Curly Top is a 1935 American musical film directed by Irving Cummings. The screenplay by Patterson McNutt and Arthur J. Beckhard focuses on the adoption of a young orphan (Shirley Temple) by a wealthy bachelor (John Boles) and his romantic attraction to her older sister (Rochelle Hudson).
Together with The Littlest Rebel, another Temple vehicle, the film was listed as one of the top box office draws of 1935 by Variety. The film’s musical numbers include "Animal Crackers in My Soup". Curly Top was well received.
Plot
Young Elizabeth Blair lives at the Lakeside Orphanage, a dreary, regimented place supervised by two decent but dour women. Her older sister Mary works in the kitchen, laundry, and dormitory. Elizabeth is a sweet child but her high spirits often lead her into trouble with the superintendent.
When the trustees descend on the orphanage for a tour of inspection, Elizabeth is caught playfully mimicking the head trustee and is threatened with being sent to a public institution. Young, rich, handsome trustee Edward Morgan intervenes. He takes a liking to Elizabeth and, in a private interview with the child, learns that most of her life has been spent obsequiously expressing her gratitude for every mouthful that has fallen her way. He adopts her but, not wanting to curb Elizabeth’s spirit by making her feel slavishly obligated to him for every kindness, he tells her a fictitious “Hiram Jones” is her benefactor and he is simply acting on Jones’s behalf as his lawyer. He nicknames her "Curly Top." Meanwhile, he has met and fallen in love with Elizabeth’s sister Mary but will not admit it.
Elizabeth and Mary leave the orphanage and take up residence in Morgan's luxurious Southampton beach house. His kindly aunt, Genevieve Graham, and his very proper butler Reynolds are charmed by the two. Elizabeth has everything a child could want including a pony cart and silk pajamas.
Mary secretly loves Morgan but, believing he has no romantic interest in her, she accepts an offer of marriage from young navy pilot Jimmie Rogers. Morgan is taken aback but offers his congratulations. Hours later, Mary ends the engagement when she realizes she doesn't truly love Jimmie. Morgan then declares his love, reveals he is the fictitious “Hiram Jones,” and plans marriage and a long honeymoon in Europe with Mary.
Production
Curly Top was filmed in May and June 1935 and released on July 26.[1] It was based on Jean Webster's Daddy Long-Legs and was one of four Temple remakes of Mary Pickford films.[2]
Temple’s mother coached her daughter on the set and at home. Director Cummings noted that Temple’s mother was thorough, teaching her daughter her dialogue and how to say her lines, what facial expressions to use, and how to walk, sit, stand, and run. According to Cummings, Mrs. Temple was “much more Shirley’s director than I am,” and that there was very little left for him to do when Temple arrived on the set.[3]
As a souvenir, Temple received the film's doll house with hooked rugs on its parquet floors, chintz curtains at its windows, crisp sheets on its beds, fake food in its refrigerator, bric-a-brac on its tiny tabletops, books on its shelves, and its toilet with a working lid. Every drawer and every door in the doll house opened. It was kept in Temple's cottage bedroom on her parents' estate and displayed for child visitors.[4]
Cast
- Shirley Temple as Elizabeth Blair, an orphan, about 6 or 7 years of age, and an inmate of the Lakeside Orphanage. Her parents were actors before being killed in an automobile accident but Elizabeth is not entirely alone when the film opens: her older sister Mary, an attractive young woman of 18 or 19 years of age, lives in the orphanage and works in the kitchen, laundry, and dormitory. Elizabeth also has a trick pony named Spunky and a white duck named Betsy who are housed in the orphanage yard. Elizabeth is a favorite with her fellow orphans but a trial to Mrs. Higgins, the superintendent of the establishment. Young, handsome, rich trustee Edward Morgan intervenes when Elizabeth is about to be reprimanded, and adopts her. Elizabeth lives in his Southampton beach house and enjoys a life of luxury and plenty but cannot forget the friends she left behind at Lakeside and spearheads a Gala Charity Bazaar to buy toys for the children. The event gives Elizabeth the opportunity to display her vocal and dance talents. She is thrilled when Morgan and her sister Mary are united at the end of the film.
