Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Shirley Temple 1937

Starring

Shirley Temple
Jean Hersholt

Arthur Treacher

Helen Westley

Sidney Blackmer

Mary Nash

Marcia Mae Jones

Delmar Watson

This week let’s continue to talk Classic Movie Child Star – Shirley Temple. Last week we highlighted some of Shirley’s classics from 1934, 1935, and 1936. This week we are moving on to 1937-1940. Only two movies were credited to Shirley in 1937, Wee Willie Winkie, and Heidi. She also made two cameo appearances, one in Ali Baba Goes to Town and the other in Stand-In, singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop". Today we are going to feature Shirley as a little Swiss Miss in the loveliest story of her career, Heidi.

Directed by Allan Dwan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, Heidi was based on the 1880 children's story of the same name by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The film stars Shirley Temple, Jean Hersholt, Arthur Treacher, Helen Westley, Thomas Beck, Sidney Blackmer, Mary Nash, Mady Christians, Marcia Mae Jones, and Delmar Watson. Shirley suggested the idea and placement of the "In Our Little Wooden Shoes" sequence because she felt the song would liven up the movie. The film was a huge success and Shirley enjoyed her third year in a row as number one box office draw.

Eight-year-old Heidi Kramer (Temple) is orphaned and her selfish maternal Aunt Dete (Christians) takes her to the village of Dorfli, south of the Black Forest in Germany in the beautiful Alps, to live with her grumpy old Grandfather Kramer (Hersholt). The old man has been living alone for many years and still holds a grudge against Heidi's parents for marrying against his wishes. There she meets and befriends Peter (Watson), the goat general, after his goat Church has butted into Heidi knocking her to the ground. Soon Heidi brings her grandfather back into mountain society...through her angelic ways, sheer love, and her adorable personality. Grandfather grows to love the child and provides her with a loving, caring home. Aunt Dete returns unexpectedly and steals Heidi away and takes her to Frankfurt to be the companion of Herr Seseman’s (Blackmer) daughter, Klara (Jones), who is confined to a wheelchair. Grandfather is enraged when he finds Heidi gone! He sells his most cherished personal belongings as he sets out to find her.

In the meantime, Heidi and Klara become fast friends but Heidi is not welcomed by the head housekeeper, Fraulein Rottenmeier (Nash). Loved and adored by everyone she touches except the villainous housekeeper, Heidi thrives but is inwardly very sad and lonely. No matter what anyone tells her, Heidi knows that some day she will be reunited with her grandfather. As a Christmas gift to Herr Seseman from Klara, Heidi encourages Klara by helping her to learn to walk again. Fraulein Rottenmeier (who has tried to keep Klara dependent upon her) sees her future employment threatened and tries to sell Heidi to the gypsies. Heidi is rescued by her grandfather and taken back to their mountain home.

We recommend watching 1937’s Heidi where Shirley Temple once again saves the day. It is a very heart-warming story that we have seen several times. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: There was scene in Heidi that was planned without Shirley Temple's knowledge, and her surprised reaction was genuine. In which scene did this happen?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: The item Shirley Temple lost during the filming of Poor Little Rich Girl was her first baby tooth.

Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Shirley Temple 1936

Starring:

Shirley Temple
Alice Faye
Gloria Stuart
Jack Haley

Michael Whalen

and

Jane Darwell

Today let’s continue to talk Classic Movie Child Star – Shirley Temple. Yesterday we talked about Shirley’s 1935 films. To conclude this week, we will move on to 1936 which produced four more movies for Shirley, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway. In this post we are going to concentrate on Poor Little Rich Girl.

Directed by Irving Cummings, Poor Little Rich Girl was based on stories by Eleanor Gates and Ralph Spence, and on the 1917 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name. The film stars Shirley Temple, Michael Whalen, Jack Haley, Alice Faye, Gloria Stuart, and Jane Darwell. Mack Gordon and Harry Revel wrote the film’s songs: “When I’m with You”, “Oh My Goodness”, “ You’ve Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby”, “But Definitely”, “Buy a Bar of Barry's”, “Military Man”, and “Peck’s Theme”. Shirley Temple sang all the songs and was joined by other cast members for several.

Barbara Barry (Temple) is the young daughter of wealthy Richard Barry (Whalen), a recently widowed soap manufacturer. An accident separates Barbara from her father and the girl masquerades as an orphan. She attracts the notice of two vaudeville performers, Jimmy Dolan (Haley) and his wife Jerry (Faye), who put her in their radio act, posing as their daughter. With the help of advertising executive Margaret Allen (Stuart), the trio become an overnight success. Barry hears his daughter on the radio and the two are reunited. Subplots involve a romance between Barry and Allen, and a crook trying to kidnap Barbara. But all is made clear near the end of the film when Barbara clarifies the mix-up regarding the kidnapping. The trio is able to keep performing on the radio with a final song and dance routine to “Military Man”.

