Temple Tuesday: Shirley and the Duck Dress

In the 1935 film, “Curly Top,” Shirley Temple has a brief sequence where her character exits the orphanage and is whisked away to a seaside cottage where she will lead a life of luxury with her sister, played by Rochelle Hudson. Costume designer René Hubert created the outfit known as “The Duck Dress” (because of the embroidery detail on the velvet bolero top) for Shirley and the chic outfit that Hudson models. As with anything Shirley did, photographers were on the spot to capture every detail. In the shot below, according to the blurb that accompanied it…

Shirley Temple and her pet pony, “Spunk,” are shown in an affectionate pose. Shirley is being starred in the Winfield Sheehan production, “Curly Top,” at Fox Film studio.



In the film, she refers to the pony as “Spunky.”



In between takes, Shirley and Hudson take a breather with director Irving Cummings. Note the track for a dolly shot at left, and the shot as it appears in the final film (below). The orphanage they are leaving was located on the backlot at Fox.



Zooming in, we can see all the details of Shirley’s adorable outfit, including the purse that appears to be made out of corduroy with a felt and fur Scottie dog attached.



The highlight of the sequence is when Shirley arrives at the cottage, she sashays up to the front door with her hand on her hip, demonstrating that she is now part of high society!



The outfit came up for auction, but the only original part that survived was the velvet bolero top. The skirt belonged to Shirley, but the pleating is different from the one used in the film. The tam hat and purse do not appear to have survived.



From the Theriault’s Catalog:

A short black velvet bolero top is embroidered with yellow ducklings on the bodice and sleeves, with a border of green leaves and flowers, and has a black silk lining. The bolero is worn over a sleeveless dress with pleated skirt. The bolero has studio tag 5943 and the dress has studio tag 4759. The costume was worn by Shirley Temple in the 1935 film "Curly Top" upon leaving the orphanage and arriving at her new home. In various studio promotional photographs of the film, the under-dress appears to have a collar and different pleats, suggesting that this dress was likely an alternate.



In fact, the dress was one used in “Our Little Girl” (1935, pictured above) which also had costumes designed by René Hubert. A detail of the embroidered ducks:



Shirley typically had visitors to the sets of her film. For any dignitaries visiting Hollywood, Shirley was at the top of the “must see” list. From the caption:

Mayor Frank Hague, of Jersey City, N.J., and prominent in Democratic party councils, with Mrs. Hague and Peggy Ann Hague visit with Shirley Temple and Mrs. Temple at Fox Film Movietone City, where “Curly Top,” Shirley’s latest picture, is now in production.



Hague supported F.D.R., who in turn not only supported the Mayor, but helped keep him out of scandal for many years. It was amazing at his lowly salary how he was able to amass quite a bit of wealth during his political career! At his funeral, one lady held a sign that read, “God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul.” From his January 1956 obituary:

The blustery master-politician, whose temper often was as quick as his speech was ungrammatical, was called by his intimates an efficient executive and a friend of the poor. Some referred to him as a benevolent despot. But others termed him a “machine boss,” an “absolute monarch,” and a dictator.…During his reign, Boss Hague did a lot for the 300,000-population city at New York’s back door. He gave the poor a magnificent medical center and modernized the police and fire departments. He also gave them the highest tax rate in the nation and made a fortune for himself.…Trouble followed him…into his big mansion on his estate at Deal and his place at Miami Beach. Twin final blows were a $15,000,000 suit to make him repay alleged kickbacks from city employees and the death of his nephew and heir-apparent, Frank Hague Eggers, both in 1954.

Back to Shirley, with this color image of her in the duck outfit:



Shirley has a quick chat with beloved humorist Will Rogers, also working on the Fox lot:



Another close-up of Shirley’s purse:



A publicity shot of Shirley in the duck dress, sans hat:



This image served many purposes; anything could be added to the blank wall behind her:



Ideal produced a composition doll wearing a matching outfit; here Shirley poses with a 27" high version:



The designs on the bolero for the dolls varied, as seen here:



Some of them had flowers instead of ducks (the purse and gloves were additions; the rest is all original):



The Danbury Mint put out its own version for a vinyl doll:



It would appear that Shirley (or at least her parents) truly liked this outfit, as she wore it in public on her first visit to Hawaii in 1935, specifically at the Royal Iolani Palace on Saturday, August 10. Below, she sings “On The Good Ship Lollipop” to her throng of fans, which numbered more than 15,000! The dress she wore here matched the one in “Curly Top;” it had not been paired up with the “Our Little Girl” skirt just yet.



In the montage below, you can see middle left, Shirley makes her first salute to the throng. At right she is shown with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Temple. Bottom left, a view of mauka steps of the palace where Shirley held “court.” Center, Miss Helen Poindexter places a lei on Shirley’s father while at lower right Shirley is shown selling a ticket to Governor Poindexter, after her public appearance, for the army benefit ball game for war veterans.



By May 1945, the bolero had been mismatched with the “Our Little Girl” dress, as seen in this LIFE magazine photo when Shirley was sorting through her collection to see what she was going to give away for a clothing drive.



And that’s it today for the duck dress!

See more Shirley Temple “Curly Top” photos at my main website.