Temple Tuesday: Shirley at Lake Arrowhead

“Honor Bright” was the title of Jack Kirland and Melville Baker’s story upon which “Now and Forever” (1934) was based. Fox loaned Shirley Temple to Paramount, receiving $3,500 a week as part of a two-picture deal that began with the blockbuster hit “Little Miss Marker.” Shirley had a good rapport with costar Gary Cooper, who played her father. Henry Hathaway, the director, had worked with Shirley before in “To the Last Man” (1933), starring Randolph Scott. Shirley’s character, Penny, is introduced to us, playing by the lake. Lake Arrowhead was used for these outdoor scenes.



Cooper’s character is a con man with very little morality. To raise some much needed cash for his extravagant lifestyle with his girlfriend/wife (it’s not really clear through most of the movie), he decides to sell his rights of guardianship to his father-in-law. Once he meets darling Shirley, he changes his mind and takes her with him, attempting to form a family trio. The film is an uneven dark mess, with slight amounts of humor and quite a bit of unpleasantness to it. The review from The Hollywood Reporter, July 20, 1934:

Cooper, [Carole] Lombard and Temple form a trio that’s hard to beat for a box-office combination right at this moment. They are the sure-fire sales argument and they won’t fail. The picture itself is mild entertainment, frequently bathed in tears, that has a few moments which lift it into the “fair” picture class. It is the story of Jerry, Toni and Pennie. Jerry is the crook who wants to reform eventually, but circumstance forces him to do one more job that is literally his finish. Toni is the gal who has given up Society for Jerry and who cannot ever bring herself to give up Jerry. Pennie is Jerry’s child, who succeeds in reforming him, but at the same time is the cause of his untimely death. Of course, that’s reducing it to its essentials. The story has got its moments of grace and good cheer, but on the whole it is a vaguely motivated, rather overly-sentimental tale, with a sudden melodramatic ending, that seems to have missed its point in concentrating on childish cuteness.



Here are some behind-the-scenes shots of Cooper and Temple at Lake Arrowhead.



Director Hathaway sits on the dock, his back to Shirley:



You can see Shirley looking up adoringly at Cooper:



Shirley puts on a sweater to stay warm between takes, while drinking a glass of milk:



Below is a shot of Shirley and her mother during filming. The accompanying publicity blurb:

CHILD ACTRESS STUDIES ON LOCATION

Little Shirley Temple, sensational child film player, recites her lines to her mother before facing the camera while on location at Lake Arrowhead, southern California resort, with a motion picture company. 6/26/1934



While it is a bit of a hot mess, mainly due to a protracted battle with the censors over  the unsavory storyline, it does have its moments, thanks to the chemistry between the three leads.

See more Shirley Temple “Now and Forever” photos at my main website.

Mary and Gary at The Derby

This February 1933 vintage shot shows Hollywood legends Gary Cooper and Mary Pickford out on the town one evening. From the vintage publicity blurb:

Mary and Gary

Mary Pickford and Gary Cooper arriving at the Beverly Hills Brown Derby, one of the smartest restaurants in the film capital. The close friendship of these two is traditional in Hollywood, Gary escorting Mary about when Douglas Fairbanks is off on one of his many trips. 2/6/33

Many trips? Without Mary? Sounds like code to me.



Just in case you want to see the headlines of 1933:



Fights Nurses? Kills Doctor? Sounds just as sensational as today’s “news.” See…things really haven’t changed that much.

See more Classic Movie Star photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: You Belong To Me

If the title of the Shirley Temple film “You Belong To Me” doesn’t sound familiar, that’s because it was changed before release to “Now and Forever.” Need more proof? How about this vintage still labeled as such:

The photo shows a deleted scene set in Paris between Carole Lombard’s character, Toni Day, and her husband, played by English film actor Jameson Thomas (better known as King Westley in “It Happened One Night). If you thought Gary Cooper played her husband, well…you’re kind of right. In the original treatment, which was written just as the Hays Code was being put together, Cooper and Lombard are living in sin and she still has a husband in Paris (Thomas).

