Shirley’s Birthday Cakes

On what would have been Shirley Temple’s 98th birthday, Daveland will celebrate with a few new (to my collection at least!) shots of the child actress and diplomat on that special day. In 1934, Fox celebrated Shirley with a party. From the publicity blurb:

SHIRLEY TEMPLE, five year old Fox starlet, made her social bow as hostess at her birthday party (April 21st), when she entertained a bunch of her kid friends to tea, birthday cake, ice cream and a puppet show, in the Café de Paris at Movietone City.

Sharp-eyed readers with a calculator realize that Shirley was actually six in 1934, but thanks to the studio and Shirley’s parents’ attempt to make her appear more precocious to the public, they shaved a year off of her age. Other sharp-eyed readers will see the kid on the right picking his teeth, the same little boy gawking at Shirley as he hands her a gift. Thanks to Shirley expert supreme Rita Dubas I learned a bit more about his story:

The little boy on the right who picked that unfortunate moment to perform some oral hygiene at Shirley's 1934 birthday bash is Pat McCall, nephew of journalist Peggy McCall. Pat had a monthly column in Childen's Play Mate Magazine, "Adventures in Movie-Land", with stories "told" to his aunt. Peggy was a publicist for Fox as well as a freelance writer for Play Mate and other magazines, according to IMDb. Shirley's party was featured in the September 1934 Play Mate issue, using the same pic and identifying Pat as the boy on the right. All of the guests were the children of Hollywood writers. Pat goes into great detail describing the party, including the event's photographer, "Max" (Max Munn Autrey) and that the favors were beach balls and autographed photos.



Two years later in 1936, Shirley was celebrating her “seventh” birthday (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) and was given this ginormous card from her Cleveland fans:

Shirley Temple was 7 years old today and she celebrated by doing no work before the film camera, playing with gifts, which included a pony and a bicycle, and later visiting crippled children at a hospital. She is shown here with a huge birthday greetings scroll sent by admirers in Cleveland.



That’s a lot of signatures!



Below she is shown with a birthday cake from that same year. From the accompanying caption:

Shirley Temple turns seven years old today; at the same time, she receives a higher weekly salary—namely, $1,000 a week! This most precious of all little girls is the darling of every nation. Our picture shows Shirley at the "dress rehearsal" in front of her birthday cake, complete with seven candles.



For the age old question, can one ever have too much cake? The expression on Shirley’s face seems to say it all.



See more Shirley Temple birthday photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: 96th Birthday Bonanza!

Today marks the 96th “Heavenly Birthday” for Shirley Temple Black, actress, diplomat, wife, mother, and author. One of the most infamous tales about Shirley was how her movie studio, Fox, got her mother to agree to shave a year off of her birthdate to make her antics appear all the more precocious. Above, you can see her original Santa Monica Hospital birth certificate, with the true year of 1928. Below is a shot of Shirley at age one.



For the earliest deep dark secrets about Shirley, look no further than this Important Event card, diligently recorded by her mother, Gertrude:



Gertrude also charted Shirley’s growth progress:



Shirley’s studio birthday parties at Fox were legendary. Here’s the first one, from April 1934. Is that little boy on the right actually using a toothpick while the camera is snapping his photo? Such poor manners - bet he wasn’t invited back again!



By the time of her 1936 birthday, Shirley looks a little bored with it all, despite the spectacular cake! Shirley would later recall:

Fox would have (a party) for a large number of people I didn’t know, a lot of children I’d never seen in my life and never saw again. And I was hostess. It was kind of strange. I figured it was part of the job. Fox would pay h alf the cost of the parties and my mother and father - or I - would pay the other half. Why I had to pay for the parties at all is a mystery, but that’s how it went. And there’d be two hundred kids, maybe more. I thought those parties were a big bore.



Shirley’s first stand-in, Marilyn Granas, had this recollection about the parties:

They always had lovely food and lovely prizes. Everybody got a favor and I remember one of the favors was a beautiful leather autograph book that Shirley had autographed. I’ve still got mine.

