Temple Tuesday: Premiere Shirley!

On Sunday, June 13, 1937, it was announced that Shirley Temple would be attending her first premiere:

The world premiere of “Wee Willie Winkie,” starring Shirley Temple and Victor McLaglen in Rudyard Kipling’s story of bold adventure on India’s frontier, will be held at the Fox Carthay Circle Theater on June 25. As a little peacemaker and matchmaker with the Scotch Highlanders stationed in the Khyber Pass, Shirley has one of the most exciting and lovable roles of her career.



Shirley was nine years old at the time, and her parents decided it was okay for the little girl to stay up passed her regular bedtime for this special event. In the photo above, the Carthay Circle Theater is being readied for the grand premiere. Back at the Temple home that evening, trouble was brewing. As Shirley herself recalled in her autobiography, Child Star:

The evening of the film’s flashy premiere found Mother late for our departure from home, and so I wandered quietly into the downstairs library to kill time. To our mutual dismay, I came face-to-face with brother Jack holding to his lips a glassful of what I knew was whiskey. “Not one word to Mother and Dad,” he cautioned, knowing well their fury if he was caught drinking. “I will so,” I retorted, feeling as righteous as Winkie. “Listen,” he remonstrated. “George and I aren’t even invited to the premiere. Why can’t we have some fun too?” “Drinking is wrong,” I repeated, tilting my chin toward him as high as it would go. “I’m going to tell.” He smacked me hard on the bottom. “Tell, and you get another,” he said, then slapped me again for good measure. Nobody had ever struck me in anger. The situation had potential for a real shambles at the wrong time. I wanted to kick his shin, all because I was right and he was wrong. But why be a tattletale, I rationalized, when I would probably collect another slap, my parents would get upset, and the premiere would be ruined for us. I could get even later, so I strode away.

Below, Shirley decides which of her many dresses will have the honor of appearing on the red carpet. The one on the left was the winner.



The quartet of shots below are from Shirley’s 1945 autobiography, My Young Life, and show the star getting ready for the premiere:



Sold off in the 2015 “Love, Shirley Temple” Theriault’s auction, her dress was described as follows:

Shirley Temple’s Special Occasion Party Dress. Of peach silk chiffon, the high-waist dress features a detachable lace yoke and ruffled sleevelets which achieve form by a stiffened net lining; narrow pleats fall from the bodice, and there is an attached under-dress. A bi-color sash of interwoven narrow silk ribbons with rosettes and dangling tassels serves as decoration. The dress has the original label of “Elise of Hollywood.”

Below is a photo of Shirley with Elise Deal, her personal dressmaker, who created the peach dress she wore to the premiere.





For the premiere, the peach dress was paired with the spectacular coat shown in the photo from Theriault’s auction house above left. From their catalog description:

White Coat with Foxtail Trim Worn to Premiere of “Snow White” and “Wee Willie Winkie.” Of fine cashmere wool, the silk-lined coat has self-covered buttons, and a lush white fur collar trimmed with foxtails, along with pair of gloves. Excellent condition. The coat, a favorite personal clothing item of young Shirley was worn to several important events including the premiere of "Wee Willie Winkie" and the Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

On June 15, 1937, the following premiere details were released:

According to present plans Shirley will attend the premiere in an English-type pony cart drawn by two little Shetland ponies. She will be introduced from the stage by Tyrone Power, selected as master of ceremonies.

While that sounded fun, it appears that somebody decided against the dramatic pony cart entrance! Three days later, even more tidbits were announced in The L.A. Times:

Radio stars plan to be at the premiere of “Wee Willie Winkie” at the Carthay Circle Theater on June 25. Shirley Temple, who will make her first personal appearance on a motion-picture theater stage, will stand beside Eddie Cantor and other radio favorites as they broadcast the ceremonies over a nationwide hookup. Among other celebrities at the premiere will be Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Mary Livingstone, Tony Martin, Kenny Baker, Cecil B. De Mille, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Dick Powell, Nelson Eddy, Irving Berlin, the Ritz Brothers, Walter Catlett, Leah Ray, The Marx Brothers, Borrah Minevitch, Charles Winninger, Patsy Kelly, Judy Garland, George Givot, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Ebsen and Charles Butterworth. It is also planned to include on the air program Ben Bernie and Fred Allen, both of whom are scheduled for stardom in future Twentieth Century-Fox pictures. Tyrone Power will be master of ceremonies on the Carthay Circle stage.

Wow! That’s a lot of star power! “Wee Willie Winkie” was a turning point of sorts for Shirley. Zanuck paired the little girl with director John Ford in an epic tale that would have cross-appeal to boys AND girls and even their parents. Below, Shirley is captured relaxing between takes with director John Ford.



