Temple Tuesday: Shirley and H2O

With Southern California experiencing high temps in October, the thought of a cool dip in water sounded like the perfect idea for a Temple Tuesday post. Strangely enough, I have very few images of Shirley actually IN a swimming pool, which is why I expanded the theme to H2O overall! In the 1934 film, “Now and Forever,” Shirley meets her biological father at Lake Arrowhead. This image was shot between takes on location, with Shirley Temple and Gary Cooper.



There IS a scene at a pool in the film, with Carole Lombard and Gary, but…



Shirley doesn’t go IN the pool; she just plays nearby with a little boy.



In “The Little Colonel” (1935), Shirley actually gets wet, in this baptismal scene with Nyanza Potts and Avonne Jackson.



By the time of “Curly Top” (1935), the studio liked to have their biggest star in controlled environments, like this phony beach backdrop, accomplished with rear projection:



Can’t get the star wet; that might mean having to create an additional copy of Shirley’s outfit, or cause a time delay for filming. With René Hubert as the costume designer for “Curly Top,” that could really rack up the costs! Esther Dale reads the Sunday “Funnies” to Shirley’s character, but rest assured, the child stays dry.



In “Captain January” (1936), Shirley lives in a lighthouse and hangs out in the nearby coastal town wth Buddy Ebsen, but manages to stay out of the water.



This deleted Hula scene was filmed in a nice, controlled, studio soundstage at Fox.





A scene of Shirley in a bathtub for “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936) was cut before release. Note that her curls are still perfectly set and moisture free!



“Dimples” (1936) has Shirley at the edge of a lake fishing, but as always, not allowed IN the water. No wonder she looks a bit gloomy.



Finally, in “Just Around the Corner” (1938) Shirley gets access to a pool! Only Franklin Pangborn gets wet.



In Shirley’s private life, the cameras never seemed to catch her IN the water, just nearby, like these images of her on a Hawaiian trip, circa 1937:



…and 1939:



This series of images from her Rockingham pool, circa 1937, show a fully-clothed little girl playing with a sailboat:



Doesn’t seem to be anything remarkable!





It appears that Shirley had her own sailboat to safely keep her dry while floating in the pool:





This 1944 shoot at home with Guy Madison is about as close to “cheesecake” as Shirley would let the photographers get:



The two made the tepid “Honeymoon” (1946), which had Shirley appear in a bathing costume, displaying a two-piece suit for a few seconds.



This publicity still below shows Shirley in the water with Franchot Tone after she (aka the stunt double) dives into the pool. The final film doesn't show the two in the pool together.



Shirley DOES get a pool scene with Guy Madison in “Honeymoon,” but she is fully clothed:



Final H2O image of the day is from August 1957. Shirley is at her Atherton home with son Charlie and daughter Lori. Even a blowup pool like this would be heaven on a day like today!



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley in Color!

Shirley Temple had very few films that were made in Technicolor; the brief list includes a short sequence at the end of “The Little Colonel” (1935), “The Little Princess” (1939), “The Blue Bird” (1940), and “The Story of Seabiscuit” (1949). Even though color was becoming more of a thing by the 1940s, Shirley’s teen films were typically low budget, relying on her former starpower to bring in the bacon. “Honeymoon” (1947) was an RKO black and white comedy (which is debatable!) that just misses the mark. Joseph Cotten went on suspension for backing out of the production and was replaced by Franchot Tone. Probably the best move of Cotten’s career! While the movie wasn’t filmed in color, the fan magazines were documenting Shirley in all her Technicolor beauty! In attempting to get a marriage license in Mexico, Shirley (with Guy Madison) wore this stylish outfit with a hood designed by Edward Stevenson:



Thanks to this image taken in her dressing room, we can see it and her lovely auburn locks in full color! Yes, she knits! And check out the heels on those slingback shoes!



This simple suit was also designed by Stevenson:



It stayed in Shirley’s personal collection until it was auctioned off in 2015, one year after she died. From the catalog description:

Teal Woolen Suit with Silver Buttons Worn by Shirley Temple in the 1947 Film "Honeymoon"

Description: The two-piece suit includes a silk-lined jacket with dart shaping and long sleeves, ruffled white cuffs and collar, and with 10 silver buttons with chain design; along with matching skirt. The ensemble was worn by Shirley Temple in the 1947 film “Honeymoon.” Sold: $1,100



The September issue of Photoplay magazine deemed it pattern of the month. Those interested in sewing their own could purchase the pattern for just 35¢!



