Temple Tuesday: Turkey in the Desert

In 1936, actress Shirley Temple and her family enjoyed turkey in Palm Springs. From the accompanying caption:

Shirley Temple, spending a brief vacation on the desert here (at Desert Inn) is shown whetting a knife to carve a Thanksgiving turkey. While here the child actress is learning new dance routines, is swimming and getting a sun tan for her next picture. Associated Press Photo 11/24/1936

If you want to know what the Desert Inn looked like in 1936, check out the post card below, stamped December 3, 1936. Perhaps this person crossed paths with Shirley!



Below is an ad from 1936 for the Desert Inn. Sun-lazing sounds faaaaaaaabulous!



Local papers were abuzz reporting about Shirley’s visit. From The Desert Sun, November 27, 1936:

Shirley Temple has been resting at the Desert Inn for a few days, accompanied by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Temple. After a few days in the sun Shirley was abloe to start work on several new songs for. her latest picture “Stowaway” which will be released around Christmas time. Gordon and Revel, famous song writers were here to help with the music.



“Stowaway” was filmed from late September 1936 to early December. Most likely, Shirley was working on the “That’s What I Want for Christmas” number which was tacked onto the end of the film at the last minute to coincide with its Christmas day released.



Elsewhere in the paper:

An informal tea was held at the Desert Inn Sunday afternoon [November 22]. Among those in the lounge for the occasion were Mrs. Wm. Warren Card of Paris, France, with her niece, Miss Martha Ann Henderson of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Bert Clark and daughter of Altadena; Mr. and Mrs. Marcus L. Lawrence of Rimrock, Arizona, and Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Albert Allaton, New York City, R. C. Sherriff, author of “Journey’s End,” and his mother from Esher Surrey, England; Mr. Jack Tidball, prominent tennis player; and Shirley Temple with her parents and a party of friends.

The Palo Verde Valley Times reported that Shirley and her mother also attended the 35th annual convention of the Southern Districts’ federation of women’s clubs, held in the Desert Inn. Mrs. Nellie Coffman, proprietor of the Inn, and Palm Springs pioneer, was signally honored at the convention. The paper also carried this ad for the popular Shirley Temple doll, also just in time for the Christmas holiday!



Below is all that’s left to remind Palm Springs tourists of what the Desert Inn once was:



See more Shirley Temple holiday photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley’s Christmas Quintet

Today for Temple Tuesday we celebrate a quintet of Shirley movies that take place during the Christmas holiday. First up is “Bright Eyes” (1934), one of my favorite Shirley films. There is a very touching Christmas Eve scene where Shirley’s widowed mother (Lois Wilson) confides in her daughter that she misses her husband. The next morning, little Shirley is celebrated by all her aviator friends who used to work with her father before he “cracked up.” She is showered with gifts and love.



Yes, that’s mistletoe in the pilot’s hand. When I attempted to look up the meaning of the branch and berries on Google, this is what it said:

Historically, mistletoe represents romance, fertility, and vitality. Because nothing says love like bird feces and poison. But seriously, the Celtic Druids valued mistletoe for its healing properties and likely were among the first to decorate with it.



Who knew Google has a sense of humor? In “Stowaway” (1936), Shirley is a little girl who must flee her home to avoid being killed, then gets robbed, stows away on a ship, befriends a rich playboy (Robert Young), runs afoul of Alice Faye’s character’s mother-in-law (Helen Westley), almost gets put in an orphanage, and then has to plea to a judge to keep her “new” parents (Young and Faye) from getting a divorce. Doesn’t sound very Christmas-y, does it? Well, that’s what happy endings are for! The final scene has Shirley singing, “That’s What I Want For Christmas,” and judging by all the toys, dolls, and trains surrounding her, she gets everything on her list.



In “Heidi” (1937), Shirley sings “Silent Night” at the Sesemann household with crippled Klara (Marcia Mae Jones), wicked governess Fräulein Rottenmeier (Mary Nash), Herr Sesemann (Sidney Blackmer), and all the household servants.



It is a touching scene as the little girl gazes in wonderment upon the tree, ornaments, and abundance of gifts in the house, followed by a cut to the townspeople, nuns, and law enforcement singing the Christmas carol as well. Pardon the colorization; it was the best clip I could find!



A vintage hand-tinted photo from the same scene in “Heidi”:



“The Blue Bird” (1940) begins on Christmas Eve, as Mytyl (Shirley) and her little brother (Johnny Russell) rush home for dinner after an afternoon of bird hunting. The merriment inside a mansion causes the poor little girl to stop and gawk, wishing she had all the riches that the people inside did. Regardless, she is too proud to accept cookies from the kind gentlemen who works there.



After a long journey in a dream sequence (or was it?), the children awake on Christmas morning to discover that the war has been called off and they can celebrate the holiday with their parents.



Note the festive garland around the door?



In “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944), the Morgan family celebrates the Christmas holiday by welcoming their niece Mary (Ginger Rogers) for a visit. Mary meets a handsome Sergeant (Joseph Cotten) on the train there. Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful romance, right? Not so fast, folks. Mary is on parole (for accidentally killing the man who tried to rape her) and Zach is on leave from a military hospital, attempting to adjust to his PTSD. Are they honest with each other? Of course not! However, Barbara Morgan (Shirley) inadvertently spills the beans to Zach about Barbara and…well, you’ll just have to watch it yourself. In this scene from the movie, Barbara is about to go on a date with Lieutenant Bruce, played by John Derek, who put the “Derek” in Bo Derek! You’ll note that in both “The Blue Bird” and “IBSY” Shirley’s mother is played by Spring Byington, who would eventually play Major Nelson’s mother in “I Dream of Jeannie.”



“I’ll Be Seeing You” may not be the happiest of holiday movies, but it is still worth a watch and guaranteed to draw a tear from the driest of ducts! 

Which Christmas Shirley movie will you watch this season?

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.