Chapter 5: Uncle Billy
With overwhelming success of several films both at Paramount and her home studio, Shirley garnered significant attention and continuous roles. After Bright Eyes, Shirley was cast in The Little Colonel, a Reconstruction-era drama co-starring Lionel Barrymore; Shirley portrayed Lloyd Sherman, the daughter of Barrymore’s daughter and a former Union-army soldier. Lloyd and her mother move back to her mother’s home state of Kentucky while Lloyd’s father stayed in California to mine for gold in a mine that turned out to be worthless. Upon their return, Lloyd and her mother move into a house next door to that of her maternal grandfather (portrayed by Barrymore) who swore off his daughter after she married a Yankee. Lloyd encounters her grandfather by chance, and develops a loving relationship with him. The most important legacy that came from this film was Shirley’s first pairing with a man who would change her life forever: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a vaudeville dancer cast in the film as a butler in her grandfather’s household. Shirley’s reaction to meeting Robinson the first time: “I was instantly attracted.” (Temple, 91) The two hit it off so well that Shirley requested to call him Uncle Billy; he agreed if she agreed to allow him to call her darlin’. What The Little Colonel is most famous for is the staircase dance sequence. (search Youtube for this scene; as a former dancer, I have never seen an adult and child that in-sync with each other) A secret: during rehearsals, they developed a hand-squeeze sequence to help her know how she was doing; three quick squeezes meant they were coming to a difficult part of the choreography, one long squeeze meant she was doing well, and no squeeze meant they needed to try again (what an ingenious method of training to utilize on a child!) Like her recent films, The Little Colonel was a smashing success.
Shirley’s next role was co-starring with Joel McCrea in Our Little Girl. Shirley plays Molly Middleton, the daughter of a divorcing couple whose eyes have fallen on others; as a result of this significant change, she decides to run away with her dog Sniff to their happy place called Heaven’s Gate with the hope that her leaving will bring her parents back together. During filming, Shirley developed an “attraction” to Joel, who nicknamed her “Butch” (the second time a co-star gave her a nickname); from her memoir at this period of time: “Going on seven years old, I was less interested… than in love, the kind that exists between people.” (Temple, 102). Also from her memoir regarding her attitude on love: “My general approach was to fall in love whenever possible, preferably with someone nearby.” (Temple, 103) I will explain why it was impossible for Shirley to fall in love with anyone at the time, and provide my theory for what was likely going on: according to Freud’s psychosexual stages of development, Shirley was in the latency period, simply defined as having a lack of sexual interest; this is normal during child development. Because Shirley knew from a young age what characteristics and personalities she found appealing (also rare for a child her age to be aware of), she attached herself to those select few believing she was in love when in actuality she was likely experiencing a strong fondness for them; in addition, because Shirley is already known as a people-pleaser, when she encountered individuals she had strong fondness for, she worked to solidify that attachment in whatever ways were necessary and worked to maintain the attachment. In most instances however, Shirley never encountered most of her co-stars again after production wrapped.
With all of Shirley’s success, she finally earned herself a vacation. During summer 1935 (fun fact: during the Golden Age of Hollywood, all the studios closed for summer break), the Temple family planned a trip to Hawaii. What was supposed to be a relaxing getaway and respite from work turned into a Fox promotional tour. (ironic considering Fox severely restricted her public appearances) Shirley made several appearances during her visit, which brought tens of thousands to see her in person. Unfortunately, the family did not have much private time, and even when they did it turned into a spectacle; Shirley shared an anecdote in her memoir that she planned to go swim in the Pacific Ocean, however a crowd gathered which became a distraction, and was unsuccessful (she was bothered by the fact she was unsuccessful, even though she did not show it).
The trip to Hawaii was the first time the Temples saw how Shirley was transforming the entertainment industry, however this did not hamper her desire to continue making films, nor did not stop Fox from exploiting her to make money…
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