Shirley Temple

[[File:NPG 94 48 Temple (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|165px|America's Sweetheart.]]
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with {{w|Shirley Temple (drink)|the eponymous drink}}.}}

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{{cquote|I stopped believing in [[Santa Claus]] when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.|||Shirley Temple, as quoted in ''The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations'' by Robert Andrews.}}
'''Shirley Temple Black''', born '''Shirley Jane Temple'''<ref group="note">While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in 1934; her birth year was advanced from 1928 to 1929. Even her baby book was revised to support the 1929 date. She confirmed her true age when she was 21 (Burdick 5; Edwards 23n, 43n).</ref> {{lived|April 23, 1928|February 10, 2014}} was an [[United States|American]] former child actress, businesswoman and diplomat who is perhaps one of the most popular if not ''the'' most popular child performer of all time, earning the distinction as a consistent box-office draw for four straight years (1935–38). She retired from show business at the young age of 22, though she made sporadic television appearances later in her life, most notably as the host and occasional performer in ''Shirley Temple's Storybook'', a live-action anthology series featuring fairy tales and other children's stories. Temple also took on a political career in her adulthood, having mounted an unsuccessful bid for Congress as a [[conservative]] under the [[Republican Party]] ticket; she was later appointed as chief of protocol and the U.S. Ambassador to both Ghana and [[Czechoslovakia]].

Besides earning praise for entertaining people of all ages during the [[Great Depression]] and later pursuing an illustrious career in diplomacy and public service, her life and career have been subject to scrutiny, particularly with the abuses she experienced during her career as a child actress and questionable themes in some of her movies, as well as her [[conservative]] political views.

Temple died in 2014 from [[Tobacco smoking|chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]] (COPD) owing to her lifelong smoking habit;<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bY3DwAAQBAJ&q=shirley+temple+black+death+certificate&pg=PP17|title=Shirley Temple Biography: The 'Perfect Life' of the Child Star Shirley Temple During the Great Depression|last=Dicker|first=Chris|publisher=Chris Dicker|language=en|access-date=October 28, 2020|archive-date=September 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909152435/https://books.google.com/books?id=5bY3DwAAQBAJ&q=shirley+temple+black+death+certificate&pg=PP17|url-status=live}}</ref> she purposely hid her chain smoking addiction from the public likely so as not to upset her younger fans who (inevitably) associated her with her previous cherubic toddler stage persona.<ref>{{cite web|title=40 Rare Vintage Photos of Shirley Temple at Home|last=Stefanie Waldek|url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g40064730/shirley-temple-home-photos/|publisher=Good Housekeeping|date=May 25, 2022|access-date=February 25, 2025}}</ref>

==America's sweetheart==
[[File:Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes with James Dunn 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|160px|left|James Dunn and Shirley Temple in a publicity photo for ''Bright Eyes'' (1934).]]
{{cquote|Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl?|||Britney Spears, "Lucky" from the album ''Oops!... I Did It Again'' (2000).}}
Shirley is best known for her career as a child actress during the [[Golden age|golden age]] of [[Hollywood]], having been groomed by her mother into a life as an entertainer since she was two and a half years old when she was enrolled at the {{wpl|The Meglin Kiddies|Meglin Dance Studio|,}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 16, 2024 |title='Being a starlet was difficult': How Shirley Temple saved a Hollywood studio from bankruptcy |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241212-how-shirley-temple-saved-a-hollywood-studio-from-bankruptcy |access-date=2025-12-06 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> a prestigious dance school which also produced notable talents like {{wpl|Judy Garland||.}} Temple first appeared in ''{{wpl|Baby Burlesks||,}}'' a series of short parody films featuring toddlers in decidedly adult scenarios, which Shirley herself retrospectively remarked as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence."{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=14}} Temple recalled in her memoirs that she and her co-stars in ''Burlesks'' were subjected to [[child abuse|abuse]] and exploitation, including but not limited to being shoved in a black box in case they don't behave.<ref name="farout">[https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/dark-truth-hollywood-shirley-temple-black-box/ The dark truth of classic Hollywood: Shirley Temple and ‘The Black Box’]</ref><ref>[https://time.com/12851/before-the-good-ship-lollipop-shirley-temple-did-baby-burlesks/ Shirley Temple's 'Baby Burlesks' Were Kind of Racy - TIME]</ref> Shirley also experienced numerous threats in her life, be it kidnapping,{{efn|Given how America was still reeling from the tragic [[Charles Lindbergh|Lindbergh baby kidnapping]] at the time, a hypothetical abduction of Shirley Temple would have rivalled [[9/11]] in terms of national tragedy.}} extortion and attempted assassinations, the closest being in 1939 when she was at a radio show promoting her then-upcoming film ''{{wpl|The Blue Bird (1940 film)|The Blue Bird|,}}'', where a mentally-disturbed woman came up to her, pointed a loaded handgun and threatened to kill the girl on live radio under the deluded belief that Temple somehow stole the woman's deceased daughter's soul; the woman did not know that Temple was born in 1928, not 1929.{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=293–295}}<ref name="Weinstock">{{Cite news |last=Weinstock |first=Matt |date=April 8, 2013 |title=Shirley Temple’s Strange Loot |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/shirley-temples-strange-loot |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208024105/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/shirley-temples-strange-loot |archive-date=2024-12-08 |access-date=2025-11-15 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> These threats were fortunately mitigated due to Fox taking steps to ensure her safety{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=119-122}} as well as both the studio and the Temple family's law enforcement connections, most notably with [[J. Edgar Hoover]] whom Temple revered as a childhood hero.<ref name="Lipton">{{Cite web |last=Lipton |first=Beryl |date=May 16, 2018 |title=Shirley, the lady on a lifelong first-name basis with the FBI |url=https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/may/16/shirley-temple-fbi/ |access-date=2025-11-20 |website=MuckRock |language=en-US}}</ref>

