Lionel Barrymore: Once is not enough!

Oscar winning actor Lionel Barrymore costarred with Shirley Temple in the 1935 film, “The Little Colonel.” Unlike Frank Morgan, who attempted to steal scenes from the child star in “Dimples” (1936), Barrymore worked with Temple and the chemistry between the two created some of the most touching and comical scenes of Shirley’s films. The behind-the-scenes story of the two is just as entertaining and heartwarming. “The Little Colonel” director, David Butler (shown above and below), spilled the tea in his autobiography.



We wanted to get Lionel Barrymore to play the grandfather in the South, but we couldn’t get him. Buddy [DeSylva] said, “You go over and see him. You know him well.” I did know him well. We used to have dinner with him and his wife. So I went over to Metro to see him, sat in his dressing room, and I said, ‘You’ve done everything that you can do. We want you to do ‘The Little Colonel.’ He said, ‘No, I’ve heard about it, but I don’t want to work with children.’ ‘Lionel, you owe this to yourself. You’ve done everything in the theatre, everything you can do in the pictures, and you’re one of the best actors in the world. I think you owe it to yourself to work with this little girl because she’s marvelous and you’ll love it.’ I finally talked him into it.



Everything went swimmingly until they were playing a game which we kind of created, like checkers, only on one side we had Northern soldiers and on the other side Southern ones. Lionel said, “If I were doing that, I’d move right over here and put my man here.” Shirley said, “If you did that, I’d jump you here, and I’d jump you here.” Then he had a speech to her. Lionel stopped, and he said, ‘What are the lines?’ Shirley said, ‘Oh, Uncle Lionel, you have to say —’ and she gave him his line. He jumped out of that chair! It was the worst thing that could have happened because he didn’t like a kid telling him the lines. But we straightened it out.



Shirley herself gave an expanded version of what happened with Barrymore in her autobiography, Child Star:

At the outset director David Butler took me over to meet our southern colonel, Lionel Barrymore. It wasn’t really a meeting. Barrymore didn’t take my extended hand, and with one brief downward glance, he turned to speak with someone else. There is a big difference between being seen and being acknowledged. During out first rehearsals a large blackboard was wheeled onstage and all Barrymore’s cues and lines chalked up. I asked Mother why he couldn’t learn his lines at home like everyone else, but she hushed me, explaining that he was a famous stage actor and would be hurt if he heard such comments. Our first scene together went well enough, but noticed his breath had a rich, fruity aroma vaguely remindful of the alcohol rub Mother gave me when I had a fever. “It’s because he’s in pain,” she explained later. “You must learn to be more sympathetic.” From the start Barrymore seemed weak on his lines, stumbling a lot over phrasing, and arguing with Butler over small points of emphasis. I mistakenly considered us both confederates acting in concert, not building up to our own civil war. One time, having as usual learned everyone’s lines, I prompted him. “Dammit!” he exploded. “I’m thirty years in this business!”… “Everyone take a break,” said Butler, shaking his head.…Returning shortly, [Butler] took both Mother and me aside. “Bad news,” he said. “He’s complaining she made him look ridiculous. He told me to get somebody else to do the picture.”…Finally Butler and Mother gave me their opinion. I must go alone and make up with him. I had no option. When I rapped on Barrymore’s dressing-room door, he let me in without a word and closed the door behind us..…“Uncle Lionel,” I said, addressing him that way for the first time. “I know you’re the best actor in the world.” He shot me an incredulous glance, but I kept on. “May I have your autograph?” He shrugged his shoulders, sighed once, and then sat down at his table. “To my favorite niece,” he wrote. “Your Uncle Lionel.”…Having caused a problem, I had to work out of it. But in addition there was an underlying reason for my backhanded apology, a powerful sense of community purpose. Stuck together we would succeed; pried apart, we failed.



Back to Butler’s version:

The end of the picture we did out on location. After we finished the shot, I said, ‘That’s it. We’ve finished the picture.’ Lionel Barrymore always made up himself, so they had a little stand there for him. He went over to the stand and started to take his makeup off. I went to talk to him and there was a little tug at his sleeve. He didn’t pay any attention to it. It got a little bit stronger. He turned around, and in back of him was Shirley with an autograph book.



She said to him, ‘Uncle Lionel, can I have your autograph?’ The tears just welled in his eyes and poured down his cheeks. He grabbed hold of her and kissed her, and it was just great. He cried like a baby, after going through it with this kid. Then, when she went away, he said, ‘You were right, David. That was a great experience. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’



Shirley recalls getting the autograph in Barrymore’s dressing room; Butler recalls it happening at the end of the shoot, followed by tears. Butler’s own home movie (now in the collection of Shirley expert supreme, Rita Dubas) captured the autograph signing, which occurred outdoors without the crying but does display a fondness between the two, as seen below in a screen grab.



