"Growing up as 'Baby Peggy,' a major child star of the silent screen, I shared the same sense of professional responsibility toward one's fans as did Lillian Gish. I also knew what it was like to barnstorm for years as a star, dealing with all the hardships of 'life on the road' as Lillian and Dorothy had done a generation before me. Later, as contemporaries in the 1930's Depression Era Hollywood, we shared the traumatizing struggle of making the life and death career transition from silents to talkies. All of these were painful challenges for girls and young women, especially for those of us whose families were still living by the rules of a vanished Victorian America.
"Lillian's movie career made that fearful crossing safely, [m]ine did not. However, she remained a courageous former fellow soldier and inspiring role model for me as I chose to follow my adult calling as an author and Hollywood historian, rather than continuing as an actress. Deservedly, in her later years Lillian crowned one triumph after another until finally being proclaimed First lady of the screen."
Diana Serra Cary
August 21, 2015
Notes:
Baby Peggy and Lillian Gish were born in October.
Baby Peggy's most famous feature film"Captain January" was set in Maine. Lillian's last film, "The Whales of August," was filmed in Maine's Casco Bay.
Baby Peggy's costar in "Captain January" was Hobart Bosworth who also costarred with Lillian in "Annie Laurie." Bosworth, reportedly a descendant of Miles Standish, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Baby Peggy does not.
Jim Patterson, Editor
www.LDGish.blogspot.com
August 24, 2015
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