Temple Tuesday: Shirley and The Egyptian

A radiant 1950s Shirley Temple can be seen above with her handsome husband, Charles Black, sitting in a theater surrounded by other celebrities, including filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille and actor Henry Wilcoxon. That’s the only info I had about the negative I recently purchased.



Unfortunately, there were no programs or other bits of info to help identify the date or event that Shirley was attending.



Shirley and DeMille had worked together before on radio, as seen in this image below from January 27, 1941 when she did the Captain January broadcast:



DeMille and Wilcoxon had worked together on “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) and “The Ten Commandments” (1956). Looking up those leads on newspapers.com didn’t provide any info on Shirley, so I went to the expert, the great Rita Dubas! Not surprisingly I had an answer faster than the speed of light: 

She was watching “The Egyptian,” an “epic historical drama” by 20th Century-Fox, which premiered on September 1, 1954 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood! I remembered the lacy dress and found the Modern Screen magazine clip I had [below]. Darryl Zanuck produced the film, and it stands to reason that Hollywood elite would show up for this important film at the time. Shirley and Charles were back in Hollywood before their move to Atherton. It was a busy time for Shirley—her dolls had just gone on loan to Science and Industry to benefit Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and the March of Dimes, and she had started her work for the MS Society.



That’s a lot to unpack there! Zanuck was Shirley’s former boss during her childhood movie career at Fox, so naturally she would be on the guest list. Shirley’s famous doll collection of 523 dolls was put on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park, Los Angeles (now called the California Science Center). At the time, they had an estimated value of $50k. The collection was sold off by the family in 2015 along with Shirley’s other costumes and memorabilia at the Theriault’s Love, Shirley Temple auction. Back to today’s rabbit hole, below is a full-page ad for “The Egyptian” from Photoplay magazine:



The September 1, 1954 ad from the LA Times promotes the premiere and lists Shirley as one of the star-studded attendees:



From elsewhere in the Times that day:



A trio of screenshots from the historical epic, filmed in CinemaScope with color by DeLuxe:



On eBay I found this ribbon from the Hollywood Premiere:



More from the L.A. Times, September 1, 1954:

“The Egyptian,” 20th Century-Fox Cinemascope film of the best-selling novel, will be given its premiere showing tonight in the Grauman's Chinese Theater with all the traditional fanfare and glitter of the Hollywood first night. Curtain time is 8:30. The theater is sold out for the event, according to Charles P. Skouras, president of Fox West Coast Theaters, with scores of top filmland celebrities scheduled to alight from limousines to enter the foyer over a red carpet spread out before the fan grandstands. The film is based on Author Mika Waltari’s novel about a turbulent era in the Egypt of 14 centuries before Christ. It was produced in Technicolor and stereophonic sound by Darryl F. Zanuck at a cost of $5,000,000. As one phase of the producer’s striving for historical authenticity, technical advice on the use of the ancient armillary, a device used by Egyptian astronomers and astrologists of the era, was obtained from Carroll Righter, astrologian for The Times. “The Egyptian” cast includes Jean Simmons, Edmund Purdom, Gene Tierney, Victor Mature, Bella Darvi, Michael Wilding, Judith Evelyn, Peter Ustinov, and Anitra Stevens, who plays the beautiful Queen Nefertiti. The studio said all will attend the premiere. Others expected include Lana Turner, Jess Barker, Joan Caulfield, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Alan Ladd, Arlene Dahl, Cyd Charisse, Tony Martin, Jane Powell, Tyrone Power, Linda Christian, George Raft, Shirley Temple Elizabeth Taylor, and Clifton Webb.…KTLA (5) will be on hand to catch some of the highlights for televiewers starting at 8:30 p.m. George Fisher will be mike-side to introduce the stars who aren’t barred by studio regulations from appearing in living rooms.

Bella Darvi was a discovery of Zanuck and his wife Virginia, who renamed Bajla Węgier by taking “Dar” from Darryl and “Vi” from Virginia. The next “discovery” was that she had become Zanuck’s mistress, which led to some cloudy judgment on his part when it came to pushing her career. Darvi was chosen over Ava Gardner for her role in “The Egyptian.” She left Hollywood by the end of the year, with Zanuck admitting, “I was guilty of egomania.”