Zanuck’s gamble paid off, as the box office receipts surpassed Shirley’s previous film, “Stowaway.” It was announced by columnist Edwin Schallert in an interview with Shirley that the little musical star of yore was going away:

Shirley is quitting popular songs in the picture. Only those that fit will be used. “Auld Lang Syne,” she tells me, is the chief one.…When Shirley quits singing numbers written by tin-pan alley-ites like “On the Good Ship Lollipop” and “Animal Crackers in My Soup,” it’s surely the day of the revolution.

On the 20th, Aileene Parks breathlessly shared details of the after-party:

Shirley will be allowed to stay up to attend her own first premiere with her mother and father, who will give a buffet supper at their home in Brentwood following the performance. Among the Temples’ theater and supper guests will be Dr. and Mmes. Leo J. Madsen, Russell Sands, Messrs. and Mmes. Lloyd Wright, Howard Verbeck, Ralph P. Maskey, J. C. Ferguson, Allen Gwynne, Harry Beucher, Harry Isleib (father of Shirley’s stand-in), James Greever, Messrs. Jack and George Temple, Jr., Misses Hulda Anderson (Shirley’s wardrobe mistress), Frances Klampt (Shirley’s on-set teacher) and Katharine Hagan. Gene Markey (associate producer of the film) will have as his guests at the theater and later for supper at the Clover Club, Joan Bennett, Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone, Marlene Dietrich and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Ginger Rogers and Mr. and Mrs. David Selznick. There are many other parties planned, too numerous to mention on that gave evening.

As if those wasn’t enough, more after-parties were detailed by the L.A. Evening Citizen News:

Mr. and Mrs. Darryl F. Zanuck will entertain Messrs. and Mmes. Mervyn Le Roy, Ernest Lubitsch, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Charles Boyer, Countess di Frasso, Mrs. Bleck, Lady Ashley’s sister, Constance Bennett and Gilbert Roland at the Carthay and later at the Trocadero. Others who plan parties with the theater opening as an incentive are Messrs. and Mmes. Victor Orsatti (June Lang), Victor McLaglen, Cedric Gibbons (Dolores Del Rio) and Jean Hersholt.

Below is a photo used in Picture Post magazine showing Shirley entering her car on the way to the premiere:



Below is the Carthay Circle on the night of the premiere, which drew a crowd of more than 15,000 people!



A large statue of Shirley and Victor McLaglen was placed on the grounds of the theater, as the L.A. Evening Citizen News announced:

A giant illuminated statue of Shirley Temple and Victor McLaglen, made of bronzed hydrocal, will greet the thousands attending the world premiere of “Wee Willie Winkie” at the Carthay Circle Theater Friday night. Two tons of material were used to construct the statue. The gigantic statue will be placed at the intersection of Wilshire Blvd. and theater esplanade. The statue was constructed under the supervision of Jessie A. Jett and George Young, foremen of the department of plastic arts at 20th Century-Fox studios. Designed by Rudolph Parducci, well known sculptor, the statue shows McLaglen in a sitting pose in war-time uniform of the Seventh Scotch Highlanders, with little Shirley sitting beside him, also in kilts. In constructing the statue, Parducci was aided by Walter Hammand and Charles Gemorri, sculptors, and a staff of eight assistants.

Parducci also worked for Walt Disney, and made the sculpt for the Dumbo vehicles at Disneyland. He is shown below with one of them:



You can see the Temple/McLaglen statue in the screenshot below, taken from a video created by Shirley expert supreme Rita Dubas about the “Winkie” premiere (linked at the end of this post and a must watch!):



Just two days before the premiere,  The L.A. Times wrote:

Screening of “Coronation of George VI” in Technicolor as an added attraction. Opening of a Shirley Temple playhouse in which will be exhibited the child star’s personal playthings as well as the vast collection of dolls she has received from all over the world.

More images of the Carthay Circle Theatre on the night of Shirley’s premiere:





The following caption accompanied the photo below, showing the arrival of Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie:

Hollywood today had given Shirley Temple her biggest thrill as all the big stars turned out for her first premiere, “Wee Willie Winkie,” staged ‘mid blazing lights and fanfare at the Carthay Circle Theatre. But for some it was just another movie scene, for studio cameramen were on hand shooting film for use in another picture [more on that later!]. Photo shows cameramen at the premiere, their lenses trained on Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie, arriving in evening clothes.

The two 20th Century-Fox stars were paired in “Thin Ice” (1937) followed by “Second Fiddle” (1939).

Shirley’s arrival:



Her parents trail closely behind:





Behind Shirley’s mother, Gertude, you can see bodyguard Grif:



The animated gif below was created using frames from “Ali Bab Goes to Town,” another 20th Century-Fox production.



