Temple Tuesday: Behind the Blue Bird

Readers of my blog have suffered through my obsession with the 1940 Shirley Temple movie "The Blue Bird." Today is just one more chapter documenting how nutz I am for this film. I was excited to recently acquire a vintage behind-the-the-scenes still from the movie. On the back is this publicity blurb:

Here is Shirley Temple's crew getting ready for a "dolly shot." Shirley and Johnny Russell (as Mytyl and Tyltyl) can be seen walking, while Director Walter Lang, who also directed "The Little Princess," wearing a white, short-sleeve shirt, is walking toward the camera tracks. Note soundman directly back of Lang, with microphone on bamboo pole. In the shot, the soundman will follow Shirley and Johnny as they walk down the village street, catching their dialogue, but he will be out of range of the camera's eye.

In this detailed view, you can see Shirley's mother Gertrude looking stylish in her hat. Standing next to her in a suit is Shirley's bodyguard, John Griffiths, best known as "Griff."



A closeup of Shirley with costar Johnny Russell:



Here are two publicity stills taken from the same scene:





See more Shirley Temple "The Blue Bird" photos at my main website.

Shirley's First Turkey

Here is a behind-the-scenes shot from Shirley Temple's 1940 Technicolor spectacular, "The Blue Bird." The accompanying vintage publicity blurb:

POINT OF VIEW — When the audience sees this scene from "The Land of Memory" in the glory of full Technicolor in which "The Blue Bird" is now being filmed at 20th Century-Fox. It will be one of the high spots of beauty in the film. But from behind the scenes there is a ferment of anxious activity as director Walter Lang (right lower), Cameraman Arthur Miller, ASC (with visor behind camera), and the remainder of the crew watch Shirley Temple rehearse a shot from Maurice Maeterlinck's story. Shirley is framed in the tree limbs, while behind the main trunk left, the skirt of Cecilia Loftus as "Granny Tyl" can be seen.



This publicity photo is ironic, considering that this film was dubbed Shirley's first "turkey" of her childhood career. Studio insiders called the film "Dead Pigeon."



See more Shirley Temple "The Blue Bird" photos on my "The Blue Bird" web page.