The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and 1930s America (38 page)

29
Advertisement for Florence Mills Theatre,
Los Angeles Sentinel
, April 1936, as quoted in Karen Orr Vered, “White and Black in Black and White: Management of Race and Sexuality in the Coupling of Child-Star Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson,”
Velvet Light Trap
No. 39 (1997): 52–65; Richard Lacayo and Sue Carswell, “Mocking Black Stereotypes, a Black Artist makes Waves,”
People
, May 22, 1989, 151.

30
December 25, 1935, 15;
Littlest Rebel
script, September 6, 1935, 14, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

31
The role was conceived with Stepin Fetchit in mind. See “first draft screen play” by Edwin Burke, 19, August 6, 1935, Lilly Library.

32
Hill,
Tap Dancing America
, 122–23.

33
Review of
The Littlest Rebel
,
Atlanta Constitution
, January 26, 1936, sec. E, 7; “Shirley Goes Harlem—Learns to Truck,”
Chicago Defender,
January 11, 1936, 8. The 26th edition of the Cotton Club Parade, produced by Ted Koehler and opening in July 1935, featured a “Truckin’ ” number. Robinson performed such a number at the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood later that year. “Bill Robinson at ‘Cocoanut Grove,’ ”
Chicago Defender
, December 14, 1935, 8.

34
Littlest Rebel
script, September 6, 1935, 122, Lilly Library.

35
Littlest Rebel
script, “first draft screen play” by Edwin Burke, August 6, 1935, Lilly Library; Raymond Griffith to Darryl Zanuck, August 8, 1935, 1, Zanuck Manuscript Collection, Lilly Library.

36
Woolf, “Bill Robinson,” 116; Barnum, “Bojangles,” 35.

37
Alain Locke,
The Negro and His Music
(1936; rpt. New York: Arno Press, 1969), 134, 135.

38
“ ‘Bojangles’ in a Fit of Temper as Hecklers Heckle ‘Uncle Tom’ Jokes,”
Chicago Defender
, November 1, 1941, 6. See also “Boston Patron Blasts ‘Bojangles,’ ”
Afro-American
, January 16, 1926, 4.

39
Ralph Matthews, “The Negro Theatre—a Dodo Bird,” in
Negro: An Anthology
, ed. Nancy Cunard and Hugh D. Ford (1970; rpt. New York: Continuum, 1996), 196; Ralph Matthews, “Dixie Prejudice Still Dominates the Movies but Not the Stage,”
Afro-American
, February 8, 1936, 8; Renzi B. Lemus, “Uncle Tom Roles for Stars on Screen Beat a Blank, Points out Lemus,”
Afro-American
, February 22, 1936, 11.

40
Earl J. Morris, “Morris Interviews ‘Bojangles’; Learns He Is Real Race Man,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, July 31, 1937, 21.

41
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask,” in
Majors and Minors: Poems
(Toledo, OH: Hadley and Hadley, 1895), 21; Haskins and Mitgang,
Mr. Bojangles
, 28, 44; Stearns and Stearns,
Jazz Dance
, 184–85.

42
For an instance of Robinson’s temper onstage, see the account of an incident in which Bill Robinson rebuked a party of white southern hecklers as he performed his dance, “Bill Robinson Gets ’Em Told,”
Chicago Defender
, September 29, 1928, 6. Later, Robinson responded to young black hecklers of his “Uncle Tom” jokes. “ ‘Bojangles’ in a Fit of Temper,” 6. For offstage altercations, see “Bojangles Stops ‘Black Hitler’ in Dispute,”
Chicago Defender
, November 17, 1934, 4; “Bill Robinson Freed on Assault,”
New York Times
, September 21, 1938, 26. On Robinson’s Hollywood disagreements, see “Bojangles Sore about Way His Film Is Cut,”
Afro-American
, May 18, 1935, 8. Later, he reportedly pulled a gun on Benny Carter, the musical director of the film
Stormy Weather
. James Gavin,
Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
(New York: Atria Books, 2009), 131.

43
St. Clair McKelway, “Bojangles,”
The New Yorker
, October 6, 1934, 26–27, and October 13, 1934, 30; Calgary newspaper clipping as quoted in Haskins and Mitgang,
Mr. Bojangles
, 130.

44
Haskins and Mitgang,
Mr. Bojangles
, 130, 290.

45
Haskins and Mitgang,
Mr. Bojangles
, 222.

46
“Celebrities and 8 Miles of Crowds Pay Tribute to Bill Robinson,”
New York Times
, November 29, 1949, 1, 25.

