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Artist:

Shirley Temple

Representative Songs:

"On the Good Ship Lollipop," "Animal Crackers in My Soup," "But Definitely"

Representative Albums:

Bambi, On the Good Ship Lollipop, Oh My Goodness

Similar Artists:

Anne Cochran, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Mickey Rooney, Carol Channing, The Lennon Sisters, Jimmy Durante, Julie Andrews, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire

Performed Songs By:

Lew Pollack, Sidney Mitchell, Ted Koehler, Ray Henderson, Mack Gordon, Irving Caesar

Followers:

Liz Callaway, Thomas Hampson, Laurie Beechman
  • Genre: Vocal Music
  • Active: '30s - '60s
  • Instrument: Vocals

Biography

No other child star in the history of popular entertainment enjoyed so much fame and renown as Shirley Temple -- by the tender age of six, she was already among the biggest celebrities in the world. Born April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California, she began taking dance classes at three, which led to her discovery by Hollywood in 1932; initially, she was tapped for a new series of children's films called "Baby Burlesks," parodies of adult features of the era designed to capitalize on the massive success of Hal Roach's Our Gang shorts. Temple soon enjoyed a number of bit parts in minor features before her breakthrough performance singing "Baby Take a Bow" in the 1934 musical Stand Up and Cheer poised her on the brink of stardom; while her skills as a singer and dancer were already remarkable, her gifts as an actress were ultimately her greatest drawing card, and she connected with audiences on a deeply emotional level rivaled only by a handful of the era's biggest adult performers.

In 1934 alone, Temple made nine features, most notably Little Miss Marker and Bright Eyes, the latter launching her hit song "On the Good Ship Lollipop"; as a result of her success that year -- just her first as a feature actress -- she was even given a special miniature Academy Award. Through it all, Temple remained so poised that rumors swirled that she was not even really a child at all, but a dwarf. As the Depression raged on, her films emerged as compulsory escapist fare for audiences of all ages, and soon she was making upwards of $300,000 annually, with a vast array of dolls, coloring books, clothes and other products bearing her likeness. As the 1930s wore on, Temple's star continued to ascend; each of her films was more profitable than the one which preceded it, and included such hits as 1935's The Littlest Rebel, 1936's Poor Little Rich Girl, and 1937's Heidi. Her pictures also generated a number of hit songs, among them "Animal Crackers in My Soup," "When I Grow Up," "Curly Top" and "Swing Me an Old-Fashioned Love Song."

In 1938, Temple was the year's top box-office draw; however, while a few more hits followed, including 1939's The Little Princess, as the 1940s dawned her popularity began to dwindle -- like so many child stars before and after her, her wide audience appeal simply faded as she entered her teens. Temple continued appearing on screen for the remainder of the decade, each time to diminishing returns; she eventually retired from screen acting at the age of 21. In 1958, she attempted to mount a comeback in television, hosting the short-lived series The Shirley Temple Storybook; 1960's Shirley Temple Show fared no better. After marrying businessman Charles Black, Temple concentrated on family life, also working extensively for charitable concerns; in the late 1960s she entered politics, unsuccessfully campaigning for Congress. In 1968, however, she was appointed as a U.S. representative to the United Nations, and from 1974 to 1976 was the U.S. ambassador to Ghana. In 1988, Temple published her autobiography, Child Star; a year later she was named ambassador to Czechoslovakia. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
 
 
Actor:

Shirley Temple

  • Born: Apr 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s-'40s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Fort Apache, Since You Went Away, Wee Willie Winkie
  • First Major Screen Credit: Baby, Take a Bow (1934)