Shirley’s last studio birthday at Fox was held during the filming of “Young People.” Stand-in Mary Lou Isleib is two over from Shirley’s left.



For 1940, Shirley got not one, but TWO incredible birthday cakes! That’s what happens when you’re the most beloved child star of all time. The shot below was from her party at the studio commissary, which had a Dutch theme. Dickie Moore, Shirley’s first on-screen kisser in “Miss Annie Rooney” (1942), recalled this birthday celebration in his autobiography,  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:

The day of Shirley’s party all guests parked their cars in the main parking lot and were met by buses and driven to the commissary. There Shirley stood at the head of a long reception line, gravely shaking hands with all arrivals, telling each of us how glad she was we had come, and thanking us for the presents we had brought, which were passed along to join the growing mountain of unopened packages, most of which were later sent to an orphanage. Everyone ate cake, while mothers tried to get Hymie Fink to take their children’s pictures. There were many party favors, including a pen with a magnifying glass on one end and Shirley’s name inscribed on it.



If you’re wondering about the art on the wall, here’s a closeup:



By 1944, Shirley was working for Producer David O. Selznick. Her sweet sixteen birthday party was attended by her costars from “I’ll Be Seeing You.” L-R: Dorothy Mann, Tom Tully, stand-in Mary Lou Isleib, Guy Madison, Shirley, and John Derek.



In 1946, Shirley turned eighteen and celebrated the milestone birthday on the set of “Honeymoon” with then husband, John Agar.



Shirley’s last movie-birthday party was held during the filming of “The Story of Seabiscuit” (1949). At left is co-star Barry Fitzgerald, Director David Butler, Shirley, and John Agar.



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: 93rd Birthday Anniversary Blowout!

Last Friday (April 23rd) was the 93rd Anniversary of Shirley Temple’s birthday; I think that deserves a photo blowout supreme, don’t you? Shirley’s birthday was an annual event to top all events, both personally and in the movies. In 1934’s “Baby Take A Bow,” she received a coveted ballet dress AND performed for her guests. So giving! Shirley was also on hand for her friends’ birthdays, too, including Bill Robinson, who was celebrating at Fox circa May 1935 in what is now known as the Shirley Room:

In “Captain January,” Shirley received a cherished hand-carved doll from Cap (Guy Kibbee); unfortunately the birthday fun was temporarily dampened by an unplanned visit from the mean old truant officer (Sara Haden). How dare she!

On her eighth birthday (which she still thought was only her seventh) in 1937, British actress and music hall star Gracie Fields stopped by Shirley’s Brentwood home for a piece of cake. Looks delish, Shirley!

If you don’t think Shirley’s birthdays were a big deal, get a load of these pics showing her birthday parties at Fox. From 1938:

Here’s what the invite looked like:

And like every polite well-mannered girl of the time, Shirley wrote thank-you notes!

From April 1939:

Zooming in for a closer look at Shirley:

The Fox Studio Chef himself wishes Shirley a happy birthday in 1939:

One of Shirley’s most famous movie birthdays was in “The Little Princess.” Moments afterward, she learns her dad is dead and that she’s penniless. Happy Birthday, indeed!

On her eleventh birthday (which was actually her 12th), Shirley serves up her own birthday cake in between takes on the set of “Young People,” April 23, 1940:

Like the rest of us, the birthdays kept on rolling for Shirley, like her sweet sixteen which was held during the filming of “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Here she is allowing her stand-in Mary Lou Isleib to take a whiff of the perfume she received:

On the set of “Honeymoon,” Shirley cuts the cake with her then husband, John Agar:

Many of Shirley’s former costars/coworkers stopped by to celebrate with her, including Adolphe Menjou and James Dunn:

Shirley turned legal on the set of her 1949 film, “The Story of Seabiscuit”:

The last birthday photo of Shirley in my collection is from the Red Skelton show, which was in 1963:

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Shirley! I hope it was a good one!

See more Shirley photos at my main website.