Temple Tuesday: Shirley and Leroy rabbit holes

A few “new” recent acquisitions of Shirley and Baby Leroy have initiated today’s rabbit hole post, tying together a few odds and ends in my collection. Although I have other shots from this series of the two toddlers in a toy car on the Paramount lot, I’d never noticed that Leroy appears to be wearing one of Shirley’s coats! In the photo below from “Stand Up and Cheer” (1934) with Warner Baxter, you can see Temple wearing the coat in one of her opening scenes.



I adore these photos of the two peering into the mirror:



Leroy seems more excited about this shoot than Shirley, which is not surprising since he is a bit younger than her.



In this publicity still, Leroy is offering Shirley a cold beverage. She is wearing what is known as the Sailboat Dress:



A better shot of the same dress in this Otto Dyer portrait from Shirley’s days at Fox Studio:



I don’t know the occasion for this 1934 Fox publicity shot, but Shirley is again wearing the Sailboat Dress. The gal in the gray suit/dress in the front row at left is Toby Wing; on the right in the white dress is June Knight:



A rare shot of Shirley with a less than photogenic expression, most likely because the sun was in her eyes. I love how it candidly captures her!



Claire Trevor is also in this image with the Naval Officers:



The Sailboat dress was recreated by the Ideal Toy Company for their popular 1930s composition Shirley Temple doll, available in a variety of colors:



In the 1990s, the Danbury Mint did a series of Shirley Temple dolls holding a miniature version of the Ideal doll, mimicking the publicity stills from the 1930s that Shirley posed for:



At least the miniature doll is adorable! I’ll leave it at that…



Shirley’s Sailboat Dress came up for sale in 2015 at the Theriault’s Love, Shirley Temple auction. From the catalog description:

Of crisp white cotton poplin, the middy-style dress has inset bands of navy blue, short puffed sleeves with navy blue banding, and an applique blue sailboat on the front enhanced with embroidered blue "waves". The dress has the cloth label of "De Betty Alden Shoppe Los Angeles". Generally excellent condition. Included is a studio photograph of Shirley Temple wearing this dress and holding a Shirley Temple prototype doll wearing a similar dress. Shirley Temple appeared in various publicity photographs wearing the dress, including one with Spencer Tracy, indicating a connection with the 1934 film "Now I'll Tell" in which both Temple and Tracy appeared. The dress was also used in doll costuming with variations of construction, but always with the same sailboat theme.



This outfit that Shirley wore in the final scene for “Bright Eyes” (1934) also came from “Ye Betty Alden Shoppe” (a typo on Theriault’s part) as did the coat worn by Baby Leroy in the first image from this post:



From the Miracle Mile LA website I found this image of Betty’s store, located in the Wilshire Tower, which is still located at 5514 Wilshire Boulevard:



The R. John Wright Company released a felt version of the Shirley doll wearing the Sailboat dress (shown below at left) in 2018:



Phew! That’s it for today’s rabbit hole - I need a nap!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Rudford’s Diner: The Real Thing

While other places attempt to replicate the genuine diner experience, Rudford’s in San Diego doesn’t have to try. It’s the real thing. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, it’s been serving the North Park neighborhood since 1949. The photo mural below graces the side of the building.



President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade drove by the restaurant on June 6th, 1963, just a few months before he was assassinated.



Rudford’s has a milkshake named in his honor. The JFK Bacon Caramel Shake is not for the faint of heart, and guaranteed to induce a food coma. And speaking of shakes, this one comes with a good sized portion of extra shake in the cup it was made in. Little extras like that are what makes a great diner!



Signage and tchotchkes adorn the walls and shelves.



Atmosphere like this just can’t be created.



So much neon…I love it!



The patty melt is a favorite of mine; plenty of meat and just the right amount of grease. It is DELICIOUS!



Do not skip the pie for dessert; they are made fresh here at the restaurant from scratch.



The service is super friendly, too. Not the canned kind that is attempted through training; the real kind.

See more North Park/Rudford’s Diner photos at my main website.

Keystone Kop Celebration

Sometimes all it takes is one “new” slide to spawn an entire retrospective post. This just such an image, featuring the Keystone Kops playing for Disneyland guests on the porch of the China Closet. It is undated, but most likely from the late 1950s. Younger readers probably wonder who The Keystone Kops were. Here you go—

The Keystone Kops/Cops were the brain child of comedian and silent screen star Hank Mann. They were named after slapstick producer Mack Sennett’s Keystone studio, founded in 1912. Their first film was “Hoffmeyer's Legacy” (1912), with Mann as the police chief. Though initially popular, Sennett relegated the Keystone Cops to supporting roles behind Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle only a few years later. Sennett stopped using them by the 1920s, but they continued to pop up over the years in various features, cartoons, video games, and yes…Disneyland!