- John Boles as Edward Morgan, a bachelor millionaire lawyer and a newly created trustee of the Lakeside Orphanage. On <ptgan's first visit to the orphanage, the trustees are appalled when they discover Elizabeth singing in the dining room during lunch hour accompanied on the piano by her older sister Mary. When Elizabeth and her fellow orphans are brusquely dismissed, Morgan takes the opportunity to speak to Mary. He discovers she shares his love of musical composition and falls in love with her, but remains silent. A few moments later, Elizabeth is caught mimicking one of the trustees who threatens her with being removed to a public institution. Morgan intervenes and promises to withdraw his donation should the child be sent away. Morgan is delighted with Elizabeth's beauty and high spirits, and makes plans to adopt her. When he learns Elizabeth’s sister Mary promised their dying parents that the two would never be separated, he decides to take both sisters into his home under the ruse of being the agent for a fictitious wealthy benefactor, “Hiram Jones”. The sisters take up residence at his Southampton beach house and there enjoy candlelit dinners, jaunts in Elizabeth’s pony cart, and long summer days swimming in the ocean and frolicking on the beach. Morgan falls deeply in love with Mary but is hesitant to admit his love. When Jimmie Rogers, a handsome navy pilot, courts Mary and proposes, Morgan is stunned to learn Mary has accepted. Having retreated in a gentlemanly manner, Morgan later learns Mary has broken the engagement. It is then Morgan declares his love to Mary.
- Rochelle Hudson as Mary Blair, Elizabeth’s sister. Mary is an attractive young woman about 18 or 19 years of age who works in the orphanage kitchen, laundry, and dormitory. When handsome bachelor Edward Morgan finds an opportunity to speak alone with Mary, he discovers they share an interest in musical composition and he falls in love. When Morgan makes plans to adopt Elizabeth, he decides to take Mary into his home as well. At Morgan’s Southampton beach house, Mary lives the life of a chic young lady, swimming and sporting on the beach with other elegant young people, dining by candlelight with Morgan and his Aunt Genevieve, and taking coffee on the terrace in the evening. On a moonlit night, she confesses to Morgan she is indescribably happy and Morgan's love deepens but he remains silent. As the summer days pass, Mary attracts the serious romantic interest of Jimmie Rogers, a handsome navy pilot. Mary is in love with Morgan and declines Jimmie’s marriage proposal, but is humiliated when she overhears Morgan tell his Aunt he only allowed Mary into their home because the sisters would not be separated. Mary then accepts Jimmie’s offer, but later, breaks the engagement realizing she doesn't love him. Morgan then steps forward, declares his love to Mary, and the two are united.
- Esther Dale as Genevieve Graham, Morgan’s aunt. Aunt Genevieve lives in Morgan's home and believes her nephew is “tetched” when he suggests adopting a child but she comes to love the Blair sisters. Aunt Genevieve functions as a “sounding board” for Morgan‘s plans through the film, and is the first to recognize Jimmie as Morgan’s rival for Mary’s love. Aunt Genevieve goads Morgan into admitting his love for Mary, and presses him to take action.
- Arthur Treacher as Reynolds, Morgan’s English butler. The character makes his first appearance mid-way through the film when the Blair sisters arrive at Morgan’s beach house. Reynolds takes a great liking to Elizabeth, but is sometimes astonished with her gauche manners, and spends much time teaching her to use a finger bowl. Following the Gala Bazaar, Reynolds joins Morgan’s cook in a reprise of “When I Grow Up” in the beach house kitchen.
- Jane Darwell as Mrs. Henrietta Denham, a heavy-set, elderly matron at the Lakeside Orphanage. Mrs. Denham is a kindhearted woman who can be strict with Elizabeth when necessary. Morgan takes her into his confidence when he makes plans to adopt Elizabeth. Mrs. Denham cries with sorrow at losing the Blair sisters to Morgan, but takes joy that the two will not be separated. Mrs. Denham attends the Gala, telling Aunt Genevieve that “wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
- Rafaela Ottiano as Mrs. Higgins, the severe, thin-lipped superintendent of the Lakeside Orphanage. In the early scenes of the film, Mrs. Higgins hopes new trustee, millionaire Edward Morgan, will be favorably impress with Lakeside and will double his donation. Mrs. Higgins is stern and unyielding with the Blair sisters, and considers the high-spirited Elizabeth a genuine trial, but cries happily when Morgan adopts the girls.