Biography

The jury is still out as to whether or not curly haired Shirley Temple was the most talented child star in movie history; there is little doubt, however, that she was the most consistently popular. The daughter of non-professionals, she started taking singing and dancing classes at the age of three, and the following year began accompanying her mother on the movie audition circuit. Hired by the two-reel comedy firm of Educational Pictures in 1933, she starred in an imitation Our Gang series called the Baby Burlesks, performing astonishingly accurate impressions of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich; she was also featured in the films of Educational's other stars, including Andy Clyde and Frank Coghlan Jr. In 1934 she was signed by Fox Pictures, a studio then teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. After a handful of minor roles she created a sensation by stopping the show with her rendition of "Baby Take a Bow" in Fox's Stand Up and Cheer. She was promptly promoted to her own starring features, literally saving Fox (and its successor 20th Century Fox) from receivership, and earned a special Oscar in 1934 "in grateful recognition to her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment." With such tailor-made vehicles as Bright Eyes (1934), Curly Top (1935), The Little Colonel (1935), Dimples (1936), and Heidi (1937), Temple was not only America's number one box-office attraction, but a merchandising cash cow, inspiring an unending cascade of Shirley Temple dolls, toys, and coloring books. She also prompted other studios to develop potential Shirley Temples of their own, such as Sybil Jason and Edith Fellows (ironically, the only juvenile actress to come close to Temple's popularity was 20th Century Fox's own Jane Withers, who got her start playing a pint-sized villain in Temples' Bright Eyes). Though the Fox publicity mill was careful to foster the myth that Temple was just a "typical" child with a "normal" life, her parents carefully screened her friends and painstakingly predetermined every move she made in public. Surprisingly, she remained an unspoiled and most cooperative coworker, though not a few veteran character actors were known to blow their stacks when little Temple, possessed of a photographic memory, corrected their line readings. By 1940, Temple had outgrown her popularity, as indicated by the failure of her last Fox releases The Blue Bird and Young People. The following year, MGM, who'd originally wanted Temple to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, cast her in Kathleen, another box-office disappointment which ended her MGM association almost before it began. Under the auspices of producers Edward Small and David O. Selznick, Temple enjoyed modest success as a teenaged actress in such productions as 1942's Miss Annie Rooney (in which Dickie Moore gave her first screen kiss) and 1944's Since You Went Away. Still, the public preferred to remember the Shirley Temple that was, reacting with horror when she played sexually savvy characters in Kiss and Tell (1945) and That Hagen Girl (1947). Perhaps the best of her post-child star roles was spunky army brat Philadelphia Thursday in John Ford's Fort Apache (1947), in which she co-starred with her first husband, actor John Agar (the union broke up after four years when Agar began to resent being labeled "Mr. Shirley Temple"). She returned to 20th Century Fox for her last film, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), in which played second fiddle to star Clifton Webb. Retiring on her trust fund in 1950, she wed a second time to business executive Charles Black, a marriage that would endure for several decades and produce a number of children. In 1958 she made a comeback as host of The Shirley Temple Storybook, a well-received series of children's TV specials. Her final show business assignment was the weekly 1960 anthology The Shirley Temple Show, which though not a success enabled her to play a variety of character roles -- including a toothless old witch in an hour-long adaptation of Babes in Toyland! The staunchly Republican Temple went into an entirely different field of endeavor when she entered politics in the mid-'60s. The bitter taste of an unsuccessful congressional bid was dissipated in 1968 when she was appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to Ghana (1974-1976) and Czechoslovakia (1989), and during the Ford and Carter years kept busy as the U.S. Chief of Protocol. In the 1980s, she went public with information about her mastectomy, providing hope and inspiration for other victims of breast cancer. Still one of the most beloved figures in the world, Temple seemingly went to great pains to dispel her goody two-shoes image in her candid 1988 autobiography Child Star, in which she cast a frequently jaundiced eye on her lifelong celebrity status, revealing among other things that several well-known Hollywood moguls had tried and failed to force their manhood upon her once she was of legal age (and even before!). No question about it: Shirley Temple has come a long way from the Good Ship Lollipop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

 
Biography: Shirley Temple Black

Shirley Temple Black (born 1928) was an American who devoted her career first to films and then to public service. The United States ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989 till 1992, she was still remembered by millions of fans for her success as a child movie star in the 1930s.

Shirley Temple was born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928. She was the youngest of three children. Her father was a bank teller. As a child Shirley Temple began to take dance steps almost as soon as she began to walk, and her mother took her to dancing school when she was about three and a half years old. She also took her daughter on endless rounds of visits to agents, hoping to secure a show business career. Persistence paid off. Little Shirley obtained a contract at a small film studio and one of the great careers in film history began.

