Temple Tuesday: Shirley's Hula Gets Cut!

In the 1936 film, “Captain January,” Shirley Temple is typically seen wearing a sailor outfit, as this Italian Booklet of the era shows. In the behind-the-scenes still shot below though, an outfit that didn’t make it into the final film was deleted for being too racy! In the first version of this outfit, Shirley wears a black bra for the hula dance she was to perform in the film:



The scene was reshot with a more modest outfit. Below is a behind-the-scenes shot showing the set on a 20th Century-Fox soundstage:



Zooming in, you can see Shirley and co-star Buddy Ebsen:



This detailed view shows where the dance was performed:



This time around, Shirley wore an undershirt beneath the combo seaweed skirt and bra/lei:



This publicity still shows the exterior of the lighthouse as it appeared in the movie. This scene was not cut, as Shirley is appropriately clothed!



 See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: “Mother” Survives!

In the 1936 film “Captain January,” one of orphaned Star’s (Shirley Temple) beloved possessions is a doll that represents her mother, who was killed in a shipwreck. Here’s a closeup of the prop that 20th Century-Fox created just for this movie:



Star knows very little about her dead mother, other than what she sees in a scrapbook found in a trunk from the wreck.



Apparently mama was an opera singer. Star covets the dress that she once wore on stage, which gets altered to fit the young girl for a comic musical number with costars Guy Kibbee and Slim Summerville.



In a miracle of survival, this fragile prop survived, thanks to a prop man who was allowed to take it home with him. Now you can see what the doll looks like in color:




The beloved doll (known as “Mother”) that was key to the plot in “Captain January” now resides in the hands of an avid Shirley fan.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley (almost) gets a tattoo!

In the 1936 Shirley Temple film, “Captain January,” Shirley ALMOST got a tattoo! Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) summarized the deleted scene for me, which she came across when reading the original script. The scene that ended up on the cutting room floor would have followed the one where Captain January (Guy Kibbee) asks the Widow Croft (Jane Darwell) for a loan (shown above).

At that point, Jan asks Mrs. Croft for the money, and the next scene has Star walking along a side street, where she spies a tattoo shop.



She goes in and the “East Indian” man asks her if she has money. He shows her some tattoo samples, including a sea serpent. She asks “Can I make it wiggle?” and he responds that it would wiggle fine on her back. She decides to get it on her arm, and the man begins heating a needle in a flame.



He is just about to begin when Jan and Nazro pass by and burst into the shop. Jan swats Star and sends her home, then slams the basket of lobsters over the tattoo artist’s head. Nazro holds him down while Jan takes the tattoo needle and jabs it into the seat of the “East Indian” man’s pants!



These two publicity stills show that the scene was filmed, but obviously deleted before release. John Carradine was cast as the “East Indian Man” mentioned in the script. I can only surmise that the scene was deleted due to it being slightly unsavory for a Shirley Temple movie!



In an earlier sequence that survived the editor’s shears, Shirley watches with delight while January and Nazro (Slim Summerville) show off their tattoos and are able to make them dance and wiggle! This would have been the setup for Shirley’s character wanting to get a tattoo. Poor John Carradine was the loser, as he was completely removed from the film. Instead, he made it into the Temple film “Dimples” playing Richards. His character is one of the con men who get The Professor (Frank Morgan) to buy a cheap pocket watch by convincing him it once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.



Con men in a Temple film? No problem. A tattoo artist? No way!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Once Is Not Enough

For many of Shirley’s costars, one movie was just not enough! This post just covers the headliners, not the supporting players. That would be a post waaaaaaay too long for how much time I have today to put this together. Let’s begin with James Dunn, who played opposite Shirley in her breakthrough film “Stand Up and Cheer” (1934). The two did so well together that Fox put them together again not just once, but twice! “Baby Take a Bow” (1934):

…and again in “Bright Eyes” (1934):

For John Boles, twice was enough, with “Curly Top” (1935):

…and “The Littlest Rebel” (1935):

Guy Kibbee was one of the few to span both childhood and teenage films for Shirley, with a whopping three films. “Captain January” (1936); here’s a behind-the-scenes shot with Shirley and Kibbee’s daughter:

“Miss Annie Rooney” (1942):

…and “Fort Apache” (1948):

Michael Whalen was apparently satisfied with two; “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936):

…and “Wee Willie Winkie” (1937):

It wasn’t just the men who were part of the repeat pairing process; songstress Alice Faye was in two of Temple’s hits. “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936):

…and the romantic female lead in “Stowaway” (1936), where she came close to stealing the movie away from Shirley:

Gloria Stuart of “Titanic” fame was content with two; she was not happy about being cast in bland roles that supported the curly haired tot until studio chief Darryl Zanuck pointed out that millions would see her, vs. a juicy lead role in a non-Temple film that would most likely be soon forgotten. Here she is in “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936):

…and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938), which also starred Randolph Scott:

…who played again with Temple in 1939’s “Susannah of the Mounties”:

Last one for today is Phyllis Brooks, who had back-to-back roles with Shirley in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938):

…and “Little Miss Broadway” (1938):

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Guy Goes Dress Shopping

In the 1936 movie “Captain January,” Guy Kibbee’s character takes Shirley shopping for a new dress so that she can look her best for her school examination. However, the poor guy has no money and has to borrow it from the local widow to pay for it.



How’d he do? Obviously not too bad, as you can see in this publicity still where Shirley is wearing the dress. FYI: of course she passed the exam with flying colors, too!



