"Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room" is a documentary about a very famous child star from the silent era who is pretty much unknown today. Now, thanks to this film and Turner Classic Movies, the world is now getting reacquainted with this fascinating but very sad story.
Starting at 19 months, Peggy starred in film after film--and soon began raking in a major star's family. However, she became a thing to her parents--a thing to bring them wealth and her own feelings or needs went ignored. For example, she received almost no education at all during her time in Hollywood. However, after the days of stardom were over (at age 9!), came the grim realization that the money was gone--and the family would not let go of their cash cow. Now, Baby Peggy was sent to vaudeville--where she performed much like a trained dog. How did all this sad exploitation turn out--see the film for yourself! It's not all bad--and, fortunately, we see a vivacious and rather young looking Peggy to tell us herself--at 93 years-young.
While I think the film perhaps went too fast through her life AFTER films, it was a very well done film. Much of it is that the narration was kept to a minimum and they just let her speak. Well worth seeing and, following the initial broadcast of this film, TCM showed several Baby Peggy films--making this a great night for silent movie fans.