Her first contract was with Educational Pictures Inc., for whom she worked in 1932 and 1933. She appeared in a serial entitled Baby Burlesks, followed by a two-reeler, Frolics of Youth, that would lead to her being contracted by the Fox Film Corporation at a salary of $150 per week. The first full-length feature that she appeared in for Fox was 1934's Carolina. It was another Fox release of that year that made her a star: Stand Up and Cheer. Although she only appeared in a subsidiary role, she made a big hit in this picture by singing and dancing "Baby Take a Bow." She appeared in eight other full-length films (not to mention her ongoing work in serials and short subjects) that year, including Little Miss Marker and Bright Eyes. The first of these is especially notable because it was her first starring role. The culmination of 1934 was the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences award of a special miniature Oscar to her "in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year, 1934." One cannot help but assume that the industry-dominated academy was most impressed by her status as the number one box office draw of the year, but her special Oscar was unique in that it represented the first and only time that an Oscar has been awarded on the basis of a poll of the film-going public.

Film Star of the 1930s

Through the rest of the decade Shirley Temple's star soared. And it was not only her delectable dimples and 56 corkscrew curls that would keep her at the top of the box office listings. She was a spectacularly talented child, able to sing and dance with style and genuine feeling. Gifted with perfect pitch, she was a legendary quick study who learned her lines and dance routines much faster than her older and more experienced co-stars. She would make 15 films in the next six years, becoming one of the most popular stars of the Great Depression years and making over $30 million for the newly organized Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. The company's chief executive, Darryl Zanuck, arranged for a staff of 19 writers to exclusively develop film projects for her. Studio wags described her character, which evolved through such films as The Little Colonel (1935), Captain January (1936), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), Heidi (1937), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), as "Little Miss Fix-It" whose cuteness and precocious presence of mind helped grown-ups through real-life difficulties. And as her popularity rose, so did her salary - to $10,000 per week.

But unfortunately little of the built-up popularity would be hers to claim by the time she was an adult. As she reports in her autobiography, her father's questionable management of her funds, coupled with both of her parents' healthy regard for their own interests, enabled only a fraction of the immense fortune that she earned to accrue to Shirley herself. By 1940 she had appeared in 43 feature films and shorts and an entire industry had sprung up whose products celebrated the glories of Shirley Temple: dolls, dresses, coloring books, and other sundry merchandise. She also earned enormous sums by commercially endorsing all sorts of products. These endeavors brought in an even larger amount of money than her studio salary. She got more fan mail than Greta Garbo and her picture was taken more frequently than President Franklin D. Roosevelt's. Shirley Temple will always be a symbol of the nation's longing for good times and good cheer during the severe economic woes of the Great Depression.

By the decade's end she was no longer quite a child, and when The Blue Bird (1940) proved unpopular at the box office and the next film that she starred in fared poorly as well, Twentieth Century-Fox devised a means of getting rid of the "property" that had saved the fledgling studio from bankruptcy. She would try to maintain her acting career through the 1940s but never again would she come even close to the stardom of her childhood. Film audiences would simply not allow the adorable girl who had sung "On the Good Ship Lolly Pop" and "Animal Crackers (in My Soup)" to grow up.

There had never been a child star so talented as she. Actress, singer, and dancer - Shirley Temple was a unique performer. The "industry" that rose up to promote her did not exist to support her stardom so much as it was a reflection of it. Moreover, Shirley Temple's true greatness as a screen idol has survived to the present day as her films are revived on television and re-released on videocassettes. New generations of fans have grown up marveling at her talent wholly apart from any studio hype or pressurized product tie-ins marketed to bedazzle them. Her matchless and enduring talent has proven to be enchantment enough.

It is arguable that nothing could have been done to preserve the lustre of her magic. Yet her ongoing struggles as an adult would prove her to be as heroic in her own life as she had ever been on the screen. A difficult first marriage to actor John Agar caused her to mature quickly. Almost immediately thereafter came the realization that her parents had been looking out for their own best interests rather than hers.

As she had done in so many of her films, she rallied. After marrying the successful California businessman Charles Black in 1950, with whom she raised her children (Linda from her first marriage and Charles and Lori from her second), she embarked on a career in television. The success of her two children's series enabled her to pursue her commitment to children's issues with vigor. In 1961 she cofounded the National Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies.

