Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 1… Read Full Bio ↴Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, and one-time U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. She also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States, 1976–1977.
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.

Thats What I Want For Christmas
Shirley Temple Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas,
only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll,
no dinky tinker toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with
and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

I don't think Santa Claus will mind,
do you?
He won't have to use a dirty chimney fleu
Just bring him through the front door,
that's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise,
when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero
standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas,
only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosorusses,
I only like hippopotamusses
and hippopotamusses like me too

Mom says the hippo would eat me up but then,
teacher says the hippo is a vegetarian

There's lots of room for him,
in our two car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there,
and give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise,
when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero
standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas,
only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosorusses,

I only like hippopotamusses
and hippopotamusses like me too

Overall Meaning

"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a Christmas novelty song that was written by Jon Rox in 1953. It was recorded by a 10-year-old child star, Shirley Temple. The song is about the Christmas wish of a young girl who wants nothing else but a hippopotamus for Christmas. She dismisses the idea of getting a doll, insisting on only having a hippopotamus.

Throughout the song, the girl explains how a hippo would make a perfect pet. She imagines her joy and surprise when she wakes up on Christmas morning to find her desired hippo hero waiting for her. Her mother has her doubts and thinks the hippo would eat her up. However, her teacher assures her that hippos are vegetarians.

The catchy tune has a sense of innocence and sweetness that is sure to warm the hearts of listeners. It captures childhood imagination, wonder, and fantasies during the festive season.

In conclusion, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a delightful tune that fully embraces the Christmas spirit of dreamy wishes, joy, and wonder. It is a classic Christmas song that has remained popular over the years.

Line by Line Meaning

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do
I absolutely, positively want a hippopotamus for Christmas and nothing else will suffice

Don't want a doll, no dinky tinker toy
I have no interest in typical girl toys like dolls or small toys

I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy
I want a fun, large animal to play with and spend time with

I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
I don't believe Santa Claus will have a problem with bringing me a hippopotamus, do you?

He won't have to use a dirty chimney flue
Santa Claus won't have to climb down a dirty chimney to deliver the hippopotamus

Just bring him through the front door, that's the easy thing to do
It would be much easier to bring the hippopotamus through the front door instead of attempting to climb down the chimney

Mom says the hippo would eat me up but then, teacher says the hippo is a vegetarian
My mom is concerned that the hippopotamus would harm me, but my teacher says that they are vegetarian and therefore not a threat to me

There's lots of room for him, in our two car garage
We have ample space in our two-car garage to house the hippopotamus

I'd feed him there and wash him there, and give him his massage
I would take care of the hippopotamus's needs, including feeding and washing him, as well as giving him massages

No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses, I only like hippopotamuses, and hippopotamuses like me too
I have no interest in other large animals like crocodiles or rhinoceroses, I only have a special affinity for hippopotamuses, who I believe also like me

I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs
I can visualize myself sneaking down the stairs on Christmas morning

Oh, what joy and what surprise, when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero standing there
I would be overjoyed and surprised to see a hippopotamus waiting for me on Christmas morning, as if he were my hero

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

@avereykennedy1190

8y↑90

Make my mommy's life a song
Keep my daddy safe and strong
Let me have them all year long
That's what I want for Christmas
Let my dolls be made of rags
Fireman hats of paper bags
Just write love on the greeting tag
That's what I want for Christmas
Its a happy holiday
Every heart is light 'n gay
For Santa Claus you're kind I'm sure
To young and all the rich and poor
Won't you please for goodness sake
Do away with tummy ache
Give out lots of lucky breaks
That's what I want for Christmas
Yes, that's what I want for Christmas
I don't want electric trains
Twenty-dollar aeroplanes
Free our friends from aches and pains
That's what I want for Christmas
I like pretty shoes to wear
But if I could give a pair
To poor little children everywhere
That's what I want for Christmas
When the Reindeer pass my house
I was quiet as a mouse
But in my dreams I seem to see
Marching round the Christmas tree
Animals that never bite
Never giving any fright
Soldier boys who never fight
That's what I want for Christmas
Yes, that's what I want for Christmas

All comments from YouTube:

@wafacabriales

2y↑9

Shirley Temple lives forever in my heart. She was a miracle child and never will be another one like her. May God Almighty bless her sweet soul❤💜

@finnhenderson3909

3y↑9

So much talent 💓

@splashpont

6y↑50

A song that should be required learning for every child (and adult, too). Where you heart is, there will your treasure be.

@sallys9294

4y↑12

She was the most talented child actress ever. I still love watching her movies.

@addisongoddard1394

5y↑18

I sang this song for the Christmas play my singing instructor puts on every 3 or 4 years (the community gets involved) and it was a success!

@lora16andherlrandmehsuperv66

7y↑24

Wow,so beautiful and amazing song,I love Shirley !🙂

@avereykennedy1190

8y↑90

@marciabramson6194

4y↑5

Wowza ,,,,, how the hey were they able to help Shirley memorize all that?? Maybe easier in a song. Still a lot. Probably Shirley was 5 or 6 years old in Stowaway. Rarely on. Do not recall seeing. Really love 💘 Alice Faye & Robert Young. Long time actors.