Temple Tuesday: From Riches to Rags and Back Again!

In the 1939 Shirley Temple Technicolor classic, “The Little Princess,” when Sara Crewe’s father (and fortune) is lost during the Boer War, evil schoolmistress Miss Minchin (Mary Nash) removes the child from her luxurious suite of rooms and sends her up to the attic. Besides dust, dirt, and cobwebs, the little girl only has her doll, Emily, to keep her company.



Don’t feel bad for Shirley; she still had the use of a plush limo to take her to the set every day!



Below is a still from a deleted scene, showing Sara cleaning Miss Minchin’s office while the old bag watches.



Once jealous of Sara’s former coveted position with Miss Minchin, rich bitch Lavinia (Marcia Mae Jones) delights in bossing around the poor little girl who is now forced to work off her debt as a scullery maid.



After one of her many failed hospital searches and a fight with the old bag, Sara goes to sleep in tears. We are treated to a dream sequence where she becomes a princess.



AND a ballerina!



In this still, we see both Shirley as the princess AND Shirley as the ballerina. How can this be?



If you look closer, you can see that it’s Mary Lou Isleib, Shirley’s stand-in, on the throne.



When Sara wakes up from her fantasy, her room has become a den of luxury! Since it’s a Shirley movie, there is no explanation of how her benefactor was able to lift the bed, put a fur rug, change the linens, and redecorate the entire room without little Sara waking up. Don’t be a curmudgeon, it’s a Shirley Temple movie!



Once she rubs the surprise from her eyes, little Sara invites her friend and next door neighbor Becky (Sybil Jason) to enjoy a delicious breakfast.



Renewed and refreshed, Sara delivers some much needed revenge in the form of an ash bucket dumped on Lavinia.



One take was enough for Marcia Mae Jones!

See more Shirley Temple “Little Princess” photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley and the Sour Grapes

Today is a tale of three of Shirley Temple’s contemporary actors and how they chose to retell their experiences of working with the talented moppet. When actress Gloria Stuart was told by Fox studio head Darryl Zanuck that she was to be put in a Shirley Temple movie, the actress was crestfallen at having to compete with the little dynamo. Zanuck reframed it for her this way: “Gloria, you could be in film for the next ten years or on the stage and nobody would ever see you or hear about you, but if you’re in a Shirley Temple film, millions of people will see you.” The actress realized the wisdom of his words and would later recall, “She was really a getaway girl. You watched her and she was so completely composed and happy and talented and up, up, up. She was a real tonic…a miracle. Indescribable. It’s impossible that one child was all those wonderful things, but she was!” The power of positive thinking was not something little Delmar Watson practiced. In “Heidi” (1937), he played Peter, the goatherd, a fairly substantial role. Here are his recollections about the experience:

I was never given my lines to study in advance. My dad asked Allan Dwan about this, and he said they wanted Peter to be kind of dumb, but it was the only time I was in a picture of that length where they would not give me my lines until the night before I was supposed to do a scene.



I guess Delmar did not understand method acting. Shirley was given her own trailer for the location shoots according to Watson:

[It was] parked on the side of a hill. She was there all the time with Grif and, of course, her mother. Only a few studio people were allowed up there. She had a stand-in [Mary Lou Isleib] for the sound and lights. Then, when everything was set, she’d come down at the last minute, we’d do our scene together, and when it was finished, she would be escorted back up the hill and disappear into her trailer. Once, I was playing horseshoes right after lunch with the lighting guys, and she came out of her trailer. I said, ‘Hi,’ and she greeted me and asked if she could play. Sure, we told her. She picked up a horseshoe and tossed it. I think she missed. She played with us for exactly two minutes, and then her bodyguard came down and took her away, back up the hill into the trailer. I heard him tell her she wasn’t supposed to be there. As she left, I said to her, ‘Bye. Maybe you could do it later.’ Shirley didn’t say anything, but obediently returned to the trailer.

When you have a film riding on your shoulders and a limited amount of work time due to being a minor, it’s easy to understand that Shirley wouldn’t have a lot of time to play. A stray horseshoe that might have injured the star could have shut down the entire production. Obviously, Watson was too young at the time to understand and when he later told the story, too old to remember what the circumstances were.

Case #2: Sybil Jason. If it weren’t for “The Little Princess” (1939), Jason would be all but forgotten today (and for the most part, still is). While an appealing child, the South African born girl just never caught on in the U.S.



