Tuesday, April 09, 2019

Temple Tuesday: All in the Details



Shirley’s second attempt at a “comeback” after her childhood career ended was 1942’s “Miss Annie Rooney.” While it was a bomb at the box office, today it holds up as a cute glimpse into teen life of the 1940s, and of course Shirley is nothing less than charming. The movie was touted for Shirley’s first on-screen kiss; it wasn’t on the lips though. This is as close as Dickie Moore gets:



When wrong-side-of-the-tracks Annie (Shirley) goes to Marty’s (Dickie) high society birthday bash, she is snubbed by the other teenage girls in the powder room.



Recognize the gal on the left?



It’s none other than June Lockhart of “Lost in Space” fame. She also attended school with Shirley at Westlake.



The other trio of girls snubs Shirley, too. Recognize the gal at the center of the trio?



Noel Neill, best known as Lois Lane in the “Superman” TV show, shown with George Reeves (aka Superman).



The girl at the right of the trio is Mary Lou Isleib, Shirley’s good friend and stand-in, in a rare on-screen (but uncredited) appearance with Shirley.



Apparently Dickie Moore was not capable of dancing the jitterbug with Shirley. The solution for the shoestring budget production was to have a dance double who wore a very obvious rubber mask. Look at the edges!



Another shot of Mary Lou on the left; you can still see some of those Shirley-curls that she had to sport for years!



The last shot of the movie shows Shirley holding Dickie Moore’s hands. See her bracelet?



Shirley either snuck this in or the production company didn’t care that it spelled out “Shirley” and her character was named Annie. Here’s how the bracelet looked when it was auctioned off from Shirley’s personal collection a few years ago:



She also wore it in the glamorous publicity stills shot by George Hurrell:









See more teen Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

2 comments:

Fifthrider said...

That rubber mask... It's like she's dancing with Leatherface.

Matthew said...

@ Fithrider - couldn't agree more. That is a creepy looking mask.

Interesting post today Dave! Thanks for giving us Temple Tuesdays!

Always your pal,
Amazon Belle