Golden Memories, 1939

On January 2, 1939, the Golden Memories themed 50th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade was held in Pasadena, California. Shirley Temple presided over the festivities as Grand Marshal. The Star-News and Post printed a commemorative booklet for the occasion with cover shown above. Although Shirley  was already approaching her 11th birthday, the art on the cover attempted to depict a much younger version of the child star to keep her more precocious to her adoring fans. Below is a color tinted image from the parade inside the booklet.



If you’re wondering why the 1939 parade was on the 2nd instead of the 1st, whenever the 1st falls on a Sunday, the parade shifts to Monday.


Another shot of Shirley with Rose Queen Barbara Virginia Dougall:



If you wanted to get an up-close-and-personal seat for the parade, you would have needed a ticket:



A float promoting the upcoming MGM film “The Wizard of Oz” included costumes and cast members from the film:



A few color screenshots showing the Oz float:






The football game that followed was between USC and Duke; USC took home the trophy!



A few additional images from my collection of Shirley in the parade:







You can see Shirley’s father seated below her, somewhat hidden by all the roses around him:





Rare color footage exists of Shirley enthusiastically waving to the crowds. Keep in mind the parade lasts roughly two hours! Her hand must have been exhausted!






See more Shirley Temple 1939 Rose Parade photos at my main website.

Christmas Eve: Anticipation

In 1939, Shirley Temple posed for her final Christmas photos at 20th Century-Fox. She would be temporarily retired by the time the next winter holiday rolled around. Even in the day before digital photography made it easy to take hundreds of photos without worrying about cost, the studio shot an abundance of the little girl in this session that attempted to capture the anticipation of awaiting Santa Claus’ visit on Christmas Eve. Taken at the studio, a staircase from props along with a wreath and some gifts gave a slight air of authenticity. I truly love the first one of Shirley pretending to be asleep while the silhouette of Santa looms behind her. Below, the wonder of seeing the tree and presents on Christmas morning is perfectly captured by Shirley’s expression:



A small candle in her hand lights the way:



Four additional shots of Shirley descending the steps are in my collection, showing that the studio liked giving the movie magazines options to choose from:








Hunting through the internet, I found three more:







Had enough Shirley yet? That’s ok, because we are moving on to Christmas 1970. Were my brothers and I dressed for a fancy dinner? No. This was the typical attire for a plane trip from Philadelphia to San Diego. Back in the day, plane travel was a luxury and one was expected to dress for the occasion. I was reading a book on the zodiac, and my oldest brother was apparently planning to practicing his clarinet while we visited our Grandmother in San Diego for Christmas.



Our United Airlines flight had actual curtains on the window!



Eldest brother was reading The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon, part of the Alfred Hitchcock mystery series:



Ah, to recall a time when plane travel was fun and you had room to squirm around in your seat.



The first order of business in San Diego was to visit Santa Claus at the May Company department store in Mission Valley. This modernist building had opened in February 1961. It is currently empty, most likely awaiting demolition.



Christmas Eve at my Grandmother’s fireplace shows our stockings (I still have mine) as well as the annual plate of Christmas cookies and note to Santa.



Note Marlboro 100s box in the background. No Christmas tableau is complete without it.



Christmas morning shows the genuine smiles as we were finally allowed to enter the living room to see what Santa had brought.



I hope you are all able to experience this form of happy anticipation and joy over the holidays and can disconnect from the stressors of 2025.

See more Shirley Temple at the holidays photos at my main website.

Balboa Park at the movies, circa 1939

Portions of the Paramount film, “The Magnificent Fraud” (1939), where shot in San Diego’s own Balboa Park. The plot summary according to the imdb website:

In this lively programmer, a con man hires a character actor (Akim Tamiroff) to masquerade as the recently assassinated dictator of a tiny Latin American country so he can bilk an arriving American ambassador out of his fortune.

In the detailed view below, you can see director Robert Florey on the right just above the camera, in a hat and smoking a pipe. Also in the cast were Lloyd Nolan, Mary Boland, and Patricia Morrison.



In the 1935 aerial shot below, you can see the same area where the above scene took place. Missing today is the large archway in the center of the frame and the structure with multiple arches in the background.



The structure in the background:



Today, there is nothing between the fountain and Park Boulevard.





I found these other three shots taken in Balboa Park on the csfd.cz website:



The same view, circa December 2000:



Below are Patricia Morrison and Lloyd Nolan embracing in the Alcazar Garden section of Balboa Park:



Today, the perfect place for a prom shoot!



Below, Mary Boland waves to onlookers as her car passes the Casa del Prado building:



The Casa del Prado today:



See more Balboa Park in San Diego photos at my main website.

Union Station in LA

It had been almost five years since my last visit to Union Station in Los Angeles. A camera change and hopefully some wisdom along the way helped create some better photos this time around!



It opened in May 1939, and as far as I'm concerned, it's still an architectural wow!







Here are three of the reasons I love visiting this place. Vintage tile:



Cool light fixtures:



An art deco clock:



Last one for today is a view of Union Station shot from the Avila Adobe on Olvera Street:



See more Los Angeles Union Station photos at my main website.