From columnist Sheilah Graham for the LA Evening Citizen News, September 3, 1954:

Katy Jurado wore a matador’s heavily embroidered coat, complete with crucifix, for the flashy premiere of “The Egyptian.” She bought it in Spain.…And Bella Darvi, the Babylonian menace in the film, twoed with Brad Dexter who was married for a short spat to Peggy Lee…“How d’ye like my guy?” Sonja Henie asked me. I did a double take and there was Superman — George Reeves on her arm…Cecil B. DeMille twoed with his daughter, Cecilia, ad she goes with the virile old man to Egypt Sept. 19 for his Egyptian picture, “The Ten Commandment.”…It was interesting to see Edmund Purdom in the role vacated by Marlon Brando. But I can see why Marlon took off to his psychiatrist. The role was wrong for him…Shirley Temple can come back to pictures any time she wants to. Shirley received the biggest hand from the bleacher fans. And her husband, Charlie Black, is handsome enough to be a movie star.

Entertainment Editor Dick Williams for the LA Mirror, September 3, 1954 added this bit of gossip:

Any trouble at the Lana Turner, Lex Barker domicile? They had a spat at the Sonja Henie party last week end. And they failed to show, although expected at “The Egyptian” premiere.

Rita also discovered that Shirley wore the same dress almost two months later at a gala for the Old Vic Company’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as reported by the San Francisco News on October 28, 1954 below:



Also reported in the accompanying article:

Completely captivating and gracious, Shirley…and her equally handsome husband have moved to Atherton and it is rumored that she is going into the decorating business.



I wonder how many homes Shirley worked on?

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Roman Holiday

“Roman Holiday,” the Audrey Hepburn/Gregory Peck classic, had its world premiere in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on August 27, 1953, followed by the Los Angeles opening on September 30.



A special premiere was held on September 14, with the proceeds going to the Santa Monica Hospital’s building fund. It was appropriate for Shirley to attend (with her handsome husband Charles) as she was born there in 1928:



The Los Angeles Times announced on the morning of the premiere:

A charity premiere of the film “Roman Holiday” will be held tonight at the Village Theater in Westwood with funds from ticket sales and donations expected to add $75,000 to the Santa Monica Hospital’s building fund. The hospital is planning a new wing in a $1,000,000 expansion program. The institution is a voluntary, nonprofit organization and is the only emergency service for a large portion of West Los Angeles and the beach area. The film costars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn and was contributed for showing by Paramount studios at the theater by Charles P. Skouras, head of National Theaters. Voluntary contributions for the epansion already have netted $325,000 and $600,000 has been donated by the Lutheran Hospital Society of Southern California, according to actress Esther Williams, general chairman.



Audrey’s arrival, surrounded by music legends Cole Porter and Irving Berlin:



Shirley and Charles arrive:



The theater seen in the background of both photos is The Bruin, which I photographed in 1986:



The premiere was held at the nearby Fox Westwood Village:



How it looked, Summer 1989:



It is wonderful to see the love in Charles’ eyes as he proudly looks at his gorgeous wife:



In their seats for the screening:





On the back of the three photos in my collection of Shirley and Charles at the back is stamped the name and address of Darlene Hammond:



This is what I was able to dig up about who she was when I found a Bonham's auction of her photos:

From the 1950s through the early 1980s, there was rarely a Hollywood event at which photographer Darlene Hammond was not present, capturing the glamorous yet candid moments of the Golden Age of Hollywood and witnessing with her lens the changes that took over Hollywood in the late 1960s and beyond. A woman ahead of her time, Darlene was one of the few female photographers during these formative years in the film industry. Darlene's work appeared in national magazines such as Life, People, The National Enquirer, and in hundreds of movie magazines from the 1950s through the '70s. Her ability to catch just the right moments in both the private and public lives of her celebrity subjects, which included Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and every other major star of the Golden Age, makes Darlene Hammond's photographs some of the most unique and vibrant in Hollywood history.

