. During that time, she received no education or protection from existing child labor laws, and a jealous Jack publicly took credit for her success. And then, suddenly, as these stories often go, it was all over. Baby Peggy's studio contract was cancelled at the same time her management team -- family members -- stole all of her money, forcing her to go on the road as a breadwinner to perform multiple shows a day on the vaudeville circuit. The film delves into successive chapters in Baby Peggy's rollercoaster ride through success and failure, identifying the moment she finally began taking the reins of her life, rebooting her identity as "Diana" and finding happiness with her second husband and only child. Sharp, charming, and full of memories, Cary appears on camera throughout, speaking at film festivals where a few of her surviving movies screen before appreciative audiences. Viewers also learn about Cary's work as a Hollywood historian and author, as well as her advocacy of greater protection for child performers. Extras include three short films starring Baby Peggy, as well as the 1924 feature-length Captain January, and a music video. A wonderfully entertaining profile, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)

This DVD and Blu-ray are also available for Institutional Purchase, which includes public performance rights and a 3-year streaming license. Please click the link below to visit KinoLorberEDU.com for more information

More information View images

An Explanation of Home, Classroom, and Public Performance Rights

Individuals and non-profit institutions purchasing DVDs, DVD-Rs, or Blu-rays — or streaming — at published home-use sale and rental prices are authorized to use the film only for private home screenings and legitimate classroom showings (a regularly scheduled class with an instructor present), per the United States Copyright Law. You can learn more about the distinction between classroom and public performance screenings here.

Through our distribution partner, Kino Lorber, Milestone provides a variety of licensing to suit all needs. Our standard institutional licensing packages are designed to provide colleges, universities and qualified non-profits with the best value for multiple uses, and our one-time community screening licenses allow any organization to exhibit high-quality films for a reasonable fee. Please note that all licensing carries restrictions on audience numbers and/or geographic range.

STANDARD INSTITUTIONAL LICENSING

CLASSROOM RIGHTS allow unlimited use in face-to-face classroom situations for the life of the media, restricted to a single campus or location. Please note that this license doesn't include public screenings or digital transmission of any kind.
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS (PPR) allow educational and nonprofit groups to exhibit our films to groups of 100 or fewer individuals where admission is not charged. The term of the public performance license is for the life of the DVD. However, if you intend to charge admission, expect an audience over 100, or publicly advertise the screening, then we ask that you contact us regarding an exhibition fee. Films purchased without Public Performance Rights are restricted for individual viewing or face-to-face teaching in the classroom only.
DIGITAL SITE LICENSES (DSL) allow colleges, universities and nonprofits to locally host and stream to their community on a closed, password-protected system for the life of the digital file.
K-12 PPR comes with limited performance rights so films can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a K-12 school building or on a single campus.

For all educational licenses and screenings, please Estelle Grosso, Director of Educational and Non-Theatrical Sales & Distribution at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: egrosso@kinolorber.com.

The purchase of DVDs, DVD-Rs, and Blu-rays at the institutional rate by anyone outside of a North American non-profit educational institution does not grant rights for public performance or streaming.

Any continuous or loop screenings as part of a museum exhibition must also be licensed separately. Inquiries must be negotiated directly by emailing egrosso@kinolorber.com.

Information for Exhibitors Screening DCPs and Film Prints

All bookings must be made by email correspondence with George Schmalz, Director of Theatrical Sales at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: gschmalz@kinolorber.com to negotiate terms and insure a screening copy is available. An order is only finalized when Kino Lorber sends written confirmation.

DCPs are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing DCPs appear on your invoice. The immediate return or transshipment (as directed) of all DCPs is your responsibility.

DCPs should be returned to:

Milestone Film & Video
38 George Street
Harrington Park, New Jersey 07640-0128
United States

35mm and 16mm prints are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Please do not ship prints back via US Mail. Exhibitor pays to ship both ways. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing prints appear on your invoice. The immediate return of all prints is your responsibility.

Prints should be returned insured for $1,000 to:

Iron Mountain
Attn: Milestone Account
235 Main Street
Little Falls, NJ 07424
201.944.3700

For public screenings, advertising materials can be requested by contacting jhertzberg@kinolorber.com.

Milestone is the exclusive licensor for all the titles in this catalog, all of which are available from Milestone’s distribution partner Kino Lorber. in their complete versions.