We spent New Year’s Eve with our friends Deborah and Gary doing what all the cool kids were doing as 2004 came to a close—watching a Shirley Temple movie! No, not one of the classics she made when she was the most famous five-year-old on the planet tap dancing up staircases with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, this was one of her films as a young adult under contract with David O. Selznick. I have a Belgian poster for “The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer” hanging in our bathroom and I always thought this was one of the best films of that era. I still love it, how can you go wrong with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy and Shirley at her most fetching? But I guess our societal values have changed enough over the past decades that my new reaction to the storyline of Cary Grant’s Richard Nugent (age 43) pretending that he’s in love with Shirley Temple’s Susan Turner (age 17) was more “Ewwww” than “Isn’t that a hoot!” The really creepy part is that it’s Temple’s elderly uncle who persuades Shirley’s older sister Myrna Loy (who hates the Grant character at first and has good reason to believe he’s a dangerous womanizer) to make Cary woo Shirley until she gets over her schoolgirl crush which she doesn’t, of course, until the end of the film when she’s convinced by her uncle that her sister Myrna Loy (age 42) is SO over the hill that Shirley needs to “give” Cary Grant to her because it’s probably her sister’s last chance to snag a mate. Oy! Can you imagine this pedophile-evoking storyline in a movie today?
Another shock for me was watching Shirley’s acting. I have always vigorously defended Shirley Temple’s acting chops in her post-moppet period, especially as they were displayed in three of my favorite post-war films: “Since You Went Away,” “I’ll be Seeing You,” and “The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer.” I continued my defense on New Year’s Eve as our hosts ganged up on poor Shirley, decrying after each scene, “this girl just can’t act!” “But that’s her character,” I replied, “she’s supposed to be like that,” while secretly thinking to myself, “hmm, Scarlett Johannson she ain’t!” Oh well, say what you like, at least Shirley Temple had the good sense to get cast in prestigious A-list movies and surround herself with incredibly talented folks like Grant, Loy, Claudette Colbert, Joseph Cotten, etc. Sidney Sheldon won an Oscar for writing “The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer” and the dialogue is great, including this weird word play between Grant and Temple:
Grant: You remind me of a man.
Temple: What man?
Grant: A man with a power?
Temple: What power?
Grant: The power of hoodoo.
Temple: Who do?!
Grant: You do!
Temple: Do what?
Grant: Remind me of a man…
My friend Helena named her special effects company WhoDoo EFX because of this scene! I love the beginning of “The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer” but it’s based on the conceit that we will all be flabbergasted when the “Judge Turner” their maid keeps calling is actually Myrna Loy. OH MY GOD, A WOMAN IS A JUDGE? BUT HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Yikes. When she puts on her judge’s robes for the first time, her uncle remarks, “In walks a woman, out walks a judge.” Oh well, at least they SHOWED a smart female judge in 1947, they never made Myrna give up her job even when she ended up with Cary Grant! (Unlike Katharine Hepburn’s Tess Harding in “Woman of the Year” who convinced herself that in order to be a good wife to Spencer Tracy she better give up her career as an internationally recognized journalist and learn how to make waffles.)
If you want to evaluate post-adolescent Shirley for yourself, I strongly suggest taking a look at the very odd “I’ll Be Seeing You” from 1945 in which glamorous Ginger Rogers plays a convict who is released from the state penitentiary (!) for a Christmas leave and on the train home meets Joseph Cotten who has just been released from a mental hospital. Both try to keep their big Secrets from each other while Shirley, as Ginger’s cousin, becomes more and more suspicious. When all is said and done, I am still a Shirley Temple fan—even if she did end up a staunch Republican!
And this, my friends, is the real saving grace of having a blog—by going on and on about Shirley Temple in here instead of to my family or friends, I can perhaps retain a bit of dignity and social skill and avoid seeing the glazed-over eyes of people trying to inch out of the room!
Christmas Day (2006) there was a Shirley Temple marathon, which I devoured. The station ran her films in chronolgical order, so it gave me a chance to watch her grow up in one day.
I think I enjoyed the recurring character actors, such as Arthur Treacher and Jane Darwell, almost as much as I enjoyed Shirley. I decided to look up both characters on IMDB, and I was surprised and pleased to learn that Jane Darwell was also the bird woman on Mary Poppins.
