Temple Tuesday: Nella and Shirley

Today’s first photo shows Mary MacLaren, Shirley, George Irving (who also played Judge Thompson in “Bright Eyes”), and Nella Walker as Mrs. John Mason, the wealthy Aunt of Shirley’s character in “Captain January” (1936). This was the first Temple film to have Nella Walker as a costar of Shirley’s.



Walker was born on March 6, 1886 in Chicago. Once a salesgirl, she started in show business as a vaudeville performer with her husband Wilbur Mack in an act called (appropriately) Mack and Walker. From a 1916 review of the act:

In “A Pair of Tickets.” This is a very cleverly written comedy skit and very well played. Lines are bright and they have two or three catchy songs, all of which got over in good shape. It is presented in a classy stage setting and deserves to take a place among the classiest acts of its kind of which vaudeville can boast. There are four persons employed in the offering of this skit. Closed very strong.

Mack dumped her and replaced her with Gertrude Purdy, both romantically and professionally. The new act was called “Mack and Purdy.” How original.

Nella continued on with show biz, making her first film in 1929 as a voice double in “Chinatown Nights,” and her first screen appearance in “Tanned Legs” the same year. She was typecast as snobbish upper-crust society matrons and known for her work in “Three Smart Girls” (1936 with Deanna Durbin). “Young Mr. Kildare” (1938 with Lionel Barrymore), and “Air Raid Wardens” (1943 with Laurel and Hardy). She stayed a busy supporting actress (always the bridesmaid!) until her final role as Humphrey Bogart’s and William Holden’s mother in “Sabrina” (1954). She died on March 22, 1971 in Los Angeles.

In Shirley’s one and only film for MGM, “Kathleen” (1941), Walker played the evil Governess Mrs. Farrell. Here, Shirley catches her snooping…again!



Shirley eventually gets the nasty witch fired. Go Shirley!



Here’s a behind-the-scenes shot of Kathleen (Shirley) returning from a visit to the paternal local antiques dealer (Felix Bressart) with nasty old Mrs. Farrell waiting at the top of the trap door to catch her.



Need a closer look? I know I do!



In 1947, Nella returned to grace a Shirley Temple movie. This time it was the Warner Brothers melodrama “That Hagen Girl.” Her role was Molly Freneau, the snobbish and gossipy mother of Shirley’s beau, played by Rory Calhoun. Here, Mrs. Freneau pays an unscheduled visit to Mary (Shirley) to inform her that the young girl isn’t fit to date her son.



Shirley arches her eyebrow and tells the old biddy to get lost. Well, not in quite those words but close.



Later on, finding out that Tom Bates (Ronald Reagan) is a hero, she and the rest of the nosey townspeople ask him to make a speech at the local graduation.



Reagan tells the old battleaxe to eat his dust. Well, not exactly in those words, but he does call her out on her hypocrisy.



Nella’s posture says it all. NOBODY played a villainess like Nella.



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: What Would Mork Say?

In the popular sitcom “Mork and Mindy” (1978-1982), actor Conrad Janis played Mindy’s father. Kind, yet also old-fashioned, he objected to his daughter living with the alien Mork (Robin Williams). And yet, just thirty years before, he made some very unwanted advances on poor Shirley in “That Hagen Girl.”

Watching Janis attack Shirley was Kathryn Card, who played a chaperone at the dance where all this illicit behavior occurred. Because the town gossip speculated that Shirley’s character was the illegitimate daughter of an older local attorney played by Ronald Reagan, it was assumed she was a “bad girl.” Tired of all the whispers behind her back, little Shirley decides to go out on the town with Janis and live up to her reputation. Here she enjoys a soda with Jean Porter before going out to a bar with the slimy Janis.

What happens to Shirley? She ends up getting expelled. If only the writers had given poor Shirley’s character a backbone and thought forward to 2021, they could have had her hire an attorney and sue Kathryn Card, Janis, and the school for allowing the unwanted advances and they probably would have ended up naming the school after her.

Back to Card: you might recognize her from playing the mother of Lucille Ball on “I Love Lucy.”

Card’s character was constantly annoying Lucy’s husband by calling him Mickey instead of Ricky.

And back to “Mork and Mindy,” I remember recently seeing a video where Shirley said she wanted to meet Robin Williams. It never happened here on earth, but both of them went to dine at the Lord’s table in 2014. Perhaps they met up there.

See more Shirley photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Revisiting That Hagen Girl

“That Hagen Girl” (1947) came to my attention when I saw Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan together on the cover of the 1978 book, “The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.” Back in those days, ANYTHING that had Shirley on it found its way into my collection. Even as a fourteen-year old, I found this satirical book by Randy Dreyfuss and brothers Michael and Harry Medved to be hilarious.



There were very few films on this list that I had personally seen at the time, so I took their truly funny (albeit bitchy) text to be the gospel. These films must have really sucked! It wasn’t until about a year ago when I first watched “That Hagen Girl” for myself that I began to form my own opinion. While many regard it unfavorably, the truth is the film actually earned a modest profit when it was released. It is definitely not the box-office bomb that legend purports it to be. The story is about Mary Hagen (Temple), a teenager who is the subject of gossip in the little town of Jordan, where it is believed that she is the illegitimate child of Tom Bates (Reagan). What went wrong with this film that caused it to have a poor reputation? Let’s focus on what went RIGHT first, starting with the production team.

Makeup for Shirley

In honor of what would have been her 87th birthday, today's post features a makeup test shot of Shirley Temple from May 22, 1947 (exactly 17 years before I was born!). She was filming "That Hagen Girl" which costarred future President Ronald Reagan as her romantic interest and possibly her father. Yuck!

Also posted here are both sides of the makeup and hairstyle chart from the Warner Brothers Studio; looks like Shirley required a lot of the Gene Hibbs Special! Hibbs did the makeup for "Green Acres," "Here's Lucy," and "The Judy Garland Show."



Apparently the Make-up Artist for Shirley was Nicki Marcellino, who most likely followed Gene Hibb's instructions.



The final result: a very dreamy looking Shirley!



So dreamy that she has to fight off the advances of Rory Calhoun!



The writers of this potboiler should have been more ashamed than Shirley's character!



See more of Shirley on my main website.