47
“Gives Bojangles Left-Handed Slap,”
New York Amsterdam News
, December 3, 1949, 18; Christopher C. De Santis, ed.,
Langston Hughes and the “Chicago Defender”: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942–62
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 207. See also Hughes’s essay “Curtain Time,” unpublished during his lifetime, in Christopher C. De Santis, ed.,
Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs
, vol. 9 of
The Collected Works of Langston Hughes
(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002), esp. 296.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE MOST ADORED CHILD IN THE WORLD

1
Lyn Tornabene, “Here’s Oprah,”
Woman’s Day
, October 1, 1986, 56.

2
Samantha Barbas,
Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity
(New York: Palgrave, 2001), 113; Shirley Temple and the editors of
Look
,
My Young Life
(Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1945), 9; Lin Yutang, “China and the Film Business,”
New York Times,
November 8, 1936, X4;
Simplicissimus
, February 11, 1940, 72; Frank Kerr, “Shirley Temple,”
Cavalcade
(New York: Film Daily, 1939), 292.

3
“Prime Minister Returns,”
Nambour Chronicle,
August 23, 1935, 2; “Japanese Envoy’s Tot Visits Shirley Temple,”
Citizen News
, May 2, 1936, Clippings File–Shirley Temple, MHL; “Chilean Navy,”
Los Angeles Herald
, March 13, 1936, Clippings File–Shirley Temple, MHL; “Russian Polar Flyers Meet Shirley Temple,”
New York Times
, July 18, 1937, sec. N, 2; Shirley Temple Black,
Child Star: An Autobiography
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), 134–35, 207–8; H. G. Wells quoted in Kirtley Baskette, “The Amazing Temple Family,”
Photoplay
, April 1936, 16.

4
Black,
Child Star
, 87, 74, 206.

5
Dika Newlin, ed.,
Schoenberg Remembered: Diaries and Recollections, 1938
–76
(New York, Pendragon Press, 1980), 42.

6
“Movie Survey Shows Shirley Temple as Fans’ Big Favorite,”
Arkansas Gazette
, December 13, 1935, 24.

7
“Quarterly Survey IX,”
Fortune
(July 1937), 103–4.

8
John Trumpbour,
Selling Hollywood to the World: U.S. and European Struggles for Mastery of the Global Film Industry, 1920–1950
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 226; “Gabriel Washington [Pseud. for Gabriel Meyers],” interview by Charles A. Von Ohsen, February 22, 1939, and John and Lizzie Pierce, interview by I.L.M., September 23, 1938,
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1940
, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers’ Project Collection, Washington, DC.

9
Data compiled from U.S. government Social Security Administration website, http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/.

10
On women and movie culture and stars’ personalities, see Barbas,
Movie Crazy
, 36–37, 61–65.

11
Barbas,
Movie Crazy
, 98; see also Margaret Farrand Thorp,
America at the Movies
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939), 86; Joshua Gamson,
Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), 11, 21.

12
“Shirley Entertains,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 20, 1934, sec. 1, 13; “Eiga no Oujo” (The Princess of the Theater),
Yomiuri Shimbun
, Tokyo, September 23, 1934, special ed., 1.

13
Advertisement,
Atlanta Constitution
, April 21, 1936, 6; advertisement for Ideal Shirley Temple dolls,
Playthings
, March 1935, 3; Gary S. Cross,
Kids’ Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997), 117; “Greeting to Shirley,”
Variety
, April 29, 1936, 21. For Shirley Temple birthday events at department stores, see E. Evalyn Grumbine,
Reaching Juvenile Markets
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1938), 341, 387–88; Black,
Child Star
, 138–39.

14
“Shirley Observes 7th Natal Day by Taking Pony Ride,”
Citizen News
, April 23, 1936, 36, Clippings File—Shirley Temple, MHL; unidentified newspaper clipping, possibly from
Los Angeles Herald
, January (?) 1936, Clippings File – Shirley Temple, MHL.

15
Even in spring 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression, newsstand sales of the leading fan magazines were impressive:
Modern Screen
556,421;
Silver Screen
471,806;
Photoplay
461,842;
Motion Picture
456,002;
Picture Play
341,218;
Movie Classic
326,852;
Screen Book
267,573;
Screenland
262,611;
Screen Play
211,132;
Hollywood
181,694;
Screen Romances
137,141; plus three Tower movie magazines sold at Woolworth’s with a combined estimated sales of 1,360,669. “Big Fan Magazine Drop,”
Hollywood Reporter
, May 25, 1933, 1, 7; see also Frank Pope, “Trade Views,”
Hollywood Reporter
, August 15, 1934, 1, 3; “ ’35 Space Grab in Fan Mags,”
Variety
, January 1, 1936, 6; Anthony Slide,
Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010), 73–92, 122–43; Barbas,
Movie Crazy
, 89, 98–99.