Poor Little Rich Girl received a lukewarm critical reception from Frank Nugent of The New York Times. He described the script as “formless and generally ridiculous” and the picture “virtually non-existent” but “as a display window for the ever-expanding Temple talents, it is entirely satisfying. Miss Temple, as some one has said, never looked lovelier. She dances in a manner which must delight her mentor, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; her voice has begun to take on torch-singer and crooner qualities. Beneath the fascinated gaze of a world-wide audience, a conscious artistry is developing along Hollywood and Broadway lines. It is an engrossing phenomenon: The precocious infant becomes a knowing child.”

Poor Little Rich Girl is another classic movie where Shirley shines with her singing and tapping abilities. Even though the film received criticism, it is still one of our favorite Shirley Temple movies. We recommend watching Poor Little Rich Girl or any of the other Shirley Temple films of 1936. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: What did Shirley Temple lose during the filming of Poor Little Rich Girl?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Shirley Temple memorized every line of dialogue in The Little Colonel, and while filming a scene with Lionel Barrymore, the veteran actor forgot a line. When Shirley prompted him, he flew into such a rage that one crew member took Shirley away for fear that she might be harmed.

Bonus Trivia Answer: Bill Robinson was the actor in The Little Colonel who created the famous staircase dance scene. The idea for the dance came from a dream. He later recalled, "I was being made a lord by the King of England and he was standing at the head of a flight of stairs. Rather than walk, I danced up."

Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Shirley Temple 1935

Shirley Temple as Lloyd Sherman

Lionel Barrymore as Colonel Lloyd

Hattie McDaniel as Mom Beck

Today let’s continue to talk Classic Movie Child Star – Shirley Temple. Yesterday we talked about how Shirley began her career and her movies of 1934. One 1934 movie that we didn’t mention was Now and Forever which co-starred Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard. Young freewheeling wanderer Jerry Day (Cooper) and his beautiful wife Toni (Lombard) are at odds over their lifestyle. Pennie Day (Temple) brings her estranged parents back together by helping her father mend his swindling ways and lead a straight life. It has been quite some time since we were able to see this movie, but it is worth watching again. There is a wholesome goodness of changing the evil to good that only a little girl like Shirley Temple could bring out in Now and Forever.

The release of Bright Eyes in late 1934 launched Shirley on a phenomenal screen career and made her the number-one box-office attraction for the next four years. Shirley had danced and sang her way into America’s depression woes to help them forget about their troubles, and 1935 brought four of her most outstanding films, The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel. Though we thoroughly enjoy all of Shirley’s films of 1935, it is difficult to choose which movie to review. In this post, however, we would like to focus on The Little Colonel.

The Little Colonel is one of our favorite Shirley Temple movies and is typical of the way a little girl can charm her way into the heart of a grumpy older man and break down any barriers along the way. The film stars Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, Evelyn Venable, John Lodge, Bill Robinson, and Hattie McDaniel. The Little Colonel was the first of four cinematic pairings between Temple and Robinson, and features the duo's famous staircase dance.

Shortly after the American Civil War, southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd (Venable) marries a northerner, Jack Sherman (Lodge). Her father Colonel Lloyd (Barrymore) disowns her in anger and retaliation. Elizabeth and Jack move west where they become parents of a girl they name Lloyd Sherman (Temple). Six years later, Lloyd Sherman is made an honorary colonel in the Army. Elizabeth returns to the south with little Lloyd and settles in a cottage near Colonel Lloyd’s mansion while her husband Jack remains in the west prospecting for gold. When Colonel Lloyd discovers his daughter living in the neighborhood, he treats her with disdain. Little Lloyd learns of her parents’ past from housekeeper Mom Beck (McDaniel), and, when she meets her grandfather for the first time, throws mud at him. The two eventually become contentious friends.

Elizabeth’s husband returns from the west with a fever. He has lost everything in his prospecting venture, but the family is saved from complete ruin when the Union Pacific Railroad requests right of way across Jack’s western property. Jack's former prospecting partners have heard of the Railroad’s offer and try to swindle Jack. They resort to holding the Sherman couple hostage until the deed to their valuable property is located. Little Lloyd runs through dark woods for her grandfather but he refuses to help. He changes his mind when little Lloyd says she never wants to see him again. They arrive at the cottage just in time to save Elizabeth and Jack. Colonel Lloyd is reconciled with his daughter.

Though we recommend our readers to see The Little Colonel, we suggest any of Shirley Temple’s 1935 movies. They are all wonderful and will leave you with a positive outlook by the end of the film. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: Shirley Temple memorized every line of dialogue in The Little Colonel, and while filming a scene with one of the other actors, the veteran actor forgot a line. When Shirley prompted him, he flew into such a rage that one crew member took Shirley away for fear that she might be harmed. Who was the actor?

