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: Two Early Birds Get The Worm

Once again on Temple Tuesday we find ourselves covering Shirley’s 1936 classic, “Captain January.” Who could forget her opening number “Early Bird,” the memorable tune with music by Lew Pollack and lyrics by Sidney D. Mitchell? Even without Starbucks (or Diet Coke), Shirley wakes up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as she gets ready to greet the new day!



For this number, Shirley wore a simple undershirt and a deceptively simple pair of tap pants. Thanks to Shirley expert supreme, Rita Dubas, you can see what they look like today:



These were not part of the 2015 “Love, Shirley Temple” auction. Nope. Rita found them on the rubylane website; they had been owned by actress and former costar Jane Withers (Shirley’s arch nemesis from “Bright Eyes”) and were being resold by the person who had bought them from her. I asked Rita if she typically looks at rubylane and she responded:

I look at rubylane very rarely, only if I remember. This was a total, meant-to-be fluke!

I’ll let her tell the rest of the story herself:

I had a weird feeling that I knew what the pants were when I saw them, so I went to the Theriault’s catalog and checked the stamped wardrobe numbers. They had the same prefix (52) as the other labeled “Captain January” costumes, and synched with the films before and after (“The Littlest Rebel”—51 and “Poor Little Rich Girl”—53).



I opened another browser window at the same time, went to YouTube and was scrolling through the “Early Bird” scene over and over with one eye, with the other watching the listing on rubylane. Everything seemed to match, even to the fact that light blue fabric would photograph almost white on black and white film.

My nose was practically pressed against the screen when my husband walked in the door. John: “What in h**l are you doing?” Me: “Mppphhhh!” He crept slowly over to the computer as if he was going to drop a net over me, and I pointed. He poked a finger in my back. “BUY THEM. NOW.” Me: “Mppphhhh!” And there you are.

I spent some anxious moments before they arrived, wondering if they were the right size for a child, or would they be too large? I kept telling myself that the numbers wouldn’t lie…and they didn’t…they are TINY! I barely touched or breathed near them before I put them in a shadowbox frame. The careful detailing on the side ties were what got me.



Instead of simply being sewn into the side seam, there are two pairs of carefully stitched buttonholes so the ties could easily adjust. Needed if active Shirley enjoyed a hearty lunch before wearing them!

When I got them, someone asked why they photographed almost white on film. Light blue pretty much disappears in black and white; if these were white, I think they would have photographed too bright for the lower light bedroom.



Is that the end of the story? Heck no! As most movie buffs know, wardrobe tends to make multiple copies of a costume just in case something goes wrong. If the outfit is part of a vigorous dance number, then the studio better be EXTRA prepared! Even for a pair of tap pants, the wardrobe department at Fox was ready. Here’s where Melissa, aka “The Colonel,” enters the story as the second Early Bird. She happened to be in communication with her good friend Rita and found out about this unique find. Wanting to take a look at the photos of Rita’s purchase on the rubylane site she noticed...A SECOND PAIR FOR SALE!!

Front:



Back:



and the tag number:



Here are a few more detailed views of Melissa’s “Early Bird” tap pants:









Now Rita & Melissa have twin Shirley costumes, proving that the Early Bird(s) truly does get the worm(s)!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Six Degrees of Shirley: San Diego's Neil Morgan

Sorry for the Shirley Temple overload folks, but I'll just warn you now...it will probably continue for a bit. Today, author Rita Dubas shared a little tidbit that should appeal to ST and San Diego admirers alike. As she tells it:

"I wanted to send two images of an item that made me think of you with your San Diego connection—I ran across this 45 rpm record a couple of years ago and did some research at the time on Neil Morgan, a San Diego Tribune columnist/author. I looked him up again yesterday, and discovered that he passed just 10 days before Shirley, at age 89! Not sure why Shirley is pictured on the 45 sleeve; I think the other woman is Morgan’s wife, Judith. I’m assuming they were friends, and this must date from the mid-60s with the Dr. Strangelove reference. It seems he was an accomplished pianist, all snark on the record notes aside."

Never heard of Neil Morgan? He was an award-winning newsman, author, and San Diego media icon recently passed away at the age of 89.

“He loved this city. He nagged it,” wife Judith Morgan said Saturday evening.

He wrote for the San Diego Tribune from 1950—1992 in positions including columnist and editor. He continued writing at The San Diego Union-Tribune, the newspaper created from the merger of the San Diego Union and the Tribune, and later for the nonprofit Voice of San Diego, a news and opinion website that he helped start.

“If it’s important and it happened — or is about to happen — in San Diego, odds are it will show up in Morgan’s column first,” San Diego Magazine noted in 1981.

He and his wife collaborated on several magazine articles and books, including “Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography,” an authorized biography of writer and illustrator Ted Geisel.

“We were blessed because we were married almost 50 years and had the joy of respecting each other, loving each other and writing together,” his wife said.



See more vintage Shirley Temple Black photos on my main website.

Welcome to the Big Easy, Circa 1950s

To get you in the proper frame of mind for the upcoming annual New Orleans celebration of Mardi Gras, I present two vintage images of this fabled southern city. First one for today shows the Old Absinthe House bar, located on the corner of Rue Bourbon and Rue Bienville. Its motto is, “EVERYONE YOU HAVE KNOWN OR EVER WILL KNOW, EVENTUALLY ENDS UP AT THE OLD ABSINTHE HOUSE.” Some of the people that have ended up there include Oscar Wilde, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Jenny Lind, Enrico Caruso, General Robert E Lee, Franklin Roosevelt, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra, and let's not forget Jean Lafitte's ghost!

Built in 1806, it was later rechristened "The Absinthe Room" when mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the famous Absinthe House Frappe here in 1874. The Old Absinthe House still has the decorative marble fountains that were used to drip cool water over sugar cubes into glasses of Absinthe. The fountain was to be destroyed at the start of Prohibition, serving as a powerful message to proprietors and others that Absinthe was to be abolished from the United States. Fortunately, the bar was moved under cover of darkness to a warehouse on Bourbon street in order to save it until it was returned to its original home in early 2004.



Image #2 for today shows Prima's 500 Club, run by Leon Prima, the older brother of famous singer Louis Prima (voice of King Louis in Disney's "The Jungle Book"). Lilly Christine the Cat Girl's name can be seen on the Club's signage. She graced the cover of dozens of national magazines, and appeared in a few movies. Considered the top attraction on Bourbon Street. Musician Sam Butera, who worked with "the Cat Girl," recalls her popularity, "One time they had a hurricane threatening. People were standing outside the 500 Club a block long waiting to get in. That’s how popular she was. With a hurricane warning!"



The 500 Club is now Jazz Gumbo gift shop. As an extra treat for my "adult" readers, here's a youtube clip of Lilly Christine:



Following up to yesterday's post about Shirley Temple not being allowed to get her hair wet, author (Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star) and designer Rita Dubas sent a shot of Shirley in Palm Springs. Same situation, same dry-haired Shirley. Poor little thing just couldn't have fun like other little kids, and it sure shows on her face.



Many thanks to Rita for sharing this rare photo!

See more vintage and current New Orleans photos on my main website.