Temple Tuesday: Shirley, Soda, and More

Legend has it that W.C. Fields (shown above with Baby LeRoy) once said, “Never Work With Children Or Animals.” Why? Because invariably they are either unpredictable and/or they will steal the scene from the adults. In truth, humorist and author Leo Rosten once joked ABOUT Fields saying “Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad,” which eventually morphed into being attributed to W.C.

Shirley Temple never had to worry about that; whether as a child, a teen, or an adult, she always held the focus of the audience, and was never afraid to share a scene with an animal, especially a dog, as seen below.



From the accompanying caption:

Shirley Temple makes friends with Soda, the pet English bulldog appearing with her in “Since You Went Away.” The picture was taken on the set of this Selznick International Picture directed by John Cromwell with an all star cast including: Claudette Colbert, Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones, Monty Woolley, Robert Walker, Hattie McDaniel and others of note.



Shirley had previous experience with a bulldog in “The Blue Bird” (1940). She didn’t have many scenes with the dog though, as the animal was transformed into a human early on in the film and played by Eddie Collins:



What a cutie!



Shirley surrounded by Collins and Gale Sondergaard:



Back to Soda…Shirley’s affection for dogs is visible throughout the film with this lovable bulldog.



The publicity machine continued to generate “news” about Shirley and Soda even as she was making her next film without him.



Favorite pin-up boy on the wall of Shirley Temple’s dressing room on the set of Selznick International’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” is Dick Whittington, English Bulldog who recently appeared with Shirley in David O. Selznick’s “Since You Went Away.”

Shirley truly loved dogs and had them throughout her life On set it was Soda; at home it was her beloved Ching Ching:



Below is an image of Shirley and then husband John Agar outside their home:



A 1949 image at home with Agar and her collie:



Shirley from 1960 at home with her Boxer, Chris:



See more “Since You Went Away” photos at my main website.

East Coast Whirlwind, Pt. 3

Part three begins at a little neighborhood Italian restaurant I found down the street from the Walker Hotel, Da Andrea Ristorante.



Just the kind of local “joint” that is the best part of travel for me - stumbling onto a cool place that is not part of a predictable national chain.



The beet salad:



I stayed with my usual and got the bolognese:



Dessert was a Tortino di Cioccolato (chocolate cake, salted caramel ice cream). In any language, it was yum.



Before hitting the pillow, I took a nighttime shot of the Empire State Building from my window:



The next morning was all sunshine; literally! I ventured out into the Village again, and reshot a few photos of the Jefferson Market Library without any interference from the gray clouds and rain. Much better!



Another great find was this Seinfeld-esque diner, The Waverly Restaurant.





Inside was festively decorated for the season:



The waffles and bacon were diner perfection.



The one disappointment was that I didn't get to see (and photograph) this sign at night. Always something for the “to do list.”



Downing Street Playground was a beautiful little space with plenty of shade trees:



An Armillary Sundial was at the center of the playground:



Gemini was looking good.



If I ever decide to move to New York, I would be sure to contact the Wizard of Moving.



ClairVoyant was closed; guess she didn’t know I was coming. Some psychic.



Nearby is the apartment made famous by Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in “Sex and the City”:



It still looked good, but the owners have definitely made it less accessible to fans since I first saw it in 2005:



The address is 66 Perry Street; is the 1866 plaque on the right to fool gawking fans? It didn’t seem to do any good while I was there, as a crowd was gathered at the foot of the steps.



Magnolia Bakery, also made famous by SATC.



The cupcakes were ok, but I never thought they were worth the hype. The candy corn cake in the window looked fun, though!



At the nearby Bleecker Playground I saw The Family Monument, a bronze sculpture by Chaim Gross.



This wall decor looked like it had come straight out of the French Quarter:



The Halloween tableaus were impressive:



Last one for my journey around the Village is of Squad Company 18, built in 1892.



Still plenty more to come! See more New York City photos at my main website.

East Coast Whirlwind, Pt. 2: Inside the Walker

My room at the Walker Hotel was perfection. The styling was right up my alley, clean, and well appointed.



The desk had the usual assortment of pay-per-snacks:



However, I lovely little bottle of wine and a bag of cookies (along with bottles of plain and sparkling water) were thrown in for good measure. The bag of cookies is missing from the photo; they were devoured before I got the camera out. And they were GOOOOOOOOOOOD…



The view from the room had the Empire State Building in the foreground.



With a 600mm lens, the view becomes more impressive:



The faux rotary dial phone would have gone home with me if I still had a landline.



The lobby had beautiful floral displays, appropriately themed to the fall season:





A new (to me) discovery this trip was the nearby Union Square:



The park area included monuments to George Washington:



Abraham Lincoln:



The Marquis de Lafayette:



…and a drinking fountain, known as The James Fountain, after philanthropist Daniel Willis James and Theodore Roosevelt Sr. who donated this piece sculpted by Karl Adolph Donndorf and designed by J. Leonard Corning. The fountain is now a decorative planter, surrounded by potheads. Don’t get too close if you don’t want to get high.



Live music abounded:







This gigantic art installation represents a metronome, which was a standard part of my childhood piano lessons. Created by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel in 1999, apparently it periodically releases a plume of steam. In case you miss that, you could always view the exhalings of the Union Square inhabitants. The large rock-like formation at lower left is a bronze hand cast from the George Washington monument in the square.



Stay tuned for part 3!

See more Walker Hotel photos at my main website.