Another amusing anecdote from Butler describes the difficulty in filming the baptism sequence:

We had the scene where Shirley had to baptize this little colored boy. We had an audition for colored boys, and this kid named Junior [Nyanza Potts] was so cute that we took him. But Junior didn’t know anything about taking direction or listening to anybody. He was a wild man. We had an awful time even keeping him in a scene, to walk down a set. He’d be looking all around or fooling with his pants. But we managed to get by with it after working quite hard. So now we come to the baptism, where Shirley has to dunk him in the water and say, “Are you saved?” He has to say no, and she dunks him again. We’d get him all set, and the cameras ready, and Shirley would dunk him down under. “Are you saved?” He’d come up and shake his head. Then he’d grab Shirley and duck her under. Well, I want to tell you that I was ready to kill that kid. We changed Shirley’s clothes and fixed her makeup at least five times. Every time, he’d shove her in the water. Finally his mother told him she was going to give him a good spanking if he did it again, and we got the scene. But this was after changing Shirley five times. He’d grab her and duck her and hold her under, and the whole crew would jump in to save Shirley. When we finished, I told his mother, “I’ll tell you something about Junior. He’s going to be fine in the picture, but he caused me a lot of trouble. I’ll bet you he winds up a porter on the train.” Twenty years elapsed, and I’m going to New York on the Chief. I got in my compartment, and in comes a porter. He says, “Mr. Butler, you don’t remember me, do you?” I said no. It was Junior. He did wind up a porter. It was so funny.



Shirley didn’t mention Nyanza nearly drowning her during filming, but she did talk about how he had some difficulty with this scene:

In the spluttering and commotion of filming he missed his cues and was speechless. The more the director cajoled and the more we dunked him, the more flustered he became, a pitiful figure, dripping and bedraggled. Making little progress, the director called a break and scolded Nyanza sharply. Mother, however, sensed the problem. Someone had gotten him tongue-tied at the prospect of acting with a name star, so she suggested I help him. Taking his small hand in mine, I led him into a corner to rehearse. He really knew his lines, and the more we talked as two children do, the more self-assured he became. convince he finally had it, we dressed in dry sheets and waded back down into the stream. Nyanza said his lines with a falter. We dunked him. Surfacing, he said some more. Again he got dunked. The director seemed happy. “Was I perfect?” Nyanza asked as we splashed up out of the stream. “Sure,” I answered, glad to have helped but unwilling to give him all the credit. “We all were! We did it together!



Butler’s behind-the-scenes footage also includes these fun candid moments - Lionel with lit cig and Shirley on a horse, waiting for the cameras to roll:



Barrymore removing the white wig he wears during the movie, once again lighting up a cig. He looks like his brother John in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”!



…and Nyanza, wildly dancing around, also carrying a cig!



You can see the entire movie at Rita’s YouTube channel:



Barrymore and Temple joined forces again in 1941 for the December 19th Shirley Temple Time radio broadcast titled, “Christmas for Two.”



Looks like somebody had a sore throat. I would guess it was Barrymore!



You can listen to the broadcast a the Great Detectives website.

Both Shirley and Barrymore were in the 1944 Selznick production, “Since You Went Away.” Although they were in the same scene, it is somewhat doubtful that they were on set at the same time.



Barrymore had a short but memorable cameo preaching a Sunday sermon.



One of Barrymore’s most famous roles was as the villain, Henry Potter, in “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946). Unlike his “Little Colonel” part, this character never thawed out!



Caption for the above photo, shot on set of “It’s a Wonderful Life”:

Barrymore-Stewart, Post-War Reunion

Hollywood, Cal…Back on the movie set after gallant war service, during which he rose to the rank of Colonel, James Stewart stops to chat with veteran Lionel Barrymore, who last week celebrated his 68th birthday by working on a new movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” directed by Frank Capra, center. Photo by Dave Cicero.

Interestingly enough, while the name Barrymore is synonymous with three of the greatest actors AND siblings (Lionel, Ethel, and John), their birth name was actually Blyth. Just doesn’t have the same ring, does it?