Her concern over domestic social ills caused her to realize that life as a private citizen could not satisfy her desire to make the world a better place. She ran for Congress in 1967 and was defeated. This was only the beginning of her involvement in public service. In 1969 she was appointed to serve as a representative to the United Nations. Her exemplary work at the UN led to a second career for Shirley Temple Black. In 1972 she was appointed representative to the UN Conference on the Human Environment and also served as a delegate on the Joint Committee for the USSR-USA Environmental Treaty. The next year she served as a US commissioner for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Black overcame a great challenge in 1972 when she successfully battled breast cancer. When she publicly disclosed that she had a mastectomy, she gave courage to millions of women. Two years later she was appointed ambassador to Ghana, where she was warmly received by the people of that nation. Upon completion of her tour of duty in Africa, President Ford made her the US chief of protocol. In all of her various diplomatic functions, Black's intelligence, spirit, and zeal contributed greatly to her country's prestige and furthered its world position. Democratic President Carter paid tribute to her tact and flawless taste when he chose her (Black had been a lifelong Republican) to make the arrangements for his inauguration and inaugural ball in 1977.

But the triumphs of her adult life no more ruffled her poise and grace than her earlier tribulations. Her marriage and family life with Charles Black was as rewarding to her as her career as a diplomat was distinguished. Indeed, by 1981 she was such an established pillar of the public service community that she became one of the founding members of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In 1988 she was appointed Honorary Foreign Service Officer of the United States, the only person with that rank. She went on to serve as the US ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992. Such honors are ultimately the true measure of her career's meaning. Latter-day film industry recognition such as the Life Achievement Award of the American Center of Films for Children or the full-sized Oscar that she was given in 1985 were echoes of a past that, while still resonant for "Shirley Temple," were not quite relevant for Shirley Temple Black. According to Black, her more than 25 years of social service have been just as enjoyable as her years in Hollywood.

Black is working on a book about her diplomatic career, which, she told Susan Bandrapalli in a 1996 Christian Science Monitor interview, she expects to take quite some time to complete. Her first book, A Child's Story took eight years to write. Black also stated that she was concerned about the lack of civility in the world today and said, "People should show more kindness and understanding."

The title of a recent biography (American Princess) does not do her justice. Through her lifetime of service in the arts and public life, Black has exemplified the spirit of self-sacrifice and persistent striving that Americans have aspired to for generations. She is truly an American heroine.

Further Reading

Shirley Temple Black wrote a candid and tasteful autobiography, Child Star (1988), detailing her years in Hollywood. Anne Edward's American Princess, published the same year, is an adequately researched, if slightly sensationalized, treatment of her life. Jeanine Basinger has written a study of her films, Shirley Temple (1975), which comments briefly on her life but is mostly concerned with sketching her film career. Another satisfactory examination of her movies is The Films of Shirley Temple by Robert Windeler. Black's career as a diplomat and as an environmental and children's rights activist keeps her in the headlines of magazines and newspapers, and nostalgia for her days of childhood stardom will no doubt keep her name in the columns of other journals as well. See Christian Science Monitor (April 25, 1996), People Weekly (November 28, 1988).

 

Shirley Temple.
(click to enlarge)
Shirley Temple. (credit: Brown Brothers)
(born April 23, 1928, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) U.S. child actress. She was selected from her dancing class for a screen test and made her debut at age four. She won notice in Stand Up and Cheer (1934) and was featured in Little Miss Marker (1934) and Bright Eyes (1934), in which she sang "On the Good Ship Lollipop." A precocious performer known for her dimples and golden curls, she became the country's most popular female star and Hollywood's top box office attraction in the Great Depression era. She received a special Academy Award in 1934. Her later films include The Little Colonel (1935), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), and The Little Princess (1939). As an adult she served as a U.S. delegate to the UN General Assembly (1969 – 70) and as U.S. ambassador to Ghana (1974 – 76) and Czechoslovakia (1989 – 92).

For more information on Shirley Temple, visit Britannica.com.

