By KATIE KLIMACEK
Staff Writer
With a dimpled face and exactly 56 ringlet curls on her head, Shirley Temple was America’s sweetheart. The little girl who danced and sang her way into the hearts of so many Americans during the Great Depression died on Feb. 10 of natural causes with her family by her side. She was 85.
During the Great Depression, Shirley Temple’s films made people’s problems seem to melt away. For only 15¢, audiences were able to go into a dark theater and watch a little girl tap dance her way around a room, singing about animal crackers in her soup. It helped Americans forget about the troubles that were outside the cinema doors for a few hours and enjoy life for a little bit.
From 1934-1939, Temple was the most famous Hollywood film star, more than Clark Gable and Bing Crosby. Little Shirley started her career in one-reel films called “Baby Burlesks,” a series of films that had toddlers acting out dramatic melodrama scenes from movies. Even then, in diapers and oversized safety pins, little Miss Temple took over and shined on screen.
“Frolics of Youth” was her next film. Temple was only 3 years old at the time and hadn’t learned how to read yet. So every night, when her mother would be getting her daughter ready for bed, she would read Shirley the script, to the point where Shirley knew everybody’s lines. With the true innocence, she would correct her co-stars if they were to mess up their lines. In 1933, she had seven big parts in films.
Stand Up and Cheer! was her feature-length debut, and the film that stole Americans’ hearts. In 1934, Temple starred in Little Miss Marker. The film was so popular that it took in half of its costs at just one New York City theater.
Throughout her years as a child actor, co-stars and directors all said the same thing about the little spitfire that graced the silver screen. “She never had that cocky child star attitude,” said a fellow co-star who appeared with Temple in “Frolics of Youth.” “Her personality was real and sincere— it was like she wasn’t even acting. It was like that was just her on screen, 100 percent.”
For the next few years, Shirley Temple continued to be America’s Darling, starring in over 19 films in six years. Despite her overwhelming success as a child star, when she began to hit puberty and grow up in to a young lady, Miss Temple’s audiences did not react the same way to her films. They still saw her as a little four-year-old with big ringlets and playing sweet innocent parts on screen, but Shirley wanted to start a new path in her career and try her hand at more dramatic parts. Temple stayed in the business for a few more years until finally calling it quits and retiring, at age 21, from Hollywood to pursue other interests in her life.
After her time in Hollywood, Temple married California businessman Charles Black. They had two children together, aside from one from her first marriage to John Agar. After her acting career, Temple decided to pursue a political career, and later became the U.S Ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
For years, Shirley Temple shined on the silver screen with her adorable smile, cute voice and 56 ringlets, bringing light to a difficult time in America and peace to the world. We say thank you and good-bye to our Little Darling.
