Temple Tuesday: Tales from Rebecca

I am a behind-the-scenes info nut, as it adds an extra dimension of fun when re-watching my favorite movies (which I tend to do). Here are a few fun tidbits from the set of Shirley’s 1938 film, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”

Apparently, the Quaker Oats Company objected when they learned that there was to be a song in the film about “crackly corn flakes” since Shirley was under contract to them to advertise their product, Quaker’s Puffed Wheat.



The company felt that if the song were included, they would look ridiculous, as Temple would seem to be promoting the competition, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Because of this, Producer Darryl Zanuck ordered the title changed to “Crackly Grain Flakes.”



In another scene, Aunt Miranda (Helen Westley) asks Rebecca (Shirley) if she has had anything to eat. The girl says that her uncle bought her a candy bar, to which Aunt Miranda replies, “Candy bar! Gwen, take the child into the kitchen and get her something decent to eat.” The National Confectioners’ Association filed a $500,000 libel suit against 20th Century-Fox, claiming this scene did members of the association irreparable damage, and that it “libels a bar of candy and holds up the candy profession to ridicule and shame.” The suit was eventually dropped.



For the “Toy Trumpet” grand finale, Bill Robinson joined Shirley and her mother Gertrude at the Palm Springs Desert Inn to rehearse the number.



Temple was first made aware of racism when she learned Robinson was forced to sleep in the chauffeurs’ quarters. “But you’re not a chauffeur,” Shirley said to him when she found out. “I was unknowledgeable of the reality that racial prejudice was part of a complicated and powerful social system that enshrined such inequity,” she later wrote in her autobiography, Child Star.



A drum sequence was also to be included where Shirley would play along with the musicians on the set. She befriended studio drummer Johnny Williams, who taught her how to play. Dwan noticed her aptitude and ordered another drum set for her. However, Gertrude was against it, believing Shirley sitting with legs apart was unladylike. As Shirley recalled, “The film sequence was scrubbed, and drumsticks and traps disappeared, a donation to the local boys’ club.”



Shirley’s brother Jack was hired as third assistant director, to which she would later say, he “spent time thinking up things to take care of, one of which was me.” Dwan fired him after a dispute over a roasted turkey prop, used in a scene where Rebecca joins Tony (Randolph Scott) for lunch.



The turkey had been sprayed with insecticide and Jack loudly ordered her not to eat it, which she had no intention of doing. Out of spite, she popped the turkey in her mouth, prompting her brother to shake her to dislodge it. “Despite a slightly bitter taste, it was good turkey and my disobedience was immensely satsisfying.”

Are you ready to watch “Rebecca” again? See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.