Temple Tuesday: A Saddle for Shirley

In 1936’s “Stowaway,” Shirley Temple played an orphan stranded in China who eventually gets rescued by a millionaire playboy and his girlfriend (Robert Young and Alice Faye).



In between takes, Shirley posed with one of the many gifts she received during the time that she was probably the most famous person in the world.



Joseph Schenk, Chairman of the Board at Shirley’s studio, 20th Century-Fox, gave her this leather saddle to go with her Shetland pony (another recent gift!). That’s a pretty darn good likeness of Shirley carved into the leather!



This saddle ended up in the 2015 Love, Shirley Temple auction. How it looked when I saw it on display at the Santa Monica History Museum:



Almost looks brand new! Shirley’s mother sure took good care of her daughter’s possessions.



Edited from the Theriault’s catalog description:

#383 Hand-Tooled Leather Saddle Gifted to Shirley Temple by Joseph Schenk

Of superb leather workmanship, the beautifully engraved hand-tooled saddle was custom made for the young actress, featuring Shirley's hand-tooled image with smiling expression and classic curly locks on each fender, her name in raised lasso-style lettering on the seat back, and a silver plaque inscribed "Presented to Shirley Temple by Joseph M. Schenk 1935".



The saddle was custom made by the prestigious Los Angeles leather firm of Lichtenberger-Ferguson. The saddle includes all accessories including the saddle blanket, and is in excellent condition. Provenance: the saddle was gifted to Shirley by Joseph Schenk, Chairman of the Board at 20th Century Fox, on the occasion of another gift to her which was a Shetland pony. The pony was traveling to America aboard the May 1936 maiden voyage of the SS Queen Mary and then by rail to the Los Angeles train station. Shirley Temple wrote of this in her 1988 autobiography "Child Star". "Burdened with a specially-made western saddle with my face tooled into the leather skirts..., [the pony] was introduced to me in the railroad freight yards in downtown Los Angeles. A welcoming flower garland which it promptly tried to eat, was draped around the pony's neck...'Giddap!' I cried. The pony moved ahead but...the saddle started to slip sideways, me with it...A switch engine tooted just as a line of freight cars came screeching along an adjacent track. The pony whinnied, kicked and reared up, while I held on. “I'm going to call him Spunky', I shouted...'He's not afraid of anything.'”

Estimated price  was $6,000-8,000; sold for $3,200. What a value!



See more Shirley Temple in “Stowaway” photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Blue Bird Blowout!

Faithful readers of this blog know that I am somewhat obsessed with the 1940 Shirley Temple film, “The Blue Bird.” While many consider it a poor stepchild to “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), I believe it stands on its own as an artistic triumph that gave Shirley an opportunity to play against type as a brat. In the above publicity still, Shirley is shown with Al Shean, who played her grandfather in the film. Shean was also the uncle to the famous Marx Brothers.

To avoid competition with “Gone with the Wind” which was released on December 15, 1939, 20th Century-Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck decided to delay the premiere of “The Blue Bird” for another month.



The above photo shows Gene Markey (producer for the movie), Virginia Zanuck (Darryl’s wife), Joseph M. Schenck (Fox chairman of the board), Darryl Zanuck, and Hedy Lamarr (MGM actress and wife of Markey) as they arrived at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, December 19, 1940 for the film’s New York.

From The Motion Picture Herald, December 30, 1939:

The premiere of “The Blue Bird,” starring Shirley Temple, has been advanced to January 19th from January 17th to permit a Friday night opening. “Swanee River” opens December 29th at the Roxy theatre. Darryl F. Zanuck, vice-president in charge of production, will attend the premiere of “The Blue Bird” at the Hollywood theatre and remain in New York for the opening of “The Grapes of Wrath” at the Rivoli January 24th. Al Jolson and Don Ameche will appear in a broadcast of “Swanee River” on December 29th. Charles E. McCarthy, director of advertising and publicity for Twentieth Century-Fox, has put John Goring in charge of the roadshow of “The Blue Bird.”

Below is a page from the movie’s pressbook, featuring a variety of posters that theatres could choose from for promotion:



Motion Picture Daily gave their account of the premiere:

‘Blue Bird’ Lures Industry’s Top Executives to Premiere

Undaunted by the severity of the weather last night, 1,500 persons jammed the Hollywood Theatre to capacity to see the world premiere of “The Blue Bird,” 20th Century-Fox color feature. When the 80-minute show ended, the audience, with ovations and exclamatory words of approval, acclaimed the cinematic version of Maurice Maeterlinck’s famous fantasy. Included in the audience were practically all of the leading officials of 20th-Fox, besides executives from other motion picture companies. Notable among those present were the following: Darryl Zanuck, 20th-Fox studio chief; S.R. Kent, president; Joseph M. Schenck, chairman of the board; Will Hays, Jesse Lasky, Ernst Lubitsch, Barney Balaban, Herman Wobber, Spyros Skouras, Charles Skouras, Edwin L. Weisl, Gene Markey, associate producer of “The Blue Bird,” and scores of other industry officials. Other celebrities noticed among the “First Nighters,” most of whom were accompanied by their wives and formally dressed, were William Paley, CBS president; Postmaster General James A. Farley, Conde Nast, Irving Berlin, Jack Cohn, Andre Kostelanetz, Sidney Lanfield and many others. Crowds congregated early in front of the Hollywood where arc lights illuminated the front. Autograph seekers and others eager to see celebrities composed a large portion of the throng. When glamorous Hedy Lamarr arrived, scores struggled to catch a glimpse of her and husband, Markey.