I tried oh so hard to find the pattern itself, even joining a number of vintage pattern groups on Facebook. Alas, to no avail. Here is what the cover of the Advance Pattern #4659 looked like:



In this costume, Shirley’s character states that it’s her boyfriend’s favorite color. That piece of the script is wasted on a black and white movie!



However, thanks to this image from her 18th birthday party held on set, we can see what that color looked like. The burning of the little red school house signified Shirley was now an adult!



If you think you can reveal the colors of a film by looking at vintage lobby cards and poster art, think again. They are all pretty much colorized by the artists of the day, who used a lot of creativity (?) in assigning colors to the promotional ephemera. Would Guy Madison still like this one if it was pink and blue?



Another simple suit by Stevenson was featured in this scene with Tone and Madison; Shirley is the rose between two thorns:



Once again, a dressing room shot reveals that this one is beige in color; Shirley poses with then-husband, John Agar:



See more Sbirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: No Jitterbug for Shirley

As soon as she hit the silver screen, Shirley Temple was known for both singing and dancing, as seen above in “War Babies” (1932). In “Miss Annie Rooney” (1942), her first teenage romantic role, it was only natural that Shirley’s footwork kept up with the times. Below, she can be seen getting coached by choreographer Nick Castle and costar Dickie Moore.



Fortunately for Dickie, for this jitterbug dance sequence he was able to get by with just standing still while Shirley did all the work.



Later in the film, wrong-side-of-the-tracks Annie (Shirley) finds favor with the rich kids by teaching them how to cut a rug. “Drizzlepuss” Stella Bainbridge (June Lockhard) refuses to join the fun and stands off to the right. 



When Shirley returned to the screen a little over a year later in David Selznick’s “Since You Went Away” (1944), the producer was adamant against Shirley doing any singing or dancing. According to publicity of the time, the movie “…definitely is not ‘another Temple picture.’ It is based on a series of letters written by Margaret Buell Wilder, Dayton, Ohio, newspaper-woman and mother of two teenaged daughters, to her husband in the Army. It is the every-day story of their problems and efforts to make ends meet by taking in boarders. And it is definitely not another Temple role. Shirley plays a straight dramatic part. No dancing and no singing.” In one of his famous memos, Selznick wrote, “I’m anxious to get the accent off this as a Temple vehicle and start hammering away at its tremendous cast.” Selznick would even go so far as to admonish Shirley against singing and dancing on her War Bond Tours. What a fink! Below is Shirley with costar Claudette Colbert who played her mother, Anne Hilton.



As in Selznick’s “Gone with the Wind,” a military dance plays a central part to the story of the film. Here, Jennifer Jones (playing Shirley’s older sister) arrives to the thrill of the soldiers who get a temporary break from World War II to dance with some pretty girls.



Shirley is not even in this scene at all; instead, the focus is on the romantic leads (Robert Walker and Jones) and their chaperones, Colbert and Joseph Cotten, who plays a close friend of the Hilton family.



According to the AFI website, the hangar dance was shot in a reproduction of an Army aviation hangar that encompassed two sound stages, over 20,000 sq. ft. of floor space and utilized 100 electricians. Below, director John Cromwell coaches Cotten and Colbert as they dance and recite their dramatic dialogue.



Colbert and Cotten rest between takes:



With Cromwell watching at right, Jones and Walker (married at the time the film was being made) perform their scene:



Silver Screen Magazine shot a series of dance photos during filming of the movie. From their publicity blurbs:

Jitterbugs Elsie Peritz and Jack Arkin warm up their motors, so to speak for an aerial take-off in the hangar dance sequence of “Since You Went Away,” first picture made by David O. Selznick since his Academy Award winning “Gone with the Wind” and “Rebecca.”



Peritz also had an uncredited role in the Robert Benchley Paramount Technicolor short, “Boogie Woogie” (1945). Arkin had a few small uncredited roles, including the Judy Garland film, “The Clock” (1945) and “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944) where he also danced the Jitterbug.

Below: Jack gives a spin and—oops!—we got something in our eye, so we didn’t see that.



Now Elsie is really getting up in Hollywood. The lady in the background, if she had it to do over again, would never learn how to knit but would concentrate on jitterbugging, as Elsie has, so that she too could be the life of the party.



Don’t feel bad for Shirley; she continued to dance for her fans, including in Central Park with former dance partner and close friend, Bill Robinson, Summer 1944:



She gave Franchot Tone Jitterbug lessons in “Honeymoon” (1947):



In the 1970’s, Shirley performed the Jitterbug with talk show host Mike Douglas. I have yet to find a clip of it on YouTube. From what I recall she was magnificent!

See more “Since You Went Away” photos at my main website.