CONTINUATION of Biography of George Wilber Peck
By Dave Peck
Comic Author & Governor of Wisconsin
The Bad Boy, it should be noted, found his way to stage and screen. The stories had been adapted into "a stage play that was a tremendous hit, running for several years." After Peck's death, his "Peck's Bad Boy" writings became the basis for several films. Thanks to the starring role of Jackie Coogan, "The Greatest Boy Actor in the World," the movie version did well. "Peck's Bad Boy," a silent feature released in 1921, was subtitled "It takes four Pecks to make a bushel, but only one small Peck to start a riot!" It was Coogan's first film after his sensational "The Kid" with Charlie Chaplin. Reviews of the Peck film showed that "The Kid" was a hard act to follow.
Peck lived some 21 years after his high level public life ended. Upon retiring from politics, he signed with a lecture bureau, taking an occasional speaking engagement. Peck was also a fervent outdoorsman, always ready to take off with friends on fishing or hunting trips. One of these friends, writing soon after Peck's death, praised the "charming gentleman, his sterling integrity, the unfailing good humor of a man ready at any moment to seek the field or stream."
At one time he was the best-known Wisconsin writer in the nation. Several of his books, are online at Project Gutenberg.
Descendants of George W. Peck living in Bozeman include David Peck, Neil Peck, Adair Peck and their children.
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