Diana Serra Cary - Hardships As A Child Actor

Hardships As A Child Actor

While under contract with Century and Universal, Cary commanded an impressive salary. By 1923 she was signed to a $1,500,000 a year contract at Universal; on her vaudeville tours she made $300 per day. Jack and Marian Montgomery handled all of the finances. Money was spent on expensive cars, homes and clothing; nothing was set aside for the welfare or education of Peggy or her sister. Peggy herself was paid one nickel for every vaudeville performance. Through reckless spending and corrupt business partners of her father, her entire fortune was gone before she hit puberty. When fellow child star Jackie Coogan sued his parents in 1938, Cary's parents asked her if she was going to do the same. Feeling it would do no good, Cary did not pursue any legal action. Coogan's case, and cases like Cary's, eventually inspired the Coogan Act to protect child actors' earnings.

Cary's working conditions, as described in interviews and her autobiography, were harsh. As a toddler she worked eight hours a day, six days a week. She was generally required to perform her own stunts, which included being held underwater in the ocean until she fainted (Sea Shore Shapes), escaping alone from a burning room (The Darling of New York), and riding underneath a train car (Miles of Smiles). While at Century she also witnessed several instances of animal cruelty and saw a trainer crushed to death by an elephant.

While on the vaudeville circuit, Peggy was frequently ill with tonsillitis and other ailments, however, she continued working. In Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?, Diana Serra Cary wrote, "On several occasions I went onstage so yellow-dog sick they had to put buckets in the wings: I threw up in one before I made my entrance, and in the second when I exited, before changing and going back out for my encore." When Peggy was a teenager, her father even tried to forbid glasses because he claimed they would make her less marketable to film studios.

Schooling for both Peggy and her sister Louise was sporadic at best. Neither Montgomery sister attended school until the end of the vaudeville era; for their secondary education they worked to pay for their tuition at Lawlor's Professional School, which offered flexible schedules and allowed them to continue performing in films.

Peggy's career was controlled by her father, who accompanied her to the studio every day and made every decision about her contracts. Mr. Montgomery often claimed that Peggy's success was based not on her own talent, but on her ability to follow orders unquestioningly.

As an adult Cary has worked on numerous books exposing such harsh conditions, including a biography on Coogan. At the end of her own autobiography she recounts the fates of numerous child stars including Judy Garland and Shirley Temple. She has also advocated reforms in child performer protection laws, most recently as a member of the organization A Minor Consideration.