Given Hollywood's storied history of sexual abuse and other such debauchery, Shirley was unsurprisingly witness to various sexual advances towards her. In what amounts to a proto-[[MeToo|#MeToo]] revelation, Temple alleged that in 1940, producer {{wpl|Arthur Freed}}<ref group="note">Yes, that very same bastard behind ''Singin' in the Rain''.</ref> exposed himself in front of her during what was supposed to be an interview when Shirley was in the process of being signed up to MGM after leaving 20th Century Fox following a string of failed features. Temple's mother Gertrude was also subjected to MGM's [[Rape culture|frathouse mentality]] courtesy of the studio's co-founder {{wpl|Louis B. Mayer||,}} who similarly entrapped Mrs. Temple;{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=322-323}} at any rate, Shirley left MGM after starring in one film with them.<ref name="handy">{{Cite web |last=Handy |first=Bruce |date=February 14, 2014 |title=The Art of the Creep: When Good Movies Happen to Bad People |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2014/02/honor-art-without-honoring-artist |access-date=2025-12-04 |website=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref> Temple also contended with Fox producer {{wpl|David O. Selznick}} and {{wpl|George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel|,}} the latter of whom Temple gave a painful kick in the nuts.<ref name=lifeandtimes>{{cite news| last1=Smith| first1=J. Y.| title=The Studio Torture and Abuse of Shirley Temple; Chased Around Desk by Selznick; Kicked George Jessel in the Groin.| url=https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/the-studio-torture-and-abuse-of-shirley-temple-chased-around-desk-by-selznick-kicked-george-jessel-in-the-groin/| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| access-date=April 18, 2021| date=July 19, 2017}}</ref><ref>[https://filmstarfacts.com/2022/11/15/shirley-temple-child-star/ 'SHIRLEY TEMPLE - CHILD STAR'. ⋆ Historian Alan Royle]</ref><ref name=lifeandtimes>{{cite news| last1=Smith| first1=J. Y.| title=The Studio Torture and Abuse of Shirley Temple; Chased Around Desk by Selznick; Kicked George Jessel in the Groin.| url=https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/the-studio-torture-and-abuse-of-shirley-temple-chased-around-desk-by-selznick-kicked-george-jessel-in-the-groin/| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| access-date=April 18, 2021| date=July 19, 2017}}</ref>