Bonus Trivia: What person associated with The Little Colonel created the famous staircase dance? What gave him the idea?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: The dog that portrayed Rags in Bright Eyes was a female Cairn Terrier who also portrayed Toto in The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Her real name was Terry.

Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Shirley Temple 1931-1934

This month we would like to dedicate our posts to fantastic child stars of the silver screen for our 'Back to School' series of posts.

Shirley Temple film career 1931-1950

Today let’s talk Classic Movie Child Star – Shirley Temple. This week we would like to concentrate on our absolute favorite child star who was easily considered the most popular and famous child star of all time. Her films proposed a simple solution to the Great Depression's woes: open one's heart and give of oneself. Shirley was America’s little sweetheart whose characters would melt the hearts of cold authority figures and would touch the lives of the grumpy, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results. She often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in her films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil - wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. Shirley’s films were seen as generating hope and optimism. "It is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.” - President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Born April 23, 1928, Shirley Jane Temple was the talented dimpled daughter of a Santa Monica bank manager George Francis Temple and his wife Gertrude Amelia Krieger Temple. During pregnancy, Mrs. Temple tried to influence her daughter's future by prenatal association with music, art, and natural beauty. In Shirley's first years, Mrs. Temple read storybooks to her toddler, altering voice pitches according to the character's gender, and enacted the story and characters. Shirley began to mimic her. During the Great Depression, Mrs. Temple began focusing her attention upon her daughter. She taught the tot words to favorite popular songs, noted the child was able to bring expression to the words, had perfect pitch, and could easily repeat simple dance steps. Early in 1931, Mrs. Temple took the first steps in bringing her daughter to the screen. Convinced her three-year-old daughter had exceptional talent, she enrolled young Shirley in the highly competitive Meglin's Dance School in Los Angeles, California (leased at the time to Educational Pictures) for twice weekly dance lessons beginning on September 13, 1931.

Shortly after Shirley's third birthday, Educational Pictures planned a series of one-reelers called Baby Burlesks to compete with the popular Our Gang comedy shorts. Film Director Charles Lamont, with Educational, conducted a talent search among the children at the Meglin School, found little Shirley hiding behind a piano, and encouraged her to audition for the series. She did, and was signed to a two-year contract in January 1932 at $10 a day. Shirley appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. Shirley Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs in order to compensate film production costs at Educational. While under contract for Educational, Shirley Temple was loaned to other studios. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and was loaned for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros.

In February 1934, Shirley signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros. In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Shirley's breakthrough film, in which she sang her first film song, “Baby Take a Bow”. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Shirley well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to $1,250 a week. In June, Shirley garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.

Shirley was skyrocketed to superstardom when she finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the film in today’s highlight. Bright Eyes was the first feature film crafted specifically for Shirley’s talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. Shirley Blake (Shirley Temple) and her mother Mary (Lois Wilson), a maid, live in the home of Mary’s employers, the rich and mean-spirited Smythe family, Anita (Dorothy Christy), J. Wellington (Theodore von Eltz) and Joy (Jane Withers). Shirley's aviator father died in an airplane crash before the film opens, and the child now spends most of her time at the Glendale, California airport with her godfather, bachelor pilot James 'Loop' Merritt (James Dunn), and his dog Rags. When Shirley’s mother is killed in a traffic accident, the Smythes make plans to send Shirley to an orphanage. However, the cranky, wheelchair-using patriarch of the family, Uncle Ned, (Charles Sellon) is fond of little 'Bright Eyes' (as he calls her) and insists that she remain in the house. His relatives grudgingly comply with his wishes, although they make Shirley feel unwelcome. A custody battle for Shirley ensues between Loop and Uncle Ned. The impasse is resolved when Loop and his betrothed Adele (Judith Allen), Uncle Ned, and Shirley all decide to live together.

Bright Eyes demonstrated Shirley Temple’s ability to portray a fully dimensional character at the age of five and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man. In the film's one musical number, Shirley introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. Temple received a miniature Oscar on February 27, 1935 for her contributions to film entertainment in 1934, chiefly for Little Miss Marker and Bright Eyes. She was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award.

Bright Eyes is a wonderful, heart-warming motion picture in which we highly recommend watching. We consider it as one of Shirley Temple's best films. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: The dog that portrayed Rags in Bright Eyes was a female Cairn Terrier who also portrayed a popular character in one of the most beloved films of all time. What was the name of this film? What was Rags’ real name?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: If British actress Vivien Leigh had not been cast as Scarlett O’Hara at the last minute, Paulette Goddard was the American actress Selznick had decided to cast in the coveted role.