Temple Tuesday: The Dinehart Connection

Actor Alan Dinehart co-starred with Shirley Temple in two films. First, he played a private investigator determined to get Shirley’s father (played by James Dunn) behind bars again in “Baby Take A Bow” (1934). Four years later, he had a short role as Purvis, the rival radio executive of Tony Kent (Randolph Scott) in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938). Below is a screenshot with William Demarest, Ruth Gillette, Shirley, and Dinehart.



How did Dinehart’s name appear in my brain? As I was re-watching childhood TV favorite, “The Brady Bunch,” I encountered yet another Shirley connection.



The Season One November 14, 1969 episode was titled, “A-Camping We Will Go.”



I noticed on the credits the name Alan Dinehart as one of the writers. Did Dinehart become a writer? Thirty-one years after “Rebecca” was made? It didn’t seem possible.



The episode is cute. This panorama shows the location of where the blended Brady family went camping, the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir in Los Angeles. If it looks familiar, you might recognize it from the opening of “The Andy Griffith Show.”



The story is a mix of boys vs. girls and “The Parent Trap” (1961). With the family unable to catch fish for lunch, Carol (Florence Henderson) pulls through with her backup picnic basket.



Fried chicken and cold cuts for days! Greg (Barry Williams) scoffs at the basket, calling it “sissy food.”



Yes, there are some cringe moments when watching this vintage show, but for the most part, the stories promote equality, and not just between the sexes. It was also groundbreaking in showing the mother and father’s love for each other. Almost every episode shows them in bed (the same one!), kissing, hugging, and flirting with each other. While today’s jaded generation may find the show laughable, for me, it evokes a sadness for a time when healthy relationships were promoted in the media. Sadly, “healthy” has become “corny.”



As always, I digress. Turns out that the Alan Dinehart in the credits was actually Alan, Jr., son of the actor and his first wife, Louise Dyer. This 1934 photo shows Alan and his son, with Dinehart’s second wife between them.



From the accompanying vintage publicity blurb:

Alan Dinehart, stage and screen star, and his bride, flew back to California April 17th, after a brief ten days sojourn in New York, accompanied by Dinehart’s 16-year-old son, Alan, Jr. who is to make his home henceforth in California. Like his dad, Alan, Jr., is a polo enthusiast and the new estate they have secured in Riverside, Calif., will offer plenty of opportunity to improve his game. The trio is shown above at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, shortly before leaving New York. Mrs. Dinehart is the former Mozelle Britton. 4/18/34.

Alan Dinehart, Sr. died of a heart attack in 1944 and was buried at Forest Lawn (Mozelle would “join” him there in 1953). Alan, Jr. (1918-1992) worked as a producer, scriptwriter, voice-over artist, and voice director for “Top Cat” and “The Flintstones.” Besides “The Brady Bunch” episode, he also wrote for “Gilligan’s Island.”

Yet another mystery solved here at Daveland! See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Francis

Here we have a vintage postcard showing Francis Carpenter (thanks Melissa, aka “The Colonel”), who was a child star for Fox Studio during the silent era. His short career lasted from 1915-1923 and included roles in “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” (1917), “Jack and the Beanstalk” (1917), “Treasure Island” (1918), and “Rip Van Winkle” (1921). Below, you can see him posing with another famous Fox child star, Shirley Temple in 1934.



Here’s the accompanying caption:

A ONE-TIME CHILD STAR VISITS THE NEWEST FIND. Francis Carpenter, child star of silent days under the Fox Film banner, made a visit to his old home “lot” during filming of “Baby Take A Bow” to visit Shirley Temple, blonde and be-dimpled starlet featured in the film with James Dunn and Claire Trevor.

Francis was 24 at the time this photo was taken and Shirley was 6. How do I know?



Because the magazine rolled up in Francis’ hand is the May 19, 1934 issue of Liberty; Francis’ birthday was May 10, and Shirley’s was April 23. They had both recently celebrated at the time the photo was taken on the set of “Baby Take a Bow.”



I found little else about Carpenter other than he died in 1973 shortly after turning 63. However, I did find this interesting article about his 1917 “Aladdin” film, and how Disney has quietly dumped the older Fox films into the figurative vault, making them inaccessible to future audiences. The article is part of a series titled “Forgotten By Fox” that ended in December 2020.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Irvin

Irvin S. Cobb was an author/humorist in the 1930’s who crossed paths with our gal Shirley Temple for a few photo opportunities. With a middle name of “Shrewsbury,” I can understand why he stuck with just the middle initial in public.

Like many celebrities of the day, Cobb visited Shirley on the set of her movies. This particular one was 1934’s “Baby Take A Bow.” On the left is director Harry Lachman. Of course you want to see the book in Shirley’s hand, which was Cobb’s Down Yonder with Judge Priest and Irvin S. Cobb. Looks like this copy belonged to Esmé Ward; wonder who she was? 



