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September 25, 2008
Shirley Temple Shoots Eleanor Roosevelt
Shirley Temple, at the height of her fame.
In 1936, child star Shirley Temple created the Shirley Temple Police Force and minted the official Shirley Temple Badge. Little Shirley awarded the precious badges to friends, kings, queens, presidents, and to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
Attending a picnic at Val Kill, the 180-acre Roosevelt family estate near Hyde Park, Shirley noticed that Mrs. Roosevelt was not wearing the official Shirley Temple badge.
Shirley Temple Black remembers the incident in her excellent memoir, Child Star:
“Where is your Shirley Temple badge?” I asked casually. Everyone had to keep their badge nearby, I said and reached in my purse to show her mine.
Here was a serious problem. My force was no joke and the badges no everyday souvenir... Mrs. Roosevelt had gotten me in a fine pickle.
Standing back from the fire, our hostess had to reach far forward with her fork to turn our chops, and when she did her sundress hiked up in the back. The target was irresistible, the range only a few paces, and the badge fiasco still rankled me. Edging backward a step, I slowly stooped and picked up a small rounded pebble. The slingshot was easy to slip out of my lace purse. Everyone was watching her, not me. Taking a quick sight along the fully extended elastic bands, I let fly. Bulls-eye!
Mrs. Roosevelt straightened with a jerk, holding her long-handled barbecue fork thrust upward like the Statue of Liberty. With the other hand she reached around in back and smoothed her dress over the target area. She never even glanced over her shoulder.
Nobody mentioned anything about the pebble during the rest of our visit, and even I had almost forgotten about it when the door of our New York hotel clicked behind us. But not mother, who had seen it all. Brattish, she said. Quickly crossing the room, she spun me around and slapped me hard on the bottom, right where I had hit Mrs. Roosevelt.
“See how you like it,” she scolded, and slammed the bathroom door behind her. My first physical punishment since babyhood spanking, it left me feeling younger, not older as I wished. Yet I had no regret. Mine was in defense of a worthwhile, moneymaking organization, in support of its rules, and to rebut a challenge to my authority. Nobody seemed to understand this, except me.
Mrs. Roosevelt and Shirley Temple. Mrs. Roosevelt never mentioned the sling-shot incident.
Thanks so much to journalist, blogger and friend Chayyei Sarah for asking me to research and write about Shirley Temple. There will be more blogs about the great child star for her extraordinary life and career are endlessly fascinating.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at September 25, 2008 09:56 AM
Comments
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Very fascinating and a welcome break from all of this "sky is falling" talk....
Keep it coming :)
Posted by: Lance at September 25, 2008 11:53 AM
Oh, the ringlet-pulling second-grader in me just loves that story. Irresistible!
Posted by: rutimizrachi at September 25, 2008 01:24 PM
I love her. She was a true genius.
Have you heard that the famous stair tap dance she did with Bill Robinson was shot in one take?
Posted by: Alice at September 25, 2008 02:48 PM
Oops. Didn't say I was a genius. : )
Posted by: Alice at September 25, 2008 02:52 PM
Lance:
Yours truly also needs a break. Sometimes my head feels like it's going to explode from all the news.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 25, 2008 04:07 PM
Ruti:
Yes, I think this anecdote appeals to our mischievous inner child.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at September 25, 2008 04:10 PM
Alice:
The staircase dance from The Little Colonel, is rightfully famous for it's cinematic excellence and for the bullet-like precision of the taps by Billy "Bojangles" Robinson and Shirley Temple.
It's most famous as the very first interracial dance sequence in Hollywood history.
Temple-Black writes in depth and with great affection of her "Uncle Billy."
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at September 25, 2008 04:27 PM
Robert,
As Leslie Neilsen said in Airplane....
I picked the wrong week to stop drinking. ;)
Posted by: Lance at September 25, 2008 09:36 PM
Strange reading it today, when a "potch" is considered evil. But what really bothers me is the nickname, "Brattish." Or is it an adjective?
Posted by: Batya at September 25, 2008 11:40 PM
That was fun. Batya, growing up "potch" was not a word that any of us wanted to hear. I remember.
Posted by: Jack at September 26, 2008 12:19 AM
Lance:
Lloyd Bridges!!
And he also picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Posted by: Jake at September 26, 2008 05:03 AM
I loved watching Shirley Temple movies as a little girl. While eating a Swanson's tv dinner. (only as a special treat...can you imagine that anyone would consider that a special treat?)...her movies allowed a little girl's imagination to float far, far away.
Posted by: cruisin-mom at September 26, 2008 03:17 PM
Cruisin' Mom:
I didn't like Shirley Temple movies as a kid, or when I was in college—too girly. But now that I really know something about movies, I love and respect her work and her amazing career.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at September 28, 2008 09:02 AM
On your recommendation, I checked Temple's autobiography out of the library today. I'm looking forward to some pleasant hours of reading.
Posted by: Bookworm at September 28, 2008 07:23 PM
Bookworm:
Please let me know how you like the book. Most Hollywood memoirs are ghost-written. Temple-Black's book is clearly written by the lady herself. I can see the yellow legal tablets piled one on top of the other.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at September 28, 2008 08:36 PM
Check out this youtube channel dedicated to Shirley Temple:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sarahluvsshirley
Posted by: SSrb1098 at May 1, 2009 12:48 AM