Though Temple managed to navigate through the seedy underbelly of show business while keeping her dignity and sanity intact, her legacy as an actress has also been viewed with scrutiny. In a 2009 ''Camera Obscura'' paper, McGill University professor Ara Osterweil opined that Shirley was a by-product of an era in motion pictures which forbade adult sexuality and interracial romance (due in no small part to both the Hays Code and [[Jim Crow]] laws) hence why Miss Temple was marketed and portrayed with a decidedly infantilised, pedophilic subtext — [[angel|cherubic]] appearance with plump arms and thighs and curly blond hair, short dresses and most of all flirtatious demeanor especially towards older men, making particular emphasis on Temple's performances alongside Black tap dancer Bill Robinson.<ref name="Osterweil">{{Cite journal |last=Osterweil |first=Ara |date=December 1, 2009 |title=Reconstructing Shirley: Pedophilia and Interracial Romance in Hollywood's Age of Innocence |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/camera-obscura/article/24/3%20(72)/1/58423/Reconstructing-Shirley-Pedophilia-and-Interracial |journal=Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=1–39 |doi=10.1215/02705346-2009-008 |issn=0270-5346 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250117074754/https://read.dukeupress.edu/camera-obscura/article/24/3%20(72)/1/58423/Reconstructing-Shirley-Pedophilia-and-Interracial |archive-date=2025-01-17}}</ref> In one such instance, comments on a video upload of Shirley's signature song "On the Good Ship Lollipop" from {{wpl|Bright Eyes (1934 film)|''Bright Eyes''}} (1934) question the appropriateness of Temple's character serenading a band of grown men on board an airplane while wearing a decidedly infantile short dress.<ref name="lollipop">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLSqpYyPD8 |title=Shirley Temple - On The Good Ship Lollipop.avi |date=March 30, 2010 |last=Damien Chemillé |access-date=2026-01-05 |via=YouTube}}</ref> One blogger expressed concern about the home media release of Temple's films and branded them as borderline child pornography.<ref name="Fay">{{Cite web |last=Fay |first=Rua |date=December 11, 2022 |title=The Sinister, Untold History of Shirley Temple |url=https://www.cinemasters.net/post/the-sinister-untold-history-of-shirley-temple |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=Cinemasters |language=en}}</ref> As far back as 1937 when ''Wee Willie Winkie'' was released, British author Graham Greene put Shirley's on-screen persona under his crosshairs, the girl supposedly displaying "a dubious coquetry" which appealed to "middle-aged men and clergymen". Fox understandably took offence and successfully sued Greene for libel,<ref name=Johnson>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shirley-temple-scandal-was-real-reason-graham-greene-fled-to-mexico-400856.html|title= Shirley Temple scandal was real reason Graham Greene fled to Mexico|newspaper=The Independent|date=18 November 2007|first=Andrew |last=Johnson}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chasinglolitahow00vick|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/chasinglolitahow00vick/page/64 64]|title=Chasing Lolita: How Popular Culture Corrupted Nabokov's Little Girl All Over Again|first=Graham|last= Vickers|publisher=Chicago Review Press|date= 1 August 2008|isbn=9781556526824}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Law Report, March 22 - Libel on Miss Shirley Temple: 'A Gross Outrage'|work= The Times|location= London|date= 23 March 1938|page= 4|issn= 0140-0460}}</ref> and not helping matters was with how Greene framed his review in ''the point of view of a child predator'' than a straight condemnation of any perceived abuses done towards Temple.<ref name="greene">{{Cite web |title=Novelist Graham Greene reviews the 9-year-old Shirley Temple |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/menwritingwomen/comments/r898jc/novelist_graham_greene_reviews_the_9yearold/ |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref> Others have a more nuanced assessment, in that Greene's review was done more in the name of [[satire]]—as much of an [[edgelord]] move as it was—with Osterweil opining “I believe that is in fact our contemporary lens—so colored by a [[moral panic|hysteria]] over pedophilic endangerment—that prevents us from understanding either the satiric tone of Greene’s essay or the larger point that he makes,”<ref name="slate">{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=L. V. |date=February 12, 2014 |title=What Was the Deal With Graham Greene Calling Shirley Temple “a Fancy Little Piece”? |url=https://slate.com/culture/2014/02/graham-greene-and-shirley-temple-what-to-make-of-the-novelists-sexual-review-of-wee-willie-winkie.html |access-date=2025-10-10 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}}</ref> At any rate, Greene crossed the line by framing his assertions in such a lecherous manner that made him look indecent by both 1930s and today's standards, and it might as well have served as an [[ad hominem]] attack towards Temple as he cast aspersions towards an ''underage child'' regardless of the intended satirical framing.<ref name="slate">{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=L. V. |date=February 12, 2014 |title=What Was the Deal With Graham Greene Calling Shirley Temple “a Fancy Little Piece”? |url=https://slate.com/culture/2014/02/graham-greene-and-shirley-temple-what-to-make-of-the-novelists-sexual-review-of-wee-willie-winkie.html |access-date=2025-10-10 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}}</ref>