Director John Ford made two feature films based on the Judge Priest short stories. Here’s what the cover of the book looks like, up close and personal:



As host of the evening’s ceremonies at the Los Angeles Biltmore hotel, Cobb was the one who presented Shirley with her miniature Oscar on February 27, 1935:

Shirley Temple takes the Academy Award for outstanding work in motion pictures in 1934 from Irvin S. Cobb, humorist, who presented the trophies at the annual banquet held recently.



Here is Shirley’s account of the evening from her autobiography, Child Star:

“One great towering figure in the cinema game,” humorist Irvin S. Cobb read, “one giant among the troupers…for monumental, stupendous, elephantine achievements in 1934…a special award for…Shirley Temple!” I recognized my name but with total surprise. Nobody had even hinted I might win anything. Having watched the earlier succession of winners, I knew what to do. Leaping to my feet, I ran up the ramp to the stage. Right behind me in ladylike haste came Mother, with Father hard on her heels. I reached out for the small Oscar statuette, but Cobb withdrew it from my outstretched hand. He had a white, goatish face.  “I’ll give you this if you’ll give me a kiss,” he said. The audience howled in appreciation. As he spoke  could see little showers of moisture fly out in my direction, each droplet reflecting as a speck in the spotlight before disappearing somewhere on me or my hair. Damp, casual kisses are one of my intense dislikes, but with an eye on the Oscar I turned my cheek upward. Cobb leaned down while the audience cheered. Just as he kissed me I got a firm handhold on the statuette. “Thank you all very much,” I called upwards toward the microphone, not letting go. “Mommy, can we go home now?” Circling just beyond Cobb’s outstretched reach, I ran back down the ramp ahead of my parents. “You-all ain’t old enough to know what this is all about!” he called after me. He was right.

Reading Shirley’s description today, there is more than a certain amount of “ick” associated with Cobb’s behavior. The dress she wore that night:





…and a closeup of her miniature Oscar:





At November 15, 1935 the dedication of the 20th Century-Fox soundstage for the late Will Rogers, Shirley had the honor of unveiling the plaque, with Cobb on the far right. While the other men in the photo were definitely Hollywood’s heavyweights, let’s face it; Shirley was the star that day! 



There we go; just Shirley. Much better!



While digging for info on Cobb, I also stumbled upon this shot of the two outside Shirley’s Fox Bungalow:



There were at least four separate occasions where the two posed for photos; were they friends? One could safely say these were just staged publicity opportunities which benefitted Cobb much more than the world famous Temple. There is no other mention of the humorist in Shirley’s book other than the event at the Biltmore.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: The Two-Timing Dress!

Sometimes when trying to solve a mystery, you already have the answer at your fingertips but are too dense to notice. This is such a case. In 1934, Shirley Temple starred in the Fox picture, “Baby Take A Bow.” For many of the publicity stills, she posed in this cute polka-dot dress. Here she is with costars James Dunn and Claire Trevor, appropriately taking a bow:

There was even a doll produced at the time by Ideal wearing that very same dress:

The odd part about this is that the dress is never seen in the final film. To my knowledge, there are no stills of a deleted scene showing where Shirley might have worn this dress during the film. And yet, it figured prominently in the film’s publicity. Recently, I noticed the below photo on ebay:

The caption on the back reads:

LUNCH FOR THREE - Clara Lou Sheridan, Shirley Temple and Lee Tracy together for lunch in the studio cafe.

What appeared odd was that it was marked as a Paramount still, even though Shirley wore this dress in a Fox movie. Naturally, I contacted Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) who was just as baffled as I was. Moments later, she had purchased the photo as a gift and it was on its way to me. This mystery had to be solved!

The dishes provided no clues, but it was interesting to see The Hollywood Reporter on the table:

I noticed Shirley’s stand-in, Marilyn Granas in the background on the left.

Melissa sleuthed and found out that Clara Lou Sheridan was the one and only Ann Sheridan, voted as “The Oomph Girl” in 1939 by a committee of 25 men who thought the actress had the most "oomph" of any girl in America. I took over from there and noticed that “You Belong to Me” was ta Paramount production with both Lee Tracy and Sheridan (in an unbilled part) and released on September 14, 1934, putting this photo at that time.

Shirley made two films for Paramount: “Little Miss Marker,” released June 1, 1934 and “Now and Forever,” released August 31, 1934. “Baby Take A Bow” at Fox was released June 30, 1934. To say Shirley was a busy girl is an understatement. Then I started looking at the numbering system on publicity stills of the time. “Baby Take A Bow” stills were numbered 158, “Marker” 1491, and “Now and Forever” 1732. Houston, we have a match! Apparently this “mystery” still was intended to promote “Now and Forever.” But why was Shirley wearing a dress from a Fox movie? Most likely this busy little bee was rushing between studios, perhaps doing re-takes or looping “Now and Forever.” Another deduction is that Shirley wasn’t really joining Sheridan and Tracy for lunch, but instead dining with Marilyn. Already in my collection was this photo proving that theory:

What I once “assumed” was the Fox Commissary was really over at Paramount. Again, the numbering system matches “Now and Forever.” Looking further at my collection, I noticed this still. Poor Shirley didn’t get to enjoy lunch very much that day; she was so tired her eyes couldn’t stay open! I have no idea who these other two folks are that surround her.