In 2017, Christie's auction house sold a number of shots from the premiere that were from Audrey Hepburn’s personal collection:







Another shot of Audrey with Porter and Berlin. In the background is a poster for James Stewart’s film, “Thunder Bay,” which had been released a few months before on May 20.



How did the event go? According to the Evening Vanguard:

Hundreds upon hundreds had a real “Roman Holiday” Monday night when they attended a gala benefit premiere of the picture in Westwood…Among the first nighters were cute Audrey Hepburn, who plays the lead in the film with Gregory Peck…She made a personal appearance…Leo Carrillo and Duncan Renaldo were there in their Pancho and Cisco costumes…Had just come in from working on the Cisco films…MGM’s Esther Williams was chairman of the show and presented silver spoons to five proud papas who became fathers of wee ones (they were all girls) at S. M. Hospital that day…Then an added celebration…Every man in the theater (thousands of them) got a cigar with the familiar band “it’s a girl”…It was a big night…Searchlights, red carpets, grandstands and a welcoming committee of dinner-jacketed men were on hand to greet the first nighters…The theater was jammed…

Also in attendance were Jan Sterling, Paul Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Barry, Macdonald Carey, Wendell Corey, Ann Miller, Ann Robinson, Mercedes McCambridge, Rex Allen, Anne Francis, Terry Moore and Keenan Wynn.

 See more Shirley Temple Black photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Aloha Shirley, 1969

Hawaii was a very special place for Shirley Temple, and not just because she danced the hula in “Curly Top” (1935)! Below, a seventeen year old Shirley gushed about it in her first autobiography, My Young Life (1945):

I’ve been able to do quite a lot of traveling. The three trips we’ve made to Hawaii were the best. I’m actually insane about Hawaii. The first time we got on that big boat I was so excited I nearly popped, and I’ve been hardly less excited on other trips. It’s definitely thrilling to go to sleep in a stateroom and know that while you’re sleeping, the boat is taking you closer and closer to Hawaii. The captain took me up to the bridge, and generally gave me the run of the ship. He usually let me hold the wheel at least once a trip. Then the boat gets in, and there’s a band playing on the dock, and everybody heaps you with flower leis. And the scenery is so beautiful. It’s the way a movie set looks when you see it on the screen—not like it looks when you’re working on it.

Shirley’s first trip to Hawaii took place after she wrapped filming on “Curly Top” in July 1935. It was the first time the little girl had left her native state of California.



Two years later, she would return with her family in July/August 1937. In the photo below, Shirley poses with Evelyn and Florence Loo at a welcome party held at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in her honor on August 5, 1937. The girls were the daughters of Tai Sing Loo, a photographer for the Navy who captured photos of Pearl Harbor before and after the 1941 bombing, as well as many other celebrities and dignitaries who visited the island. Many thanks to Shirley expert supreme, Rita D, for identifying this photo!



In the Spring of 1939, Shirley had no firm projects on the horizon and tensions had been building between 20th Century-Fox and the Temple family. As she described in Child Star (1988): 

Summertime and end of school left me with nothing to do and a future utterly blank, a situation never experienced since my start five and a half years earlier at Fox. Also never before had I had a real summer vacation. To my parents’ surprise, I suggested that we go to Hawaii for a third trip, this time for change, not work.

As always, she was surrounded by the Press. Her expression says it all!



Describing her first trip to Hawaii, Shirley let it be known that these “vacations” typically meant she was still hard at work:

The concept of vacation was almost meaningless for me. Routines of work and pleasures of leisure had always been commingled. In fact, this was what the studio had in mind—piggyback a maximum publicity program on our private plans for a Hawaiian vacation. Photographic opportunities and official contacts were carefully interwoven with press and radio interviews. Intense public exposure was the objective, at minimum cost. It would be our vacation, and so were all the expenses.

By 1950, Shirley’s career had fizzled along with her marriage to John Agar. Looking for change again as in 1939, she chose to get away from it all with daughter, Linda Susan, by traveling to her beloved vacation spot, Hawaii.



