Temple Tuesday: Shirley and Claude

Picture this: March 14, 1947. A very glamorous Shirley Temple descends the staircase of her Brentwood home, ready to attend the Oscars. That evening, she gave Claude Jarman, Jr. a special Juvenile Performance Oscar for  “The Yearling” (1946). This was the same award she had received at the 1934 ceremonies, held in 1935. From the vintage publicity blurb:

HOLLYWOOD, MARCH 14 — YOUNG ACTOR WINS SPECIAL AWARD — Claude Jarman, Jr., 12-year-old Tennessee boy who played Jody in The Yearling,” gets a special award, presented by Shirley Temple, as “Oscars” were passed out last night in the Annual Academy Award Presentations.



The gown Shirley wore that night came up for auction in 1945:


From the catalog description:

Of black silk with constructed darts, and cord lacing at the front bodice, full-length net and tulle gathered skirt, decorated with double-tiered cutwork ruffles at the bodice and hips. The dress was worn by Shirley Temple during the mid-1940s, on one occasion during her presentation of the Academy Juvenile Actor Award to Claude Jarman, Jr. in 1946 for his performance in “The Yearling,”an award which Shirley herself had been the first to win in 1934.



Below, Shirley is sandwiched between Harold Russell and Claude, in what appears to be a slightly uncomfortable shot for her. Her brain was saying, “Social Distance!” Russell was a WWII veteran who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946). He holds the distinction of being the first non-professional actor to win an Oscar, as well as the only person to win two Oscars for the same role. Doubtful that he would win, the board of governors wanted to salute Russell regardless; earlier in the evening he was given an honorary Oscar for “bringing aid to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures.”



In 1992, Russell sold his Best Supporting Actor Oscar sold to a private collector for $60,500, saying he needed money for his wife’s medical expenses (he did retain his special Oscar). After Russell died, the unidentified collector was revealed to be Lew Wasserman, studio executive and talent agent (“The Last of the Legendary Movie Moguls”), who donated it back to the Academy.



What became of Jarman? He left Hollywood behind in his early twenties and went to college at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He made one more movie in 1956 (Disney’s “The Great Locomotive Chase”) and was in the “Centennial” miniseries on TV (1978), portraying struggling farmer Earl Grebe. For the most part, he went behind the cameras in the biz, running the San Francisco International Film Festival (1965-1980) and creating a number of documentaries. As of this post, he is eighty-eight years old.



Above, a shot of Shirley with then husband John Agar at the Oscars, which were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, shown below in 2014:



Watch the silent Pathé News highlight footage from March 1947:



See more Shirley Temple teen photos at my main website.