Temple began her film career in 1932 at the age of three and, in 1934, found international fame in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer to motion pictures during 1934, and film hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid-to-late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Her box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence, and she left the film industry in her teens. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid-to-late teens, and retired completely from films in 1950 at the age of 22. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–38) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.
Temple returned to show business in 1958 with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple was the recipient of awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Temple ranks 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of all time.
Temple began dance classes at Meglin's Dance School in Hollywood in 1931, at the age of 3. Her film career began when a casting director from Educational Pictures visited her class. Although Temple hid behind the piano in the studio, she was chosen by the director, invited to audition, and, eventually, signed to a contract with Educational.
Temple worked at Educational from 1932 to 1933, and appeared in two series of short subjects for the studio. Her first series, Baby Burlesks, satirized recent motion pictures and politics. In the series "Baby Burlesks", Shirley would dress up in a diaper, but then be wearing adult clothes everywhere else. The series was considered controversial by some viewers because of its depiction of young children in adult situations. Her second series at Educational, Frolics of Youth, was a bit more acceptable, and cast her as a bratty younger sister in a contemporary suburban family.
While working for Educational Pictures, Temple also performed many walk-on and bit player roles in various films at other studios. She is said to have auditioned for a lead role in Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies (later known as The Little Rascals) in the early 1930s; various reasons are given for her not having been cast in the role. Roach stated that Temple and her mother were unable to make it through the red tape of the audition process, while Our Gang producer/director Robert F. McGowan recalls that the studio wanted to cast Temple, but they refused to give in to Temple's mother's demands that Temple receive special star billing. Temple, in her autobiography Child Star, denies that she ever auditioned for Our Gang at all. However, Temple had some connection with Our Gang in that Temple's carpool friend, David Holt, had a small role in the 1933 Little Rascals film Forgotten Babies.
Temple was finally signed to Fox Film Corporation (which later merged with 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox) in late 1933 after appearing in Stand Up and Cheer! with James Dunn. Later, she was paired with Dunn in several films.
Temple would stay with Fox until 1940, becoming the studio's most lucrative player. Her contract was amended several times between 1933 and 1935, and she was loaned to Paramount for a pair of successful films in 1934. For four solid years, she ranked as the top-grossing box office star in America. Shirley's birth certificate was altered to hold on to her babyhood; her birth year was advanced from 1928 to 1929. She was not told her real age until her twelfth (actually thirteenth) birthday.
Her popularity earned her both public adulation and the approval of her peers. Even at the age of five, the hallmark of her acting work was her professionalism: she always had her lines memorized and dance steps prepared when shooting began.
Temple also made pictures with Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, and many others. Arthur Treacher appeared as a kindly butler in several of Temple's films.
Temple's ability as a dancer (especially a tap dancer) is well known and celebrated. Even in her earliest films she danced, and she was able to handle complex tap choreography by the age of five. She was teamed with famed dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson also coached and developed her choreography for many of her other films. Because Robinson was African-American, and the South was replete with racism, his scenes holding hands with Temple had to be edited out in many cities in the South.
Aside from the films, there were many Shirley Temple product during the 1930s. Ideal's numerous Temple dolls, dressed in costumes from the movies, were top sellers. Original Shirley Temple dolls bring in hundreds of dollars on the secondary market today. Other successful Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and hairbows. Several of Temple's film songs, including "On the Good Ship Lollipop"(from 1934's Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (from 1935's Curly Top) and "Goodnight My Love" (from 1936's Stowaway) were popular radio hits. She frequently lent her likeness and talent to promoting various social causes, including the Red Cross.
Temple was the first recipient of the special Juvenile Performer Academy Award in 1935 for recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment in 1934. Seventy years later, Temple is still the youngest performer ever to receive this honor, or any Oscar. She is also the youngest actress to add foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Curly Top
Shirley Temple Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Sung by John Boles only)
Whenever clouds start gathering
To cover up the sun
It really doesn't mean a thing to me
It seems a tiny miracle
Comes to me on a run
And never fails to bring a remedy
Who creeps into my heart and makes it sing
Curly top
You little bundle of joy
Curly Top
You're like a wonderful toy
You're just so full of sunshine
Folks agree
You could supply the world
With Vitamin D
Two eyes that make
The heavens proud to be blue
Angel cake
It's just a copy of you
Take ev'rything that's sweet
All rolled into one
That can't top you
Curly Top
The lyrics of Shirley Temple's song Curly Top seem to be about the joy and happiness that a little girl, referred to as Curly Top, brings to the singer's life. The song begins with the clouds gathering, as if there is trouble or despair, but the singer doesn't seem to be bothered by it. He mentions that no matter how gloomy the situation may seem, it is quickly forgotten when the little curly-headed girl enters his life. Curly Top brings a remedy to any problems that might arise.
The song goes on to describe how Curly Top is like a beautiful and wonderful toy that fills the singer and the world with sunshine. Her two eyes are compared to the heavens blue that are so beautiful that they make the heavens proud. She is like an angel cake, and everything sweet is combined into her little bundle. The singer seems to be saying that Curly Top is like an antidote to every negative occurrence in life. Overall, the song is a beautiful expression of how a child can bring light and joy to someone's life, no matter what the circumstances may be.
Line by Line Meaning
Whenever clouds start gathering
Every time the sky is covered with clouds
To cover up the sun
When the sun is hidden behind the clouds
It really doesn't mean a thing to me
I don't care about the clouds hiding the sun
It seems a tiny miracle
But it feels like a small miracle
Comes to me on a run
When I'm feeling low, something always happens to cheer me up quickly
And never fails to bring a remedy
And this always seems to solve all my problems
She's just a little curly headed thing
This feeling is brought about by a cute little girl with curly hair
Who creeps into my heart and makes it sing
Who enters my heart and fills it with happiness
Curly top
This girl has curly hair
You little bundle of joy
She is a bundle of happiness
Curly Top
This girl has curly hair
You're like a wonderful toy
She is just like a toy - fun to be around and play with
You're just so full of sunshine
She brings sunshine and happiness wherever she goes
Folks agree
Everyone seems to agree
You could supply the world
That she could provide enough happiness for the entire world
With Vitamin D
Just like vitamin D from the sun
Two eyes that make
Her two eyes that paint
The heavens proud to be blue
The skies are complemented by her bright blue eyes
Angel cake
She is as sweet and pure as an angel food cake
It's just a copy of you
Nothing else can match her sweetness and purity
Take ev'rything that's sweet
Gather every sweet thing in the world
All rolled into one
Combine them together
That can't top you
None of those can match the little girl with the curly hair
Curly Top
This girl has curly hair
Contributed by Alex P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Reg
on I'm Gettin Nuttin for Christmas
This isn't Shirley Temple. She was 27 and long retired from show biz when it came out in 1955. The voice is Barry Gordon's, backed by the Art Mooney Orchestra.