As you can see from this Summer 1955 shot, the Kops were shown daily at the Main Street Cinema.



On Disneyland’s Opening Day, these two Kops posed with a young guest outside the Main Street Cinema:



As comic security and a wandering music group, the Kops were a great fit for Main Street, U.S.A.







Outside the Coke Corner in 1956:



A lone Kop from 1956:



Central Plaza was the place guests would most likely see The Keystone Kops play their vintage melodies. On the right is Bernie Flymen; he played sax & clarinet at Disneyland from 1955–1960 and in Desi Arnaz’s “I Love Lucy” band. Funny how this guest appears to be completely oblivious to them. Maybe it’s the sunglasses.



Outside the Opera House, circa March 1959:



This 1960 publicity shot shows a traffic jam of shorts in Town Square.



Not sure how much help the Kop is really giving here! Note the White Wing in the background:



The Keystone Kops were seen in “Forty Pounds of Trouble” with Tony Curtis in 1962 during the Disneyland sequence:



Back to Central Plaza in April 1965:



From September 1, 1967, we see the Kops playing in Central Plaza right near the popcorn cart. The two little kids to the right do not seem amused.



A backstage shot from April 1968:



Last one for today is from July 1968. I can only guess that the Kops were discontinued shortly after that. This is what happens when you defund the police.



Want to see the original Keystone Kops in action? Here’s “A Thief Catcher” (1914) which was considered a lost short until 2010 when a print was discovered at a Michigan antique sale. Charlie Chaplin plays one of the Kops.



See more Disneyland East Main Street photos at my main website.

Windy Wednesday: Scarlett Makes Her Entrance!

Audiences waited three years to see the Margaret Mitchell novel, Gone with the Wind, hit the big screen. A dramatic opening tracking shot increased the anticipation by initially hiding the book’s main character, Scarlett O’Hara, from view. As Brent Tarleton, Fred Crane blocked Vivien until he stepped aside revealing the youthful face of the girl who had “the smallest waist in three counties.”



Producer David O’Selznick labored over the opening scene. In order to give audiences just the right touch, the scene was filmed five times. The first was tackled on January 26, 1939. According to the book Scarlett Fever by William Pratt, the first day of filming (under the guidance of director George Cukor) did not yield anything that was usable.

The curly hairdos of the Tarletons photographed bright orange. Four days later the scenes were repeated, with the actors’ hair styles modified to eliminate their curls and heavily darkened as well (photo below).

In the book, the Tarleton brothers (Brent & Stuart) were twins. Fred Crane and George Reeves were obviously not lookalikes. For the film adaptation, the “twins” were simply referred to as The Tarletons. You’ll also note that Miss Leigh was wearing an entirely different outfit than what is seen in the finished film. In the book, Scarlett wears this green sprig muslin dress and does so again the next day at the Wilkes’ barbecue because she knows that the Tarletons are fond of it.



On March 1, under Victor Fleming’s direction (Cukor had been let go from the film), a third attempt at the opening scene was shot. According to Pratt:

The two young actors were quite inexperienced and one things was soon evident: it wouldn’t be the last time this unlucky first scene was to be attempted.



For the next scene where Scarlett greets her father, played by Thomas Mitchell, Leigh was still wearing the green muslin dress.



However, by June 14th, Selznick had decided that Scarlett should be wearing this white frilly concoction seen below instead, thus making all of the footage shot beforehand worthless.



In the film, Leigh utters the line “I wore this old dress just because I thought you liked it” at the Wilkes’ barbecue to the Tarletons, which is a reference to the fact that that she had originally worn it in the opening scene. Oops.



On Monday, June 26, 1939 and the following day, Leigh, Crane, and Reeves tried the opening scene a fourth time. Tired from the previous months of around-the-clock shooting, Leigh did not look anything like a vivacious sixteen year old. Even the dimwitted Tarleton brothers weren’t fooled!



Finally, on October 12th, Selznick was happy with the fifth and final attempt at this scene and that’s the one we see today. While you might think it ridiculous that it took five separate times to get one sequence just right, it was Selznick’s attention to detail that made “Gone with the Wind” such a blockbuster hit.



See more “Gone with the Wind” photos at my main website.