Temple Tuesday: Evoking A Ghost

In the 1940 Shirley Temple movie, “Young People,” Darryl Zanuck wanted to bring back the ghost of little Shirley by inserting clips from her earlier movies. Jack Oakie and Charlotte Greenwood play Joe and Kit Ballantine, two vaudevillians who end up adopting little Wendy (Shirley), a tot left to them by very dear friends who had recently gone to that great stage up in the sky.

Once Wendy is old enough, she joins the act, beginning with this hula number.



For the long shot, a double was used quite convincingly. Sadly, I could not find out who played little Shirley. IMDB has just about every unbilled extra listed save for this one.



When the camera cuts in closer, the audience is treated to a clip of Shirley from the 1935 movie “Curly Top.” The production team did a very nice job of making the new footage blend seamlessly with the old.



Not so much with the next number.



The Ballantines satirize Shirley’s hit “Baby Take A Bow” by singing how much they can’t stand each other. Their number is mildly comical...and I’m being kind here.



Note the dancing ladies that are part of the curtain:



Kit dances off the stage and Shirley’s double enters stage right:



The closeup takes us back to 1934 Shirley, when she first wowed audiences in “Stand Up And Cheer”:



Back to the dancing ladies on the curtain...this was Fox’s way of attempting to simulate the real dancing girls that were part of the background in the original scene. Even as a little kid, I wasn’t fooled by this cheap shenanigan!



For the next number which brings us up to present day (circa 1940), Shirley is all grown up!



See more Shirley Temple in “Young People” photos at my main website.