Last week’s Temple Tuesday post covered a deleted scene of Shirley’s from “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938). That only covered a fraction of what was left on the cutting room floor from Shirley’s movies! Hang on as we cover a few other ones that never made it into the final film.
In “Dimples” (1936), Shirley acted out scenes from the play “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” for her friends in the Bowery (photo above). Most likely this little showcase for Shirley’s talents did nothing to move the plot along and was eliminated as a result. A second deleted scene had actress Cleo Marsh (Astrid Allwyn) getting mad at Dimples (Shirley) during a rehearsal, feeling that the little girl’s song would steal the show from her. “Stop it, you little brat!” Cleo yells at the child. “You’ve got too much in this play as it is! This play was put on for my sake! People will come to the theater to see me. They’re not coming to see the antics of a dirty little urchin!” CUT! DELETE! NOBODY talks to Shirley like that and gets away with it!
Below is a shot of a deleted scene from the “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” play that Shirley’s character is performing in. Probably another instance of the story moving too slowly for Producer Darryl Zanuck’s taste.
In “Stowaway” (1936), there is the dramatic scene where Ching Ching (Shirley) is about to be sent to an orphanage, but wealthy playboy Tommy Randall (Robert Young) and already engaged Susan (Alice Faye) decide to marry each other so that they can adopt the little girl themselves...and then get a divorce so that Susan can marry her fiancé and Tommy can keep Ching Ching. Phew…there’s a lot going on there.
In this deleted scene, socialite Kay (Astrid Allwyn again!) agrees to marry Tommy so he can adopt Ching Ching, but then finds out from Tommy’s friend The Colonel (Eugene Pallette) that the wedding must happen immediately. Oops…good thing she didn’t cash that check yet…she had to get her own divorce finalized first! Too messy for a Shirley film…
In “Little Miss Broadway” (1938), Betsy’s (Shirley) adopted father, Pop Shea (Edward Ellis) is looking for her to make sure she’s doing her studies. What we don’t get to see was this filmed bit of business showing Betsy with a ventriloquist, which explains why he couldn’t find her at the time. In the finished film, a few lines remain that refer to the deleted scene. Pop’s daughter Barbara (Phyllis Brooks) asks Betsy who helped her with the arithmetic problems, as they are all incorrect. “Mr. Berdini, the magician!” “Six goes into eighteen five times…, seven goes into twenty-one four times!” Barbara replies sarcastically. “He’s a magician alright!”
Later in the film, Betsy escapes the orphanage and tries to get home to help save Pop Shea who is fighting a court battle that could mean the loss of his Hotel. There was originally a sequence between a taxi driver and a policeman over Betsy being unable to pay the fare. CUT! And don’t print that, please!
In “Just Around the Corner” (1938), if you look at the “Programme” for the benefit for Uncle Sam, you’ll see a number listed that did not make it into the final film, “Penny and Her Gang.”
The photo below is about all that remains of this deleted musical number.
This photograph of Shirley handing Arthur Treacher a playing card in “The Little Princess” (1939) is all that remains from an extended sequence of her arrival at Miss Minchin’s Boarding School. Most likely, it has something to do with Shirley’s character finding out about Treacher’s character’s past as a music hall entertainer.
“The Blue Bird” was Shirley’s second movie filmed entirely in Technicolor, other than the opening segment which was in black and white.
One of the publicity stills from the black and white portion shows Shirley praying to the Virgin Mary.
Was this from a deleted scene or Shirley praying for a hit, which she badly needed at this point in her career!
This deleted scene shows Mytyl (Shirley) playing with all of her newly acquired dolls in the Land of Luxury. Astute at the tender age of 11, Shirley rented out dolls from her personal collection to be used in the film.
Another deleted segment from the same scene showed Mr. Luxury (Nigel Bruce) cavorting around with Tyltyl (Johnny Russell). CUT!
I wonder if Shirley had to refund her doll earnings to Zanuck when this scene was removed?!?
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
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