From The New Dynamo, the in-house publication of 20th Century-Fox:

‘THE BLUE BIRD’ FLIES IN TRIUMPH OVER BROADWAY CELEBRITIES BRAVE SUB-ZERO WEATHER TO HAIL ‘BLUE BIRD’

Mr. Zanuck came 3,000 miles to get, first-hand, the reaction of this premiere audience. For more than a year he planned “The Blue Bird.” For months he supervised its production and cutting. And as Philadelphia’s Showman Al Boyd put it: “If its exploitation and presentation is given only one-half the thought this completed picture indicates went into its planning and production, ‘The Blue Bird’ will do the SRO business it certainly deserves to and can do.” And Mr. Boyd is not one of those gentlemen given to making hasty conclusions. He has been too long in the business to speak merely for the sake of being heard.

Schenck is missing from this newspaper photo showing Zanuck and entourage at the premiere:



Much of the beautiful and moody expressionistic art for the film was created by Hy Rubin, an American illustrator (1905–1960). His work was published in the Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping magazines. His last studio was located behind the T in the Times Square building in New York City. 



For the artistic, black and white cartoon panels were available to moviegoers for coloring:



Below is a still from a deleted scene that occurred at the beginning of the movie when Shirley’s character’s father is about to go to war. Russell Hicks played the father and Spring Byington the mother.



Below are Tylo the dog and Tylette the cat:



…and Eddie Collins and Gale Sondergaard who played their human counterparts in the movie.



Whenever Shirley made a film, the studio was typically littered with visitors who wanted to meet the famous young actress. “The Blue Bird” was no exception. Note the costume/wardrobe board at the bottom left of the photo.



In between takes, Shirley did her schoolwork with studio teacher Frances Klamt.



In case you want a glance at the book Shirley is working from:



I hope all of you have a very fun New Year’s Eve - see you in 2025!

See more “The Blue Bird” photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Irvin

Irvin S. Cobb was an author/humorist in the 1930’s who crossed paths with our gal Shirley Temple for a few photo opportunities. With a middle name of “Shrewsbury,” I can understand why he stuck with just the middle initial in public.

Like many celebrities of the day, Cobb visited Shirley on the set of her movies. This particular one was 1934’s “Baby Take A Bow.” On the left is director Harry Lachman. Of course you want to see the book in Shirley’s hand, which was Cobb’s Down Yonder with Judge Priest and Irvin S. Cobb. Looks like this copy belonged to Esmé Ward; wonder who she was? 



Director John Ford made two feature films based on the Judge Priest short stories. Here’s what the cover of the book looks like, up close and personal:



As host of the evening’s ceremonies at the Los Angeles Biltmore hotel, Cobb was the one who presented Shirley with her miniature Oscar on February 27, 1935:

Shirley Temple takes the Academy Award for outstanding work in motion pictures in 1934 from Irvin S. Cobb, humorist, who presented the trophies at the annual banquet held recently.



Here is Shirley’s account of the evening from her autobiography, Child Star:

“One great towering figure in the cinema game,” humorist Irvin S. Cobb read, “one giant among the troupers…for monumental, stupendous, elephantine achievements in 1934…a special award for…Shirley Temple!” I recognized my name but with total surprise. Nobody had even hinted I might win anything. Having watched the earlier succession of winners, I knew what to do. Leaping to my feet, I ran up the ramp to the stage. Right behind me in ladylike haste came Mother, with Father hard on her heels. I reached out for the small Oscar statuette, but Cobb withdrew it from my outstretched hand. He had a white, goatish face.  “I’ll give you this if you’ll give me a kiss,” he said. The audience howled in appreciation. As he spoke  could see little showers of moisture fly out in my direction, each droplet reflecting as a speck in the spotlight before disappearing somewhere on me or my hair. Damp, casual kisses are one of my intense dislikes, but with an eye on the Oscar I turned my cheek upward. Cobb leaned down while the audience cheered. Just as he kissed me I got a firm handhold on the statuette. “Thank you all very much,” I called upwards toward the microphone, not letting go. “Mommy, can we go home now?” Circling just beyond Cobb’s outstretched reach, I ran back down the ramp ahead of my parents. “You-all ain’t old enough to know what this is all about!” he called after me. He was right.

Reading Shirley’s description today, there is more than a certain amount of “ick” associated with Cobb’s behavior. The dress she wore that night:





…and a closeup of her miniature Oscar:





At November 15, 1935 the dedication of the 20th Century-Fox soundstage for the late Will Rogers, Shirley had the honor of unveiling the plaque, with Cobb on the far right. While the other men in the photo were definitely Hollywood’s heavyweights, let’s face it; Shirley was the star that day! 



There we go; just Shirley. Much better!



While digging for info on Cobb, I also stumbled upon this shot of the two outside Shirley’s Fox Bungalow:



There were at least four separate occasions where the two posed for photos; were they friends? One could safely say these were just staged publicity opportunities which benefitted Cobb much more than the world famous Temple. There is no other mention of the humorist in Shirley’s book other than the event at the Biltmore.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.