Graham Greene is far from the only one complicit with the abuse-by-proxy Shirley endured, as well as other youth performers in general. While the rigors of her childhood life and career are well-known and documented, [[crank]]s have unfortunately taken the story way out of context and [[Shoehorning|shoehorned]] [[conspiracy theory|conspiracist]] screeds on top of what is factual. These self-styled commentators come up with [[clickbait|rage bait]] videos and articles showing lurid and sensationalised thumbnails<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns0roXRFluU |title=Disturbing Horrors Behind Shirley Temple That'll RUIN Your Childhood |date=February 24, 2021 |last=EXPLORE WITH US |access-date=2025-11-15 |via=YouTube}}</ref> and descriptions<ref name="socalledpatriot">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8CsSoyQJdM |title=Clip of Shirley Temple speaking to Larry King about Pedo Hollywood |date=January 13, 2023 |last=Patriot From Cali |access-date=2025-11-15 |via=YouTube}}</ref> hyper-fixating on things such as "[[pedophile]] Hollywood", "[[Satanic ritual abuse]]",<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/ParlerWatch/comments/s8ssip/shirley_temple_movies_the_epitome_of_satanism/ Shirley Temple movies- the epitome of satanism : r/ParlerWatch] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220120210111/https://www.reddit.com/r/ParlerWatch/comments/s8ssip/shirley_temple_movies_the_epitome_of_satanism/ Archive])</ref> "[[deep state]]",<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/document/807233080/Pedophilia-Empire-Satan-Sodomy-The-Deep-State-Chapter-15-Satan-and-Pedophilia-Rule-Hollywood-Joachim-Hagopian-2024-scribd-download SHIRLEY TEMPLE, PEDOPHILIA, & THE DEEP STATE]</ref> [[antisemitism]]{{efn|Given how many of the depraved producers and executives Shirley dealt with over the years were of Jewish descent, this isn't surprising.}}<ref>[https://www.bitchute.com/video/D6fV3JVIKoho?playlistId=8kgZ2v6M1soh&position=17 Child Stars] ([https://archive.md/r8cBC Archive])</ref> and even [[MKULTRA]] of all things,<ref>[https://youtu.be/JsKnkZ58tlk Shirley Temple Was MK-Ultra and Abused As a Child by Jairo Parra] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230212011251/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsKnkZ58tlk Archive])</ref> with not a shred of nuance and respect towards the person no matter the basis to those stated claims.<ref name="takecare4">{{Cite web |date=January 28, 2020 |title=SHIRLEY TEMPLE, PEDOPHILIA, & THE DEEP STATE |url=https://www.takecare4.eu/shirley-temple-pedophilia-the-deep-state/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250714151434/https://www.takecare4.eu/shirley-temple-pedophilia-the-deep-state/ |archive-date=2025-07-14 |access-date=2025-11-15 |website=Take care 4 |language=nl-NL}}</ref> Conspiracist circles are quick to capitalise on the divisive legacy of Shirley's back catalogue—by portraying them as part of an overarching plot by secret cabals who exploit and (consume) children with such glee and gusto—in an effort to suit their twisted narrative e.g. with the likes of [[InfoWars]]<ref name="cnnexpose">{{Cite web |title=Video: Child Actress Shirley Temple Exposes Hollywood Pedophilia |url=https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-child-actress-shirley-temple-exposes-hollywood-pedophilia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250319161416/https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-child-actress-shirley-temple-exposes-hollywood-pedophilia/ |archive-date=2025-03-19 |access-date=2025-11-15 |website=InfoWars |language=en}}</ref>, [[David Icke]] and [[Henry Makow]] among others.<ref name="Makow">{{Cite web |last=Makow |first=Henry |title=Shirley Temple and Hollywood Pedophilia (Updated) |url=https://www.henrymakow.com/2017/05/shirley-temple-and-hollywood.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009133409/https://henrymakow.com/2017/05/shirley-temple-and-hollywood.html |archive-date=2024-10-09 |access-date=2025-11-15 |website=HenryMakow.com |language=en}}</ref> The real problem here isn't necessarily the actress or the films themselves — problematic as some scenes and themes are, racism, sexism and all by Temple's retrospective admission — but those cranks who twist her life into a [[Nihilism|nihilistic]] [[morality]] play and [[Capitalism|profit]] from the woes of everyone, not just Shirley.{{Nofact}}

