Wasn’t I a dish?

In the 1997 blockbuster, “Titanic,” Gloria Stuart portrayed Rose, a centenarian who survived the sinking disaster of the luxury liner in the title of the film. Stuart was 86 when she filmed the role. As her character looks at a sketch that was drawn of her aboard the ship, she exclaims, “Wasn’t I a dish?”



Why yes, Gloria; you really were! In the 1936 film “Poor Little Rich Girl,” Stuart was given the thankless task of playing the romantic lead in this Shirley Temple musical. She wasn’t given much to do except look pretty in the few scenes that she had.



Above she is shown with Michael Whalen, who portrayed Shirley’s father in the film. Below, with Claude Gillingwater and Shirley.



In a 1996 interview Gloria had this to say about working with Shirley:

“My agent called me one day and said, ‘You’re going to make a Shirley Temple film!’ I said, ‘Oh no!’ He said, ‘Gloria, it’s wonderful!’ I said ‘What’s wonderful about it?’ W.C. Fields said never be in a movie or on the stage with dogs or children. It’s a losing battle. So I asked to see Darryl Zanuck and I said, ‘Mr. Zanuck, I’m a dramatic actress. It’s not for me.’ He said, ‘Gloria, you could be in film for the next ten years or on the stage and nobody would ever see you or hear about you, but if you’re in a Shirley Temple film, millions of people will see you.’ She was really a get-away girl. You watched her and she was so completely composed and happy and talented and up up up. She was a real tonic. She was a miracle. Indescribable. It’s impossible that one child was all those wonderful things but she was.” Stuart reconnected with Shirley sixty years later at an Academy Awards ceremony. “I was sitting at the banquet afterwards and she came up and put her arms around me,” Stuart recalled. “I was the only one left that she worked with.”



Perhaps in a nod to her less-than-enthusiastic response to playing alongside Temple, studio head Darryl Zanuck had the publicity machine crank out some fashion shots of Stuart. This caption accompanied the below image:

Three high fashion notes of the spring season, a strictly tailored suit, men’s wear fabric, and the newly favored shade of grey striped in chalk white, are incorporated in this costume worn by Gloria Stuart playing in “The Poor Little Rich Girl” for 20th Century-Fox. Horizontal bands of the material finish the seams of the skirt and the slot pockets, evidence of the meticulous tailoring of this suit. The blouse of white pique has a pleated frill for collar and closing. A grey felt hat and grey suede accessories complete the outfit.



Neither one of these outfits were visible in the final film.



Stuart co-starred with Temple again in 1938’s “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” alongside Randolph Scott. At least she was given more to do in this film and a number of comic zingers which she delivered perfectly.



Yes Gloria - you were a dish!

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