Very quietly, it was revealed that Shirley Temple’s 1938 musical comedy, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” has been restored. Those that live near the Orinda Theatre can view it on the “big” screen on September 5 at 1pm, according to the theatre’s website:
A new chapter unfolds for cinema enthusiasts: We have secured an extraordinary partnership to showcase a Disney Restorations Series. Starting in 2026, the first Saturday of each month will bring an amazing opportunity to experience some of cinema's most treasured classics on the big screen, right here at the Historic Orinda Theatre. This series celebrates a milestone in film preservation, with the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' Restoration and Library Management Department sharing their remarkable work, including restored classics from Disney, Selznick International, 20th Century-Fox, Fox Film Corp., and 20th Century Pictures. Many of these cinematic gems have been absent from theaters for years, making this year-long showcase a groundbreaking event for Northern California, with numerous premiere presentations of these restored masterpieces. We will be opening the series with the 1950 Animated Classic, Cinderella! Hosted by Film Critic, Matias Bombal
The Orinda, just under seventeen miles outside of San Francisco, was designed by architect Alexander Aimwell Cantin, are right up my alley. If only it were closer! Photos below were found online:
From the exterior signage:
The Orinda Theatre opened its doors in 1941 and is the city’s most prominent visual landmark with its signature dorsal fin marquee. It is a textbook example of Streamlined Moderne Architecture, a late type of Art Deco design inspired by structures built for the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. The building includes Carrara glass and stainless steel finishes, with the interior theatre walls and foyer ceiling painted in classic murals.
Back to Shirley…I was curious what “restoration” meant in this case. No information was given as to whether the efforts sourced the original negative, a vintage print, or…? Due to “vault fires” and the natural aging of nitrate film, many of Shirley’s early films don’t look so good. “Rebecca” has always looked pretty decent in its VHS and DVD releases, so for this one to be the first chosen for a restoration effort seems like Disney (who now owns her childhood catalog) was seeking some low hanging fruit, or perhaps because it is one of Shirley’s least controversial movies. Whatever the reasoning is, I am very happy that Disney is actually doing something positive with Shirley, who has been buried since they took over the 20th Century-Fox classic catalog of films. Below, Shirley helps “Titanic” dish Gloria Stuart bake some cookies in “Rebecca”:
Kevin Schaeffer, the current Director of Restoration & Library Management for the Walt Disney Corporation, posted this on his LinkedIn account:
Incredibly proud and excited that our restoration of the Shirley Temple classic "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1938) is premiering at the Venice International Film Festival today. Congratulations to our Restoration Manager Nikki Jee, Natalie Altounian, our partners at The Film Foundation, and the artists at Cineric Inc and Audio Mechanics for their great work.
When using AI to find more information, I learned just how faulty it can be. It apparently mixed up information for the Mary Pickford version, and also freely takes information about negative restoration and haphazardly paired it with “Rebecca.” One should ALWAYS check the sources for AI and follow-up with more questions. Below, Shirley’s “Rebecca” costars Randolph Scott and Jack Haley (best known as the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz”) have a discussion:
Franklin Pangborn (below) has a memorable bit towards the end of the film. Few played the prissy/fussy comedic characters like he did; he was often a foil for W. C. Fields (“International House,” “The Bank Dick,” and “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break”).
Below is a still from a deleted musical number with Shirley, Slim Summerville, Bill Robinson, and some of the other fieldhands from Sunnybrook Farm. If only this sequence survived!
In other Shirley news, it appears that the rest of her autobiography might finally see the light of day. Hollywood gossipy Deadline, quietly broke this story last October (which was briefly regurgitated this March on the official Shirley Temple website):
Marty Tudor has been working with the family estate of Shirley Temple and will have access to the rights of the child actress-turned Ghana and Czechoslovakia ambassador across streaming, film, stage and more. There are also two unpublished autobiographies by Temple which Tudor is helping the estate get published. Tudor is an industry vet, who managed the careers of Paula Abdul and Jon Cryer, and of late has been behind a series of Hologram concert shows starting in 2018 with performances by the late Maria Callas, Roy Orbison, and Whitney Houston. His Orbison-Buddy Holly hologram tour was booked for 58 dates while Houston’s was a 36-date tour in Europe. Tudor’s credits include the Cryer movie Hiding Out, the 1995 TV movie Sahara, the 2004 TV special Carol Burnett: Let’s Bump Up the Lights, and the 2005 Disney TV movie, Once Upon a Mattress starring Burnett, Zooey Deschanel and Tracey Ullman. “There’s so much more to American icon Shirley Temple’s life that people aren’t aware of. She was the U.S. delegate in the United Nations, a female Ambassador to Ghana and Czechslovakia, she was a breast cancer survivor, she fought sexism as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol. What appeals to me, as a father of a daughter, is that Shirley continues to be an amazing inspiration and role model for young girls. We see a lot of kid actors who go the wrong way, she did not. There’s an amazing human being here with a big story who gave back as opposed to a pop star in it for the glory,” Tudor tells Deadline. The Temple Black family tells Deadline in a statement: “As the 100th anniversary of our Mom’s birthday approaches, we are so pleased at the idea of sharing with the world the lesser-known second half of her incredible life story. She often observed that ‘the Little Girl opened the door’, but then our Mom stepped through it, confident, courageous, authentic – all grown up.”
This is a curious story as Disney/Fox owns the rights to most of Shirley’s well-known childhood titles. Most likely the movies the story refers to are her Baby Burlesks and the 1950s/1960s Storybook anthology television series. Below, a 32 year old Shirley plays a little girl magically transformed into a boy in “The Land of Oz” (1960) segment of “The Shirley Temple Show.” She is shown with Jonathan Winters:
A brave Shirley even tackled the role of “The Little Mermaid” on her series. In a bad blonde wig, Shirley was very miscast in this part. Below, Shirley and costar Torin Thatcher:
The one comment left on the Deadline story was hilarious:
They’re gonna AI Shirley age 10.
A hologram concert with Shirley? Oh my…
See more photos at my main website.
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