Shirley Temple

At 85 years old, Shirley Temple has this physical status:

Shirley Temple Black (April 23, 1928 to 1938) was an American actor, singer, dancer, businesswoman, and diplomat who was Hollywood's top-most box-office draw as a child actor from 1935 to 1938.

She was named US ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia as an adult, as well as Chief of Protocol of the United States. In 1932, Temple began filming at the age of three.

She made international success in Bright Eyes, a film directed specifically for her talents two years ago.

In February 1935, she was given a special Juvenile Academy Award for her role as a young performer in motion pictures.

During the mid-to-late 1930s, film hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year.

Temple capitalized on licensed merchandise that represented her healthy image; the range included dolls, dishes, and clothing.

When she reached adolescence, her box-office fame faded.

She appeared in 29 films from the ages of 3 to 10, but in only 14 films from the ages of 14 to 21.

Temple returned to film in 1950 at the age of 22. In 1958, Temple revived to television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations.

She appeared on television shows in the early 1960s and produced a sitcom pilot that was never released.

She served on the boards of companies and organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. She began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the United States at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she spent time at the US Mission under Ambassador Charles W. Yost.

Child Star.Temple's autobiography, published in 1988, was the recipient of many awards and accolades, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actor Guild Life Achievement Award.

She ranks 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the Top Female Screen Legends of Classic Hollywood cinema.

Early years

Shirley Jane Temple was born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928, the third child of homemaker Gertrude Temple and bank employee George Temple. The family was of Dutch, English, and German ancestry. She had two brothers: John and George, Jr. The family and their children then migrated to Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Her mother encouraged her to excel in singing, dancing, and acting, and she enrolled her in Meglin's Dance School in Los Angeles in September 1931. Shirley's mother began to curl her daughter's hair in ringlets about this time.

She was discovered by Charles Lamont, who was a casting director for Educational Pictures, while at the dance school. When she was in the studio, the temple hid behind the piano. Lamont took a liking to Temple and invited her to audition; she was hired to a job in 1932. Baby Burlesks, a 10-minute comedy shorts satirizing recent films and events, was released by Educational Pictures, utilizing preschoolers in every role. Glad Rags to Riches was a parody of the Mae West film She Done Him Wrong, with Shirley as a saloon singer. In the jungle, a kid in Africa was emperor of Shirley.'n' The Runt Page was a foreshadowing of The Front Page. The juvenile cast delivered their lines as well as the younger actors reciting phone numbers.

Temple made her debut in the series, and Educational promoted her to 20-minute comedies. These were excerpts from Frank Coghlan Jr.'s Frolics of Youth series; Temple portrayed Mary Lou Rogers, the baby sister in a modern suburban family. She and her child co-stars modeled for breakfast cereals and other items in order to defray production costs at Educational Pictures. In 1932, she was lent to Tower Productions for a small part, and in 1933, she was lent to Universal, Paraphrasedoutput, and Warner Bros. Pictures for various aspects, including an uncredited appearance as a child whose doll's head is shot off right in front of her in To the Last Man (1933), starring Randolph Scott and Esther Ralston.

Personal life

In 1943, John Agar, an Army Air Corps sergeant, physical preparation instructor, and a member of a Chicago meat-packing family met John Agar (1921–2002). She married him at age 17 in Los Angeles's historic Episcopal service to 500 guests on September 19, 1945. Linda Susan, the Temple's youngest daughter, was born on January 30, 1948. Agar became an actor, and the couple produced two films together, Fort Apache (1948) and Adventure in Baltimore (1949), for RKO. On December 5, 1949, a temple divorced Agar and was given the custody of their daughter.

In January 1950, Temple met Charles Alden Black, a World War II Navy intelligence officer and Silver Star award recipient who was Assistant to the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. He was a conservative and patrician son of James Black, founder and later chairman of Pacific Gas and Electric, and reportedly one of California's richest young men. On December 16, 1950, Temple and Black were married in his parents' Del Monte, California home before a small group of family and friends.

As Black was recalled to the Navy at the outbreak of the Korean War, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where he was recalled to the Navy. In Washington, on April 28, 1952, Temple gave birth to Charles Alden Black Jr., Jr. Following the war's conclusion and Black's removal from the Navy, the family returned to California in May 1953. In Los Angeles, Black managed television station KABC-TV, and Temple became a homemaker. Lori, their daughter, was born on April 9, 1954, and she went on to be a bassist for the Melvins.

Charles Sr., the Stanford Research Institute's director of business operations, joined the Stanford Research Institute in September 1954, and the family and their family moved to Atherton, California. The pair were married for 54 years before his death on August 4, 2005, at his Woodside, California, due to bone marrow disease complications.

