Temple Tuesday: More Santa Monica History Museum

Back to the Shirley Temple exhibit at the Santa Monica History Museum! I took a ton of photos, but will do my best to keep it to the highlights. "The Little Princess" (1939) was represented by this beautiful velvet costume. You can see Shirley modeling it here.



How about a detail of that lace:



The Holy Grail stuff for me: costumes and memorabilia from "The Blue Bird."





The shoes look brand new. Incredible. The care that Shirley took in storing these outfits show that she could have had a future as a museum curator!



How Shirley looked wearing this outfit in the 1940 film:



These shoes were worn by Shirley when she visited the Land of Luxury:



The best I could do for a corresponding photo:



The very rare "Blue Bird" doll; thanks Woolsey Ackerman for being so generous in sharing these treasured pieces from your collection!



An original script from the movie:



Woolsey poses with his items on loan to the museum:



The highlight of the visit to the museum was to get to meet Charlie Black, Shirley's son. Here he is with entertainment reporter Amanda Champagne and Shirley expert supreme, Melissa Tonnessen.



I have always wondered what happened to part two of Shirley's autobiography. This volume which Shirley announced that she had completed long before she passed would have covered her political career. Charlie explained that since most of the people talked about in her first book had died, Shirley had no problem publishing that volume. However, with many of the people still alive and kicking from her days as an Ambassador to Ghana and Chief of Protocol, she thought it best to wait. The family is moving forward and hopefully it will be available in the next year or two. He was very gracious in answering my questions and flashed a smile that showed he was definitely the offspring of the world's most famous child star.

One last item to post for today, and this one really made me laugh when I saw it. I was amazed that Shirley had kept these spectacles that she wore in "Curly Top" (1935) during the "When I Grow Up" sequence. The corresponding photo can be seen in the background. This gal kept EVERYTHING; and I'm so glad she did.



Want to see more? Check out the Santa Monica History Museum photos at my main website.

Shirley back in Santa Monica

After the wonderful tour of the Marion Davies Guest House, our little entourage journeyed over to the Santa Monice History Museum to see their new exhibit, entitled "Shirley Temple, The Depression's Box Office Doll." Besides vintage Shirley Temple dolls, there was a wonderful selection of authentic movie costumes and personal wardrobe that had belonged to Shirley. I was in hog heaven.

When I arrived, the lobby area was set for a tea in Shirley's honor, as the very next day would have been her 89th birthday.



I made a bee line to the exhibit area before the exhibit room got too crowded (which it did); you know I need my space to take photos! Temple's iconic polka-dot "Stand Up And Cheer" dress from 1934 greeted me just as it had before in 2015 when I saw the first Shirley exhibit there.



This time though it was surrounded by two vintage composition dolls; one representing the aforementioned movie and the other was a huge "Little Colonel" doll in its original outfit. This particular doll was gifted to Temple by the studio. For each film, Shirley chose her favorite costume and the studio's wardrobe department created a doll wearing a replica of the costume using the same fabrics.



You've probably all heard the story about how Fox Studios shaved a year off of Shirley's real age to make her seem more precocious. Here's the proof that she was actually born in 1928, not 1929:



Speaking of birthdays, here's a shot of one of the huge parties 20th Century Fox held for Shirley in 1938 in honor of the occasion. At this point, the Studio claimed she was 9, when in actuality it would have been her 10th.



Want to see the invite? Of course you do.



Shhh....keep it quiet. No publicity!



More to come...

See more Santa Monica History Museum photos at my main website.