Temple, Shirley
Temple, Shirley (1928– ),child star from the 1930s and 1940s whose 50‐odd films contain numerous fairy‐tale elements. Watched over by her mother (fairy godmother) Gertrude Amelia Temple (née Krieger), Shirley began her film career with The Runt Page (1931). Subsequently, New Deal Rhythm (1933), Stand Up and Cheer (1934), Bright Eyes (1934), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), and other films cast their spells over Depression audiences who watched enchanted as Shirley, usually playing an abandoned child, magically overcame whatever personal and political problems confronted her and her friends. Shirley's films invariably ended with good triumphing over evil, wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, a booming economy over a depressed economy—classic fairy‐tale endings. Unsurprisingly, Shirley Temple describes herself as a ‘tiny commodity’, a ‘potential gold mine for Fox’ in the fairy tale...
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