23 April: Shirley Temple

This date in 1928 saw the birth of Shirley Temple, child star and politician.

1. Shirley Temple was enrolled in dance classes by her mother, Gertrude, when she was just three years old. At that point, she was so shy she used to hide behind the Piano. Nevertheless, she was spotted there by Charles Lamont, who was a casting director for Educational Pictures.
2. Her first screen appearance was in a set of short films called Baby Burlesks, in which young children played adult roles - Shirley played a dancer in lacy lingerie alongside boy toddlers dressed as soldiers. Temple later described the series as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence".
3. Probably her best known film is Bright Eyes, the 1934 film which was written especially with her in mind and contained her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. This film won her the first Juvenile Oscar and a month later she added her foot and handprints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
4. At the age of nine, she sued the writer Graham Greene over a review of her film Wee Willie Winkie. He wrote that her admirers were "middle-aged men and clergymen" who "respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body". The settlement remained in trust for the girl in an English bank until she turned 21, when it was donated to charity.
5. She almost played Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, but lost that particular role to Judy Garland, despite Judy being a less well-established star. Rumours as to why that was included that she couldn't sing as well, that the studio she had a contract with at the time didn't want to loan her out or that the producer behaved inappropriately towards her at their meeting.
6. Shirley's mother styled her hair every night into her trademark curls - 56 curls - no more and no less. Rumours abounded that she wore a wig. She later said she wished it had been a wig, for the process of styling her hair was tedious and gruelling. Other fake news that circulated at the time was that she wasn't a child at at all by a 30 year old dwarf. This arose from the fact she never seemed to lose any baby teeth. She did, but wore dental plates and caps to cover the gaps while filming. The rumour was so prevalent that the Vatican sent someone to America to investigate whether or not it was true.
7. She stopped believing in Santa Claus when she was six, and a Santa she visited at a department store asked for her autograph.
8. As she grew up, her films lost their appeal. She retired from acting at the age of 22 after failing to get a part in a Broadway show. As an adult, she went into politics. In 1967 she ran for the House of Representatives as a Republican candidate, but lost. Later, however, she was more successful. She was United States Representative to the United Nations under Richard Nixon, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana under Gerald Ford, and Ambassador to Czechoslovakia under George H.W. Bush. She served in the State Department under Ronald Reagan. Despite her innocent image as a child star, she was described as a "hawk" by her opponents when it came to the Vietnam War.
9. She was married twice, first at the age of 17 to John Agar, an Army Air Corps sergeant and physical training instructor. He became an actor too and they made two films together, but the marriage ended in 1949. Her second marriage was to Charles Alden Black, a World War II Navy intelligence officer who was Assistant to the President of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. She fell in love with him at first sight despite, or possibly because of, the fact he said he'd never seen any of her films. Their marriage lasted until he died.
10. There are two actresses and a cocktail named after her. A Shirley Temple is a non-alcoholic cocktail made from ginger ale, grenadine syrup and Orange juice topped with a maraschino cherry and slice of Lemon. In 1988 a soft drinks company tried to market it and was taken to court by Shirley Temple who was offended by the use of her name. Actresses Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were both named after her. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right.” She appears on the cover of The Beatles album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

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