The Shirley Temple Story

by David Lester, Irene David

An incisive biography of Shirley Temple discusses her life as a child actress and Hollywood idol, her growth to maturity, and her political career

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1983

Reviews

[Challice]

While not a big fan of little Shirley Temple, I have been intrigued by the life of this child star. We hear a lot about Judy Garland growing up in the limelight and her struggles with Hollywood, among many others, but like Deanna Durbin, Temple seems to fade away in her young adult years.

This biography did a good job of keeping the reader engaged while not bogging down with all the whose who in Hollywood that surrounded Temple. The book is broken up into sections that fit different aspects of Temple's life. From her early years, her mother, Gertrude, in particular was predominant in setting the stage for Shirley's success and ultimately "unspoiled" life. Gertrude's foundation that would carry Shirley forever, is one that really needed to be shared. One could argue what "unspoiled" really is, but that is not the focus here. The book then focus on Shirley Temple from on out.

I was really impressed by Shirley Temple as an adult and have grown to admire the lady she was. I am surprised at how well I enjoyed this book. Good read and well researched with many first hand interviews.

[Scott]

A well-researched account of Shirley Temple's professional and personal lives. Moving along at a good pace, this reveals both sides of her life.

[Jason]

I was never really a huge Shirley Temple fan, however this is a great little book! It's a biography of the Shirley temple phenomenon as opposed to a straight forward biography, which is such fascinating way to tell her story.

[Cws]

791.43

[Nolan]

I’m not inclined to read celebrity biographies, and I’m even less inclined to read their memoirs. But this book appealed to me on a variety of levels. As the publisher’s summary indicates, it is a highly sympathetic biography of the child actress turned conservative ambassador to the United Nations.

I was fascinated to read, for example, of the extreme influence of her mother in the early years. The woman single-handedly became a contracts expert, and she negotiated deals for Temple that were highly beneficial to the child actress. Unlike so many stories where the parents allegedly manage the child into the economic ground, this couple seemed unified in ensuring that Shirley’s money went where it was supposed to go. At one point, she was worth well over five million dollars. She earned 300,000 dollars in one year during the height of the Great Depression.

This isn’t a complex biography in which the authors try to get inside the head of the child star turned politician. It could nearly pass for a young reader’s book so simple and almost sing-songy is the language. Don’t misunderstand; that doesn’t make it a bad book. I just don’t want you to embark on something where you think you’re going to get inside the head of the celebrity/politician for some kind of psychobiography. This is a compilation of anecdotes and stories that surround the making of the various films she made.

You get a look at two marriages. One failed; the other stuck. She married Charles Black, and if you are more interested in her conservative politics, you’ll likely identify with her as Shirley Temple Black.

You get glimpses here of a child star who was at once amazing at the craft and prematurely poised for a young person and who could be childish and demanding even imperious if the urge hit.

I realize I was seemingly critical of the authors’ writing style, and I didn’t mean to be. The stories of her early life are interesting enough to keep you reading, and while the politician part of her life was frankly more boring, it had merit and needed inclusion here.

By the years of my childhood, Temple Black’s movies played mostly during the afternoon dialing-for-dollars movie matinee. I can’t prove it, but I suspect the classic movie channels still roll out a few when they feel like it. But make no mistake. In her heyday, Temple was a movie powerhouse. Her celebrity memorabilia still commands good money in places where people go to buy celebrity memorabilia. She’s due whatever respect she gets. This is the child who convinced America to keep smiling during the Great Depression. That service alone is worth something.

[Roberta]

Good coverage of Shirley Temple Black's life and work, as far as it goes, explaining and dispelling some popularly held myths and revealing the people behind the little girl that we saw on the screen. STB fell off my radar when her show was canceled in 1961, so it came as a surprise to me when Nixon appointed her U. S. Ambassador to Ghana in 1974. It was interesting to read how that came about.

This book was published in 1983 so Shirley Temple Black was still living and was interviewed for the book. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Since STB was interviewed for the book and the authors had access to her and her family, they could get information "straight from the horse's mouth." However, having her looking over the shoulder of the authors means that readers have no way of knowing if some aspects of her life may have been glossed over. For example, I didn't see any mention of the fact that she was a chain smoker which wasn't at all unusual but isn't expected of The Little Princess.

Admittedly, STB's movie career is probably of the most interest to readers but a book published in 1983 can't cover 31 years of her life from 1983 to 2014. This is also a shortcoming of Shirley Temple: American Princess published in 1988.

Nit picking --

Page 10 the author says that at the age of 10, Shirley had the poise and sophistication of a 15 year old. That made me laugh.

Page 125 the word "employees" instead of "employers."

Page 145 referring to Charles Jr the author say "it's neck."

[Abbie Taylor]

When I was a teenager, I saw Shirley Temple in the movie, The Little Princess, and the ending made me cry. I’ve actually sung one of her songs, “On the Good Ship Lollypop,” and I’ve drunk my share of Shirley Temple beverages as a kid. Naturally, I was drawn to this book after reading a review.

I was surprised to learn that Shirley Temple was once quoted as saying she thought the beverages named after her were too sweet. Fascinated by her experiences as a child actress, I laughed at many of the anecdotes from that period including how she dealt with a mule while shooting a tea party scene in a barn. We see her cantankerous side with the story of how she fired a slingshot at First Lady Eleanor Rosevelt, hitting her in the backside.

Though I enjoyed reading about Shirley Temple’s teen years, marriages, and the births of her children, I wasn’t interested in her political career. But I had to laugh at a scene where she walked into a high school gym for a campaign event while a band played “On the Good Ship Lollypop” and she claimed that ship had gone into dry dock. Fortunately, the book doesn’t provide as much information about her at that time as it does about her movie career. The last chapter, talking about what Shirley Temple is doing now, which was actually in the 1980s when the book was published, adds a nice conclusion. The list of movies and bibliography might be helpful. Shirley Temple passed in 2014. After reading this book, I believe she had a pretty good life.

[Lee]

Pretty much what I expected here, I knew a lot of her story but it was interesting to know how much she really loved performing as a young girl - she was mature for her age, very bright and socially adept from a young age. In later years, she became politically active and served as an ambassador to Ghana.

[Ruth]

A biography is an opportunity to learn about a person and what they experience in life and what they contributed. History is recorded in a personal way. This book tells us about a child star of the 1930's, it is well written and easy to read.

[Christine Reynolds]

interesting bio because it tells stories about her life and not just a rundown of movies she did

[Robyn]

The story of how Shirley Temple got her start, from some background stories on her parents. Interviews with various people who have worked with her, both during her onscreen career and during her later years when she was involved in world politics as Shirley Temple Black. Even stories about her first marriage to John Agar, and how she got back up again after the marriage dissolved (now with her daughter Linda Susan). Then her "secret" marriage to Charles Black, & 2 other children who came along (Charles Jr & Lori), & also how she got involved in the world stage thru the American Embassy. It's incredible that many of the lessons learned in her film career were helpful & hopeful to her in her adult life.

Since this book was written/published in 1983, it only goes thru her life to her fifties. (Sequel, anyone? Lol!) I also like the few pages-full of pics of scenes from her movies & her family life in B&W. The last "chapter" sums up her filmography. I detected a "theme" in many of her movies--she was an orphan (or "orphan-ish") who won the heart of some actor, who adopted her. Filled with such hope!

[Veronica Lindsey]

Fun to read. Brought back some memories.

[Cindi]

Interesting read.