The Darling of New York

Adorable five-year-old Italian orphan "Baby" Peggy Montgomery (as Santussa) sails to America to live with her grandfather, but "The Darling of New York" innocently becomes involved with the city's seedy underworld. Universal gave their short star a bigger budget for this successful feature, which is unfortunately lost. The climactic fire scene has been preserved, however. We pick up the action with little "Santussa" being cared for by kind-hearted Gladys Brockwell (as "Light-Fingered" Kitty). Police raid her gang's hideout and a fire breaks out. This exciting sequence can be found on Flicker Alley's "Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films" (2011) and has been shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). In one of that complication's highlights, surviving child star Diana Serra Cary aka "Baby Peggy" recalls how the fire blazed out of control. At age 93, she's still a darling.

***** The Darling of New York (12/3/23) King Baggot ~ "Baby" Peggy Montgomery, Gladys Brockwell, Carl Stockdale, Pat Hartigan