 
Fairy Tale Companion: Shirley Temple

Temple, Shirley (1928– ), child star from the 1930s and 1940s whose 50‐odd films contain numerous fairy‐tale elements. Watched over by her mother (fairy godmother) Gertrude Amelia Temple (née Krieger), Shirley began her film career with The Runt Page (1931). Subsequently, New Deal Rhythm (1933), Stand Up and Cheer (1934), Bright Eyes (1934), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), and other films cast their spells over Depression audiences who watched enchanted as Shirley, usually playing an abandoned child, magically overcame whatever personal and political problems confronted her and her friends. Shirley's films invariably ended with good triumphing over evil, wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, a booming economy over a depressed economy—classic fairy‐tale endings. Unsurprisingly, Shirley Temple describes herself as a ‘tiny commodity’, a ‘potential gold mine for Fox’ in the fairy tale that is American capitalism. Lone, outspoken critics like Graham Greene, critical of Temple's flirtatious acting, were silenced in the courts.

A successful film career capped by an Oscar in 1935 was followed by a successful TV and political career. She served as narrator for two TV series, ‘Shirley Temple Storybook’ (1958) and ‘Shirley Temple Theatre’ (1961), which both included numerous fairy‐tale adaptations of the classics, also made into books. In politics she held different elected positions, and in 1987 she was made Honorary Foreign Service Officer.

Bibliography

  • Black, Shirley Temple, Child Star (1988).
  • Greene, Graham, “‘Wee Willie Winkie. Review’”, in John Russell Taylor (ed.), Graham Greene on Film: Collected Film Criticism, 1935–1940 (1972).

— Ian Wojcik‐Andrews

 
Quotes By: Shirley Temple Black

Quotes:

"Good luck needs no explanation."

"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."

 
Wikipedia: Shirley Temple
For the cocktail named after this person, see Shirley Temple cocktail.
Shirley Temple
Shirleytemple_young.jpg
Shirley Temple in Glad Rags to Riches
Birth name Shirley Jane Temple
Born April 23 1928 (1928--) (age 79)
Santa Monica, California
Flag of California Flag of the United States
Other name(s) Shirley Temple Black
Years active 1932–1961
Spouse(s) John Agar (1945–1950)
Charles Black (1950–2005)
Official site http://www.shirleytemple.com

Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is an iconic American child actress of the 1930s. She also starred in films as a young adult in the 1940s and 1950s. She later became a United States Ambassador and diplomat. She is retired from public life. [1]

Early life

Temple began dance classes at Meglin's Dance School in Hollywood in 1931, at the age of 3. Her film career began when Charles Lamont, a casting director from Educational Pictures, visited her class. Although Temple hid behind the piano in the studio, she was chosen by Lamont, invited to audition, and, eventually, signed to a contract with Educational.

Temple worked at Educational from 1932 to 1933, and appeared in two series of short subjects for the studio. Her first series, Baby Burlesks, satirized recent motion pictures and politics. In the series, Temple would dress up in a diaper, but would otherwise wear adult clothes. The series was considered controversial by some viewers because of its depiction of young children in adult situations. Her second series at Educational, Frolics of Youth, was a bit more acceptable, and cast her as a bratty younger sister in a contemporary suburban family.

While working for Educational Pictures, Temple also performed many walk-on and bit player roles in various films at other studios. She is said to have auditioned for a lead role in Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies (later known as The Little Rascals) in the early 1930s; various reasons are given for her not having been cast in the role. Roach stated that Temple and her mother were unable to make it through the red tape of the audition process, while Our Gang producer/director Robert F. McGowan recalls that the studio wanted to cast Temple, but they refused to give in to Temple's mother's demands that Temple receive special star billing. Temple, in her autobiography Child Star, denies that she ever auditioned for Our Gang at all.[2] However, Temple had some connection with Our Gang in that Temple's carpool friend, David Holt, had a small role in the 1933 Little Rascals film Forgotten Babies.

