Temple Tuesday: Shirley & The Living Dolls

In the 1936 Shirley Temple star vehicle, “Poor Little Rich Girl,” she plays a motherless child (albeit a wealthy one!) who only has her  dolls to play with. Shirley sings the Mack Gordon & Harry Revel song, “Oh, My Goodness” to them while she explains her lonely plight. Side note: the two also collaborated on “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938), parting ways in 1939. 20th Century-Fox paired Gordon up with composer Harry Warren for 1940’s “Young People.” I guess you could say Mack was just wild about Harry…



Back to the main story…Shirley’s four dolls come to life and dance for her. This screen magic was accomplished by having four “live” actresses perform the choreography for Shirley via split screen effect. In these publicity shots, you can see the actresses paired with their corresponding dolls: Julie Cabanne (Japan), Geneva Sawyer (American Jazz/Soul), Lucille Miller (Russia), and Esther Brodelet (The Netherlands) .



Choreography for the film is credited to Ralph Cooper and Jack Haskell. Were they needed for this number? Probably not.



Geneva Sawyer had been a vaudeville dancer before coming to Hollywood. She was signed to a Fox Studio stock contract after her work in “Stand Up and Cheer” (1934), the film that catapulted Shirley to stardom with the song, “Baby, Take A Bow.” Geneva’s work on “Poor Little Rich Girl” caught the attention of Shirley’s beloved dancing costar, Bill Robinson. Fate stepped in as Robinson happened to be on set when the number was filmed; he was so impressed with her work and ability to quickly learn routines that he requested she be made his (uncredited) assistant dance director for “Dimples,” Shirley’s next film.



Thanks to Robinson’s praise, Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck gave Geneva the assignment of assistant dance director, making her the only female in Hollywood at that time to have this position. She worked with choreographer Nick Castle on all of Shirley’s 1938-1940 films (except “Susannah of the Mounties” where there was little need for dancing). She also garnered a screen credit for each of those films (other than “Just Around the Corner”). In 1941, Sawyer became a full-fledged dance director at Fox, working on such films as “Blood and Sand” (1941), “Jitterbugs” (1943), and “In the Meantime, Darling”(1944).



Little is known about her private life, however this January 1936 shot of Geneva with her sister Francis spills the beans on her recent divorce from Los Angeles businessman James J. Warrick:

Her husband kissed the maid [note: on New Year’s Eve, no less!], Mrs. Geneva Warrick, left, complained in winning her divorce suit yesterday. Francis Sawyer, her sister, shown with her, corroborated the charge.



Don’t mess with Geneva! To see her and Robinson dancing together, you can see this ultimately deleted clip from “Cafe Metropole” (1937) for which the footage still survives:



Here’s a closeup of the doll that Geneva represented. It is incredible the amount of detail that went into creating all four of these dolls for a sequence that lasted only a few minutes.



Shirley kept all four dolls and added them to her personal collection. They were auctioned off by Theriault’s in 2015. From the catalog description:

FOUR ONE-OF-A-KIND DOLLS FEATURED IN THE 1936 FILM "POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL" Lot Number: 291 15" (38 cm.) Each depicts a grown lady, with sculpted paper mache shoulder head with painted complexion and facial features, muslin body with carved wooden loosely hinged limbs, and wig in appropriate style to match the costume. Each is wearing original costume as it appeared in the film, including Dutch girl, German girl, stylish black soul singer, and Japanese lady. Generally excellent condition. Realized Price: $8,000 Presale Estimate: 1000+



The daughter of silent movie director Christy Cabanne and vaudeville actress/costume designer Vivien Lyle Montrose, Julie Cabanne is shown below in matching makeup and costume to her doll-sized counterpart:



Julie’s career never really took off; her last role (uncredited as a chorine) was in Fox’s “In Old Chicago” (1938), which starred Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, and Don Ameche. She “retired” when she married Carlyle Blackwell, raising their son (Garrett) and daughter (Pamela Ann) in Los Angeles.

Shirley’s silk pajamas were auctioned off in 2015, too. From the catalog description:

SILK POLKA DOT PAJAMAS WORN BY SHIRLEY TEMPLE IN THE 1936 FILM "POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL" Lot Number: 290 The ivory silk satin one-piece pajamas with cheerful red polka dot pattern features a double-breasted top with large pearlized buttons, puffed sleeves, and full-length bloomer-style pants with elasticized ankles. Generally excellent. Included is a vintage photograph of Shirley wearing the costume. The costume was worn in early scenes of the 1936 film "Poor Little Rich Girl" as she sang "Oh Me, Oh My" and then wistfully sang to her four dolls that "You're the Only Friends I've Ever Had". Realized Price: $8,000 Presale Estimate: 1500+



Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) sent a shot of the original 1930’s composition doll that she owns, wearing the pajama set modeled after the one Shirley wore in “Poor Little Rich Girl”:



Finally, here’s a poor quality colorized clip showing Shirley performing the number:



This film has yet to have a proper DVD/Blu ray release and has only been made available on VHS and Laserdisc. Considering Disney owns the Shirley Temple Fox catalog now and that they tend to “hide” titles that might cause backlash, it is doubtful that this one will see the light of day, especially because of this very sequence which could be seen as cultural misappropriation. Just a few days ago, there was an outrage over the alleged Disney censorship of the Fox movie, “The French Connection” (1971), winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture. It has still not been determined if Disney or Criterion made the cuts. Education and explanatory text…yes. Censorship and destruction…no.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.