On the other hand, the 2015 paper ''Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood'' by Kristen Hatch at least tries to temper that perception about Temple, arguing that such assertions are driven more by [[moral panic]]s and [[Presentism#Moral judgments|presentist]] projections of societal anxieties in an era where people are fixated with child safety amidst lurid reports of child abductions and sexual abuse. Hatch also notes that the discourse of the perpetually imperiled child has often been weaponised by the likes of [[Anita Bryant]] which stoked fears about pedophilia to advance their [[homophobia|homophobic]] agenda.<ref name="Hatch">{{Cite journal |last=Hatch |first=Kristen |date=March 2016 |title=Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood |url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jahist/jav701 |journal=Journal of American History |language=en |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=1243–1244 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jav701 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref> To put it another way, it would be wrong to ignore the fact that the above-mentioned abuses existed in Shirley's time (and even to this day, with child and youth influencers like Ryan Kaji of the popular children's [[YouTube]] channel Ryan's World, whose stage mom pushed him into acting in infantile roles well into his teens,<ref name="Dickson">{{Cite web |last=Dickson |first=EJ |date=August 15, 2024 |title=He Got Famous at 3. How Does a YouTube Superstar Grow Up? |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ryans-world-ryan-kaji-youtube-1235078164/ |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Luscombe">{{Cite news |last=Luscombe |first=Belinda |title=How Ryan Kaji Became the World's Most Popular 10-Year-Old |url=https://time.com/6116624/ryan-kaji-youtube/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250519094145/https://time.com/6116624/ryan-kaji-youtube/ |archive-date=2025-05-19 |access-date=2025-11-17 |work=TIME |language=en}}</ref> as well as an equally young audience sucked into watching asinine content like [[Elsagate]] videos and [[TikTok]] reels) but it would also be misguided if not sick and demented (e.g. Graham Greene's voyeuristic remarks; not helping matters was when Greene sneered at Temple as a "little bitch" in a letter{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=189}}) to project modern-day anxieties over legacy media without examining and taking into account the nuances of the era her films were made and released, especially when said anxieties are used by some as a convenient excuse to promote hurtful rhetoric against marginalised groups such as the LGBTQ+ movement or to conflate homosexuality and [[transgender]] with pedophilia.

[[File:The Little Princess (1939).webm|thumb|thumbtime=44|upright=1.2|Temple in ''The Little Princess'', her first color film]]
Even during her heyday, such spurious rumours and [[urban legend]]s were prevalent, such as when persistent rumours in [[Italy]] speculated that the young Temple was not a child but a dwarf actress in her thirties due to her stockier body type. Such was the gossip that, according to Temple herself in her memoirs, even the [[Vatican]] themselves got involved when they summoned ''L'Osservatore Romano'' United States correspondent Silvio Massante to investigate on whether she was indeed a child and not a real-life version of the ''Batman'' villain Baby Doll.<ref name="Edwards">{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Elisabeth |date=February 3, 2023 |title=The Wild Rumor That Led the Vatican to Investigate Shirley Temple |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2023/02/03/vatican-shirley-temple/ |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=The Vintage News |language=en}}</ref> Other rumours concerned the condition of her teeth{{efn|When acting, she wore dental plates and caps to hide the gaps in her teeth.<ref name="veneer">{{Cite web |last=Daveland |date=May 11, 2021 |title=Davelandblog: Temple Tuesday: Changing the Curls and Red Skelton |url=https://davelandblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/temple-tuesday-changing-curls-and-red.html |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=Davelandblog}}</ref>}} or that she wore a wig; Temple's mother actually gave her a routine regimen for setting her trademark curls involving vinegar rinse.<ref name="kennedy">{{Cite news |date=December 6, 1998 |title=THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS: SHIRLEY TEMPLE, REMEMBERING CURLY TOP |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1998/12/06/the-kennedy-center-honors-shirley-temple-remembering-curly-top/66188a43-95b0-445b-91ed-9082a8a7ff79/ |access-date=2025-10-30 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Child abuse aside, her films were clearly products of her time: ''The Littlest Rebel'' in particular amounted to the Shirley Temple Cinematic Universe's equivalent of ''[[The Walt Disney Company#Song of the South|Song of the South]]'', especially with its depiction of slavery in the American South where they seem to be [[bullshit|happy and content]] with their social status and [[American Civil War|redneck]]s go brrr, as well as that one scene where Shirley's character donned [[blackface]] makeup in order to disguise herself as a slave. Many of Temple's other period dramas were also subject to similar criticism at least to some degree, particularly with Bill Robinson's role as an "[[Uncle Tom]]" figure to her.<ref name="racism">{{cite web |date=2006-05-19 |title=Little Girl Lost |url=http://www.popmatters.com/film/features/060519-shirleytemple.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080917051523/http://www.popmatters.com:80/film/features/060519-shirleytemple.shtml |archive-date=2008-09-17 |access-date=2009-10-08 |publisher=PopMatters.com}}</ref>

