One new photo in the collection has resulted in yet another Shirley Temple rabbit hole. Many of you have seen these previously posted shots of two of the biggest stars back in 1935, Will Rogers and Shirley Temple.
Rogers died tragically in a plane crash on August 15, 1935. His home studio, Fox, dedicated a plaque and a $250,000 soundstage to him on November 14, 1935. Louis B. Mayer, Rupert Hughes, Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Shirley, Governor Frank F. Merriam, and Irvin Cobb assembled for the unveiling:
More than 300 people participated in the dedication and luncheon. Rogers’ son, Will Rogers, Jr., attended the event but did not make a presentation.
Favorite songs of the late actor were sung by Gladys Swarthout and John Boles, including “Old Faithful.” Shirley was quoted as saying, “I loved him, too.” She was the first star to shoot on the newly dedicated stage which had been built back in 1933. The building, Stage 8, still stands today.
Fred Stone (who played the Scarecrow on stage in “The Wizard of Oz” and was a close friend of Rogers), Shirley, Irvin Cobb, and Shirley’s mother, Gertrude Temple:
On December 1, 1935, Bill Robinson and Shirley donned their costumes from “The Littlest Rebel” and performed their famous stair dance routine at a Will Rogers memorial “Show of Shows” held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, which also helped raise funds for the Will Rogers Memorial Fund. The show raised $15,000 and attracted more than 6000 spectators, with hundreds more waiting outside, hoping to hear the show over the loud-speakers.
Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink opened the show with a rousing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The opera singer is buried here in San Diego at Greenwood Memorial Park. Her portrait hangs in the mausoleum. Yes, Melissa - she has a Shirley connection!
Also performing that night were Sophie Tucker, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland.
Below is an image of Shirley with the Will Rogers Plaque, almost thirty years later on January 6, 1965, when she returned to her home studio to film the pilot for a proposed TV series, “Go Fight City Hall”:
Frances Klamt, Shirley’s childhood teacher, was there for Shirley’s return:
The Los Angeles Times, Friday, January 8, 1965
A Curly Comeback: Shirley Temple Taps at TV Door
Shirley Temple came home Wednesday. Home to 20th Century-Fox, the studio where she once reigned as the moppet queen of cinema, the incomparable Curly Top. They gave her a grand welcome. There was a banner across the studio gate proclaiming Welcome Home, Shirley! And a champagne luncheon with studio brass and many an old friend she knew 30 years ago and more—including Frances Klant[sp], her personal schoolteacher in those early days and still resident teacher on the lot. The welcome was certainly her due, for it has been said, and truly, that without Shirley Temple there would not be a 20th Century-Fox — Curly Top built the studio. She’s now before the cameras on those same sound stages where she sang “The Good Ship Lollypop[sp]” and danced with Bill Robinson in films that packed theaters in every nook and cranny of the world. Only things have changed—her work now will be for television. She’s making the pilot film for a new series for the ABC network next season in which she will play a young social worker. Costarring with her are Jack Kruschen and Bill Hayes. If all goes well, the series will swing into full production in May and Shirley said she has been promised she can complete her year’s work by September. She will either commute from her home in Atherton and her quiet life as Mrs. Charles Black, housewife and mother, or take a house here for the summer. “Susan is nearly 17 and graduates from high school in June and I know I have to be home for that and to see her off to college in September,” said Shirley. “But the young ones (Charles Jr., 12, and Lori, 10) love the ocean and maybe we can find a place on the sea for the summer.” At the luncheon, Shirley was flanked by Bill Self, head of Fox’s burgeoning TV division, and ABC president Tom Moore. Nostalgia flowed with the champagne. Self brought out Shirley’s original contract when the studio signed her on Dec. 9, 1933, at the age of 5, for $150 a week. Shirley recalled that by the time she left the studio (at 12) she’d left all her baby teeth behind and had celebrated each birthday in the studio commisssary where the luncheon was held. But things had changed. As she stepped out of the commissary, she was in the square of Peyton Place amid phony snowdrifts glistening in the sun of another era of snow business.
Shirley was also quoted as saying, “I feel right at home here. This is where I lost most of my baby teeth, and this is where I went to school. Almost nothing has changed.” A few test frames shot for the pilot:
In the pilot, Shirley wore a truly unflattering blonde wig. Below she poses with Jack Kruschen.
Kruschen was to play the lead of a public assistance department and Shirley was his supervisor. Vincent Sherman produced and directed the show which was written by Nate Monaster (“The Donna Reed Show” and “The Milton Berle Show”). From Rita Dubas, Shirley expert supreme: “I’m not sure if the pilot ever aired. I remember that Shirley’s children didn’t want a bleached-blonde mom, so the producers found a wig for her to wear instead.”
Rita also sent me this blurb from TV Guide, February 6, 1965:
The title of Shirley Temple’s comedy pilot may change from “Go Fight City Hall” to “The Shirley Temple Show.” She starred as a social worker with Jack Kruschen as her supervisor and Cloris Leachman as a co-worker. [The pilot was eventually produced under the title “The Shirley Temple Show” but failed to sell.]
Rita questioned the accuracy of “The Shirley Temple Show” being the final title of the pilot, as that would have risked confusing people with her storybook anthology series from 1960 of the same name.
Was it the writing? Was it the wig? Whatever it was, the pilot failed to sell the series and has been buried ever since. And so ends another rabbit hole excursion.
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
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