Too Little Too Late, or Too Much Too Soon?

At peace with myself at home, I was bathed in a nourishing glow of affection, father with unfailing jolly, both brothers were protective, and above all mother was a constant source of love ladled out in equal measures of encouragement and restraint, Shirley Temple Black said. 

"Child Star Shirley Temple Black An Autobiography" was released in 1988, and I was extremely impressed with all the details. Temple Black not only details her child star years, but also her high school romances and so much more. Born in 1928, the same year as Mickey Mouse, the ubiquitous Mickey Mouse, Temple Black said. 

Before she was 3-years-old, Temple was being formally trained in dancing at a famous dance studio for children in Los Angeles, and surprise, by the time she was 6-years-old, the dance studio enrollment sky rocketed. 

When Temple was 3-years-old, she starred in the Baby Burlesks one-reelers, depicting children in adult themes, and in 1934, she starred in three feature films, and from 1935-1938 she was the number one box office draw. 

Pictured above with her father, sighing a movie contract in 1934. In December of 1935, she was making $2,500. a week, two percent of what the studio was making off her movies at the time, Temple Black said. Some women offered themselves to Shirley's father to stud them, in hopes they would give birth to another Shirley Temple, she said. 

Temple Black really details her finances in this book, and I was very surprised at how much money she had when she was no longer making movies and married her second husband, Charles Alden Black when she was 22-years-old. 

The above picture is from 1935s "The Little Colonel," in which Temple and Bill Bojangles Robinson dance up the stairs. Temple and Robinson were Hollywood's first interracial dance team and this scene in which the two were holding hands was cut from the original theatrical release, because of simple minded idiots, and lame Hollywood politics. 

Even in her adult years, Shirley Temple always referred to Bill Robinson as Uncle Billy. 

Above picture, Temple with Uncle Billy in her treasured red and white racer from her treasured uncle Temple said. 

Above, Shirley Temple in 1945 when she was 17-years-old and engaged to be married to Air Cadet Andrew D. Hotchkiss jr. She married Hotchkiss that same year, and had her first child with him, Linda Susan in 1948. 

When she first married Hotchkiss, uncle Billy said if you ever hurt her, I'll cut you Temple said. Hotchkiss boozed and committed adultery and the two divorced and Temple got full custody of their daughter Susan. Uncle Billy did not cut him. 

Above photo, Temple with actual Blackfoot Indians from a Montana tribe. Twelve Blackfoot tribe members were in 1939s "Susannah of the Mounties." Chief Yellow Kidney, the tribes shaman officially made Temple a Blood Sister of the Blackfoot tribe. He cut his finger with a pen knife, then grasped Temple's hand and cut her finger and pressed their two bloody fingers together. It was quick if not totally painless Temple said, and her Blackfoot name became Bright Shinning Star. 

By the time Temple was 22-years-old, she was done with show business and never made another movie, and at least two different major studios offered her a large weekly sum of money to make one movie a year, and she declined the offers.

She was still in the movies while married to her first husband Hotchkiss, but she wasn't into the nightclub life like he was. When Temple was 18-years-old, actor Kirk Douglas met her in a night club and flat out said what he wanted to do to her sexually. She declined his offer, and in this more than 500 page book, there is not a single profanity. 

Above, Temple Black in 1954 with her husband, Charles Black. She had a boy and a girl with Black, and the child in the middle is her first, Susan, who she had with her first husband in 1948. When this book was released in 1988, the two were still married. 

The library is a great source, I highly recommend using it, and "Child Star Shirley Temple An Autobiography" was a fantastic read. My second five star rating. The non-alcoholic drink, the "Shirley Temple" was indeed named after her and she didn't like it. The drink looks like diluted blood, and tastes even worse, she said. 

Mark Izzy Schurr