Fortunately for us, Temple somehow did not wind up in the pantheon of former child performers whose lives were ruined due to the stresses and abuses they faced,<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/shirley-temple-the-child-star-who-wasnt-a-cautionary-tale/283747/ Shirley Temple, the Child Star Who Wasn't a Cautionary Tale]</ref> such as {{wpl|Lindsay Lohan}}, [[Philippines|Filipino]] child actor {{wpl|Jiro Manio||,}} who went on a downward spiral in his native country where he got mired up in substance abuse<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://philnews.ph/2011/05/24/jiro-manio-confined-in-rehab-for-drug-abuse/|title=Jiro Manio Confined in Rehab for Drug Abuse|first=|last=|date=May 24, 2011|website=Philippine News}}</ref> and violent altercations with relatives and random civilians,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cnnphilippines.com/metro/2020/1/18/jiro-manio-arrested-.html|title=Ex-child star Jiro Manio nabbed for alleged frustrated homicide|access-date=2020-01-18|archive-date=2020-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118062413/https://cnnphilippines.com/metro/2020/1/18/jiro-manio-arrested-.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bug Hall – who was best known as Alfalfa in the 1994 {{wpl|The Little Rascals (film)|''The Little Rascals''}} revival – whom in recent years went batshit insane and made questionable tweets about children and marital duties<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dlisted.com/2022/12/08/alfalfa-from-the-little-rascals-actor-bug-hall-was-banned-from-twitter-for-pushing-his-dangerous-parenting-methods/ | title=Alfalfa from "The Little Rascals" Actor, Bug Hall, Was Banned from Twitter for Pushing His Dangerous "Parenting Methods" | date=December 8, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perezhilton.com/little-rascals-bug-hall-alfafa-permanently-suspended-twitter-homophobia-marital-rape/amp/ |title=Little Rascals Star Bug Hall Kicked Off Twitter After Saying He's Teaching Young Daughters Marital Rape Is OK|access-date=December 25, 2024}}</ref> as well as having been arrested in 2020 over inhalant abuse,<ref>{{cite news|last=Parker|first=Ryan|title=Actor Brandon "Bug" Hall Arrested on Suspicion of Huffing Air Duster Cans|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/actor-brandon-bug-hall-arrested-suspicion-huffing-air-duster-cans-1299979/|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=23 June 2020}}</ref> and ''Peter Pan'' actor {{wpl|Bobby Driscoll||,}} whose tragic life was later callously satirised by [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] in {{wpl|Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (film)|''Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers''|,}}<ref>[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/chip-and-dale-rescue-rangers-movie-bobby-driscoll Tragic Child Star Gets a Surprise Spotlight in Chip 'n Dale Movie]</ref> not to mention Temple's predecessor Baby Peggy – born Peggy Montgomery and later known as {{wpl|Diana Serra Cary}} – who was cynically exploited by both her parents and studio bigwigs especially when she rose to prominence as a child star in the 1920s alongside {{wpl|Jackie Coogan}} (i.e. the titular Kid from the {{wpl|The Kid (1921 film)|1921 Charlie Chaplin classic}} and later of ''{{wpl|The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family}}'' fame as Uncle Fester) who sued his parents for similar financial and child labour abuses. Temple was also good friends with [[African-American]] vaudeville actor and tap dancer {{wpl|Bill Robinson|Bill "Bojangles" Robinson|,}} with whom she collaborated in a number of productions, though the scenes featuring Robinson were unsurprisingly [[Censorship|excised]] from screenings in [[the South]] due to the [[Jim Crow laws]]. Temple recalled, "Bill Robinson treated me as an equal, which was very important to me. He didn't talk down to me, like to a little girl. And I liked people like that. And Bill Robinson was the best of all."<ref>Elizabeth Blair (February 14, 2014). [https://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/276986764/shirley-temple-and-bojangles-two-stars-one-lifelong-friendship "Shirley Temple And Bojangles: Two Stars, One Lifelong Friendship"]. National Public Radio.</ref>

