All of a Sudden Peggy

This lost 1920 silent film was based on the 1907 Broadway play, All-of-a-Sudden-Peggy. The film version was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures and starred Marguerite Clark. It was a comedy/romance that began with Anthony, Lord Crackenthorpe ( Orral Humphrey ) a fellow who has a keen interest studying spiders. He has engaged the help of Mrs. O'Mara, ( Lillian Leighton ) the widow of a zoologist to participate with him on a book about the creatures. Mrs. O'Mara has a lovely but impetuous daughter named Peggy ( Marguerite Clark ), and together they move into the Crackenthorpe mansion. Anthony's mother, Lady Crackenthorpe, ( Maggie Fisher ) is very displeased with this arrangement and fears her son, heir to the Crackenthorpe estate, will fall in love with Peggy. However, she does not realize he's already in love with Peggy's mother. To keep Peggy away from Anthony, she encourages her younger son Jimmy ( Jack Mulhall ) to distract Peggy and he is very happy to oblige. At first Peggy isn't all that interested, until she discovers that her mother has refused Anthony's marriage proposal until her daughter weds. Peggy leaves a note claiming that she has married Jimmy and sneaks herself into his home while he is away. Lady Crackenthorpe is enraged and even more so when she discovers Jimmy and Peggy are not really married and her son may possibly be caught in a scandal. The always impulsive Peggy suddenly decides she is in love with Jimmy and they now must marry immediately. The loss of this 5 reel film is another tragedy for silent film cinema and for those interested in Marguerite Clark, as most of this lovely actress's film work has not survived.