In My Young Life (1945), she had prophetically written:

After the war, I want to go to Hawaii again. Maybe it has honeymoon possibilities.

On that fateful trip in 1950, she met the love of her life, Charles Alden Black. The two had a whirlwind romance and married that same year.



Flash forward to August 1969, and we find Shirley back in Hawaii, ready to embark on a new career:

Mrs. Shirley Temple Black smiles as she  arrives at Kewalo Basin after a fishing excursion aboard the “Cutty Sark,” 8/29. Mrs. Black was named by President Nixon as one of the five U.S. representatives to the United Nations.



Although no longer the world famous “child star” of the 1930s, Shirley still generated her fair share of press coverage. From the Honolulu Star Bulletin, August 27, 1969:

[Postmaster General and Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe] will attend the testimonial dinner for Sen. Hiram L. Fong Saturday night at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where they stand to be outshone by two other loyal Republicans, former child star, Shirley Temple Black and former governor, William F. Quinn, especially if the latter work up a duet, “On the Good Ship Lollypop in Blue Hawaii.”

Two days later, the Honolulu Star announced Shirley’s appointment to the United Nations:

President Nixon today named Shirley Temple Black, former child movie star, as one of five United States representatives to the 24th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly. Mrs. Black was deep sea fishing in Hawaii’s waters when the Presidential announcement was made at the Western White House. She arrived in Hawaii yesterday to take part in tomorrow’s testimonial fund-raising dinner for GOP Sen. Hiram L. Fong. She will share master of ceremonies duties with Gov. William F. Quinn. A top appointment by the Nixon Administration had been expected, and Mrs. Black has been sidestepping comment for days by saying she was not at liberty to discuss it.…Mrs. Black, who is now a society matron in San Francisco with three teenager-children, was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress last year in California. She has been exceptionally active in public service. Mrs. Black is staying at the Halekulani Hotel.

How the Halekulani looked in 1969 when Shirley stayed there:



The event was held at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which I visited back in 2004:



The Honolulu Star gave this report of the evening:

At a fund-raising testimonial dinner last night, Republican U.S. Sen. Hiram L. Fong was praised, toasted and—in a surprisingly early turn of events—endorsed by the strong ILWU for re-election in 1970.…About 1,500 persons attended the $50-a-plate affair at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel highlighted by the appearance of two Nixon Cabinet members, top Federal employee union officials, and [Jack] Hall’s [ILWU vice president] electoral pats-on-the-back.

Below, Shirley poses with Senator Fong and former Gov. William F. Quinn:





Nancy Harlocker reported in the Honolulu Star Advertiser on September 1, 1969 about another reception that Shirley attended:

Washington Place was buzzing with a surprising number of Republican leaders at a reception Thursday night which seemed fitting considering Democrat Gov. John A. Burns’ and Mrs. Burns’ guests of honor. They were Postmaster General Winston M. Blount and Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe, two of President Richard M. Nixon’s recent cabinet appointees. The two Washington VIPs and their wives were here over the long weekend to attend U.S. Sen. Hiram Fong’s testimonial dinner at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Saturday night.…Shirley Temple Black was there — warm and friendly as ever and a standout in a two-piece white pique dress that showed off her tanned midriff. Lee Gray told Shirley that his father, Harry Joe Brown, a 20th Century-Fox producer, had directed her first movie, “Little Miss Marker,” a fact that Shirley, indeed, remembered. She was pleased to hear about Brown again. Mrs. Phillip Swatek told Mrs. Black that her 5-year-old daughter was a real fan of her early movies that are shown on local television Sundays. “I can’t wait to tell my daughter that I met you,” Mrs. Swatek told Mrs. Black. “Oh, don’t tell her you met me, just tell her you met my daughter,” replied the former child film star. Mrs. Black and Mrs. Emil Offer greeted each other like old friends, which they are. “We used to play with our Shirley Temple dolls together,” Mrs. Black recalled. The girls had played at the Diamond Head home of June Offer’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Renton when Shirley vacationed here as a child. “We even exchanged our dolls,” recalled Mrs. offer. “I took Shirley’s and cut off all the curls.” Mrs. Black was in Hawaii to be mistress of ceremonies at Senator Fong’s party.