==On the GOP ship Lollipop==
[[File:Temple Black 1990.jpg|thumb|165px|right|Temple in 1990.]]
{{cquote|I've been blessed with three wonderful careers: motion pictures and television, wife, mother, and grandmother...and diplomatic services for the United States government.|||Shirley Temple Black}}
Temple made no secret about her conservative inclinations, such as when she resigned from the San Francisco International Film Festival over a screening of the 1966 Swedish erotic drama film ''{{wpl|Night Games (1966 film)|Night Games}}'' which Shirley regarded as "[[pornography]] for profit",<ref>{{cite web|title=Shirley Temple - obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10630450/Shirley-Temple-obituary.html|accessdate=22 May 2015}}</ref> although she rubbed elbows with [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1934 and cites his wife Eleanor as a childhood heroine.{{efn|Funny enough, Shirley's mischievous tomboy side prevailed in 1938 when she pelted Eleanor's rear end with a pebble using her slingshot during a visit to the White House. Gertrude Temple, Shirley's mother, was understandably livid over her daughter's antics and gave the girl a [[spanking]].{{sfn|Temple Black|1988|pages=240}}}} Roosevelt remarked positively about the actress, saying "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."<ref>[https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/12/23/shirley-temple-was-so-popular-in-the-usa-that-president-franklin-roosevelt-once-proclaimed-as-long-as-our-country-has-shirley-temple-we-will-be-all-right/?firefox=1 Temple was so popular in the USA that Roosevelt once proclaimed: "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right"]</ref> In her adulthood, Temple sided with the likes of fellow-Hollywood veteran [[Ronald Reagan]] (whose political views were clearly no different than Temple's) and [[Richard Nixon]]. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully in a special election in [[California]]'s 11<sup>th</sup> Congressional District to fill the seat left vacant by the death from leukemia of eight-term [[Republican]] J. Arthur Younger, caucusing under the GOP as an independent candidate. Comedian {{wpl|Johnny Carson}} ridiculed this and performed a sketch where he [[cross-dressing|dressed]] as Temple and sang a parody song called "On the Good Ship U.S.A."<ref>[https://www.atvaudio.com/ata_search.php?keywords=Charles+Addams TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON, THE 1963-06-12, NBC, 39 min.]</ref> {{wpl|Carol Burnett}} (of ''Annie'' fame as Miss Hannigan no less) also joined in on the fun with her own sketch on her eponymous comedy show where she assumed the role of a namby-pamby {{wpl|Paraphilic infantilism|adult baby}}-esque Temple send-up named "Shirley Dimple", later re-christened as "Rhonda Dimple" likely due to legal issues.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP7eGdxfZZ0 Carol Burnett - Shirley Dimple]</ref>

She also publicly expressed her stance as a staunch anti-[[communism|communist]], having [[Bullshit|claimed]] to have witnessed a poor unarmed woman being gunned down in Czechoslovakia{{efn|Shirley actually had a fan following in the former Czechoslovakia, where people there fondly remember "Širlejka" (translit. "Shirleyka"; English: "Little Shirley") and a fan club was established in the country during her career as an actress.<ref>[https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth631792/m1/10/ Věstník (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 17, 1993 Page: 10 of 16]</ref>}} and harbored a strong pro-[[Vietnam War]] position.<ref>[https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/shirley-temple-dead-85-politics-congress-vietnam-nixon/ When Shirley Temple Black was a Vietnam War hawk on the campaign trail]</ref> [[Irony|Ironically]] enough, ''she herself'' became the subject of [[McCarthyism|McCarthyist]] [[witch hunt|witch hunting]] when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) suspected Temple of leftist sympathies.<ref>[https://filmstarfacts.com/2022/03/22/the-red-scare-1947-54/ 'THE RED SCARE' 1947-54 ⋆ Historian Alan Royle]</ref> Earlier still was when elements within Congress debated whether Temple&nbsp;– during her ''child star days''&nbsp;– was unwittingly supporting the communist cause, something that was dismissed more as a bizarre joke than a credible threat considering that Temple was then only 10.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/02/11/congress-once-debated-whether-shirley-temple-was-a-communist/ Congress once debated whether Shirley Temple was a communist. She was 10. - The Washington Post]</ref>

