TEMPLE. Amazing combination of acting, singing and dancing skills.
Child stars have always been popular with moviegoers, but many film buffs with elephantine memories agree that, all told, Shirley Temple was the best of the screen tots!
She first charmed the pants off viewers’ bottoms way back in 1934—a full 80 years ago—but, some fans still remember her best screen showcases, like “The Little Colonel,” “Our Little Girl,” “Poor Little Rich Girl,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “The Little Princess,” “Little Miss Broadway,” etc.!
It’s no accident that many of her starrers’ titles emphasized her being a “little” bundle of talent, pep and wonderment, because she was just a wee slip of a gamine girl when she burst onto the US movie scene with her amazing combination of acting, singing and dancing skills—the very first juvenile “total performer” in the biz to fully deserve that title!
In addition, she was also the compleat, little professional despite her very tender years, and directors and producers doted on her because they didn’t have to coax, cajole or wheedle a good performance out of her, unlike some of her moody and spoiled juvenile contemporaries.
In the span of only a few years, Shirley starred in almost 30 photoplays, many of them hits at the box office.
Of course, all child stars’ careers have to realistically contend with the onset of adolescence, so Shirley also had to eventually put her high-flying career as a juvenile performer on hold as she dealt with the physical and other changes that all tween and teens undergo.
But, she was so popular that her adolescent hiatus was remarkably brief, and the now tween Shirley was again entertaining viewers with light romantic musical showcases. After around 10 of those “older” screen outings, however, Shirley thought it best to pursue her interests outside of show business.
She got married and became known as Shirley Temple Black, but didn’t disappear completely into domestic anonymity. Decades after her movie career ended, Shirley Temple Black was again in the news, because she had been appointed as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations!