I watched a bit of a couple of her movies today; TCM showed some of her 1940s movies today including a late '40s one with ROBERT YOUNG as her father (!) which also starred her first real-life husband JOHN AGAR. I think she was lovely and never quite got her due as a mature movie actress. It's always a pleasure to see SHIRLEY TEMPLE in a movie.
Or, as an ambassador. Not only to the world, but at various times, to both Czechoslovakia and Ghana.
Or, as TV host, where she hosted, for three years, "Shirley Temple's Storybook." I'll tell you, my sister and I had some really knock down, drag out fights over what we'd watch on TV, because "Shirley Temple's Storybook," which she wanted to watch, came on at the same time as "Disneyland," which I wanted to watch. We finally came to sometype of compromise. Anytime that Leslie Nielsen or anything animated appeared on "Disneyland," we'd watch that. Other than that, we'd watch "Shirley Temple's Storybook." Kids.
I'll say one thing for "Shirley Temple's Storybook," the time they did "Rapunzel," it scared the s@#*! out of me. And I still hold it to be one of the scariest TV episodes I have ever seen.
Here's to you Shirley. I raise a shirley temple to you and many more happy birthdays to come.