- Etienne Girardot as James Wyckoff, a stern, elderly, penny-pinching trustee of the Lakeside Orphanage and the manufacturer of Wyckoff’s Cough Mixture. On a visit to the orphanage, Wyckoff discovers Elizabeth singing, dancing, and mimicking him for the amusement of her fellows, and is outraged, calling Elizabeth incorrigible, and threatening to send her to a public institution. Morgan intervenes, promising to withdraw his financial support of the orphanage if Elizabeth is sent away.
- Maurice Murphy as Jimmie Rogers, a handsome navy pilot who falls in love with Mary Blair. Following the Gala Bazaar, Jimmie proposes to Mary nut she declines his offer and ends the conversation when Jimmy suggests Morgan is his rival. Mary is indeed in love with Morgan, but overhears a conversation indicating he has no romantic interest in her. Mary then accepts Jimmie’s proposal, but breaks the engagement later when she realizes she doesn’t truly love him.
Music
Production
Ray Henderson composed the five songs for Curly Top. Johnny Mercer wanted to write the lyrics but the job went to Ted Koehler, a former partner of Harold Arlen. Edward Heyman and Irving Caesar also wrote lyrics for the film.[5]
With the exception of “When I Grow Up,” the film’s songs are introduced in the film through the device of having characters Mary Blair and Edward Morgan sideline as composers. In an early scene in the orphanage dining room, for example, Mary tells Morgan she composed "Animal Crackers in My Soup," and in another scene, Morgan composes and sings "It's All So New to Me" at his piano. At the Gala, Mary sings “The Simple Things in Life”, a tune presumably composed by Morgan as he mentioned at one early point in the film that he would likely do so. At the end of the film, he sings his newly composed “Curly Top” to Elizabeth as she sits, then tap dances, atop his grand piano.
Reception
“Animal Crackers in My Soup” and “When I Grow Up” became hits in their own right, selling thousands of sheet music copies and placing Shirley on the charts in the company of musical superstars Bing Crosby, Nelson Eddy, and Alice Faye.[6]
Release
Critical responses
Andre Sennwald of The New York Times observed, "So shameless is [the film] in its optimism, so grimly determined to be cheerful, that it ought to cause an epidemic of axe murders and grandmother beatings […] Shirley herself, far from showing signs of deterioration or overwork in Curly Top, actually hints in her work at an increased maturity of technique. Her remarkable sense of timing has never been revealed more plainly than in the song and dance scenes in her new film, and she plays her straightforward dramatic scenes with the assurance and precision of a veteran actress. With all this, she has lost none of her native freshness and charm." He thought the film “completely bearable“ with “all that studious devotion to the banal which assures it of an enthusiastic reception with the family trade." [7]
The film was greeted with a “tidal wave” of popularity upon release, and its banal plot was nothing more than a tribute to the conspicuous consumption practiced by the few remaining rich of the Great Depression. The film opens with an almost minute-long closeup of Temple, and, in doing so, "all pretense that Shirley Temple movies were about anything, or indeed anything more than a vehicle for her adorableness was abandoned.[8]
Curly Top was banned in Denmark for "unspecified corruption", but in China, Madame Chiang Kai-shek requested repeat private screenings. The widespread popularity of the film and its high box office earnings was in large part responsible for Fox Films's financial recovery in 1935.[9]
See also
References
- Footnotes
- Works cited
- Balio, Tino (1995) [1993], Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939, Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-20334-8
- Dubas, Rita (2006), Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World’s Greatest Child Star, New York: Applause Theater and Cinema Books (Hal Leonard Corporation, Inc.), ISBN 978-1-55783-672-4
- Furia, Philip (2003), Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-28720-8
- Windeler, Robert (1992) [1978], The Films of Shirley Temple, New York: Carol Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8065-0725-X
- Bibliography
- Basinger, Jeanine (1993), A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960, Middleton: Wesleyan University Press The author comments on the father figure in Temple films.
- Thomson, Rosemarie Garland (ed.) (1996), Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, New York: New York University Press, pp. 185-203, ISBN 0-8147-8217-5 In her essay “Cuteness and Commodity Aesthetics: Tom Thumb and Shirley Temple“, Lori Merish examines 'the cult of cuteness' in America.
External links
