 | Shirley Temple: Encyclopedia II - Shirley Temple - Film career
Shirley Temple - Film career
Born in Santa Monica, California, she starred in over 40 films during the 1930s. Even at the age of five, the hallmark of her acting work was her professionalism: lines memorized and dance steps prepared. Her films continue to enjoy popularity today, particularly among young girls.
Temple began her career at the age of three, after being chosen from her dance class by a visiting director. Between the end of 1931 and 1933 she appeared in two series of short subjects for Educational Pictures. Her first series, Baby Burlesks, satirized recent motion pictures and politics. Many of these films are dated and would be considered offensive now. Shirley's 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, Shirley also performed many walk-on and bit player roles in various other movies. She 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. She 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 popularity earned her both public adulation and the approval of her peers. She was the first recipient of the special Juvenile Performer Academy Award in 1935. Seventy years later, Temple is still the youngest performer ever to receive this honor. She is also the youngest actor to add foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theater.
A list of Temple's costars reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood. She was paired with James Dunn in several films; she also made pictures with Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart, George Murphy, Dorothy Dell, Frank Morgan, Bert Lahr, Lionel Barrymore, Cesar Romero, Victor McLaglen, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Young and Hattie McDaniel. In 1934's Bright Eyes Shirley was pitted against fellow Fox star Jane Withers; child stars Marcia Mae Jones, Delmar Watson and Sybil Jason also appeared in various Temple movies. Arthur Treacher appeared as a kindly butler in several of Temple's films.
Temple's ability as a dancer was well known and celebrated. Even in her earliest Baby Burlesk films she danced, and she was able to handle complex tap choreography by the age of five. She was teamed with famed dancer Bill Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson also coached and developed Shirley's choreography for many of her other films. Because Robinson was African-American, his scenes holding hands with Shirley had to be edited out in many cities in the South.
Aside from the films, there were many Shirley Temple product tie-ins during the 1930's. 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 1934's Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in my Soup" (from 1935's Curly Top) and "Goodnight my Love" (from 1936's Stowaway) were popular radio hits. Shirley frequently lent her likeness and talent to promoting various social causes, including the Red Cross.
The role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, played by Judy Garland, was originally intended for her. She was unable to appear in the film when a trade between Fox and MGM fell through. She 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.
In 1940, Temple left Fox. She juggled classes at Westlake Academy 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 and Fort Apache. She retired from motion pictures in 1949, around the same time that she divorced Agar. In the 1950's and 60's, she made a brief return to show business with two television series.
Other related archives1919, 1928, 1930s, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1967, 1974, 1989, 1998, 2005, 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Pictures, 75, 76, 86, 92, Academy Award, Academy Awards, Adolphe Menjou, Alice Faye, American, April 23, Arthur Treacher, August 4, Bert Lahr, Bill Robinson, Bright Eyes, Buddy Ebsen, Californian, Carole Lombard, Cesar Romero, Charles Black, Claudette Colbert, Congressional, Council on Foreign Relations, Czechoslovakia, Dorothy Dell, Fort Apache, Fox Film Corporation, Frank Morgan, Gary Cooper, George Murphy, Ghana, Gloria Stuart, Gone With the Wind, Hattie McDaniel, Jack Haley, James Dunn, Jane Withers, John Agar, Judy Garland, Kennedy Center Honors, Lehigh University, Lionel Barrymore, Lori, Notre Dame, On the Good Ship Lollipop, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Red Cross, Republican Party, Robert Young, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Santa Clara University, Santa Monica, California, Screen Actors Guild, Shirley Temple, Shirley Temple Filmography, Shirley Temple cocktail, Since You Went Away, Stanford University, Stowaway, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The Little Colonel, The Walt Disney Company, The Wizard of Oz, United Nations Association, Velvet Revolution, Victor McLaglen, Waikiki, Yale University, ambassador, child actress, citation needed, cocktail, diplomat, myelodysplastic syndrome, politics
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Film career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