Temple was diagnosed with breast cancer at 44 years old in 1972. The tumor was removed and a modified radical mastectomy was performed. At the time, cancer was commonly discussed in hushed whispers, and Temple's public disclosure was a significant step toward increasing breast cancer awareness and eliminating stigma surrounding the condition. In a February 1973 article for McCall's, she reported the findings of the operation on radio and television, as well as in a February 1973 essay.

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Film career

When he saw her dancing in the theater lobby lobby, Fox Film songwriter Jay Gorney was walking out of the screening of Temple's last Frolics of Youth photograph. He wanted her to do a screen test for the film Stand Up and Cheer since she was recognized from the screen. Temple arrived for the audition on December 7, 1933; she won the part and was agreed to a $150-per-week deal that was contract for two weeks by Fox Film Corporation. The role was a breakthrough for Temple. Her charm was immediately apparent to Fox executives, and she was ushered into corporate offices shortly after finishing "Baby Take a Bow," a song-and-dance number she performed with James Dunn.

The bulk of the Shirley Temple films were inexpensively made at $200,000 or $300,000 a piece, and they were comedies with songs and dances, sentimental, and melodramatic situations, with no production values. Her film names reveal how she was promoted, including CURLY Top and Dimples, as well as her "little" photographs such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Shirley played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in young couples' romances. Elements of the classic fairy tale were weaved into her films, such as wholesome goodness over meanness and evil, abundance over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a burgeoning economy over a depressed one. The formula was modified just slightly to encourage her naturalness, naveté, and tomboyishness to shine during her infanthood, but not so much for her tweens (or later childhood years).

Biographer John Kasson argues:

Anne Edwards wrote about Shirley Temple films' tone and tenor: a writer.

With positive feedback, Edwards said that the characters created for Temple would change the lives of the cold, the hardened, and the criminal. Her films were seen as generating hope and boosting optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It's a marvelous thing that for just fifteen cents, an American can go to a movie and see the smiling face of a baby and forget his worries."

Her hairdresser and personal coach were hired for a year at the same $150 per week (equivalent to $3,140 in 2021) with a seven-year option, and her mother Gertrude was hired at $25 per week as her hairdresser and personal coach on December 21, 1933. Stand Up and Cheer was released in May 1934. This was Shirley's first film. She appeared in a short skit in the film alongside well-known Fox actor James Dunn, singing and tap dancing. The skit was the highlight of the film, and Fox executives rushed her into another film with Dunn, Baby Take a Bow (named after their song in Stand Up and Cheer). Bright Eyes, Shirley's third film, was directed specifically for her.

Shirley's parents learned that their daughter was not being paid enough money after the success of her first three films. Her image began to appear on many commercial products without her legal status and without compensation. Temple's parents retained attorney Lloyd Wright to represent them in order to get hold of the company's unlicensed use of her image and to discuss with Fox. The starting salary was increased to $1,000 per week on July 18, 1934, but her mother's earnings were increased to $250 a week, with an additional $15,000 reward for each movie completed. Temple's original salary of $150 per week is equal to $2,960 in 2019, adjusted for inflation; however, during the Great Depression, the economic value of $150 was equal to about $18,500 in 2019 dollars, which was six times higher than a surface-level conversion. The subsequent salary increase to $1,000 a week was worth $23,000 in 2019 dollars, as well as the welcome bonus of $15,000 per movie (equivalent to $296,000 in 2019 dollars) in a decade when a quarter could buy a meal. Letters of cease-fire were sent out to several businesses, and the process for issuing corporate licenses was started.

Bright Eyes was published in 1934 on December 28, 1934. The film was the first feature film made specifically for Temple's talents, and it was the first time her name appeared over the title. "On the Good Ship Lollipop," the film's signature song, was released in the film and has sold 500,000 sheet-music copies. Temple became the first child actress to be lauded with a miniature Juvenile Academy for her film work in February 1935, and she and her husband Mark and Handprints were added to the frontcourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre a month later.

Fox Films merged with Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935 to become 20th Century-Fox. Darryl F. Zanuck, the producer and studio director, concentrated his attention and resources on cultivating Shirley's celebrity. She was said to be the studio's greatest asset. The Shirley Temple Story Development team, made 11 original stories and some adaptations of the classics for her.

Winfield Sheehan designed Temple, a four-room bungalow at the studio with a garden, a picket fence, a swing, and a rabbit pen, in keeping with her actor status. A mural depicting her as a fairy-tale princess with a golden star on her head was painted on the living room wall. She was given a bodyguard by Zanuck, a childhood friend of Zanuck's, and Frances "Klammie" Klampt became her tutor at the studio at the time, under Zanuck.