On June 21, the L.A. Citizen News reported:

The crowds attending the premiere of “Wee Willie Winkie” at the Carthay Circle Theater Friday night probably will find themselves in the movies when “Ali Baba Goes to Town” is released. Eddie Cantor has announced that actual motion pictures for his new 20th Century-Fox picture will be filmed in front of the Carthay Circle the night of the premiere. David Butler, Eddie Cantor’s director, will make close-ups and medium shots of the crowds in the grandstands, of the crowds lining the esplanade, and those at all the vantage points outside the theater. It will not be necessary to purchase a ticket to “Wee Willie Winkie” or to be inside the theater in order to “crash the movies” on Friday night, because both Cantor and Butler intend to see that the outside crowds are photographed from every angle. Cantor will appear in some of the scenes, and thus a number of residents and non-residents of Los Angeles will not only get free screen tests, but will have the opportunity to appear with the world’s highest-priced screen comedian in actual motion and sound pictures.

Filming the premiere audience was a wise cost-cutting measure for Fox! Director David Butler would later recall in his autobiography:

I went out with about five cameras and shot that — Shirley, Fairbanks, everybody wo came into the theatre we shot. It was quite a thing when you saw Fairbanks…and everybody coming along there.…The idea of it was that we had to have everyone talk and have Eddie Cantor watching it.

Shirley is at the microphone with Eddie Cantor, making her first national radio appearance, broadcast “live” at the premiere:



From The L.A. Times:

Shirley Temple’s first appearance on the air waves will be made…today from the Carthay Circle Theater via KHJ and Mutual at 8:30 p.m. The child star has been offered fabulous sums for commercial broadcasts—all of which have been turned down. Listeners also will hear a description of the actual shooting of scenes for Eddie Cantor’s forthcoming film production, after which the comedian will appear as master of ceremonies of the broadcast. George Fischer is to preside at the microphone and David Broekman’s orchestra will provide the music.



Shirley would later recall the radio broadcast in Child Star:

When actor Tyrone Power introduced me over the national radio hookup, Father muttered that “Fox was a chicken.” Recently studio lawyers had rejected a proposition for $7,000 for one radio appearance by me, he groused, and now they were letting me talk for nothing.

More screenshots from the “Ali Baba” footage showing the arrivals of Victor McLaglen:



Phyllis Brooks and Michael Whalen:



Douglas Fairbanks and Sylvia Ashley (who would divorce Fairbanks and marry Clark Gable next!):



Cedric Gibbons and Dolores Del Rio:



The Ritz Brothers:



From my collection, a shot of the Ritz Brothers being escorted by a policeman down the red carpet of the Carthay that evening:



Florence and Jack Haley:



Ann Sothern and Cesar Romero:



The Fox special efffects department superimposed an “Ali Baba” marquee over the one for “Wee Willie Winkie”:



Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I was able to stitch together this panoramic view of the evening from “Ali Baba”:



Below is a shot of Cantor that was filmed later and edited into the “Winkie” premiere footage:



None of the stars in the premiere footage were listed in the credits at the end of the film:



The next day, the reviews were mainly positive, like this one from the L.A. Daily News:

Even if Twentieth Century-Fox had not carried on an extensive advertising campaign, or bombarded newspapers with a 21-gun publicity drive or introduced it to the world with an elaborate premiere, theatergoers would have discovered for themselves anyway that “Wee Willie Winkie” is an excellent picture.



Last night a long stream of expensive cars drove slowly through traffic-laden streets, drew up one by one at Carthay Circle, and delivered a collection of motion picture celebrities who filed through mouth-agape onlookers into the theater where the film had its first screening The usual formalities were observed, with the introduction of cast and officials by Tyrone Power, acting as master of ceremonies. Shirley Temple, who with Victor McLaglen shares honors in the picture, made her first appearance on the stage of any theater. “Wee Willie Winkie” unless everybody’s guess is wrong, will shower both gold and glory upon Twentieth Cetury-Fox. Box office response should be tremendous not only from Shirley Temple’s admirers, but also from the non-Temple fans who are bound to find out that “Wee Willie Winkie” is something more than a “Shirley Temple picture.” In every department—from its script to final editing—the film is definitely Class A, which means that its director, Mr. John Ford, may regard it as a personal triumph.

Even Quaker Puffed Wheat showered Shirley with praise!

And in a case of “You ain’t seen nothing yet, folks,” check out this fantastic video by Shirley expert supreme Rita Dubas, highlighting many other great details about the “Winkie” premiere:



See more “Wee Willie Winkie” photos at my main website.