Here’s how Jason chose to recall working on “The Blue Bird” (1940), her second Temple film:

Usually when one received a finalized script of a movie, you are apprised of the shooting date. We were quite puzzled when a good two weeks before that date I was told to report to the studio early one morning. When we arrived, we were directed to go to a specific soundstage, and when we got inside all we saw was a small lit set with a plain backdrop and two chairs facing each other. One of the chairs faced the camera and the other one was placed behind it. I was greeted and handed a few pages from the…script. It contained only Shirley’s lines and those of the various characters that would appear in the movie. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this was going to be the ultimate humiliation for me. I was expected to read Shirley’s lines so that actors could screen test for the various roles like the Father, the character Light and the “deceased” grandparents. As young as I was, I knew I wasn’t being treated right and I could see from the hurt look in my sister’s eyes that she too felt that way but, considering the position I was now placed in, there wasn’t much we could do about it.



After a couple of days of reading for the tests, I could now concentrate and prepare for my role as Angela Berlingot, the little crippled girl who yearns for the bird that Mytyl (Shirley) and Tytyl (Johnny Russell) had captured in the woods. My part in The Blue Bird was, to put it politely, minuscule. It consisted of a scene in the beginning of the movie and another at the end.

Sybil’s remarks have always been puzzling. Were these her memories or ones fed to her by the older sister? While it is made clear that Angela is sick, never at any time does the viewer hear the word “cripple” used to describe her. Sybil may have been thought of by Warners (her former studio) as a rival to Shirley, but the public never viewed her that way. Finally, if the Jason sisters thought reading the star’s lines in a screen test was the ultimate humiliation, then they obviously were not aware of how things worked in Hollywood. As stated before, Shirley’s work time was limited; why would it be wasted on screen tests?



In this publicity still and the caption below, we can see that it was co-starring in a Temple film that helped pave the way for Sybil’s Hollywood career. How the public did/didn’t accept her was out of Shirley’s hands.

Since her portrayal in “The Little Princess” won her a long-term contract at 20th Century-Fox, 9-year-old Sybil Jason (foreground) goes to the studio’s school. Seated back of her is June Carlson of 20th Century-Fox’ Jones Family series, while Teacher (standing) is Miss Catherine Hagan.



Here’s the cover of the book Miss Hagan is holding, Highways and Byways. It was copyright 1938 by authors Paul McKee, Director, Teachers College Elementary School, and Professor of Elementary Education, Colorado State Teachers College, Greeley, Colorodo, and Beryl Parker, Associate Professor of Education, New York University. 



This is not the same book Sybil is reading.



Houston, we do not have a match.



Case #3: Marcia Mae Jones, who played Klara, a true cripple, in “Heidi” (1937).



Marcia Mae Jones recalled her casting in the film:

There was talk that I got as much fan mail because I played a crippled girl in ‘Heidi,’ and probably that Mrs. Temple would never use me again, but Mrs. Temple requested me for ‘The Little Princess,’ so you see, there’s a lot of talk that’s not so.

Mic drop. Thank you. Below is a shot I took in 2002 of Margaret O’Brien and the sour grapes, Delmar Watson and Sybil Jason. They were making an appearance at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood for a Tippi Hedren fundraiser for her animal shelter.



See more photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley at the Holidays

I started this post when it was still Tuesday, so I'm keeping the title, dagnabbit! Here is a presentation of Shirley Temple Christmas photos to kick you all into the holiday spirit, starting off with a still from “Bright Eyes” (1934). Shirley’s character is ready for her Christmas party and all her aviator buddies are on hand with lots of gifts for her.



These two images are from 1935 and show her dressed as Santa. One of the most famous and oft-told Shirley quotes has to do with Father Christmas:

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.



A color shot of her wearing a velvet coat from “Heidi” (1937):



In “Heidi,” Shirley leads the singing of “Silent Night” with her friend Klara (Marcia Mae Jones) and Klara’s father, Herr Sesemann (Sidney Blackmer):



Who could resist giving to the Salvation Army when Shirley is ringing the bell?



Shirley puts the finishing touches on a very tall snowman!



On Christmas Eve, 1939, Shirley did a radio broadcast on CBS of “The Blue Bird.” Is that a mistletoe corsage?!?



For this 1939 publicity still, Shirley appears to be giving a sermon:



In the same 1939 Christmas series, Shirley comes down the stairs to discover the wonders of what might be under her tree:





In this 1941 photo, Shirley is shown celebrating Christmas at her Rockingham home:



I hope you enjoyed this chronological assortment of Shirley Christmas images. See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: “Heidi” Memories

Marcia Mae Jones, the actress who played Klara (above left) in Shirley’s 1937 film “Heidi,” had fond memories of working on this movie:

I was thrilled that I was going to be with Shirley Temple. I hadn’t even met her yet, but I was very excited. The movie was made during the summer and an enormous tent had been set up on the back lot and inside there was a complete street scene with the Sesseman house and so forth. They used a great big machine to create the snow, and it was very, very hot in there. It wasn’t the best conditions at that time [no air conditioning], and the artificial snow sometimes got in your eyes and your mouth.



