Born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928, Shirley Jane Temple was picked from her dancing class when she was three to appear in Baby Burlesks, a series of one-reel comedies mimicking serious feature films. In 1934 she appeared in her first feature-length film, the musical Stand Up and Cheer, in which her song-and-dance routine ╥Baby, Take a Bow╙ won the hearts of audiences everywhere. In quick succession she appeared in Little Miss Marker, Change of Heart, Now I╒ll Tell, Now and Forever, Baby, Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes (in which she sang ╥On the Good Ship Lollypop╙), all in 1934, and by the end of the year she was one of Hollywood╒s top stars. In 1935 she was given a special Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for being ╥the outstanding personality of 1934.╙ Her dimples and blond ringlets inspired thousands of mothers to make over their daughters for Shirley Temple lookalike contests and were copied on dolls and other toys.
Subsequent films included The Little Colonel, 1935, Our Little Girl, 1935, Curly Top, 1935, The Littlest Rebel, 1935, Captain January, 1936, Dimples, 1936, Poor Little Rich Girl, 1936, Wee Willie Winkie, 1937, Heidi, 1937, Little Miss Broadway, 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1938, The Little Princess, 1939, and Susannah of the Mounties, 1939. Her spirited singing and dancing, her expressiveness, and the simple optimistic sentiments of the films in which she appeared proved enominously appealing, perhaps in part by contrast with the era of the Great Depression that was her heyday. She was Hollywood╒s top box office attraction in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938.
Temple╒s star began to dim with The Blue Bird, 1940, and she was unceremoniously dropped by her studio. None of her films in the next decade were particularly successful: Young People, 1940, Kathleen, 1941, Miss Annie Rooney, 1942, Since You Went Away, 1944, I╒ll Be Seeing You, 1945, Kiss and Tell, 1945, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, 1947, That Hagan Girl, 1947, Fort Apache, 1948, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, 1949, Adventure in Baltimore, with her first husband, John Agar, 1949, and The Story of Seabiscuit, 1950. In 1945 she published an autobiography, My Young Life.
In 1950 she retired from the movies, and in December of that year she married Charles A. Black, a San Francisco businessman. She later made a brief return to entertainment with a popular television show, ╥Shirley Temple╒s Storybook,╙ in 1957╨1959 and the less successful ╥Shirley Temple Show╙ in 1960. She also became active in civic affairs and Republican politics. In November 1967 she lost a special election to fill a vacated seat in Congress. In August 1969 President Richard M. Nixon named her to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In 1974 she was appointed U.S. ambassador to Ghana, and in 1976╨1977 she served at the appointment of President Gerald R. Ford as chief of protocol in the State Department. Since 1973 she has been a member of the U.S. Commission for UNESCO. In 1981 she was a member of the U.S. delegation in Geneva on African Refugee Problems. Among her awards are the American Exemplar Medal in 1979 and the Ghandi Memorial International Foundation Award in 1988. Black returned to the screen for one film in 1988, Child Star. From 1989 to 1992 she served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia.
Movie: With Arthur Treacher, Temple sings ╥Wotcher (Knocked ╘em in the Old Kent Road╙ (trad.), from the 1939 movie ╥The Little Princess,╙ directed by Walter Lang.
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