Remembering Shirley Temple: From "Kid in Hollywood" to International Ambassador

Shirley Temple was only four years old when she made her first short picture for Universal Studios in 1932. She was featured in several shorts between 1932 and '34 with a group of other child actors. One of her more popular shorts was entitled "Kid in Hollywood," in which Temple plays aspiring young actress Morelegs Sweettrick who's career is a failure, "it went flippity flop."

Luckily for us, Temple's real acting career didn't go flippity flop until many many years later, after she'd made some 60 films. She would embark a new new career in politics and international diplomacy throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, serving as Ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) and Czechoslovakia (1989-92).

In the early 1970s Shirley Temple Black became one of the first to speak openly about her struggle with breast cancer, having undergone a radical mastectomy. She lived a full and rich life before passing away of natural causes early this week at her home in California. She was 85 years old. Black is survived by her three children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Obituary

The Battle of the Little Princesses: Novel vs. Film

A Little Princess is one of my all-time favorite books. I think I read it at least once a year. When I read it for the first time, I loved the ending so much that I just kept reading the last few chapters over and over again. I also consider myself something of a Shirley Temple fan. I couldn't honestly tell you whether I read the book first or saw the film, but suffice it to say I grew up with both versions of the story. Who better to judge this "Battle of the Little Princesses"?

Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's was first published by Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1888, then revised, expanded, and republished in 1905 as A Little Princess: Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Told for the First Time. Burnett (1849-1924) had been raised in Manchester, England, but her family moved to America when she was a teen. While she was a schoolteacher in Tennessee she began submitting stories to women's magazines. She married in 1873 and would have two sons, the youngest of whom became the inspiration for her classic story Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886).

Mary Pickford made he first film version of THE LITTLE PRINCESS in 1917, but my personal favorite is the 1939 Shirley Temple adaptation, which aired on TCM over the weekend. With the world on the brink of another world war, Burnett's original story was altered to fit the changing political climate. The basic premise of a little rich girl sent to school in England remained the same, but with some very significant differences.

Feminist Star Personas of Classic Hollywood (other than Katharine Hepburn)

http://feministguidetohollywood.blogspot.com/

Feminist personas of classic Hollywood come in many shapes and sizes. Some, like the great Katharine Hepburn, found profound new ways to represent strong women on the big screen. Others more subtly broke new ground in their private lives. There is no set way to define a feminist icon, but there are some ways you can measure how progressive the stars' personas could be. For one, all of these women are professionals who get paid (a lot) for their talent and hard work. Secondly, stars who were aware of their desire to present a progressive view of women often chose films which would showcase these strengths.