16
Fox Film advertisement,
Motion Picture Herald
, May 19, 1934, 81. See also similar ads on 73, 75, 77, 79, and 83; Helen Hunt, “Is Hollywood Spoiling Shirley Temple?”
Movie Mirror
, October 1934, 10.

17
Frank H. Ricketson Jr.,
The Management of Motion Picture Theatres
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1938), esp. 23, 214.

18
“Baby Photos,”
Variety
, August 7, 1934, 17; “Temple Doubles,”
Variety
, May 1, 1935, 19; Alan Davies,
Sydney Exposures: Through the Eyes of Sam Hood and His Studio, 1925–1950
(Sydney: State Library of New South Wales, 1991), 21; see, e.g., advertisement for “Shirley Temple Competition,”
Bombay Chronicle
, November 7, 1936, 5.

19
Juan de La Habana, “Las Shirley Temple Cubanas” (The Cuban Shirley Temples),
Carteles
, April 5, 1935, 38–39, 73; see also Louis A. Perez Jr.,
On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007), 300–301.

20
“Shirley Temple of France Here,”
New York Times
, May 7, 1936, 25; “Paris ‘Shirley’ Snubs U.S. One,”
Salt Lake Tribune
, May 15, 1936, 19.

21
“Nihon no Temupuru” (I’m Shirley Temple),
Asahi Shimbun
, Tokyo, January 24, 1936, morning ed., 11; “Kodomo wo Tane ni Sagi” (Child Actor Scam),
Asahi Shimbun
, Tokyo, June 18, 1937, morning ed., 13; “Tenpuruchan Ijouda” (More Popular than Temple),
Yomiuri Shimbun
, Tokyo, June 18, 1937, morning ed., 77.

22
“Shirley Temple Contest Engineered by Ed Hart,”
Motion Picture Herald
, August 11, 1934, 60; on “personality development” in the 1930s, see Celia B. Stendler, “Psychologic Aspects of Pediatrics: Sixty Years of Child Training Practice: Revolution in the Nursery,”
Journal of Pediatrics
36 (1950):122–35, as cited in Daniel Thomas Cook,
The Commodification of Childhood: The Children’s Clothing Industry and the Rise of the Child Consumer
(Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), 89; “Shirley Temple Gift Contest,”
Silver Screen
, December 1936, 51.

23
Henry James Forman,
Our Movie Made Children
(New York: Macmillan, 1933), 141; Herbert Blumer,
Movies and Conduct
(New York: Macmillan, 1933), 17.

24
Frank,
Taps!
, 175.

25
A. J. Liebling,
The Telephone Booth Indian
(New York: Broadway Books, 2004), 63.

26
Eileen Bennetto, “Carefree,” in
When I Was Ten: Memories of Childhood, 1905–1985
, ed. Len Fox and Hilarie Lindsay (New South Wales: Fellowship of Australian Writers, 1993), 216.

27
Ruth Kligman,
Love Affair
(New York: William Morrow, 1974), 165.

28
Kligman,
Love Affair
, 140–41.

29
Kligman,
Love Affair
, 141–42.

30
Dorothy Weil,
The River Home: A Memoir
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 2002), 44–45.

31
Kathy Plotkin,
The Pearson Girls: A Family Memoir of the Dakota Plains
(Fargo, ND: Institute for Regional Studies, 1998), 196.

32
Roddy Doyle,
Rory & Ita
(New York: Viking Press, 2002), 137–39. Cf. the longing to escape her father’s sexual abuse, to become Shirley Temple, and the nun’s condemnation, circa 1956, in Catherine McCall,
When the Piano Stops: A Memoir of Healing from Sexual Abuse
(Berkeley: Seal Press, 2009), 27–28.

33
Beatrice Muchman,
Never to Be Forgotten: A Young Girl’s Holocaust Memoir
(Hoboken, NJ: KTAV Publishing House, 1997), 14, 65, 79.

34
Diary of Anne Frank, July 11, 1942, quoted in Hans Westra,
Inside Anne Frank’s House: An Illustrated Journey through Anne’s World
(Woodstock, NY: Overlook Duckworth, 2004), 72–73, 130 ; Stacey Morris, “Ghosts of Prinsengracht: A Tour of the Anne Frank House,”
Jewish Daily For
ward
, April 13, 2007, http://forward.com/articles/10481/ghosts-of-prinsengracht/; see also Carol Ann Lee,
Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank
(London: Viking, 1999), 76.