The 1935 Shirley Temple film, “The Little Colonel,” has a number of iconic costumes that the curly haired child star wore. The first one we see is this military-themed dress that Shirley wears in the opening scene and a Sunday baptism-by-the-river scene. When Shirley’s film costumes came up for auction in 2015, this one did not surface.
The costume was significant enough for the Ideal Toy Company to reproduce it for its best selling 1930s Shirley Temple composition doll (larger versions came with a hat, too!).
According to the story in the movie, Shirley’s family did not have much money, thus, there are a number of her dresses that are very simple. None of them came up for auction, either. Below, she is shown sneaking some cookies while Evelyn Venable watches.
Shirley pelts her grumpy but wealthy grandfather (Lionel Barrymore) with mud. The same dress, which was also worn in her legendary staircase dance with Bill Robinson. The Danbury Mint released a doll set commemorating that scene.
Another basic dress that did not surface and apparently not doll-worthy!
The wardrobe department definitely saved some money on these outfits! Below, Shirley is with John Davis Lodge and Evelyn Venable, wearing a third basic cotton dress.
The Southern Belle costume that Shirley wears is arguably the most famous costume from the film.
The outfit came up for auction in 2015 and its current owner went to great lengths to preserve the delicate silk taffeta for future generations to enjoy.
This pink satin outfit “disappeared” (story in a previous post).
Only the boots and hat surfaced during the 2015 auction.
The elaborate pink ruffled party dress shown below was seen in Shirley’s first Technicolor sequence, tacked on to the end of the film:
Both the dress…
and the boots came up for auction in 2015, looking darn good, considering their age!
The costume is in the collection of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, hidden away with the rest of the Shirley Temple treasures that they are too cowardly to display.
See more Shirley Temple “The Little Colonel” photos at my main website.
No comments:
Post a Comment