Orson and Shirley

Before he raised a little (Citizen) Kane in Hollywood, Orson Welles was the darling of the town with all the ladies...including his neighbor Shirley Temple. The vintage publicity blurb tells the story:

SHIRLEY TEMPLE MEETS FAMOUS RADIO DIRECTOR

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.— Shirley Temple likes her next door neighbor who frequently comes over in her yard to visit. He is Orson Welles already famous as founder of the Mercury Theatre and as the radio producer-star who upset listeners recently with his broadcast of "The War of the Worlds." AUG 11, 1939

After the release of his masterpiece, "Citizen Kane," Orson had honked off the wrong people (namely newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst) and never quite regained his footing again. Here he is five years later clowning around with Shirley and actress Ruth Gordon at The Pump Room at the Ambassador Hotel, September 15, 1944



More Shirley shots at my main website.