Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Rita

In June 1942, Shirley Temple was between film gigs and paid a visit to Columbia Studios. One of her stops was for a few publicity shots with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, who does not seem very pleased that her dancing partner is being borrowed by Shirley. The shot below was accompanied by the following caption:

BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY — Shirley Temple, on a recent day off, visited Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth on Columbia’s “You Were Never Lovelier,” set. Standing is Xavier Cugat, the rhumba king, who plays himself in the musical.



The next photo opp I have in my collection showing Shirley and Rita together is from April 1943 when the two  welcomed Madame Chiang Kai-shek to the Hollywood Bowl. Left to right are Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Pickford, Shirley, Loretta Young, Rita, and Barbara Stanwyck.



In the fall of 1945, Shirley found herself back at Columbia Studios. From the accompanying caption:

WELCOME HOME — Director Charles Vidor, Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford welcome Shirley Temple back to the Columbia lot on the “Gilda” set. Shirley recently starred in “Kiss and Tell” at the same studio.

“Kiss and Tell” had a $1.2 million budget while “Gilda” came in at $2 million.



“Kiss and Tell” was released October 18, 1945, and “Gilda” had its New York City premiere on March 14 1946. A lovely portrait of Shirley in angora to publicize “Kiss and Tell” below:



The American Film Institute website states that Rita Hayworth was the original choice for “Kiss and Tell”:

According to pre-production news items in Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety, Columbia spent two years negotiating for the screen rights to the F. Hugh Herbert play. The studio initially conceived the play as a vehicle for Rita Hayworth and assigned Al Hill to direct.…According to Columbia publicity material, Herbert based the character of "Corliss Archer" on his teenage daughter. A New York Times article notes that David O. Selznick, who loaned Shirley Temple to Columbia for the production, initially demanded approval of the screenplay and daily rushes because he was concerned that the subject matter was too "sexy" for former child star Temple.

Herbert’s play of the same name debuted on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on March 17, 1943 and ran until June 23, 1945, with a total of 956 performances.

That last tidbit I could find about the two actresses was this none-too-flattering remembrance from Shirley’s autobiography, Child Star:

As the New Year [1949] rang in the Hollywood Women’s Press Club nominated me, after Rita Hayworth, the second least cooperative star in the industry. The vote came to me as a thunderbolt. My lifelong conviction held that a critical aspect of professionalism was popularity, including popularity with the working press, upon whose opinion the public relied…At my request, on January 5, 1949, I met with the entire club. The reception was sincerely unfriendly. Epithets like “stinker” and “always totally unavailable” were delivered, albeit with a smile. One writer claimed to have tried unsuccessfully for an interview for three years. Only columnist Hedda Hopper rose to shift the blame, saying officious underlings of the Selznick studio had rejected press inquiries without consulting me. In rebuttal another woman snarled things would never change; I was simply terrified to speak candidly with the press. “How about now, this afternoon?” I called back from the podium. Far too late to rescind my award, the group apologized as individuals, and lined up to schedule exclusives. Far from an egotistic exercise, my appearance recognized the pervasive power that the Women’s Press Club exercises, its opinion echoing in unexpected Hollywood crannies, as I soon found.

Shortly after, Shirley and then husband John Agar attended a party at Errol Flynn’s home. When she declined his invitation to join him in his steam room, he replied, “So that’s why the press voted you most uncooperative, eh?”

And that’s all I have for the Rita/Shirley connection!
 
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley at the Bowl, 1943

In April 1943, Shirley Temple and a slew of other celebrities (including left to right Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Pickford, Loretta Young, Rita Hayworth, and Barbara Stanwyck) welcomed Madame Chiang Kai-shek to the Hollywood Bowl. The pictures accompanying this post were shot by John Florea, LIFE staff photographer. There was plenty of coverage for the event, including a story in the April 19, 1943 issue of LIFE magazine:

MADAME CHIANG IN HOLLYWOOD
She finishes nationwide tour with stirring speech to 30,000 at Bowl

To the tinseled home of make-believe last week went a realistic star of the first magnitude. Under the serene blue California skies Madame Chiang Kai-shek concluded her nationwide tour at a spectacular mass meeting held in the Hollywood Bowl. All Hollywood had contributed talent toward making this event a triumph of showmanship. But it was Madame Chiang’s gracious charm, her indomitable spirit and her deeply stirring account of China’s six-year war against Japanese aggression which made the dramatic climax of the afternoon. Her fists clenched, emotion welling in her voice, China’s First Lady reviewed the unforgettable, “ghastly memories” which have been burned into her mind and heart. She began her historical summary by picturing the insuperable obstacles which confronted her as secretary-general of the Chinese Air Force at the war’s start in 1937.…As Madame Chiang spoke, her sympathetic audience listened in grave silence, tears springing to many eyes. No Hollywood-conceived pageant could match the awesome “nightmares” which Madame Chiang recreated with the magic of her words.…Madame Chiang closed her speech with the pledge that China and the other United Nations would not permit “aggression to raise its satanic head and threaten man’s greatest heritage: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all peoples.”



