Temple Tuesday: Shirley and the President

A day late, this Temple Tuesday is in honor of yesterday’s Presidents’ Day. In late 1935, President Roosevelt sent Shirley Temple an autographed photo of himself. According to the press release:

Shirley Temple’s big dimpled smile is caused by a letter she received yesterday from President Roosevelt, appointing her his special messenger to deliver his autographed photograph to Bill Robinson, colored dancer, who appeared with the child star in “The Littlest Rebel” at Twentieth Century-Fox. The President also included a personally signed photo for Shirley, who is currently playing in “Captain January.”

Zooming in for a close-up of FDR’s photo:



The autographed photo has survived all these years and was auctioned off in 2015 at the Love, Shirley Temple Theriault’s auction. From the catalog description:

A sepia vintage photograph of FDR is ink-autographed "To Shirley Temple from Franklin D. Roosevelt". Along with another photograph of Shirley proudly holding this photograph, and with a letter from M.H. McIntyre, Assistant Secretary to the President, talking of the photo and "the trade you and I made", then noting "Thank you for being so lovely to us when we made our little visit to the studio. I loved your house, your dollhouse, and everything you showed me". The letter is dated October 29, 1935, and included is the postmarked envelope from The White House.

Realized Price: $3,600 • Presale Estimate: $800+



During the filming of the courtroom scene for “Little Miss Broadway,” First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt paid a visit to Shirley. From the vintage press blurb:

‘First Ladies’ Meet’
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Lady of the Nation in Southern California on a lecture tour, and Shirley Temple, First Lady of the Screen Box Office, are shown as they chatted together when Mrs. Roosevelt visited Shirley on the set of her newest picture, “Little Miss Broadway,” on a tour of some of the Hollywood Movie Studios. Geography and Grandchildren formed the chief topics of conversation.



I can’t help but notice that in both photos, Shirley has a somewhat distracted unfocused gaze as dear Eleanor babbles on. Most likely, Shirley was thinking about work, because as she learned at the early age of four, “Time is money!”



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Eleanor

At the peak of her childhood fame, visitors flocked to the 20th Century-Fox soundstages to meet Shirley Temple. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was not exception to the rule. She visited Shirley in March 1938 during the filming of the courtroom scenes from “Little Miss Broadway.”

“FIRST LADY” VISITS SHIRLEY TEMPLE

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.: The “First Lady of the Land” met the “First Lady of Hollywood” and discussed such important subjects as geography and grandchildren. The meeting came when Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, touring the film capital, expressed her desire to see Shirley Temple, 8-year-old 20th Century-Fox star. Mrs. Roosevelt stopped at a set to watch the child star do a dance number with comedian Jimmy Durante — after which the “First Lady” and Shirley chatted for ten minutes. 3-17-38

The number Temple and Durante was filming, “Hop, Skip, Jump and Slide” was ultimately deleted from the movie.



Amazingly enough, the footage still exists today:



A previously posted shot of another visitor to the courtroom set, Joan Crawford. Her meeting with Shirley occurred while the grand finale/title song was being filmed.



It’s amazing Shirley got all her work done with all of these famous people interrupting filming!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.