Temple Tuesday: Shirley at Shugie's

This November 1944 image shows Shirley Temple at Sugie’s Tropics in Beverly Hills, with owner Harry Sugarman in the center, sitting next to her good friend, Betty Jean Lail. The soldiers on the ends of the booth are their dates, Bob and Brown (no last names!). Betty Jean’s copy of the photo had this written on the back:

This date was all on the spur of the moment. I had been out with Gertrude [Shirley’s mother] all day long and while I was out Shirley called mother and they made the date. It was fun to go with them, but I couldn’t stand the Lt. I was with. We went to the Pladium [sp] and it was awful. It certainly isn’t my idea of a place to dance. Besides he couldn’t dance.

Shirley and Betty Jean met at the Westlake School for Girls. The photo below shows them circa 1940; Shirley is in the first row, third from right; Betty Jean is next to her, center of the row.



Their meeting was detailed in Shirley’s autobiography, Child Star, where Betty Jean was referred to as “Plump Girl”:

Struggling under an armload of seventh-grade texts, I was assigned an unoccupied seat at a broad wooden desk in the rear row, one already shared by a plump girl with red. hair. Smiling briefly, she slid sideways along our common bench to ake room, then stared fixedly into her book.…Any alien celebrity suddenly plopped into a class of eleven ordinary girls could hardly expect effusive greetings.…It was difficult to see where I fitted, let alone worm my way in.…Sole exception in this isolation was my seatmate, Plump Girl. Enforced proximity probably evoked common ground, a jolly, extroverted view of things. From the outset her companionship saved me from being a complete loner.

Shirley became President of the Camp-Fire Girls and is shown at home in this October 1940 image folding Christmas Seals which would be mailed as part of an annual appeal for funds to fight tuberculosis. Betty Jean is the smiling girl second from right:



The 1942 photo below shows Betty Jean standing above Shirley:



Betty Jean was one of Shirley’s bridesmaids in her 1945 wedding to John Agar. By this time, Betty Jean (far left) had dropped the excess pounds.



The two remained life-long friends, as can be seen in the photo below:



Back to Sugie’s…a little more than three years later after the first photo in this post was taken, Shirley and then husband John Agar were back at Sugie’s “celebrating” their third wedding anniversary, September 1948. 



A vintage Sugie’s menu:



Shirley even had a drink named after her: “Adolescence,” which was described as “Not a kick in a carload.”



The previously posted image below shows the couple a year later, inside the Vine Street location of Sugie’s. At least Shirley is smiling this time, on the occasion of their fourth anniversary!



Over at Tiki Central, I found this image of the exterior of the Vine Street Tropics:



The Beverly Hills location closed on August 21, 1953, as seen in this clipping from The Los Angeles Mirror:



Oh, to have been able to go to this sale, advertised in December of 1952!



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley and Cher

This post is a Shirley sandwich; two Temples wrapped around a Cher filling.

On October 14, 1940 “The Littlest Rebel” was dramatized as an hour-long play for Lux Radio Theater, with Shirley Temple (five years older than when she made the movie), Claude Rains, and Preston Foster. The radio show was performed in front of a weekly studio audience at the Lux Radio Playhouse located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood.



I had vague knowledge that the theatre still existed, but never dug further to find out exactly where it was…until (here comes the Cher filling) I learned it was connected to one of my semi-guilty cinematic pleasures: “Burlesque.” Released in 2010, the film did well at the box office but was panned by critics for being clichéd. I agree that the dialogue doesn’t win any literary awards, but the performances are solid, the set design and cinematography are fantastic, and the musical numbers are off the charts. So there. Give it a break. The exterior location that was used as the Burlesque club that Cher owns in the movie is the (former) CBS Radio Playhouse, now known as the Montalbán Theatre.



The Beaux-Arts building (designed by architects Myron Hunt and H.C. Chambers) opened January 19, 1927 as “Wilkes’ Vine Street Theatre.” In March 1931, the theater was converted to a movie house, titled “Mirror Theatre,” part of a chain run by Howard Hughes and Harold B. Franklin. That company soon fell apart, and by the mid 1930s, the theatre was operating under the name “Studio Theatre.” CBS bought the theatre in 1936 and converted it to a live performance radio auditorium and radio studio for local affiliate KNX, under the name “CBS Radio Playhouse.” CBS’s Lux Radio Theatre moved there from New York that year (which is why some sources give the theatre’s name as Lux Radio Playhouse). This popular anthology show featured radio adaptations of stage plays and film scripts performed by well-known actors in front of a live audience; Cecil B. DeMille was for many years its producer and host. This was when Shirley performed “Rebel” there.



A&P heir and arts patron Huntington Hartford bought the theatre from CBS in 1953 and re-opened it as the “Huntington Hartford Theatre.” Hartford ran the theater successfully for ten years with high-profile productions featuring the biggest stars of the era, but he eventually lost interest in patronizing the arts and sold it to James Doolittle, who renamed it the “Doolittle Theatre.” Doolittle ran the theatre successfully for 20 years, after which it was acquired by UCLA. In 1999, the Ricardo Montalbán Foundation bought the theatre and re-opened it as “Ricardo Montalbán Theatre” in 2004. Which brings us to “Burlesque.”

In the film, Ali (Christina Aguilera) comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom. After pounding the pavement and failing to get discovered, she stumbles upon something that makes her stop cold.



Just in case you weren’t sure that this is a mystical turning point in the film, there’s plenty of fog to clue you in.



Lo and behold, it’s the Burlesque Lounge.



Little Ali is like Alice in Wonderland; she must check out this rabbit hole!