Actually, Harry Joe Brown’s first Temple movie was “Young People” (1940), her LAST film at 20th Century-Fox, for which he served as producer. Shirley was obviously being kind in agreeing with Lee Gray. Alexander Hall directed “Little Miss Marker” (1934), which was made at Paramount, not Fox, and definitely not Shirley’s first film!

Back to Hawaii! Below is a shot I took of Washington Place back in 2004, which was designated a National Historic Landmark three years later. I’m sure my photograph played a part in that! Washington Place is best known as the home of Hawaii’s beloved Queen Liliʻuokalani. Later it became the official residence of the governor of Hawaii.



Dave Donnelly told an amusing story in the Honolulu Star Bulletin on September 1, 1969:

Star-Bulletin photographer Jack Matsumoto asked A.P. Bureau Chief George Zucker to snap a picture of him with Shirley Temple Black at Washington Place last week. Jack first met Shirley in 1935 when she was the curly-haired film star and he was a bellboy at the Royal Hawaiian. Her parents were concerned because of a flock of fans at the hotel so they asked Jack to carry her up to her room. He did and now 34 years later Shirley thanked him for it.

Even after Shirley’s vacation was over, the Honolulu Star Bulletin continued to report on Shirley. From September 17, 1969:



Shirley Temple Black has been sworn in as one of the 10 U.S. delegates to the U.N. General Assembly and will specialize on environmental and social questions. After the ceremony yesterday, the former child actress told a news conference she was concerned with “air pollution and water problems.…I would hope we could work toward peace and human brotherhood and to improve the environmental situation in the world,” she said.



We could still use Shirley’s help today!

See more photos of Shirley Temple in Hawaii at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley goes to Acapulco!

In November 1966, Shirley Temple Black and her husband Charles jetted off to Mexico to attend the Acapulco Film Festival. A month earlier, Shirley had caused a furor at the San Francisco Film Festival by protesting the gratuitous nudity in the film, “Night Games.” As a result, she disassociated herself from the Festival. While some applauded her stance, it also gave the press an opportunity to present Shirley as a relic of the past. Interesting that she would choose to attend the Acapulco event just one month later. The caption for the above November 16 photo reads:

Pert Mrs. Charles Black, who is also sometimes known as Shirley Temple, dons her white gloves and prepares to take off with her husband for Mexico City and Acapulco, via Western Airlines. The Woodside couple attend the Acapulco Film Festival while south of the border.



Shirley descends the plane as she arrives in Acapulco.



Even in her adulthood, Shirley was not immune to the paparazzi!



I wonder if Shirley went Skin Diving?



A shot of Shirley and Charles at the festival itself:



She wore the exact same dress for the San Francisco one in January 1965; what would Joan Rivers and the Fashion Police have said about that?



The press headlines read “Acapulco Film Festival Has Apathetic Opening” on November 16th:

The ninth annual Acapulco review of film festivals opened last night with an apathetic viewing of the Berlin festival winner “No Time for Foxes.”…Shirley Temple was in the audience but was not introduced. Delegations from 10 nations including the United States are attending the Acapulco event, which reviews the best of other festivals but does not select a winner.

Shirley herself was one of the U.S. Delegates. In December, a color Bob Hope special that was filmed at the Festival was aired on television, featuring an all-star cast. It doesn’t appear that Shirley was part of the fun.



Shirley didn’t get a lot of press for her trip, other than the reports that she was “shocked by “immoral’ presentation” and that she was robbed:

Mrs. Shirley Temple Black today said she would not prosecute a purse-snatcher who made off with her bag containing $300 if he would return the papers in the purse. As the former child star entered Fort San Diego Thursday night to attend a function of the Acapulco Film Festival, a thief snatched her purse and disappeared into the crowd.

Anticipating that you’d want to see a shot of Fort San Diego, here is one from the which museum site:



No reports as to whether the purse was returned or not; I would guess the latter.

See more Shirley Temple Black photos at my main website.