Evening star., 1939-04-23
Shirley Nears
The Critical
Age Limit
Now 10 Years OLD.
Her Career Is
A Question
By Harold Hefernan.
By Harold Hefernan.
HOLLYWOOD.


Ten years old today is Shirle~
Temple, most valuable parcel of
human property in all Hollywood.
To Shirley it's just another birth
day, with a party and presents and
all that sort of thing. She'll say,
I'm 10, going on H."
But to the major studio for which
her pictures have earned an esti-
mated $15,000,000 and kept her for
the last three years in the envious
position OF No. box-office figure,
1t is much more than just another
birthday.
1t is a possible turning point in
| the career of the most miraculous
| figure the entertainment world has
ever known
No baby star has heretofore man.
aged to continue an uninterrupted
! career on the screen. And tradition
lists the critical age" for juveniles
as 10.
Its about this time that little
girls and boys begin stretching their
limbs toward maturity. Features
and characteristics take new form.
The metamorphosis is not always of
kindly nature. The best synonym
for the critical age" is the "awk-
ward age"
Plenty of famous predecessor
in the all-star juvenile bracket
couldn't whip nature. Madge Evans
tried and couldn't. So did Jackie
TOOoon Roh1y N6or;a Nekar,. W..
ley Barry, Peggy Montgomery, Ben
Alexander. Mitzi Green and Jackie
Cooper. All were headliners at the
7-8-9-year periods in life. but the
critical age eventually tripped
them. One or two caught up with
the pack later, but the majority
went out like a light, never to be
heard from again.
Will Shirley's shimmering bubble
burst like the rest and will she
soon be cast back into the ranks
Of the ordinary members of society?
Half the critics of Hollywood are
stewing over the question, but her
sponsors at goth Century-Fox, on
the surface at least, haven't shown
the slightest fear that Little Miss
Miracle is headed for q sudden
breakdown in popularity.
For one thing-and very impor-
tant it is, too-unpredictable nature
has been extremely kind to the
youngster. Her physical develop
ment, from the time she first ap-
peared in pictures at until today,
has been so gradual that few have
noted any marked changes in ap-
pearance. There are two gangling
sons in the Temple family, but
Shirley remains as proportionately
plump and well-rounded as she was
years ago.
What the studio actually thinks
about Shirleys future has been
made pretty clear by recent in
vestments. 1t spent $780, 900 in
producing "The Little Princess" in
technicolor, and budget of s1.000,-
600 has gone into the making of
"Susannah of the Mounties," which
she has just finished. And it has
just announced purchase of Maeter-
linck's famous Blue Bird" as a
technicolor Temple vehicle to be
produced next fall. That one, the
Studio coolly declares. will cost not
cent less than $200O,00O.
"All this viewing with alarm about
Shirley's future is so much silly
drivel,' said one studio official.
What the self-appointed mourners
don't seem to consider is the child's
ability. Regardless of age, she is
one of the best actresses On the
screen. And she's very apt to remain
the top box-off1ce personality for
years to come. We wouldn't sink
millions into her future stories If
we weren't convinced of that"
Shirley knows no other life than
that of the studio. She wants to 60
on. And this Is entirely agreeable
to the family.
"As long as Shirley enjoys max
ing pictures and as long as the pub
lie wants to see her." Is the limit
her mother, Mrs. Gertrude Temple,
sets on her career.
But Mrs. Temple has indicated
that, should the unlikely happen and
Shirley topple from the head of the
film heap, it will be the end Of
her screen work-then and there.
An "in-between" rating is not to
be considered, and it will be either
the top spot or graceful exit, the
Temples have determined.
(copyrisht 1899. by the North American