Actress for Fox

Temple was finally signed to Fox Film Corporation (which later merged with 20th century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox) in late 1933 after appearing in Stand Up and Cheer! with James Dunn. Later, she was paired with Dunn in several films, notably her breakthrough block-buster Bright Eyes produced by Sol M. Wurtzel. This was the film that saved Fox from near bankruptcy in 1934 at the height of the Depression era. It was also in Bright Eyes,that Temple first performed the song that would become one of her trademarks "On the Good Ship Lollipop". This was closely followed by the film "Curly Top", in which she first sang another trademarked song "Animal Crackers in My Soup". In 1936 Temple was paid an unprecedented amount of money for her work on Poor Little Rich Girl: $15,000 per week. It was during this period, in the heart of the depression when her films were seen as bringing hope and optimism, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is reported to have proclaimed that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."[3]

In 16 of the 20 films Temple made for Fox, she played a character where either one or both of her biological parents were dead. This was part of the formula for Temple films, which encouraged the adults in the audience to take on the role of her parent.[4]

Temple would stay with Fox until 1940, becoming the studio's most lucrative player. Her contract was amended several times between 1933 and 1935, and she was loaned to Paramount for a pair of successful films in 1934. For four solid years, she ranked as the top-grossing box office star in America. Shirley's birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood; her birth year was advanced from 1928 to 1929. She was not told her real age until her twelfth (which was actually her thirteenth) birthday.[5]

Her popularity earned her both public adulation and the approval of her peers. Even at the age of five, the hallmark of her acting work was her professionalism: she always had her lines memorized and dance steps prepared when shooting began.

Temple also made pictures with Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, and many others. Arthur Treacher appeared as a kindly butler in several of Temple's films.

Temple's ability as a dancer (especially a tap dancer) is well known and celebrated. Even in her earliest films she danced, and she was able to handle complex tap choreography by the age of five. She was teamed with famed dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson also coached and developed her choreography for many of her other films. Because Robinson was African-American, and the South was replete with racism, his scenes holding hands with Temple had to be edited out in many cities in the South.

Temple was the first recipient of the special Juvenile Performer Academy Award in 1935 for recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment in 1934. Seventy years later, Temple is still the youngest performer ever to receive this honor, or any Oscar. She is also the youngest actress to add foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was originally meant for Judy Garland. However, MGM executives were concerned with Garland's box office appeal. Temple was considered for the role, however, she was unable to appear in the film when a trade between Fox and MGM fell through. However, Rags, who played Temple's beloved dog in Bright Eyes, was cast in The Wizard of Oz as Toto. In 1940 Temple starred in The Blue Bird, another fairy story with plot similarities to The Wizard of Oz. It was her first box-office flop. Temple was also rumored to be the inspiration for Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone with the Wind and was one of the early contenders for the role in the motion picture, but was too old by the time the film went into production.

Temple appeared in her first Technicolor film, The Little Princess, produced by Fox in 1939, near the end of her contract with them.

Product line

Aside from the films, there were many Shirley Temple products during the 1930s. Ideal's numerous Temple dolls, dressed in costumes from the movies, were top sellers. Original Shirley Temple dolls bring in hundreds of dollars on the secondary market today. Other successful Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and hairbows. Several of Temple's film songs, including "On the Good Ship Lollipop"(from Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (from Curly Top) and "Goodnight My Love" (from Stowaway) were popular radio hits. She frequently lent her likeness and talent to promoting various social causes, including the Red Cross.

Private school

In 1940, Temple left Fox. She juggled classes at Westlake School for Girls with films for various other studios, including MGM and Paramount. Her most successful pictures of the time included Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer with Cary Grant, and Fort Apache with John Wayne. She retired from motion pictures in 1949, reportedly because the public could not accept her appearing in adult roles. It is more likely she was motivated to retire because she wanted to devote herself to raising a family and was unhappy with changes in the film industry.

Hollywood return

In the 1950s and 1960s, she made a brief return to show business with two television series. Shirley Temple's Storybook premiered on NBC on January 12, 1958 and last aired December 1, 1959. Shirley Temple Theatre (also known as The Shirley Temple Show) premiered on NBC on September 11, 1960 and last aired September 10, 1961. Both shows featured adaptations of fairy tales and other family oriented stories. Shirley Temple was the hostess and occasional narrator/actress in both series.

In later years, she made occasional appearances on television talk shows, especially when she promoted her memoirs.