I fell in love with Shirley Temple as a kid. Every Sunday there was a show that ran "old" movies like Shirley Temple, Blondie and Dagwood, Ma and Pa Kettle, Topper, etc., and it was then that I began my lifelong love affair with film.
So go ahead and go on and on about Shirley Temple. You won't get glazed over eyes from this reader!
Posted by: Mindy | May 13, 2006 at 05:54 PM
wow wow wow m so bored omg hahahahahhha omg jk jk jk ghahahahhahahahahhahahha hehehehhehehehe!! LOL
X.O.X.O Courtney
Posted by: Tiffany Libby | May 15, 2006 at 02:22 PM
hey everyone sherley temple is an awsome ya on thursday this month april the 26th 2007 we have a jouniorpalluza so i plan to dress like her so hi and hope u like my comment bye
Posted by: kristina | April 24, 2007 at 04:52 PM
Shirley Temple is awesome !
I'm doing a book report on her and it has been so fun reading about her!
Posted by: Felicia G | May 08, 2007 at 12:24 PM
Sherly Temple was the best! In her movies she was funny,pretty and cheerful. I have 2 of her movies,Rebbeca of Sunnybrooke farm and The Little Princess. They were great!
Posted by: Tina | May 14, 2007 at 06:12 PM
Shirley Temple as a young woman has a remarkable resembelance to a young Marilyn Monore
Posted by: George Nichols | August 04, 2007 at 04:33 PM
i love shirley temple omg! beautiful lil girl and till the day she passed! my gram loves her so much!!!!!!!
Br!tt@ny
Posted by: brittany | August 11, 2007 at 08:25 PM
Wow! I have never seen any of Shirley Temple's later films, but I adore her younger movies. The Little Princess was my and my sister's favorite, and I have Heidi on tape from when it aired on AMC one day.
It amazes me that even in her grownup years, she retained that little girl cuteness, as the photos tell.
My jaw dropped when I read the wordplay between Temple and Black. Do you know that David Bowie used that wordplay in one of the songs he sang for the movie Labyrinth? I had no idea that it was from an old film until just now! Very cool. :D
Posted by: Rebekah | October 27, 2007 at 07:23 AM
hay shirly temple is so hot.
Posted by: erin | November 07, 2007 at 06:33 PM
very interesting. she is grrrreat!
Posted by: tiffany butt | November 14, 2007 at 02:48 PM
I really liked your article about Temple. Not because I´m a big Temple´s fan, but because I loved Cary Grant in "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer" (and in all his other movies too, but that´s another story ;).
Anyway, I do think that Shirley Temple just couldn´t act. I understand that the role demanded her to be a bit silly, but did she really have to say goodbye to "Dikie" at the end of their first date, while getting upstairs, in that stupid manner?
Come on! she was 17, not 7!
Anyway, I think that movie is the best! I laugh out laud in a couple of scenes and think that kind of stuff just won´t appear again on screen. Those stars are gone forever.
So, get a comfortable couch and watch it!
:)
Cheers from Buenos Aires!
Rosamunda
Posted by: Rosamunda | January 02, 2008 at 05:15 PM
hang in there Mrs. Black
Posted by: pamela hyman | January 17, 2008 at 02:24 AM
A primeira vez em que assisti ao filme de Shirley fiquei impressionada com a graciosidade de seu personagem e de sua performance no filme, hoje, já adulta tenho diversos filmes e admiro cada vez mais o trabalho dessa pequena grande mestre dos cinemas, parabéns Shirley, não me canso de assistir aos seus lindos filmes.
Posted by: Angela Nogueira | January 28, 2008 at 09:15 AM
i am 47 years old. i have a little girl that is 4 years old! her name is journey she looks and acts just like miss temple! miss temlpe was an amazing child star. i watched every moive ten times over. here it is 2008 and my little girl want to be just like her. i need to post a photo of my daughter! everyone would be in shock to see how they look just alike! my daughter dose pageants and every song she sings is by shirley temple. babe take a bow. for x-mas this year. she sang what i what for christmas! for the childrens hospital and evryone thought she was the real thing! how luck we are to stand in time and enjoy the love we have for the girl that brought a smile to all. mt daughter has won many pageants. if wasn't for miss temple, we would not of had so much fun! the little star that hold a place in ower hearts for ever! for my five children she will live in ower home as long as i am alive. my grand children will be watching her and their grand children. thanks to you we would of been lost! if i can? i will send a photo of my journey! so, all can see miss temple in my four years old all over again. it is amazing. how time does not stand still! lisa and journey
Posted by: lisa williamson | March 01, 2008 at 02:33 AM
She turns 80 years old today, as I am writing this :) Loved your blog entry here!
