Temple Tuesday: Let Them Eat Cake

Based on the many publicity photos released of Shirley Temple during her heyday, you’d think she was Marie Antoinette, always indulging in cake! In the photo above, she attends the fifth birthday of Harold Lloyd Jr., January 25, 1935. Jane Bannister, daughter of actress Ann Harding, is on the right. What a cake! It would be difficult to decide, should you eat it or play with it?



Above, Shirley is celebrating friend and costar Bill Robinson’s birthday held at Fox Studio, May 25, 1935.



Although FDR was not in attendance, a birthday celebration was held at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on January 30, 1937 in the President’s honor. Shirley Temple and Eddie Cantor are pictured below in front of the spectacular cake!



Arthur Treacher, Anita Louise, Shirley, Mary Nash, and Marcia Mae Jones on set for the filming of Sara’s lavish birthday party.



Shirley convinced her mother that the other child actors in “The Little Princess” (1939) weren’t satisfied with the “fake” birthday party called for in the film. As a result, they were given a “real” party in the studio’s Café de Paris afterwards. The children sat at a decorated table, gorging themselves on cake and ice cream. The only “casualty” of the occasion was that one little girl spilled a plate of ice cream over her dress, and the production was held up until it was cleaned. Among those present at Shirley’s party in the photo below were Sybil Jason Marcia Mae Jones, Deidre Gale, and Ira Stevens.



Shirley can be seen at the top right, next to Marcia Mae Jones. Deidre Gale is front left, Ira Stevens has her mouth full with a roll on the right.



In April 1942, Shirley shared birthday cake with her fellow cast members of the radio show, “Junior Miss.” A “V” for Victory on the patriotic themed cake.



Instead of eating cake at her 1945 wedding to first husband John Agar, Shirley seemed to take greater pleasure in shoving a piece into the mouth of her future ex-husband.



The public also shared in Shirley’s simple meals, such as this basic breakfast of toast and fruit at her Santa Monica home.



A bowl of Quaker Oats Puffed Wheat:



A quick snack between takes of “Little Miss Broadway” (1938).



Ready for lunch?

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Main Street Model Monday, Part 2

Faithful readers knew that at some point I’d get around to part 2, and here we go! This recently listed vintage image from ebay shows the model that was created for Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. If you look closely at the original model, you can see that the original intention was to call the store below Crystal Palace. At some point before opening it was changed to Crystal Arcade.



The model also shows the building below as being a Sporting Goods Store; Coke stepped in at the right time with a sponsorship and won this coveted location…



where it still resides today. Could the Crystal Palace and Candy Palace co-existed peacefully on the same street? I guess we’ll never know.



Eagle-eyed readers will see the concept art for Storybook Land on the back wall…



and Peter Pan’s Flight…



and the Jungle Cruise.



See more Disneyland Main Street photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: The GWTW Connection

While Shirley Temple was not part of the “Gone with the Wind” (1939) cast, she did work with a significant number of the actors from the Oscar winning David O. Selznick production, starting with Clark Gable. Who toured Shirley around the MGM lot in 1941 during her brief stint at the Tiffany of film studios? Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland. Not a bad group of guides! 



Shirley also participated in the Greek War Relief Benefit at Grauman’s on February 8, 1941, which  included Gable. In the photo below you can see Frank Morgan (aka “The Wizard of Oz”), Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Dick Powell, and Reginald Owen in the back row. Seated in front: Madeleine Carroll, Samuel Goldwyn, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Shirley, and Myrna Loy. What a lineup!



Hattie McDaniel (shown below with Olivia DeHavilland and Vivien Leigh) won an Oscar for her portrayal of Mammy in “Gone with the Wind.”



Shirley worked with McDaniel a number of times, beginning with “The Little Colonel” (1935):



…and in another Selznick production, “Since You Went Away” (1944). Below is a still from a deleted scene:



Victor Jory (at left) played Jonas Wilkerson, the disgraced overseer at Tara who was fired for his illicit doings with “the white trash Slattery girl” (Isabel Jewell at right):



Jory (at left) costarred with Shirley in “Susannah of the Mounties” as yet another character with compromised morality:



When Scarlett’s famous drapery dress fails to get the money she needs from Rhett to save Tara, she focuses her attentions on her sister’s beau, Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nye, at left):



In the 1938 film, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” Shirley feigns laryngitis to get out of a radio gig with her conniving stepfather:



Carroll Nye played the station radio announcer in that film:



Laura Hope Crews portrayed the scatter-brained Aunt Pittypat, hostess to Scarlett while she stayed in Atlanta.



In “The Blue Bird” (1940), Crews played the snooty Mrs. Luxury.



Harry Davenport was Dr. Meade, who left Scarlett to her own devices when it came to helping Melanie give birth. Apparently he was a doctor who did not make house calls!



In Shirley’s 1947 comedy, “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer,” he played her great uncle, Judge Thaddeus Turner.



Leona Roberts was Mrs. Meade (the doctor’s wife) in “Wind.” As you can see by her withering look, she was not a fan of Scarlett’s!



In “The Blue Bird,” Roberts’ character warmed up to Shirley when she brought her daughter the gift of the blue bird.



Jane Darwell was the town gossip, Dolly Merriwether, in “Wind”:



Darwell had prominent roles in five Shirley movies: “Bright Eyes” (1934), “Curly Top” (1935), “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936), “Captain January” (1936, pictured below), and “Little Miss Broadway” (1938).



Ward Bond was the gruff Yankee Captain Tom who kept his friend Rhett out of trouble:



He and Shirley worked together in John Ford’s “Fort Apache” (1948):



Irving Bacon was one of Rhett’s guards when he is detained in “jail”:



In “Young People” (1940), Bacon over-serves Shirley at the soda fountain. Bacon also had minor parts in “Since You Went Away” and “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer”



When Rhett and Scarlett have to evacuate Atlanta, they are surrounded by wounded Confederate soldiers doing the same.



Junior Coghlan had an uncredited part as a collapsing soldier.



Six years earlier, he played Shirley’s older brother in the Frolics of Youth short, “Merrily Yours” (1934).



Wow! That’s a lot of “Wind” connections. According to legend, Shirley was briefly considered for the part of Scarlett’s sisters, Careen. A role that minor for Shirley in 1939 would have been out of the question, especially for a loanout.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.