Today’s headlining Shirley Temple photo is from the 1936 film “Captain January” and shows Shirley between takes of an intricate tap number performed effortlessly on a spiral staircase. Seeing the 6 year old perform this number on film is one of the many reasons audiences embraced her. She was 100% natural without any artifice, and put a smile on the faces of those overwhelmed by the Great Depression of the 1930s. From the publicity blurb on the back of the photo:
“CAPTAIN JANUARY’S” LIGHTHOUSE - Midway on the spiral stairway are Guy Kibbee in the title role and Shirley Temple, the star, in Darryl F. Zanuck’s production of “Captain January,” for 20th Century-Fox, on a set especially built for the picture. The stairway is 31 feet high and weighs 6,000 pounds. It is used for a dance which Shirley performs descending the steps as she recites the multiplication table.
As is typical with any Shirley movie, there’s a villain. In this one, Sara Haden plays a truant officer who is hellbent on taking Shirley away from her guardian, Captain January (Guy Kibbee). Actors Slim Summerville and Kibbee are on the left; meanie Sara is on the right.
What to do? How does the poor Lighthouse keeper fight the villain?
Never fear; in a Temple movie, just when things seem darkest, a happy ending emerges, as seen here with a young and lanky Buddy Ebsen at right.
In the 2015 Love, Shirley Temple auction, four costumes from the film surfaced. The top of this sailor suit was worn during the "Codfish Ball” number and the pants were worn in the staircase sequence featured here:
The dress that belonged to her character’s mother, tailored to fit her for a comic opera trio with Summerville and Kibbee:
Shirley wears this during an exam that the truant officer has her take in the hopes that she can be proved to be dumb enough to warrant being taken away from Captain January. No such luck! Of course Shirley passes the exam with flying colors!
This beautiful dress is worn when Shirley strikes it rich, getting adopted by her wealthy Aunt:
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
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