Temple's parents agreed to four films a year in a deal that was earlier than the three they wished for. A number of films were released after Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard's film "Now and Forever" (Temple was billed third with her name above Cooper's and Lombard's). The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top (with the signature song "Animal Crackers in My Soup") and The Littlest Rebel in 1935 followed). Curly Top was Temple's last film before the merger between twentieth Century Pictures, Inc., and the Fox Film Corporation was announced. Both Curly Top and The Littlest Rebel were included in Variety's top box office draws for 1935. Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were all released in 1936.

Zanuck increased budgets and production values for her films based on Temple's success. By the end of 1935, her salary was $2,500 a week. John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite), and an A-list cast was assembled, including Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. Elaborate sets were created for the production at Chatsworth, Calif., with a rock feature at the heavily filmed location ranch later named Shirley Temple Rock. The film was both a critical and commercial smash.

Twentieth Century-Fox's parents and the Temple's parents have sued British writer/critic Graham Greene for libel, which they won. The deal remained in trust for the child in an English bank until she turned 21, when it was donated to charity and used to construct a youth center in England.

In 1937, Heidi was the only other Temple film ever released. The dream sequence was added to the script midway through the film's shooting. Temple was believed to be behind the dream sequence and had enthusiastically pushed for it, but she denied it explicitly in her autobiography. She didn't have any creative influence over her films, either she or her parents. She saw this as Zanuck's refusal to make any serious attempt at building on the success of her dramatic role in Wee Willie Winkie.

One of many examples of how Temple permeated popular culture at the time is her mention of her in the 1937 film Stand-In: Lester Plum (played by Leslie Howard) who plays herself as "the Shirley Temple of my day" and appears on his own "On the Good Ship Lollipop" for him.

The Independent Theatre Owners Association paid for an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter in May 1938 that included Temple on a list of actors who deserved their salaries while others (including Katharine Hepburn and Joan Crawford) were "nil."

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were among the topics published in the year. The critics panned the latter two films, but Corner was the first of her films to see a decrease in ticket sales. Zanuck earned the rights to the children's book A Little Princess the following year, hoping that it would be a good vehicle for the young girl. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and wanted it to be her first Technicolor film. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success, with Shirley's presence at its best.

Convinced that the child will transform from child actor to teenager actress, Zanuck turned down a substantial bid from MGM to cast her as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, instead casting her in Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century Fox. Shirley went from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939, but only two films were successful in 1939, rather than three or four.

She was the subject of Salvador Dal' painting Shirley Temple, the Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time, in 1939, and in The Autograph Hound, she was animated with Donald Duck. Lester Cowan, an independent film director, bought the film rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited and Other Stories for $80 in 1940. Fitzgerald wished that his screenwriting days were over, and with some reservations, he accepted Cowan's offer to write the screenplay "Cosmopolitan" based on the short story. Fitzgerald was told by Cowan that he would not do the film unless Temple played in the lead role of the youngster Honoria. Fitzgerald protested that at age 12, the actress was too worldly for the role and would detract from the aura of innocence that had never been depicted by Honoria's tale. Fitzgerald changed his mind after meeting Shirley in July and tried to convince her mother to allow her to appear in the film. Despite this, her mother repulsed. In any case, the Cowan project was shelved by the manufacturer. Fitzgerald was later credited with the use of Elizabeth Taylor's original story for The Last Time I Saw Paris.

Shirley played in two flops at Twentieth Century Fox—The Blue Bird and Young People in 1940. Her parents canceled out the remainder of her child's service and sent her — at the age of 12 — to Westlake School for Girls, a prestigious country day school in Los Angeles. The girl's bungalow at the studio was updated, with all traces of her employment removed, and the building was reassigned as an office.

Shirley was signed by MGM for her MGM comeback; the studio made plans to pair her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series after her release from Twentieth Century-Fox. However, the MGM producer revealed his genitals to her during a preliminary interview with Arthur Freed. Freed threw her out and ended their contract before any films were released when this provoked tumultuous giggles in reaction. The next idea was to pair her with Garland and Rooney for the musical Babes on Broadway. MGM swapped her with Virginia Weidler, fearing that either of the latter two actors would easily upstage Temple. As a result, Kathleen was her only film for Metro in 1941, a tale about an unhappy teen. The film was not a success, and her MGM deal was terminated after mutual consent. Miss Annie Rooney started with United Artists in 1942, but was unemployed. The actress resigned from film for nearly two years to focus on education and other pursuits.

David O. Selznick, a 1944 entrepreneur, moved to Temple for a four-year deal. Since You Went Away, and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick, on the other hand, became intimately involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in the Temple's development. The Temple was then loaned to other studios for Kiss and Tell and The Bachelor, as well as Cary Grant's appearance in the Bobby-Soxer. Two of her few hit films at the time, John Wayne and Henry Fonda in the Cary Grant photo and Fort Apache. In Fort Apache, her then husband John Agar appeared as well.

