The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-28
Promising Pictures Feature Programs Of Local 7heaters
HARRISON IN HOLLYWOOD
Shirley Temple Now Actress"
Youngsters Execution of Dramatic Roles Justifies Title -Song-ond-Donce Ditched
BY PAUL HARRISON YEA Service Staff Correspondent

BY PAUL HARRISON
 NEA Service Staif Correspondent
 Hollywood--Miss Shirley Temple, purveyor of sweetness and light to Che multitude, heerafter may be con- sidered an actress.
 still a deeply -dimpled moppet, and still a paragon of all the juve- < nile virtues, she nevertheless is a good deal more than just cute. Her studio is giving her progressively harder roles and in significantly big ger pictures.
 Obviously, Uncle Daryl Zanuck is not worried about his box office champions approach 10 adolescence. Luckily she is growing slowly. Her 75 pounds and 54 1-2 inches are bit under par for child just turned 10.
 She has grown some eight inches during her four years of peak popu- 1arity, but her sturdy stature still can be minimized by careful photography and by casting tall people in her pic- lures.
 NO LONGER
 SONG-AND-DANCE GAL
 But even if she should shoot up, as they say, overnight, the studio has made ready for the emergency. m each of her recent pictures Shir- ley has done less and less singing and dancing.
 There is no use pretending any longer that she is 8 sprOuting Eleanor Powell, or a Meliza Kor- jus in pinafore. She doesn't take vocal lessons, and her ballet in- struction is intended only for phys ical training.
 But Shirley can and does act, and in acting is her future. As long ago as sIittle Miss Broadway" sile was as- signed a dramatic problem, which was talking 8 boy into chauffeuring her for miles on a bicycle and then giving her a nickel for subway fare.
 In Just Around the Corner" she had to reform sissy. "The Little Princess" was full of emotional con- flict, what with her persecution by the bad ol' Miss Minchin and the necessity of her maintaining the con- viction that her father still lived. MOTHER MOLDS
 MOODS
 The building of various moods looks a lot simpler on the screen than it is in production, because scenes are not shot in dramatic pro- gression. So Miss Temple has to know q story thoroughly and understand its characters and their feelings. Her mother coaches her in these matters and receives 5000 8 week for doing 1t. Shirley gets about $l500.
 aSusannah of the M0unties" brings her longest speeches and her greatest responsibility to date. saThis is the finest script I've ever iead!" she exclaimed.
 It was the first script she ever really had read but her attitude about it shows that she now is re- garding picture-making more objec- lively. Shirley suddenly has become interested in the work of other play CTS, and is critical of it, too. DRAMATIC PROBLEMS
 DELIGHT HER
 Among her dramatic problems in this one are kid crush on Randolph Scott and her patient winning of the friendship of taciturn Indian boy, who considers her frail little squaw.
 Said Miss Temple:
 sT just had a case like that down at Palm Springs, because there was . boy there who said was sissy. I beat him at badminton and it didn't make any difference. Then got out my archery set and beat him at archery and he was stub born and still said I was a sissy. So got out some of my PISTOLS and we played robbers, and he finally decided was all right"
 In Lady Jane," scheduled to be- gin late in May, Shirley will under take the moral regeneration of harsh woman with heart of gold. And late next summer will come Miss Temples biggest picture - Maeter- linck's "Bluebird." In fact, it will be one of the studios biggest, for it al- ready is budgeted at a cool $2,00O,- GOO.
 GREAT AWAKENING DUE SOON
 Shirley is in grade 5-B (although she has a private teacher)-is poor at spelling, good at arithmetic. She shows natural frugality by stuff ing collection of pig banks with most of Her $10 monthly allowance.
 This shows that she still does not know her own great import ance, but there are signs of a dawning realization.
 For the first time in her celluloid life she is beginning to be a little smart and a bit queenly on the sets. She's sassy to her trusted friends, such as the towering Arthur Treach- CT. and unmercifully ribs her brother | Jack, an assistant director, about his | girls. Nobody really minds these out croppings of spunk. Shirley needs it | if she's going to be an actress.
 CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE
 The atmosphere of the little one- ring circuses that tour America | every year is captured in "Fixer l