I combined a few frames from a pan shot in the movie to get this image:



How the same area looks today:



If you’re looking for the location where Cher has a catfight with Kristen Bell in a parking lot (shown below), you’re too late. The parking lot is now a multi-level parking garage.



One more shot of the exterior for you. I parked illegally on a Friday afternoon in Hollywood just to get these photos with my dog barking up a storm as he waited not-so-patiently. The things I do for Temple Tuesdays!



While doing some research for this post, I stumbled upon a fun 10th anniversary article about “Burlesque” on the Entertainment Weekly website. Here are some of the highlights:

STEVEN ANTIN (writer-director): My sister…had a show that she created at the Viper Room [for] the Pussycat Dolls. They were becoming a popular thing, so she decided to do a bigger show at the Roxy.…I wrote a story for her show that loosely weaved together their musical numbers. The show exploded.…I got some cameras and shot the show over a few nights and edited together a little movie. That was the genesis.



AGUILERA: I wanted to make sure Burlesque felt right before confirming, so it was important to meet Steven in person. His warm and genuine nature encouraged me to confirm, along with him interweaving so many pieces of my love for Etta James [into the script], knowing my personal passion for Burlesque [on] my Back to Basics album, and also [with me having] performed in the original Pussycat Dolls stage show at the Roxy.

ANTIN: For the role of Ali, we wanted an actress with a very big voice. Christina was the choice. The role of Tess could’ve gone several ways. At first, I was interested in Queen Latifah or Michelle Pfeiffer. But Clint came up with and loved the idea of Cher. Amy really wanted Cher, and so did Clint. I liked the idea, too. So did Christina. I mean, hello. Cher. Enough said…. Cher was on a soundstage doing a voiceover for “Zookeeper.” Clint heard she was there. We camped outside of the stage and waited for her to exit. When she did, we introduced ourselves.

CLINT CULPEPPER (Screen Gems studio president): Cher called me to say she was on the lot [on a different stage] rehearsing her Vegas act, and to drop by. So, I did. Christina was on the other side of the lot rehearsing. I’d told Cher that Christina loved her so much: “You don’t understand, this chick would drink your bathwater!” Cher started laughing hysterically and said, "Well, I hope that doesn't become necessary!” When we met Cher, Christina was holding her kid on her hip, and we walked over…. Cher [saw us] and went, “Ok, everybody, take five!” It was so cute. Christina stuck her hand out and said “Hi, I'm Christina, the one who would drink your bathwater.” Cher grabbed her and gave her a big hug and a kiss.

AGUILERA: Cher definitely felt like my mama bear during shooting. In my experience of meeting and working with some of the greatest legends, the best ones usually are that way. They look out for you in a real way, and it was an honor to work alongside Cher. She gave me some good advice, shared some personal insight and stories on love, and also encouragement along the way when I needed to hear it! There were a few scenes we shared where I learned from her that being a supportive costar really helps to create something special, and motivating each other is what makes for a great outcome.



CHER: One of my favorite scenes is when I was helping Christina with her makeup. It was all very spontaneous. It reminded me of when I was a young girl and my mom and all her friends would put on makeup together.



Back to Shirley. What did she do after her 1940 “Littlest Rebel” radio performance? Celebrate at the Brown Derby with a milkshake!

See more Hollywood photos at my main website.

Shirley Steps Out

The two photos in today's post show Shirley Temple and her husband at the time, John Agar, painting the town red. I believe these images are from 1948 or 1949, when the couple were on the verge of divorce...and it shows. John does not seem too thrilled to be out with his legendary spouse. The first image shows them at The Tropics on Vine Street, opened by Harry "Sugie" Sugarman in 1939. His first location opened in 1936, on 421 North Rodeo Drive. His bars were the earliest of the Pre-Polynesian Pop spots that catered to the motion picture industry. Guests came to see the stars, drink the strong cocktails, and soak up the tropical atmosphere (bamboo, palm trees, and Beverly Hills' first outdoor patio).

Filipino bartenders whipped up drinks named for Sugarman's movie star friends, such as Thin Ice (Sonja Henie: "If your girlfriend is frigid, one of these will break the ice"), Samoa of Samoa (Bette Davis: "Liquid Lightning…sets you on fire!"), Untamed (Lana Turner: "One drink and you're tighter—than Lana Turner's sweater"), Deep Purple (Cesar Romero: "Colorful as the 'Cisco Kid' himself"), and Zulu (George Brent). Sugarman is also the man who came up with the idea for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Beverly Hills Tropics was sold to Harry Arnheim in the mid 1940's, and then purchased by Steve Crane (former husband of Lana Turner) and turned into the Luau in 1953. In December 1979, the Luau was torn down and replaced by the Rodeo Collection shopping mall.

This photo was taken by Hollywood Fan Magazine photographer Hyman Fink. Zooming in for a closeup you can see the photo of Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian competition swimmer, actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player, and businessman who made surfing famous. Kahanamoku was also a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming.



This other image from the same evening shows the not-so-happy couple down the street at the Brown Derby Restaurant. Maybe the awful hat Shirley is wearing was the real cause of the problems between the two!



Jimmy Durante's signature can be seen in this closeup; the Derby was famous for the caricatures on the wall of famous celebrities. The ones in this photo were by Eddie Vitch, who had approached Derby owner Robert Cobb in 1931 and offered to draw caricatures of the famous guests who dined there.



Here's Shirley with The Great Schnozzola himself in a still from a deleted musical sequence filmed for 1938's "Little Miss Broadway" called, "Hop, Skip, Jump and Slide":



The 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz" opens nationwide in theaters today for a limited engagement in a brand spanking new 3D version;



The reviews so far have raved about how fantastic the (almost) 75 year old film looks; I can't wait to check it out.



See more Shirley Temple photos on my Shirley Temple web pages.