Controversy

Salvador Dalí's painting Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time, was controversial. It depicted Temple's head on the deep-red-colored body of a heavy-breasted lioness with long white claws.[6] British author Graham Greene, reviewing a Temple film, commented that although Temple was "marketed as an innocent kid, the performer had a 'more secret and more adult appeal'" and that "for her male audience, 'the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire'".[6]

Racism in Temple's films

Some modern film critics argue that many of Temple's films are flawed by the racist depiction of African-Americans that was common in the 1930s. For example, Andre Sennwald of The New York Times wrote that "The stereotypical treatment of black characters in The Littlest Rebel is more offensive than usual, with "happy darkies" nervously pondering the prospect of being freed from slavery and shivering in their boots when the Yankees arrive."[7] Bill Gibron, member of the Online Film Critics Society, wrote that: "The racism present in The Littlest Rebel, The Little Colonel and Dimples is enough to warrant a clear critical caveat." However Gibron, echoing most film critics who continue to see value in Temple's work despite the racism that is present in some of it, also wrote: "Thankfully, the talent at the center of these troubling takes is still worthwhile for some, anyway".[8]

Political and diplomatic career

Shirley Temple Black became involved in Republican Party politics, unsuccessfully entering a Congressional race in 1967 on a platform that supported the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. She went on to hold several diplomatic posts, serving as the U.S. delegate to many international conferences and summits. She was appointed a delegate to the United Nations by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969. She was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana (1974–76). In 1976, she became the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States which put in her charge of all State Department ceremonies, visits, gifts to foreign leaders and co-ordination of protocol issues with all U.S. embassies and consulates. She was United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and witnessed the Velvet Revolution. She commented, about her Ambassadorship, "That was the best job I ever had." In 1987 she was designated the first Honorary Foreign Service Officer in U.S. history by then U.S. Secretary of State, George Shultz.

Black served on the board of directors of some large enterprises including The Walt Disney Company (1974–75), Del Monte, Bancal Tri-State, and Fireman's Fund Insurance. Her non-profit board appointments included the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, the World Affairs Council, the United States Commission for UNESCO, the National Committee on US-China Relations, the United Nations Association, and the US Citizen's Space TaskForce.

She received honorary doctorates from Santa Clara University and Lehigh University, a Fellowship from College of Notre Dame, and a Chubb Fellowship from Yale University. Black now lives in Woodside, California.

Breast cancer

Temple was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1972, and underwent a mastectomy. She is often remembered as the first celebrity to publicly discuss her involvement with this form of cancer, providing education and inspiration to many. In an interview published on the web page of the The American Cancer Society, actress Barbara Barrie is quoted as saying:

Shirley Temple Black was the first person who said, on national television, 'I have breast cancer.' It wasn't Betty Ford, it was Shirley Temple, child star. One of the greatest stars of the world ever. And, she was so brave to say that, because first of all, people never said "cancer" and they never said "breast," not in public. She said it and she set the whole ball rolling. People don't remember that, but she did it.[9] Temple appeared on the cover of People magazine in 1999 with the title "Picture Perfect" and again later that year as part of their special report, "Surviving Breast Cancer". She appeared at the 70th Academy Awards and also in that same year received Kennedy Center Honors.

Recent activity

In 2001, she served as a consultant on the ABC Television Network production of , based on part one of her autobiography.

In 2004, she teamed with Legend Films to restore, colorize and release her earliest black and white films, as well as episodes of her 1960 television series (originally shot on color videotape), The Shirley Temple Storybook Collection.

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced on September 12, 2005, that she was to receive the Guild’s most prestigious honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. SAG President Melissa Gilbert said:

I can think of no one more deserving of this year’s SAG Life Achievement award than Shirley Temple Black. Her contributions to the entertainment industry are without precedent; her contributions to the world are nothing short of inspirational. She has lived the most remarkable life, as the brilliant performer the world came to know when she was just a child, to the dedicated public servant who has served her country both at home and abroad for 30 years. In everything she has done and accomplished, Shirley Temple Black has demonstrated uncommon grace, talent and determination, not to mention compassion and courage. As a child, I was thrilled to dance and sing to her films and more recently as Guild president I have been proud to work alongside her, as her friend and colleague, in service to our union. She has been an indelible influence on my life. She was my idol when I was a girl and remains my idol today.[10]

