RIP Shirley Temple

[The Big Ragu]

I applaud you, Gee, for ever having sat through a Shirley Temple movie.

My first thought when I saw the news this morning was Cindy Brady singing the "Good Ship Lollipop" when she wanted to be the next Shirley Temple. That's all I really have.

RIP.

 

[DanOregon]

Shirley Temple the child actress is one of those things about American history I just don't get. Those movies were insanely popular, and when I watch them, I just think they're borderline insane examples of insipidness on the grand scale.

It was the Depression. People wanted comfort food, to be cheered up. About $500 million box office in today's dollars. Pre-global box office, pre-multiscreens. And of course, back then. An average movie ticket cost .23 cents - using the same inflation calculator, the average ticket price today SHOULD be $3.72. So figure about $1.5 billion in box office over five years.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Shirley Temple the child actress is one of those things about American history I just don't get. Those movies were insanely popular, and when I watch them, I just think they're borderline insane examples of insipidness on the grand scale.

You mean like on the Fast and Furious Scale? Or Friday the 13th?
Different tastes for different generations, but mindless entertainment nonetheless ... Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Car wrecks and sexy teens getting slashed make a low-rent kind of sense as entertainment. A little kid singing and dancing? I still don't get it unless you're the kid's parent.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

http://grungebook.tumblr.com/post/76325847188/shirley-temple-black-rip-melvins-story

Weirdest factoid you will read about her.

 

[Songbird]

Car wrecks and sexy teens getting slashed make a low-rent kind of sense as entertainment. A little kid singing and dancing? I still don't get it unless you're the kid's parent.

Charisma, baby!

 

[DanOregon]

Shirley typically played orphans. She was America in the Depression, typically taken in by an old relative with a problem, but Shirley, through her pluck and cheerfulness made everything all right in the end.

Look at the top grossers in the post 9/11 era, a lot of comfort food and even the superhero blockbusters portrayed a vulnerability that may not have connected with audiences before 9/11.

 

[Drip]

RIP to a great lady.

 

[Boom_70]

RIP to a great lady.

And even a better person

 

[DanOregon]

A good video summarizing her career from the Kennedy Center Honors.

 

[jr/shotglass]

RIP to a great lady.

And even a better person

This and this. If you don't get what she did, that's OK. But she did plenty.

 

[HanSenSE]

Shirley Temple the child actress is one of those things about American history I just don't get. Those movies were insanely popular, and when I watch them, I just think they're borderline insane examples of insipidness on the grand scale.

Recall too that talkies were still a novelty.

 

[jr/shotglass]

She wasn't just a child actress. She was the child actress.

 

[Yodel]

RIP to a great lady.

And even a better person

Ladies aren't people? And we express our condolences to Drip, who was close to all members of her family.

 

[Armchair_QB]

She was great in The Client.

 

[qtlaw]

http://grungebook.tumblr.com/post/76325847188/shirley-temple-black-rip-melvins-story

Weirdest factoid you will read about her.

That was a good read.

Really sad Ms. Temple never got to enjoy any of the $$ she earned as a child star.

As a kid, on Sat. late mornings/early afternoon it would be Shirley Temple movies on after the cartoons. She was amazing, and such a vibrant, innocence. It was idyllic, whether real or manufactured. Still not a bad way to see the world when you're 6.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

http://grungebook.tumblr.com/post/76325847188/shirley-temple-black-rip-melvins-story

Weirdest factoid you will read about her.

That was a good read.

Really sad Ms. Temple never got to enjoy any of the $$ she earned as a child star.

As a kid, on Sat. late mornings/early afternoon it would be Shirley Temple movies on after the cartoons. She was amazing, and such a vibrant, innocence. It was idyllic, whether real or manufactured. Still not a bad way to see the world when you're 6.

Pretty sure she was the child star who retold a story (on a cable show about former child stars) about a spanking she got from her father for not performing on command.
She was the bread winner in family (obviously) and her father wanted her to perform an impromptu dance or something for some people. He put her on the stage and she refused to perfrom. After a a few minutes her embarrassed dad plucked her from the stage. He took her to the car or backstage and whaled on her backside and told Temple - in no uncertain terms - she would perform when she was told, what she was told by him.

She told the story matter-of-factly but still ...

 

[KJIM]

Went to dinner last night with some colleagues, one of whom had been raised by a foreign service dad who served under Temple, although I didn't ask which ambassadorship.

One colleague, who is 34 now, said that Temple was as nice as could be and would bring the FSO kids gifts. One time while my colleague was a kid, Temple let a bunch of kids ride in the limo going to one function. My colleague, and I've no idea how old she was at the time, got carsick and they had to stop the procession for her to get out.