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Memos and Letters

Producer David Selznick was known for his prolific memos; a rather large book was published in 1972 filled with his correspondence titled Memo from David O. Selznick. Two of the memos from the compilation include our gal Shirley. In a June 15, 1943 memo the producer wrote to his Director of Advertising and Publicity, Joseph Henry Steele:

When we’re ready, the story on “Since You Went Away” should be built on the following:

David O. Selznick today announced that…“Since You Went Away” will mark the return to production of Selznick, and be his first picture since “Gone With the Wind” and “Rebecca.” At the same time, Selznick confirmed previously published reports that Claudette Colbert will play the role of the young wife and mother in the film, which is based upon the Whittlesey House and Ladies’ Home Journal story of the same title…

With Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Monty Woolley, and Shirley Temple, the cast looms as one of the most important of recent years. Selznick also stated that there would be other important players cast shortly, to give the film a cast rivaling that of the producer’s famous production of “Dinner at Eight.”

Rewrite the above as much as you want to, but please be careful to: (a) handle the mother and sister angles almost exactly as above; (b) use the casting in the recapitulation as stated above, i.e., Colbert first, Jones second, Woolley third, and Temple fourth; (c) I’m anxious to get the accent off this as a Temple vehicle and start hammering away at its tremendous cast.…I’m getting tired of being referred to solely as the producer of Gone With the Wind and Rebecca, and would like to get some of the other pictures alluded to as often as possible (I can see my obituary now: ‘Producer of Gone With the Wind dies!’)…



The above shot of Shirley taken in October 1943 was accompanied by this publicity blurb:

Fresh Start for Shirley Temple

Brentwood, Calif. – Now 15 and a typical teen-age girl, Shirley Temple is launching a “second” career. As a child actress, she was at the top as film box office drawing card from 1935 to 1939, under a 20th Century-Fox contract. Since 1941, she has made only two movies, and in 1942 she starred in a radio series, “Junior Miss.” At the same time she gave more attention to her school work at the Westlake School for Girls, and to growing up as a normal girl.



Now, under a new contract with David O. Selznick, a new program is being worked out, with adult stardom as the aim for the future. For the present Shirley will continue her schooling and make occasional pictures in which she will have important roles but not be starred. She is at work now on“Since You Went away,” in which she plays the tomboy daughter. These photos were made at the Temple home here. Shirley is seen with her new friend Abby Wilder, whose mother, Margaret Buell Wilder, wrote the novel “Since You Went away.” Shirley plays Brig Hilton, who in real life is Abby Wilder.

The below image shows Ingrid Bergman visiting Selznick (who she was under contract to at the time), Shirley, and Jennifer Jones on the set of “Since You Went Away.” Selznick may have been looking at Shirley, but his romantic attentions were about to be focused on Jones, who he would eventually marry.



This November 3, 1944 memo from the Producer was to Reeves Espy, a Selznick executive:

Shirley is exceedingly hot at the moment. We can”t commence to fill demands for interviews and other press material on her from newspapers and magazines; and this is, of course, an indication of the interest of the public. At the preview of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” costarring Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, and Shirley Temple, Shirleys name was received with the biggest applause of all three, despite the fact that the Gallup poll shows that Cotten is the great new romantic rage, and that Ginger is one of the top stars of the business.

Shirley’s publicity in the New York press, both in connection with this appearance and in connection with her prior trip East to sell bonds, received more publicity_including, astonishingly, big front-page breaks in the middle of a war—thank I think has been accorded the visit of any motion-picture star to New York in many, many years. Indeed, it is said (and I believe a check would confirm it) that her visit received more space than that of General de Gaulle! She has made a great hit in Since You Went Away; and in her first grown-up part, that in “I’ll Be Seeing You,” is a sensational success. Her fan mail is great than that of any other star on our list—actually exceeding by a wide margin that of Ingrid Bergman, Jennifer Jones, and Joan Fontaine, who are the next three, in that order.

If Shirley was so hot, why didn’t her teen career flourish more? You can probably chalk it up to Selznick’s obsession with promoting Jones. All the choice lead roles for a young woman went to her, as the Producer ended up loaning Temple out to other studios while he focused on building up Jones’ career.



See more teenage Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Mystery in Pink

In Shirley Temple’s “The Little Colonel,” she dances in the stables with Bill Robinson, wearing a cute little satin outfit trimmed with black velvet bows, frills, leather boots, and a straw hat. Shortly after the dance, the villains (Alden Chase and Sidney Blackmer) pay a call on her in an attempt to locate her father (played by John Lodge).



Little Shirley runs to her grandfather’s house to get help and alerts the cook (Geneva Williams), who tells the worried little girl that Grandpa is socializing at a neighbor’s home.



After a harrowing run through a dark wood at night, little Shirley finally reaches her Grandfather (Lionel Barrymore), who puts aside his contempt for her Yankee father to come save the day.



Naturally, a happy ending follows with father (Lodge) and mother (Evelyn Venable).