Final shot for today shows famed pinup artist Alberto Vargas sketching Shirley. What did she pose in? The “Baby Take a Bow” dress of course!

That dress sure got a lot of use, so it’s not surprising that it was MIA during the 2015 “Love, Shirley Temple” auction of Shirley’s movie costumes. The poor thing probably disintegrated.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: The Rarest Role of All

If you’ve seen enough of Shirley Temple’s childhood films, you’ll note that there’s a very distinctive trend: get rid of Mama! Disney wasn’t the only one in the 1930’s that left their heroine motherless. This allowed Shirley to play matchmaker and fix her father up with somebody else. If she was an orphan and both parents were gone, Shirley could then find great wealth by being adopted into a rich family. This provided the dream situation for money-challenged Depression audiences. Overall, if you were an actress in the 1930’s and wanted a lot of screen time, you DID NOT want to be cast as Shirley’s birth mother! Today’s post will go movie by movie and spell out Shirley’s maternal situation. WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS!!

1934
Little Miss Marker: Mama is already gone



Baby Take a Bow: She’s ALIVE and played by Claire Trevor.

Now and Forever: Dead on arrival!



Bright Eyes: Played by Lois Wilson, she is run over by a car 30 minutes into the movie.

1935



The Little Colonel: She’s ALIVE and played by Evelyn Venable.



Our Little Girl: She’s ALIVE and played by Rosemary Ames.

Curly Top: Dead on arrival!



The Littlest Rebel: Dies about three-quarters of the way through the movie.

1936: The WORST year to be a Shirley birth mother: zero for zero!

Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway: Dead on arrival!

1937



Wee Willie Winkie: She’s ALIVE and played by June Lang.

Heidi: Dead on arrival!

1938: Another year of zero for zero, Shirley is busy playing matchmaker!

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner: Dead on arrival!

1939: You guessed it: zero for zero!

The Little Princess and Susannah of the Mounties: Dead on arrival!

1940



The Blue Bird: After 3 years, Shirley finally gets a mother: Spring Byington!

Young People: Orphaned but quickly adopted!

Moving into the teen years, Shirley is found motherless again.

1941

Kathleen: Dead on arrival!

1942

Miss Annie Rooney: Dead on arrival!

What's the final tally? 5 out of 23 Shirley movies listed here allowed the birth mother to live through the entire movie. Yikes! Claire Trevor, Evelyn Venable, Rosemary Ames, June Lang, and Spring Byington are the lucky five. Today, Oscar winner Claire Trevor is probably the only one that audiences would remember, with Oscar nominee Spring Byington a distant second.

Enjoy the New Year’s Eve festivities, but please play safely! See you in 2020!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Shirley Temple and the Mystery Caption

This 1934 photo is one from my collection that has an odd caption. Well, probably not so odd if you aren't one of those semi-nitpicky detail freaks like me (aka anal retentive).

Here's the accompanying caption for this Otto Dyar photo:

Here is something new in dancing — SHIRLEY TEMPLE is taught a modern development of the old-time soft shoe dance, brought up to date and executed with taps. The five-year-old motion picture star is being taught by JACK DONOHUE, the new dance director at the Fox Film studios. With a week of training and rehearsals, Shirley has worked out this intricate dance exceptionally well and it will be introduced in her new picture, "Bright Eyes." This dance was originated by the late George Primroses and was in later years carried on by William Rock and Eddie Leonard. This rehearsal is shown being conducted in the kitchen of Shirley's new bungalow on the Fox Film studio lot.

What's so odd? "Bright Eyes," known as the movie where Shirley first introduced "On the Good Ship Lollipop" has no dance number in it. In addition, the dress that Shirley is wearing in this photo is one she wore for the movie "Baby Take A Bow," released in June 1934. In between "Baby Take A Bow" and "Bright Eyes" (released in December 1934), Shirley cranked out "Now And Forever" over at Paramount (released August 1934).

Here she is on the set of "Now and Forever" with costar Gary Cooper:



Either the caption is a lot of publicity hooey, or "Bright Eyes" has a deleted dance number. Or, the publicity department screwed up and meant to reference a number for "Baby Take A Bow" instead of "Bright Eyes." Either way, Sammy Lee is listed as choreographer for "Baby Take A Bow" and "Bright Eyes." No Jack Donohue. In fact, Donohue isn't listed on the credits for a Temple movie until 1935's "Curly Top."

Here's another publicity still of Shirley from "Baby Take A Bow," showing her in the same polka dot dress, posing between costars James Dunn & Claire Trevor:



What does this mean? Well, probably not a heckuva lot, other than Shirley Temple was one busy 6 year old in 1934! She had the lead role in 4 feature films and a key supporting one in at least 4 more. Just what did YOU do at age 6?

To see more Shirley Temple photos, visit my regular website.