According to biographer Robert Windeler, her 1947-1949 films neither earned nor lost money, but they did have a cheapie B look at them and some indifferent performances from her." Selznick suggested that she move abroad, grow in character as an actress, and even change her name. She was told she that she was typecast, and her profession was in jeopardy. Temple took stock after struggling to audition for Peter Pan's role on the Broadway stage in August 1950, and admitted that her new films had been disappointing. On December 16, 1950, she announced that she would withdraw from films.

Radio career

On CBS, Temple had her own radio show. In which she appeared in the title role, the junior Miss appeared on March 4, 1942. Sally Benson's novel was based on Sally Benson's stories. Junior Miss was directed by Gordon Hughes, with David Rose as the musical director, and Procter & Gamble sponsored it.

Television career

Temple hosted and narrated a lucrative NBC television anthology series of fairy-tale adaptations from January 1958 to September 1961, according to Shirley Temple's Storybook. Each episode ran for one hour, and Temple appeared in three of the sixteen episodes. In "Mother Goose," Temple's son made his acting debut. The series was well-received, but it was also plagued with bugs. The showlacked the special effects that were required for fairy tale dramatizations, sets were amateur, and episodes were not broadcast in a regular time slot. In September 1960, the Shirley Temple Exhibition was reworked and introduced in vibrant in a regular time-slot. The Wizard of Oz's 1960 telecast, Lassie, Dennis the Menace, the Dennis the Menace television series, but it was cancelled at the end of September 1961.

Temple continued to work in television, appearing on The Red Skelton Show, Sing Along with Mitch, and other shows. In January 1965, she portrayed a social worker in a pilot named Go Fight City Hall, which was never published.

She hosted the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars awards show on CBS in 1999, and she spent 2001 as a consultant on an ABC-TV adaptation of her child star: The Shirley Temple Story.

The Ideal Toy Company unveiled a new version of Temple's films on television, and Random House released three fairy tale anthologies under her name. Between October and December 1958, 300,000 dolls were sold in less than six months, with 225,000 books between October and December 1958. Handbags and hats, coloring books, a toy theater, and a recreation of the Baby were among the Baby's featured products on sale.

Diplomatic career

Temple became a member of the California Republican Party. She ran in 1967 in California's 11th congressional district to fill the seat left vacant by eight-term Republican J. Arthur Younger's death in 1967. She ran in the open primary as a Republican and finished in second with 34,521 votes (22.4 percent), behind Republican law school professor Pete McCloskey, who came in second with 54,521 votes (34.3 percent) and advanced to the general election with Democrat Roy A. Archibald, who came in second with 15,069 votes (9.79%) but finished third as the third best-placed Democratic candidate in the primary, finishing second, with 4,869 votes (34.3 percent). McCloskey was elected with 63,850 votes (57.2%) to Archibald's 43,759 votes (39.2%). As an independent write-in, Temple received 3,938 votes (3.5 percent).

Temple was heavily involved with the Commonwealth Club of California, a San Francisco public-affairs forum. She appeared at many meetings throughout the years and served as President for a time in 1984.

After losing to Congress in 1967, Temple got her start in international service, when Henry Kissinger overheard her at a party talking about South West Africa. He was surprised that she knew nothing about it. President Richard M. Nixon and the United States Ambassador to Ghana had her delegated to the 24th United Nations General Assembly (September, 1969) by Governor Gerald R. Ford (December 6, 1974 – July 13, 1976). She was named the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States (July 1, 1976-January 21, 1977), and was in charge of planning President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball.

She was the first and only woman in this role from September 23, 1989 – July 12, 1992), having been named by President George H. Bush. Two pivotal events in Czechoslovakia's fight against communism were portrayed at the temple. She was in Prague in August 1968 as a representative of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, and she was due to speak with Czechoslovakian party leader Alexander Dubek on the day when Soviet-backed forces invaded the country. Following a string of changes, dubbed the Prague Spring, Dubek fell out of favor with the Soviets. On the roof of the hotel, the temple, who was trapped at a hotel when the tanks came in, sought refuge. She later reported that it was from there that Soviet forces shot an unarmed woman on the street, which then kept her alive for the remainder of her life.

Later, after becoming ambassador to Czechoslovakia, she was present during the Velvet Revolution, which brought about the end of communism in Czechoslovakia. When the United States established formal diplomatic relations with the newly elected government led by Václav Havel, Temple openly sympathized with anti-communist dissidents and served as ambassador as the US initiated formal diplomatic relations with the newly elected government led by Václav Havel. She took the unusual decision of accompanying Havel on his first official visit to Washington, traveling on the same plane.

Temple served on the boards of directors of large businesses and organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, Bank of America, Bank of America, Bank of California, Bank of California, BANCAL Tri-State, Fireman's Fund Insurance, and the National Wildlife Federation.

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