the vaudeville circuit, Peggy was frequently ill with tonsillitis and other ailments; however, she continued working. In What Ever Happened to Baby Peggy?, she 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." Her mother feared for her health, another reason for leaving the rough life of touring. Peggy's parents continued to spend excessively after she had been pushed out of films, wasting on unnecessary luxuries much of the she had made. Peggy's father planned to buy a ranch and convert it into a high-end getaway. However, the stock market crash of 1929 put an immediate halt to the plans. The Montgomerys had to sell their Beverly Hills home and, having made a $75,000 deposit on the land and existing property, moved to rural Wyoming where they lived near the Jelm Mountains. Peggy found the change in pace refreshing and hoped her stage days were over. However, the family struggled to make a living, and, as a last-ditch effort, returned to Hollywood in the early 1930s, much to the teenaged Peggy's chagrin. She stated in a 2012 interview that she was paid three dollars a day, and many of the other extras were other silent actor stars that she grew up with, and collectively they considered the work to be like that of "galley slaves". Peggy posed for publicity photos with Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and signed with a new manager. Hopes of a comeback were mostly dashed by false rumors of a bad screen test that had never taken place. The family resorted to using food coupons from the Motion Picture Relief Fund. The Los Angeles School Board asserted that Peggy had to go to school, and was first enrolled at Lawlor Professional School, a school with flexible hours for child actors, and was classmates with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. She later attended Fairfax High School while the entire family was forced to take extra work. She loathed screen work and retired soon after appearing in Having Wonderful Time in 1938. In the spring of 1940, Peggy's career had reached such a low, journalist Walter Winchell in his column On Broadway reported Peggy and her husband Gordon Ayres were now living in a small