HOLLYWOOD -- Viewers who want to see a genuine movie star unlike any other should tune in cable's American Movie Classics on Tuesday, April 23. AMC is running a daylong tribute to Shirley Temple on her 68th birthday. The Temple salute, hosted by Marisa Tomei, will include screenings of eight of her most popular movies (shown twice each over a 24-hour period). Temple exemplifies an era when a movie star's worth was measured by the number of people who saw his or her films. Now it is determined by salaries. Today Jim Carrey earns $20 million a picture. Demi Moore earns $12.5 million. Yet neither elicits the affection and admiration lavished on Temple. Salary demands, schedule delays and cost overruns can ruin studios, as 'Heaven's Gate' bankrupted United Artists. Elizabeth Taylor's extravagant salary, illnesses and marital strife in 1962 during production of the $30 million 'Cleopatra' brought 20th Century Fox to its knees, forcing it to sell its back lot. Only 30 years earlier the legendary Temple, a star whose magnitude can hardly be imagined today, saved the studio from closing its doors during the Great Depression. Temple did more than entertain, she uplifted a nation. Curly-haired Shirley's sunny disposition, remarkable singing and dancing made her a box-office sensation. She remains the greatest child star in motion picture history. A genuine prodigy, the tiny star was box-office champion for four consecutive years -- 1934-37 -- and appeared in the top 10 for five years. She was a cherished symbol of light and hope in the gloomy years of massive unemployment, labor strife and political upheaval.
A dispirited American public jammed theaters to see the cheerful moppet sing and dance away the blues. Today she is writing a sequel to her 1988 autobiography, 'Child Star,' at her home in a posh San Francisco suburb. 'I have 16mm copies of all my pictures,' she said, 'but I don't see them very often. I'm pleased they are being run on cable on my birthday. 'I'm still in touch with that little girl I see on the screen. We're closely related. I remember the scenes, some of the dance steps and words to the songs. 'They hold very happy memories for me.' She laughs remembering how little she was paid in comparison with what movie stars command today. 'I probably would have paid the studio to work because I loved it so,' she said. 'And I think I did. 'At one point I was taxed 90 cents on the dollar. When I left Fox there was a penalty clause for leaving the studio before the contract expired. So whatever money I made was taxed 98 cents on the dollar. 'I didn't retire a millionaire. But it was a great life and it still is. 'I had 19 years as an actress and 25 years with the Department of State in Washington, D.C. I'm retired as a diplomat because the current administration does not require my services. 'But I'm always ready to work again in international relations.' Shirley made her film debut at age 3 in a series of short films titled 'The Baby Burlesks.' She became a featured player at 4 in 'The Red-Haired Alibi,' later making 'Out All Night' and 'To the Last Man' in 1933. In 1934 she appeared in an astonishing eight feature films at Fox. It was 'Stand Up and Cheer' at the nadir of the Depression that made Shirley a superstar. The dimpled girl hoofed and sang 'Baby Take a Bow' with James Dunn, a real show-stopper. She became destiny's tot, following with 'Little Miss Marker,' 'Now and Forever' and 'Bright Eyes.' She went on to star in 40 movies, bowing out in 1949 with 'A Kiss for Corliss.' She was more than a cute kid. Producer Darryl Zanuck gave her interesting roles, usually playing a bright, sensible youngster puncturing the pomposity of adults. Shirley was the youngest performer to receive an Academy Award in 1934 -- for 'captivating the mass world audience and enabling it to forget the Depression.' She married and divorced actor John Agar (1945-49) and later married San Francisco businessman Charles Black. After her TV series 'Shirley Temple's Storybook' (1959-61) she left show business to enter California politics. In 1969 she was a delegate to the 24th General Assembly representing the United States at the United Nations. During the '70s she was U.S. ambassador to Ghana, later becoming U.S. chief of protocol. In the 1980s she was ambassador to Czechoslovakia. However, it is her legacy of sweet-faced cherub with blond ringlets and piping voice that is recalled during the Temple festival AMC will beam to 60 million homes: In 'Bright Eyes' (1934) Shirley wins everyone's heart with her signature rendition of 'On The Good Ship Lollipop.' 'Curly Top' (1933) finds her as an orphan singing a rollicking 'Animal Crackers In My Soup.' One scene in 'The Little Colonel' (1935) probably is the most frequently played on TV, the staircase dance with Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. Shirley at 9 starred in 'Heidi' (1937), a 19th century orphan forced to live with an evil aunt before being re-united with her grandfather. John Ford, at the height of his fame, directed Shirley in 'Wee Willie Winkie' (1937), a Rudyard Kipling story in which she plays a tomboy for the first time. 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' (1938) was a natural for the 10-year- old star, notable for her medley of 'On The Good Ship Lollipop,' 'When I'm With You' and 'Animal Crackers.' She also dances with Robinson in 'Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.' By 1939 the 11-year-old Shirley was on the brink of the so-called 'awkward age' for child actors. 'The Little Princess' that year was her last great box-office success, and probably the most expensively mounted. It was Temple's first Technicolor film, set in 1899 England. Eighth in the AMC retrospective is 'Susannah of the Mounties' (1939), in which she plays the only survivor of an Indian massacre, rescued by the Canadian Mounted Police. For the first time Temple was given a preadolescent semi-romantic interest with a Blackfoot Indian boy named Martin Good Rider. With the '40s Temple's ebbed, although she starred in 15 more pictures. Shirley Temple remains a national icon, a beloved little movie princess who saved a great studio, helped her country overcome the Depression and went on to serve it as a diplomat.