[[Stopped clock|To be completely fair]], though Temple and her family were ardently Republican and supported ‘Nam-era intervention, she largely exemplified the moderate wing of the Republican Party where she based herself on diplomacy and was colorblind in spite of racial tensions during her heyday.<ref name="nasachat">{{Cite web |title=:: NASA Quest > Archives :: |url=http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/frontiers/chat_archives/temple_black03-26-99.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409093405/http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/frontiers/chat_archives/temple_black03-26-99.html |archive-date=2016-04-09 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=quest.arc.nasa.gov}}</ref> She was reportedly "a determined fiscal conservative but a moderate on social issues," going so far as to being in favour of a [[pro-choice]] stance on abortion following ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' which would have sent the more radical pro-lifers into a hissy fit.<ref name="shirleyencyclopedia">{{Cite web |title=Black, Shirley Temple (1928—) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/black-shirley-temple-1928 |access-date=2025-11-11 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> Temple also campaigned for breast [[cancer]] awareness at a time when discussion of such ailments were considered a taboo subject, where she was among the first to speak openly about the disease alongside Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Sheryl Crow, and Robin Roberts,<ref>{{Cite web |last=nbcf91 |date=March 18, 2016 |title=Shirley Temple: Celebrating Her Legacy & Breast Cancer Advocacy |url=https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/blog/making-history-by-speaking-out/ |access-date=2025-11-09 |website=National Breast Cancer Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> and similarly used her influence to lobby for a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis — as her older brother George Jr. was diagnosed with it following his short-lived stint as a pro wrestler under his birth name.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 25, 2014 |title=George Temple - Slam Wrestling |url=https://slamwrestling.net/legend/george-temple/ |access-date=2025-11-09 |website=slamwrestling.net |language=en-US}}</ref> Temple also campaigned for environmental causes, where in 1972 she was appointed as United States delegate to the [[United Nations]] Conference on the Human Environment and warned against a "worldwide cauldron" of pollution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalb |first=Claudia |title=Shirley Temple Black's Remarkable Second Act as a Diplomat |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/shirley-temple-black-second-act-diplomat-180980038/ |access-date=2025-11-26 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> She was also surprisingly tolerant if not supportive of her daughter Lori's career in [[heavy metal]] music as a bassist for the {{wpl|Melvins||,}} having hosted the band at the Black family home (the Melvins claimed that Shirley played back a tape recording of her drumming skills), and supported Lori during her struggle with substance abuse.<ref name="melvins">{{Cite web |last=Forrest |first=Ben |date=December 8, 2023 |title=The curious connection between Shirley Temple and Melvins |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/connection-between-shirley-temple-and-melvins/ |access-date=2025-11-11 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref>

Though we can't say for sure, having faced predatory behaviour herself during her time in Old Hollywood (of note was with many of her films produced by Fox executive {{wpl|Darryl F. Zanuck||,}} whose {{wpl|Darryl F. Zanuck#Sexual misconduct allegations|casting couch antics}} have been subject to scrutiny in recent years), she would have likely been disdainful of [[Donald Trump]] — especially his interactions and remarks towards women and children (in particular Trump's well-documented interactions with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and the Stormy Daniels affair, given Temple's above-mentioned opposition towards pornography) — and may as well have voted Democrat during the past few presidential elections as did her Republican contemporaries who were critical of Donald's rule.

==See also==
*[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], Austrian-American actor with similarly moderate inclinations

==External links==
*[https://www.shirleytemple.com/ Official website]
*[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000073/ Shirley Temple on IMDb]
*[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/ShirleyTemple Shirley Temple] on [[TV Tropes]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last=Temple Black |first=Shirley |year=1988 |title=Child Star: An Autobiography |publisher=Warner Books, Inc. |isbn=978-0-446-35792-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/childstarautobio00temp}}, primary source

{{DEFAULTSORT: Temple, Shirley}}
[[Category:Actors]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Chickenhawks]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats]]
[[Category:Environmentalism]]
[[Category:Films]]
[[Category:Media hysteria]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]
[[Category:Moral panics]]
[[Category:Paedophilia]]
[[Category:Protestants]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:United States politicians]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]

Categories: Actors, Authors, California, Chickenhawks, Communism, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, Environmentalism, Films, Media hysteria, Moderate Republicans, Moral panics, Paedophilia, Protestants, Racism, Sexism, United States politicians, Urban legends