Posted by: Isabella | April 23, 2008 at 03:38 AM
Shirley Temple was a beautiful teen and a terrific actress. I think the wholesome type of teen girl characters she played are much more attractive than the oversensualized portryal of teen girls in films today. I'd pick Shirley Temple to take on a date over any of those more modern teens. I guess I just prefer a Mary Ann over a Ginger or a Betty over a Veronica if you know what I mean.
Posted by: N Otter | June 13, 2008 at 06:06 AM
I disagree with your idea that the movie's plot is a "pedophile-evoking storyline". Quite the opposite. In the movie, it is clear that the Cary Grant character wants nothing whatsoever to do with the younger woman (who, by the way, is a 17-year-old teenager, not a young child) - to the point of almost over-stressing the fact. She has a schoolgirl crush on the man (it IS Cary Grant, after all), and he is doing his very best to get rid of her, through every means necessary.
Posted by: Fred | June 25, 2008 at 04:36 PM
i have 15 shirley temple movies. i'm 20yrs old and still enjoy each and every one of them. i'm not ashamed, lol.
Posted by: Lisa | June 25, 2008 at 07:08 PM
Shirley Temple is the greatest actress that has ever walked this earth. No one can compete with her child star status. Imagine how difficult it was for a child star to absorb a script and maintain dialogue with adult stars, she puts others to shame with her remarkable talent. As she got older the little girl charm changed to adolescence and then adulthood making it difficult for her to play some parts, not because she couldn't, but because our expectations of her couldn't change, we wanted that little girl back in our lives. What she needed was to have someone write a script specifically for her, playing her as a lead address. The parts that she played were not on a level that she should have been playing. She is a remarkable woman and has a remarkable talent (in spite of her republican status, lol). I love her and will conitnue to share her with my grandchildren and they will share her with their grandchildren. What other Hollywood star can you say that about?
Liz from Pa.
Posted by: Lizzy | October 04, 2008 at 09:53 AM
She just grew so beautifully. And to [email protected] Temple is still alive.
Posted by: mj | January 05, 2011 at 09:01 PM
Tis a shame for this new Millenium Generation of kids will most likely go through life never experiencing the joy of the old "Black & White wonders "that the whole family could sit together and watch.
I was fortunate to grow up watching Sunday afternoon movie matinee's of Shirley Temple, and like many I am not ashamed to admit it.
And as much as I did not bring my Daughter up as a "Clone" the obvious has to be compared, Hmmm... Polite, Well-mannered and Courteous"or "Cheeky, Self-centred, Foul-mouthed ingrate", wow hands-down winner on my choice.....lol.
Lizzy, you are so right regarding our imagery of her. I could no sooner see my own Daughter or Grand-Daughter swooning up to an older man when they were the same age; That said, Adolescant crushes will always be there, love/Infatuation is a powerful emotion that does not require keeping in check though, it's the guy's with less than respectful morals who you have to be mindful of.
Directors and script writers were a little disingenuous so far as to be over-protective of that long established iconic childhhood image we grew to adore.
(N. Otter), I agree all the way, alas! the media's spin on society today bombards young girls to be flirtateous and over accentuate themselves to be considered normal by their peers.
Posted by: Noodnutt from Melbourne, Australia. | December 10, 2011 at 01:18 AM
What's really odd about this film is that Myrna Loy, an intelligent woman, actually was vain enough to consider herself "young" enough to look like she could pass as Temple's SISTER.
She was a great actress, but indeed, she looks tired in this film, and older than 42...almost old enough to play Shirley's grandma.
Posted by: Dan | March 28, 2012 at 11:04 PM
Guess you're not old enough to remember those days of innocents--to say nothing of the assumption at that time that: a.) Any relationship like this is none of your business, and b.) The sister (Loy) is a Judge AND the guardian so it's doubly none of your business.
All this plus the entire issue of what going to such a cynical place does to mess up your head, literally.
Sometimes the old ways are best.
Posted by: Dr. Jean Reno | November 09, 2013 at 05:52 PM