I loved the clothes…I wore a royal-blue princess coat with an ermine collar and shoes to match with ermine on the boots—and, oh, my dear, I cried when I had to leave that [at the studio]. I had my own dressing room…but I used to love to eat in the commissary, because at that time I was madly in love with Tyrone Power, and it’s my understanding that they told him, and he would smile and wave at me and my heart would just go pitter-patter.

Allan Dwan—well, he didn’t seem to give any direction. I remember my mother talking to me when I had to get up and pretend like I was trying to walk, and I was told just to get up and do it. I was really quite frightened, because not being crippled I didn’t know how to do it, so I imagined—on my own—what it would be like—which is the key to acting. I was only thirteen when I made “Heidi,” but I had my full height then—I was extremely tall for my age—I was five feet six inches and Shirley was very tiny and very petite. She had to help me out of my wheelchair…my God, if I had really leaned on Shirley, I would have crushed her to the floor. When I saw the film years later as a mature woman, I just seemed to get bigger and bigger as I rose from the chair, and my husband, who was with me, said, ‘My God, it’s a giraffe!’



Poor Jean Hersholt was extremely uncomfortable throughout the film. As I said, the tent was stifling, and he had to wear tremendous padding to make him heavier, and a beard and longish hair to make him look older. Unfortunately, he had a lot of [action scenes] and one day he collapsed from heat exhaustion.



One Saturday, Shirley tripped over an electric wire and fell head first on the ground, which resulted in a cut over her eyebrow. Not wanting to go over budget (the film was already two days behind schedule at that point), the makeup artist covered the bruise and Shirley continued with filming. Shirley’s throat also closed up as a result of the artificial snow; in that case, the crew had to film around her.



On the flip side, Delmar Watson (below left), who played Peter the goatherd, sometimes gave less than flattering interviews about working on the film, blaming Shirley’s mother Gertrude for some of his best (in his own opinion) scenes being deleted. He also felt that Gertrude and the studio were attempting to thwart his performance in order to make Shirley shine more:

I was never given my lines to study in advance. My dad asked Allan Dwan about this, and he said they wanted Peter to be kind of dumb, but it was the only time I was in a picture of that length where they would not give me my lines until the night before I was supposed to do a scene.



Delmar’s father, Coy, would blame the studio and complain to his family about it every night:

They’re not being fair to the boy. They’re changing his dialogue right on the set. It’s almost like they’re making him stumble over his lines to make Shirley look better. ’

Marcia Mae Jones gave a very different (and more professional) viewpoint of Gertrude:

I do remember that Mrs. Temple always had on a hat, gloves and a purse…and that she was always on a stool sitting next to the camera. Mrs. Temple was always lovely to me—she would invite me in the afternoon to come into the dressing room with Shirley, where she would give each of us a piece of Hershey [chocolate] at four o’clock. It was instead of having tea…My mother was on the set at the same time as Mrs. Temple, and they seemed to get along well. But my mother never intruded on anyone—she spoke to Mrs. Temple when Mrs. Temple spoke to her—and I guess they had some conversations together. 

The Swiss Alpine scenes were shot at Lake Arrowhead, east of Hollywood in San Bernardino County, in an area that is now called Switzer Park off Highway 18 in Skyforest. The crew either stayed in Arrowhead Village’s single hotel or had rooms in private chalets. Shirley was given her own trailer home according to Delmar Watson:

[It was] parked on the side of a hill. She was there all the time with Grif [Shirley’s bodyguard and chauffeur] and, of course, her mother. Only a few studio people were allowed up there. She had a stand-in [Mary Lou Isleib, shown below] for the sound and lights. Then, when everything was set, she’d come down at the last minute, we’d do our scene together, and when it was finished, she would be escorted back up the hill and disappear into her trailer.



Once, I was playing horseshoes right after lunch with the lighting guys, and she came out of her trailer. I said, ‘Hi,’ and she greeted me and asked if she could play. Sure, we told her. She picked up a horseshoe and tossed it. I think she missed. She played with us for exactly two minutes, and then her bodyguard came down and took her away, back up the hill into the trailer. I heard him tell her she wasn’t supposed to be there. As she left, I said to her, ‘Bye. Maybe you could do it later.’ Shirley didn’t say anything, but obediently returned to the trailer.