Joseph Breen and company were not crazy about that and pressured Paramount to ditch the hubby and make Cooper and Lombard a respectable married couple. Breen also didn’t like Shirley’s attempt at suicide. What?!? Yup… that was in an outline from February 22, 1934:

That outline also included the original “Thelma and Louise” ending:

What the heck was Paramount thinking?!? This is one instance of where it was probably a good thing that Will Hays and Joseph Breen came along to see what the movie studios were doing. Based on the title and other things that were in the script, it would appear that the main emphasis of the film was to be the unhealthy and co-dependent relationship, between Cooper and Lombard. 

Shirley offing herself?!? Please tell me that wasn’t filmed. 

See more Shirley photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Uncle Lady and Now and Forever

Charlotte Granville played the wealthy Mrs. Crane in Shirley’s 1934 Paramount film “Now and Forever.” Not your typical Temple vehicle, it has a number of unsavory characters. Mrs. Crane takes a fancy to Shirley (as most of the older crusty characters in Temple films do) and wants to buy her from her father (Gary Cooper), a lazy get-rich-quick schemer who has recently taken custody of his daughter to spite to his father-in-law. Ick. Unlike most of the codgers that Shirley charms, this one never thaws. I affectionately refer to this very brusque character as “Uncle Lady.” Granville portrays her as all-business.

I could find very little about the British actress. She began her film career in 1917 with “The Red Woman” and was best known for “Werewolf of London” (1935). She was married to Major Robert Follett Muter Foster Millington Synge, the uncle of John Millington Synge, the Irish playwright. The two had one child together and were eventually divorced. She died on July 8, 1942 in Los Angeles at the age of 82.



And that’s about it for Charlotte. In other “Now and Forever” news, Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) recently came across this photo showing a deleted scene. Most likely it’s shortly before the ending of the film, when Penny’s (Shirley) father (Cooper) and his wife Toni (Carole Lombard) drop Penny off at the train station, giving up custody of the little girl to Mrs. Crane. Double ick.



Although Lombard and Temple are both wearing coats that cover their outfits, the hat Shirley wears is the same one Cooper has jokingly placed on his head in the deleted scene still.





The tie and jacket on Cooper matches on both, too.



While we’re on the subject of jackets: the blog Collecting Classic Hollywood reveals a blazer that Cooper wore in the film. It came from the widow of someone who worked with Cooper for many years.





Made of a sturdy wool, it wasn’t a studio or costume-company created piece. It's a one-of-a-kind made for Cooper exclusively by his tailor, Basil Durant. Durant began his career as a dancer; he later ran a tailoring business called Basil Inc. in Manhattan. His clients also included General Motors executive Harley Earl, the designer of the Chevrolet Corvette. A publicity shot from the film showing Cooper in the blazer:



Back to “Uncle Lady.” These two shots from the end of the film say it all. There is no heartfelt emotion or any kind of sympathy shown for Penny’s parents as the old dowager takes the kid away from them to board the train to Lord-knows-where.



One wonders what her plans for the curly-haired tyke are.



I think a call to Child Protective Services would have been a good idea.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Citizen Kane, Orson, and Shirley

I have been making it a habit to pop in an old classic film while eating dinner. Recently, I got out my “Citizen Kane” blu ray disc. Gregg Toland’s cinematography is even better when you watch this classic black and white film in high definition. Or is it? For the first time, I noticed a detail that had eluded me on other home video incarnations: after the March of Time newsreel is played, Joseph Cotten has a very tiny cameo as a reporter. A few scenes later, he is playing Kane's best friend, Jed Leland, sitting in a wheelchair in a nursing home.

Were original prints of the film developed darker so that audiences wouldn’t notice this? Or did Orson Welles need an extra in the scene so badly that he had Cotten doing double duty? Or was it some kind of inside joke? I have no idea. However…I also noticed something else. In the newsreel footage that shows Xanadu, the fictional estate of Charles Foster Kane, a swimming pool is shown:

My memory bank went off and I remembered seeing a similar pool in the 1934 Shirley Temple movie “Now and Forever.” I happened to be talking to my friend Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) and told her my theory. A few minutes later she said it WAS the same pool! I pulled out my “Now and Forever” dvd and sure enough! The two frames of film are identical!