Note the pin that Shirley is wearing; it came up for sale at the “Love, Shirley Temple, Take Two: From Schoolgirl to Storybook” auction in 2015. From the Theriault’s catalog description:

SHIRLEY TEMPLE’S DIAMOND AND RUBY VICTORY PIN FROM WWII

Formed as the letter "V" for Victory, the famous symbol of the Allied Forces during WWII, the 1.5" 14Kt pin has incised initials of S T, and a crossbar decorated with three round-cut rubies and a 0.10 diamond baguette which are the letter "v" in morse code. A favorite pin of Shirley Temple during the early 1940s. Presale Estimate: $600+; Realized Price: $1,700



Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) tracked down a number of other vintage articles that gave more information about the program at the Bowl:

With the audience requested to be seated by 2:45 p.m. promptly, the program will be opened by Spencer Tracy presenting Henry Fonda, actor, who is now a seaman in the U.S. Navy, and Dr. C M. Wassell, Commander, Medical Corps, U.S.N.R., and hero of the evacuation of Java.…A committee of 19 actresses will receive Madame Chiang. Mary Pickford will present her with roses. Others serving on the committee will be Joan Bennett, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, Judy Garland, Janet Gaynor, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Lamour, Ida Lupino, Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley Temple, Lana Turner, and Loretta Young.

Not too shabby; that is DEFINITELY an “A” List of stars! Below is Madame Chiang addressing the audience at the Bowl, between red (left side of the shell) and blue panels (right side) decorated with the official seals of the United States and China. This event was the first time since Pearl Harbor that the Hollywood Bowl had been filled to capacity.



Madame Chiang, in a black silk gown decorated with the silver wings of the Chinese air force, received a bouquet of pink roses from Mary Pickford and a guard of honor comprising almost every top feminine movie star in Hollywood. She sat quietly through the pageant that the picture industry conceived and then delivered her 45-minute address.





Another shot of Shirley and friends:



David O. Selznick (“Gone with the Wind”) staged and produced the pageant. Shirley was under contract to Selznick and filming “Since You Went Away” at the time, which is most likely why she was in attendance.



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Flagg Day!

In 1941, Shirley Temple starred in “Kathleen,” her one and only movie for Louis B. Mayer and MGM. In the photo and lobby card shown here, she wears a cute nautical themed outfit.

The same outfit can be seen in this charcoal sketch that famed artist James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) drew of Shirley for the film’s publicity.

Flagg had also drawn Shirley in 1936 for this Photoplay magazine cover:

Here, the artist sketches actress Norma Shearer, wearing one of her costumes from “Romeo and Juliet” (1936):

The final illustration also made the cover of Photoplay:

Flagg's charcoal sketches were on the cover of Photoplay magazine from 1936-1938. Here’s another one of his pieces showing blonde bombshell Jean Harlow:

Flagg is probably best known for his “I WANT YOU” World War One recruitment poster:

It was Flagg’s famous drawing that put a face to “Uncle Sam,” which was originally featured on the July 6, 1916 cover of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper with the headline “What are you doing for preparedness?” The words “I Want You” were added in February 1917.

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

Screen Gem Saturdays: Debbie Reynolds Collection at the Paley Center

After having missed seeing the first installment of Debbie Reynolds' Hollywood Memorabilia Collection in person, I decided I better not let that happen again. After checking out the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA, I headed over to Beverly Hills to the Paley Media Center to see what Debbie had left to sell.

I will admit I was a little disappointed...and even more bummed that I missed the first batch. This was the first time I'd been inside the Paley Center, where a painting of Eva Gabor greets visitors to the lobby.



Back to Debbie. The first auction had a mind boggling array of classic memorabilia from some of Hollywood's most famous films. This time around...zzzzzzzzzz. The highlights included seeing Scarlett O'Hara's hat that was worn with her drapery dress in "Gone with the Wind":





This lacy hat that has yellowed over the years was also worn by Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind," in the scene where she is caught in an embrace with Ashley (Leslie Howard) at the sawmill.





An outfit worn by Marilyn Monroe in the movie "Bus Stop":





I can't imagine that Norma Shearer ate very much cake when she squeezed into this gown from "Marie Antoinette" (1936):



The hippest display had to be this collection of suits worn by The Rat Pack:



A number of Judy Garland costumes were also visible, such as this wedding dress from "The Pirate" (1948):



There were a ton-o-costumes from MGM's splashy 1951 musical "Show Boat":







The exhibit itself is very well done; photos or constantly looping film clips accompany each outfit so that you can see it in its cinematic context. In all fairness, new costumes and props are still being added over the next few months, but part 2 still does not begin to compare to its predecessor.

To see more Paley Center for Media Debbie Reynolds collection photos, visit my regular website.