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.
Polly-Wolly Doodle
Shirley Temple Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
I like watermelon but it wets my ears,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Maybe grass tastes good to a moo cow's mouth,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
But I like chicken 'cause I'm from the south,
Fare-thee well,
Fare-thee well,
Mister gloom be on your way,
If you think you're gonna worry,
You can stop it in a huury,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day!
A woodpecker pecks till he gets his fill,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
But the woodpecker pays 'cause it's on his bill,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Oh! I feed my pigs with molasses yam,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
And they should be sweeter than they really am,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Fare-thee well,
Fare-thee well,
Mister gloom be on your way,
Tho' you haven't any money,
You can still be bright and sunny,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day!
Oh! I hate to hear a choc'late drop,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
But I like to hear a lollypop,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Ev'rything went wrong but it turned out right,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
The skies were gray but the future's bright,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Fare-thee well,
Fare-thee well,
Misteall the day!
A polly is a parrot,
We all know well,
But just what a wolly is
I can't tell.
I wouldn't know a doodle
If one came along,
But polly-wolly-doodle makes a darn good song!
"Polly-Wolly-Doodle" is a folk song with a popular version that was recorded by Shirley Temple, an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, in 1934. The song is a playful and upbeat tune that centers around the singer's love for certain foods like watermelon, chicken, and molasses yam. The song's opening line, "Oh! I eat watermelon and I have for years," sets the tone for the rest of the song.
In the second verse, the singer compares their preference for chicken to a cow's preference for grass. The third verse sees the singer discussing their pigs and how they feed them with molasses yam. Despite the unconventional way of feeding pigs, the singer believes that it makes them sweeter.
The refrain of the song encourages listeners to sing "Polly-wolly-doodle all the day" if they want to keep their worries at bay. The song concludes with the singer expressing their dislike for a chocolate drop but love for a lollipop. The final verse implies that even when things have gone wrong, the future is still bright, so the only thing left to do is sing.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh! I eat watermelon and I have for years,
I have been eating watermelon for a long time, and I enjoy it.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
I sing Polly-wolly-doodle all day long.
I like watermelon but it wets my ears,
Although I enjoy watermelon, it can make my ears wet.
Maybe grass tastes good to a moo cow's mouth,
Grass might taste good to a cow, so they eat it.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
I still sing Polly-wolly-doodle all day long.
But I like chicken 'cause I'm from the south,
I prefer chicken, probably because of my southern roots.
Fare-thee well,
Goodbye.
Mister gloom be on your way,
I don't want to be around negativity.
If you think you're gonna worry,
If you plan on worrying,
You can stop it in a hurry,
you can stop that negative attitude quickly.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day!
Just sing Polly-wolly-doodle all day long instead.
A woodpecker pecks till he gets his fill,
Woodpeckers peck to their satisfaction.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
I keep singing Polly-wolly-doodle.
But the woodpecker pays 'cause it's on his bill,
The woodpecker pays for its food with his own effort.
Oh! I feed my pigs with molasses yam,
I feed my pigs with sweet potatoes made into molasses.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
And then again, I sing Polly-wolly-doodle all day long.
And they should be sweeter than they really am,
The pigs should taste sweet after eating the yams I gave.
Fare-thee well,
Bye for now.
Fare-thee well,
Goodbye.
Mister gloom be on your way,
I don't want to entertain negativity.
Tho' you haven't any money,
Even if you don't possess any money,
You can still be bright and sunny,
you can still be positive and happy.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day!
Just keep singing Polly-wolly-doodle all day long.
Oh! I hate to hear a choc'late drop,
I despise the sound of chocolate falling.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
Still, I'll keep singing Polly-wolly-doodle.
But I like to hear a lollypop,
On the contrary, I like hearing the sound of a lollypop.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day.
Whatever it is, I still keep singing Polly-wolly-doodle.
Ev'rything went wrong but it turned out right,
Although everything started wrong, things eventually turned out right.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day;
Someone might think I'm crazy, but I'm still singing Polly-wolly-doodle.
The skies were gray but the future's bright,
The sky was once grey, but I have a positive outlook for the future.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day!
Therefore, I'll continue singing Polly-wolly-doodle all day more.
A polly is a parrot,
I know that a polly refers to a parrot.
We all know well,
It's common knowledge.
But just what a wolly is
However, nobody knows what a wolly is.
I can't tell.
I'm completely clueless about what it might mean.
I wouldn't know a doodle
Frankly, I have no idea what a doodle is.
If one came along,
Even if I saw one,
But polly-wolly-doodle makes a darn good song!
I absolutely adore Polly-wolly-doodle because it's such a fantastic song.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@heroineprincessswiftie7824
Oh, I eat watermelon and I have for years
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
I like watermelon but it wets my ears
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
Maybe grass tastes good to a moo cow's mouth
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
But I like chicken 'cause I'm from the south
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
Fare-thee well (farewell)
Fare-thee well (farewell)
Mister gloom be on your way
If you think you're gonna worry
You can stop it in a hurry
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
Well, the woodpecker pecks 'til he gets his fill
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
But the woodpecker pays 'cause it's on his bill
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
Oh, I feed my pigs with molasses yam
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
So they should be sweeter than they really am
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
Fare-thee well (farewell)
Fare-thee well (farewell)
Mister gloom be on your way
Though you haven't any money
You can still be bright and sunny
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day
@goutamdas549
Oh, I went down South for to see my Sal
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day
My Sal she am a spunky gal
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm goin' to Louisiana for to see my Susi-anna
Sing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day
Oh agrasshopper sitting on a railroad track
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
Just picking his teeth with a carpet tack
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm goin' to Louisiana for to see my Susi-anna
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day
Behind the barn, down on my knees
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
Fare thee well, fare thee well,
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm going to Lou'siana
For to see my Susyanna
Sing Polly wolly doodle all the day
Oh, I went down South
To see my Sal
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
My Sal, she is a spunky gal
Singing Polly wolly doodle all the day
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm goin' to Louisiana for to see my Susi-anna
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day.
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm goin' to Louisiana for to see my Susi-anna
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day.
@lora16andherlrandmehsuperv66
Shiley is so cute and talented🙂😃🙂
@pawemarszeniuk6806
Lora16 and her LR and MEH super videos .
@innayanovsky4854
Who is Shilley ?
@cassandracarr3074
So right
@jaksooon
@Inna Yanovsky She said Shiley.
@JohnFortnite2006
She’s dead
@meganmiller3540
She was so cute, unique and talented. There’s never been a kid like her since.
@EugeneOneguine
There have been plenty of kids like her since... Just go to any choir, any music school, you'll find plenty.
@meganmiller3540
@Eugène Onéguine But will those kids be remembered in nearly 90 years time, by thousands of people? I don’t think so. Shirley Temple was special.
@elisicious2883
MJ ❤️