I would wager that those who consider Shirley Temple’s movies sickeningly sweet haven’t really watched an entire film of hers. Back in the late 1980s, Shirley told writer John Culhane a funny somewhat “cautionary” tale about those who didn’t view her childhood movies all the way through:
Shirley: I heard a very sad story the other day about a woman who was working during Christmas wrapping packages at a department store, locally, near me, and I was getting a package specially giftwrapped, and she recognized me, and she was a very wan, kind of sad-looking woman, and she recognized me and she started to smile, and she said, “Oh, I've loved your films so over the years, and my little girl loved your films.” They used to be shown on television out here I think on Sundays, on TV. And she said that her little girl only could see the films half-way through, and then they'd have to go to church. And I thought, they're going to ruin her life, that's the saddest part of the films is the middle! I said, she'll never know there are any happy endings in life; gotta' go to church on a different time of day or something!
Culhane: She's gotta' convert to Catholicism where they have those 6 o'clock masses!
Shirley: Exactly! I think these came on something like 11 in the morning or 10 in the morning, or even that she could go very early, but I never thought of it, but think of some poor little child that's only seen half of a movie for most of her life.
Think about it… in “Stowaway,” you might think that Shirley gets sent back to the orphanage as she is torn away from Robert Young and Alice Faye.
And finally, in “Heidi,” can you imagine little Shirley being raised by the gypsies?
To find out what happens, you’ll have to go back and watch the ENTIRE film!
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
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