Family

Her father was George Francis Temple (1888–1980). Her mother was Gertrude Amelia Krieger (1893–1977). She has two brothers, Jack (b. 1915), and George Jr. (b. 1919). Her father was a businessman and a banker in Santa Monica, California. Her mother loved dancing and this directed Shirley towards performing. Gertrude was a constant presence on the lot during Temple's childhood acting years, and helped Shirley learn her lines, and controlled her wardrobe. Shirley's famous hair style, known as the Shirley Temple Curls, was also under the control of Gertrude, who ensured that there were exactly 52 ringlets in her hair for each take.[11]

At the age of 17, Temple was married to soldier-turned-actor John Agar (1921–2002) on September 19, 1945. They had one daughter, Linda Susan Agar (later known as Susan Black), born on January 30, 1948. Temple filed for divorce in late 1949, with the divorce becoming final on December 5, 1950. In early 1950, while vacationing in Hawaii, Shirley met and fell in love with California businessman Charles Alden Black (1919–2005). They married on December 16 that year. Together, they had two children: Charles Alden Black Jr., born April 29, 1952, and Lori Black, born April 9, 1954. They remained married until Charles's death from myelodysplastic syndrome (a bone marrow disease) at age 86 on August 4, 2005.

She has one granddaughter, Theresa Falaschi (b. 1980), Susan's daughter.

Filmography

Features

Short subjects

  • Merrily Yours (1932)
  • Kid's Last Stand (1932)
  • The Kid's Last Fight (1932)
  • Glad Rags to Riches (1932)
  • Runt Page (1932)
  • War Babies (1932)
  • The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932)
  • New Deal Rhythm (1933)
  • Kid in Hollywood (1933)
  • Polly Tix in Washington (1933)
  • Dora's Dunking Doughnuts (1933)
  • Kid in Africa (1933)
  • What's to Do? (1933)
  • Pardon My Pups (1934)
  • Managed Money (1934)
  • The Hollywood Gad-About (1934)
  • Our Girl Shirley (1942)
  • American Creed (1946)

References in popular culture

  • On The Jacksons Variety Show, Janet Jackson did a skit with brother Randy to "On the Good Ship Lollipop".
  • Shirley was mentioned in Weird Al Yankovic's song "Confessions Part III", in which the singer/comedian states that "in private, I really like to dress up as Shirley Temple and spank myself with a hockey stick".
  • Carol Burnett occasionally performed an impression of "On the Good Ship Lollipop", exaggerating the concentration in Temple's face to look angry or scowling.
  • Towards the end of the Phish song, "The Wolfman's Brother", the name "Shirley Temple" can be heard numerous times.
  • The animated television series The Simpsons episode "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" features a former child-star turned tap-instructor 'Little' Vicki Valentine who is clearly modelled on Shirley. Also in "Treehouse of Horror III" during his rampage, King Kong (portrayed by Homer) eats a child actress similar to Shirley Temple.
  • When she first ran for public office, a poster was published showing her in one of her earliest movies; a caption read, "Vote for Me or I'll Hold My Breath."
  • In the animated feature film Shrek the Third, the Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to himself after seeing his life flash before his eyes.
  • Shirley Temple is the only person, besides The Beatles themselves, who appears more than once on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. She appears as a cut-out in the last row and a Shirley Temple doll is featured on the right side, wearing a shirt saying "Welcome The Rolling Stones".

References

  1. ^ Shirley Temple Q&A "I have been kind of not doing a lot right now."
  2. ^ Maltin, Leonard & Bann, Richard W (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN
  3. ^ http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3814&source_type=A
  4. ^ see the video A&E [[Biography (A&E)|]] - Shirley Temple
  5. ^ Thirteen. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  6. ^ a b Most sacred monsters Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 1 June 2007 (accessed 1 June 2007)
  7. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/movie/29703/The-Littlest-Rebel/
  8. ^ http://www.popmatters.com/film/features/060519-shirleytemple.shtml
  9. ^ http://www.acscsn.org/Talk_Shows_and_Stories/Celebrity_Interviews/Celebrity_Barbara_Barrie_Colon.html
  10. ^ Shirley Temple Black Honored with 2005 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, at the Awards official website; last accessed August 12, 2006.
  11. ^ Statements by biographer Anne Edwards in the video A&E Biography - Shirley Temple

External links

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Awards
Preceded by
None
Academy Juvenile Award
1934
Succeeded by
Deanna Durbin & Mickey Rooney
Preceded by
James Garner
Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
2005
Succeeded by