Shirley is shown wearing this costume in between takes with a visitor on the set:



From the vintage publicity blurb:

Shirley Temple entertains little Lily de Pourtales Lodge, daughter of John Lodge on the set of Shirley’s next picture. In the picture John Lodge plays the part of her father. Little Miss Lodge is the descendant of the Cabot, Lodge, Alden, and Adams families of New England.

That’s some lineage! These ladies were also photographed visiting Shirley:



Zell Hart Deming, publisher of the Warren, Ohio, Tribune-Chronicle, visits Shirley Temple on the set of “The Little Colonel” at the Fox studio. The publisher stands on Shirley’s right. The two other ladies are Mrs. Rena Wolcott and Mrs. Fred McBerty, both of Warren.

Here, Shirley relaxes between takes with costar Avonne Jackson. On the far left of the shot is Shirley’s stand-in, Marilyn Granas.



Want to see what the lady on the left has in her lap? I’m so nosy!



Many Lands was a 1935 reading and coloring book published by the Saalfield Company, who also produced Shirley Temple books and paper dolls.


Even little movie stars have to take it easy at some point!



The boots and bonnet Shirley wore were auctioned off by Theriault’s in 2015. Here’s how they looked when I saw them at the Santa Monica History Museum:



From the catalog description:

BONNET AND HIGH BUTTON BOOTS WORN BY SHIRLEY TEMPLE IN THE FILM “THE LITTLE COLONEL”

 Lot Number: 78. The porkpie-style woven bonnet has wire-framed brim to support its unique shape, and is decorated with long black velvet streamers and banding; the interior has pink taffeta lining and original inventory label 1105-H. Along with the matching pair of high button boots, each with nine pearlized buttons and having original label of Emidio Spezza of Los Angeles. Excellent condition. The bonnet and boots were worn by the young actress during the “Oh Susannah” song and dance sequence of the 1935 film “The Little Colonel.” Emidio Spezza, the Italian-born shoemaker, described in a 1936 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “short, rotund, wears a waxed mustache and makes shoes for Hollywood people,” arrived in Hollywood about 1910 and earned a loyal clientele for his custom-made shoes ranging from Greta Garbo to Marlene Dietrich; in the 1930s this list of clientele included the specialty shoes for the young Shirley Temple. Realized Price: $2,000 Presale Estimate: 2000+

I often wondered what happened to the outfit itself? I remember in the 1980’s, when Shirley herself released a life-sized doll of herself wearing the same outfit, the publicity brochure stated that it was her very favorite outfit. Here’s a pic of that doll, currently listed on ebay. Yes, the doll itself looks a little creepy.



Later, the Danbury Mint also released a Shirley doll in this outfit, at a much more manageable size of 14":



Again…I wondered what happened to this outfit? Especially one that Shirley claimed was her favorite. Thanks to information submitted by Shirley’s Army member Connie, we now at least have some clues. In 1972, Shirley was co-host on the Mike Douglas talk show for a week.



In one episode, there were Shirley collectibles from the collection of Doris Studeman that were shown. From a vintage Shirley newsletter account:

Doris got to meet Shirley between tapings, and was greatly impressed. She would have been on the show herself if she could have been there Monday, but she did see the tapings of other shows. Her comment on the whole thing was, “It all happened so fast I couldn’t think!” Also, she says the Monday and Friday shows may be repeated during the summer, so watch your TV schedules. Esther sent a daily commentary on the show, which I don’t think I have room for this month, but I’ll give you some comments from different members: “She certainly is a beautiful woman…She was absolutely charming…Enjoyed every minute of it…Wasn’t Shirley wonderful! I could have watched her for weeks…She is so charming; I think even prettier and younger-looking than on the Dick Cavett show…She remains the same sweet, beautiful person she has always been…She looked relaxed and happy…She’s been just great!! She’s worn some of the most beautiful long dresses - it was also good to hear her sing again (Dreams Are Made for Children)…she looks so cute.” And to finish off the quotes, here is one from Esther in praise of her husband Gordon: “Just to show what a fine husband I have - he ate dinner half an hour late every night last week and we went up to the lake an hour later on Friday so I could see all Shirley’s shows!!”

Sounds like a keeper to me! Most interesting part of the newsletter to me was this:

One of Shirley’s favorite movie costumes was the fuschia one from “The Little Colonel.” It was stolen and never found.

Stolen? Who would dare steal from our gal Shirley? Or was it stolen from the Fox lot after filming was completed? If stolen ruby slippers can be found by the FBI, why not Shirley’s favorite pink satin “Colonel” ensemble? Let the search begin!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.