The dress was also copied by the Ideal Toy Company and sold with the ever popular 1930’s Shirley Temple dolls.



Six years later in “Miss Annie Rooney,” Kibbee plays Shirley’s grandfather. It’s like déjà vu all over again. Shirley needs a dress for her society debut at her boyfriend’s birthday party, and poor Guy...hardly any money. He has to pay for the dress with money from his pension fund. Was it worth it?



Of course! Shirley is a hit and lands herself a rich boyfriend who probably put Guy up in a rich folk’s retirement community!



Another six years go by and Shirley and Guy costar in a third film together: John Ford’s “Fort Apache.” I’ll just bet you there was a deleted scene where Guy took Shirley shopping for this blue striped number!



Thumbs up for Guy Kibbee; his characters may have been poor, but they were certainly rich in fashion taste!

See more Shirley photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley at the Opera

Today, it’s back to “Captain January,” where Shirley’s character, Helen “Star” Mason, took a stab at Opera. The photo above shows her with the widow Croft (Jane Darwell), who has just finished altering the gown to fit Star. Found in a trunk when Star was rescued at sea as a baby by Captain January (Guy Kibbee), it is AMAZING how it fits Shirley perfectly! Designed by Gwen Wakeling, the detail on this costume is truly incredible.

Star dons the gown and proceeds to join January and Captain Nazro (Slim Summervile) in song. Doing their own version of the sextet from “Lucia di Lammermoor,” it is a comic masterpiece. Both Summerville and Kibbee were dubbed, but Shirley did her own vocals. While the song was written as a sextet by Gaetano Donizetti, I don’t think anybody missed the other three voices in Shirley’s version! In the original opera, the sextet occurs in Act 2; the full title of the song is “Chi mi frena in tal momento.” You can see the actual song being performed here:



I think I prefer Shirley’s version. Does that make me lowbrow?

Even movie critic Frank S. Nugent couldn’t resist the comic scene, as witnessed by his N.Y. Times column from April 25, 1936:

As a footnote to the operatic cycle, it must be recorded that Shirley Temple sings the sextet from "Lucia" in her latest picture, "Captain January," which was trundled into the Capitol yesterday after a preliminary brush with the law. It is an abridged version, of course, cut down to trio dimensions to suit the screen's favorite actress and her associates, Guy Kibbee and Slim Summerville. Mistress Temple skips the high notes but makes up for that later by tap-dancing the multiplication table when she runs—à la Bill Robinson—down a flight of steps. There is added compensation, too, in the rhythmic routine she steps with Buddy Ebsen, who yet may be her Fred Astaire when she has grown up to become a later-day Ginger Rogers.

Shirley’s rehearsal sheet music from the film was sold in the 2015 “Love, Shirley Temple” auction:



From the auction description:

Five accordion-folded sheets of music and lyrics from the 1934 film include "At the Codfish Ball" (labeled Shirley Temple's key), "Sextette from Lucia", "The Right Somebody to Love" (labeled Shirley Temple's key). "Malihini Mele" (which was written in 1934 by R. Alex Anderson, but was deleted from the final film), and "Early Bird". Circa 1936.

Presale Estimate: 200+ • Realized Price: $800

Below is the watercolor costume sketch done for this gown back in 1936:



Want to see how Shirley’s dress looks now? Here it is on display at the Santa Monica History Museum:





The back of the dress; just as beautiful!



After Shirley’s passing, Tim Smith from the Baltimore Sun recalled the Child Star and one of his favorite Temple scenes:

I do not hesitate to confess that some of my favorite times as a kid -- and, yes, in later years, too -- were spent watching her childhood movies. I didn't care how cornball or contrived the plots. I just loved her smile, her voice, her unpretentious talent. Not to mention the songs and the many vibrant actors who worked with her, helping to make even the silliest of the movies enjoyable and often quite touching.

Thanks to my pal Sebastian in Miami for reminding me this morning of a fabulous scene of Shirley Temple singing opera in the the 1936 film "Captain January." It's the well known "La La La" Trio from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." OK, so it's supposed to be a sextet and have a whole lot of very serious words, but who needs 'em when you get a performance this delerious?

I couldn’t have said it more beautifully myself!

I’ll end the post with the clip of Shirley, Guy, and Slim performing the sextet. Sorry for the (incorrect) colorization!



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley at Sea

From the publicity still of Shirley’s 1936 film “Captain January”:

NO MINIATURES HERE — These two boats, an act duplicate of a coast guard cruiser and a heavy fishing smack, were moved onto a specially constructed tank, holding thousands of tons of water to film sea sequences in Darryl F. Zanuck’s new production “Captain January” in which Shirley Temple is the star with Guy Kibbee, Buddy Ebsen, Slim Summerville and June Lang in supporting parts.

Zooming in, you can see little Shirley...or is it? Something about the face doesn’t look right, meaning it could be Mary Lou Isleib, Shirley’s stand-in. Hard to tell though; since it’s a long-exposure night shot, that could be what makes the face seem a little off.



In this closeup, you can see screen-meanie Sara Haden, who plays the truant officer hell-bent on making Shirley a ward of the state.



Here’s one of the scenes where Haden threatens to take Shirley away from her guardians, played by Slim Summerville and Guy Kibbee.



Don’t fret folks; it’s a Shirley movie. Just look at this still from the finale; do you actually think Haden was victorious?!?



See more Shirley photos at my main website.