In fact, you can even see Carole Lombard and Gary Cooper in the shadows of both movies! Here are two publicity stills from the film, with Shirley in the first one:

Now the REAL mystery; where was/is this pool located? Here’s an establishing shot from the other side in “Now and Forever”:

If anyone out there knows the answer, please comment!

Orson apparently was neighbors with Shirley for awhile. In my collection I have a shot of Orson at her home in 1939, with Shirley playing on her little backyard rollercoaster. This visit was staged for the press.

Shirley recalled it in her autobiography Child Star:

"Did you hear my program about Martians [War of the Worlds]?" "Yes," I stroked my ball and scowled. It had stopped wide of the final wicket. "Nelson Eddy was why I listened." Welles turned and leaned on his mallet, waiting. My evening routine included listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. I explained that when guest Eddy came on to sing, I switched stations and stumbled on his. "Did you believe my program?" he asked, striking a pleasing pose for our photographers. "No, I knew it wasn't true." Taking careful aim, I knocked his ball slightly away from the mouth of the final wicket, leaving mine in good position. His return shot caromed my ball away into a difficult lie. "How did you know?" he asked. Engrossed with my final chance, I said nothing and concentrated. I missed. "Well," I replied resignedly, "if men from Mars had come here, why would just your program be broadcasting the news? That didn't make sense, so I didn't believe it."

Afterward, one reporter wrote: "The gentlemen of the press passed a pleasant afternoon and left with the conviction that Mr. Welles, who is only 13 years older than Shirley Temple, is as agreeable as he is talented." That was probably one of the last positive things the press wrote about Orson, who was smeared hard by William Randolph Hearst after the release of the not-so-fictional “Citizen Kane” was released.

Here’s another shot of Orson and Shirley, from The Pump Room at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago with Ruth Gordon, September 15, 1944. Shirley was making appearances selling war bonds at the time.

To think that Shirley came THIS CLOSE to being in “Citizen Kane”! It boggles the mind!

See more photos at my main website.

Fox Carthay Circle Theatre, 1947

For those of you who appreciate the attention to detail that Imagineers lavished on the recently recreated Carthay Circle Restaurant at DCA, here's a 1947 look at the original inspiration.

"Unconquered," starring Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard, was the movie featured on the marquee in this vintage image.





Naturally, Disney left out this detail. No need to advertise a rival film studio!



See more vintage and current Fox Carthay Circle Theatre photos on my Carthay Circle web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: The Fountainhead

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand ranks as one of my very favorite books. You can imagine how excited I was to learn that it had been made into a movie with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal in 1949, six years after the publication of the book. Apparently, author Ayn Rand agreed to sell the rights to Warner Brothers under the condition that not a word from her book be changed. Needless to say, this resulted in a few problems during production.



Rand also insisted that the architectural drawings of Howard Roark (played by Cooper) must resemble those of Frank Lloyd Wright. Edward Carrere did the designs seen in the film when the studio balked at Wright's asking price for the assignment. Rand was less than thrilled with what he created. She did commission Wright to design a summer home for her, but the project was never built.



I was deeply disappointed by the film; it seemed overly dramatic and poorly acted. Original audiences agreed, as it lost money when it was released. It has picked up somewhat of a following over the years, which can most likely be attributed to its sense of retro style. Interestingly enough, although Gary Cooper protested the casting of Patricia Neal, the two ended up having a torrid affair during the making of this movie (she was 21; he was 46 and married) that resulted in a few nasty headlines.

For a lighthearted moment in your day, Dastoli Digital has come up with another fun video, "Cats In Space," which will especially appeal to Sci-Fi fans as well as Disneyland buffs. From Dastoli Digital themselves came this info:

Like most of our films, there is a small connection to Disney theme parks, as a photo of the Matterhorn serves as the background for one of the stills during the credits, and a close up shot of an alarm flashing uses part of a photograph of the caution light on the inside of the door of the Mark VI monorails in Disney World. The Disney parks are so rich with diverse exotic locations that it is the greatest resource for visual effects heavy filmmakers like ourselves.



and a behind-the-scenes video of how it was made:



See more Classic Movie & TV photos on my Classic Movies & TV web page.

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.