When you have a film riding on your shoulders and a limited amount of work time due to being a minor, it’s easy to understand that Shirley wouldn’t have a lot of time to play. A stray horseshoe that might have injured the star could have shut down the entire production. Obviously, Watson was too young at the time to understand and when he later told the story, too old to remember what the circumstances were. Once again, Marcia Mae Jones’ recollections were a bit different from Watson’s:

[Shirley and I] talked and we laughed…I think most of us children were a little in awe of her because Shirley was always bubbling…I remember that at Lake Arrowhead there was a miniature golf course, and Shirley and I were playing and I think we had about seven or eight bodyguards watching us—and I know that I was uncomfortable and I just wanted them to go away and leave us alone and let us play, but it didn’t seem to bother Shirley.

Director Allan Dwan, who worked frequently with Shirley, remembered filming the “Wooden Shoes” musical number and the original Shirley Police Badge:



We had a lot of kids dressed as little Dutch girls doing a folk dance. One of the steps, a fairly intricate one, called for them to place on leg over the other. Many of them became confused and got it all wrong and would even fall down trying to do it. Shirley would bawl them out and say, ‘Look, you do it this way.’ They would argue back and forth. She was stubborn and would say, ‘No, it’s this way,’ and show them again. Well, the dancing master finally got them all together and straightened them out. Since she obviously wanted to take charge…I had a bunch of little badges made with SHIRLEY TEMPLE POLICE stamped on them. Every kid who came on the set had to wear a badge and join the force and swear allegiance to Shirley, guaranteeing to obey her. Pretty soon, we had almost everyone on the set wearing a badge, with Shirley sporting one labeled CHIEF…She was a little big shot and loved it. If I had to leave the set, I’d tell her, ‘Shirley, now you take charge of things,’ and she did. She strutted around giving orders, like ‘I want you to take that set down and put up a castle.’ The grip would pretend to carry out her instructions, satisfying her, going along with the game.

In an October 1988 interview, Leonard Maltin discussed the making of “Heidi” with Shirley. “I remember hearing you say that the thing you remembered most about Jean Hersholt from “Heidi” was…” “Glue!” Shirley quickly interjected with a laugh. “Well, he had this big beard glued on every morning and I thought it was kind of an interesting smell. I guess I was an early glue sniffer!”



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

Temple Tuesday: Sara's Birthday

Today’s TT photo shows the birthday party sequence from Shirley’s Technicolor classic, “The Little Princess.” How do you make bad news even worse? Have it follow a super joyous occasion! Sara Crewe (played by Shirley) barely gets to blow out the candles when she is told that her father has died in the war. It’s a Shirley movie, so of course there’s a happy ending!

I love how even for this publicity shot, all the actors are in full character. Mary Nash as the evil Miss Minchin glares at Shirley. Marcia Mae Jones who plays Shirley’s arch rival in the film is appropriately haughty. Shirley is happy as could be, as she rips into a birthday present.



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Heidi Set Design

In my collection I have a number of photos documenting the sets for Shirley Temple’s 1937 classic film, “Heidi.” Directed by Allan Dwan, the art direction was by Hans Peters and set decorations were by Thomas Little. The first photo shows Delmar Watson, Marcia Mae Jones, Shirley, and frequent Temple co-star Helen Westley. In this movie her role was Blinda Anna. Set #11 was her home:



Zooming in you can see the shadow of a worker:



…and the set lights:



Set #26 was the interior of Anna’s home:



Only one scene made it into the final film showing this interior. Here, Blind Anna explains to the new Pastor (Thomas Beck) why Heidi’s Grandfather became a recluse.



Set #99 shows the train station at Mayenfeld:



A lot of time and money went into the planning and creation of these sets, and yet many were only viewed for a few seconds. This is about all that we see of the station as Heidi’s wicked Aunt hustles her off to Frankfurt:





Set #112 shows the village of Frankfurt:



Two detail shots:





Set #113 also shows Frankfurt, but mainly the Marionette Theater that Heidi and Klara attend on Christmas evening:



A closeup of the entrance:



Because of the long exposure we have a blurred worker in this detailed view. Note the unidentified woman and what appears to be at least two other pairs of legs adorned in stylish shoes.



Heidi’s Grandfather (Jean Hersholt) waits outside the theater for her to exit after the show:



Unfortunately, she is too short to see him.



Set #128 is the interior of the theater; MANY thanks to Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) for sharing this still with me!



...which is only visible for a few seconds as the children are leaving the show.



On a side-note; all three of the costumes Shirley wears that are shown here still exist!







I hope you enjoyed this brief behind-the-scenes post!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.