Screenland (Nov 1937-Apr 1938)

Life of a Hollywood leading man! Dick Baldwin, comparative newcomer, busy, and glad of it. His work is romance, as with June Lang, left, and Simone Simon, right. Big Plans for Shirley Temple's Future Continued from page 21 be gone about two months. Shirley is very eager to visit Washington, so I imagine that will be one of our first stops. When Mr. Hoover (Mr. J. Edgar Hoover of the G-Men) was in Hollywood he promised Shirley that he would show her his machine guns and that she could ride in an armored car when she came to Washington— and Shirley was so excited over the invitation that she can hardly wait. She has also expressed a desire to visit the mint and see money being made. In New York she wants to go to the Zoo first thing as she has a great love for all animals. Then she wants to see the Statue of Liberty and the tremendously high buildings that she has heard so much about. Boston seems to be a bit confused in her mind with the Boston Tea Party which she has been reading about in her American history. "At some point or other during the trip we will go to Canada to visit the Dionne Quintuplets. Shirley knows each little Quint by name and I am sure that the visit to Callender, Ontario, will be the high spot of the trip for her. I'll probably never get her away." That Shirley is so fond of the Dionnes makes Mr. Zanuck very happy. There is a rumor going about the studio that "the big boss" plans to put Shirley in the next Quintuplet picture. And wouldn't that be fun? But back to Mrs. Temple : "I would like to return home by way of Bermuda, Havana, and the Panama Canal, as I have a feeling that the trip will be ra'her strenuous and I'll need a rest. I do wish that the cities would treat us like normal, curious sight-seers and let us go around the stores and have a good time all by ourselves. "Shirley has never been on a train, and of course like all children she is extremely thrilled over the prospects of riding on one. She has never traveled at all, except by boat to Honolulu. "Now please don't think that this will be a personal appearance tour, because jt won't. It will just be an educational trip for Shirley as well as pleasure. However, it has long been one of my ambitions to take a leisurely trip across the United States and let Shirley greet people at the railroad stations. Everyone could see her and it would not be necessary for anyone to pay admission to see her. I can assure you that during the entire trip there will be no personal appearances made on any stage, and that Shirley will do nothing for which there will be a paid admission. "I have a horror of personal appearances and radio work for Shirley. During the next few years I can promise you that she will not appear on any stage or over any broadcast. I am very proud, of course, of Shirley's accomplishments — what mother wouldn't be proud of her little daughter? — but I am more proud that Shirley is refreshingly unchanged as a little girl. Shirley is happy with film work. It does not interfere with her education in the least, and it gives plenty of time to play both at the studio and at home. She is happy. And I intend to keep her that way. The minute she starts personal appearances and radio it would be work of another sort. She is too young for such hard work now. When she is old enough to choose for herself, then it is she who will determine whether she wants to be an actress or do radio work or sing or write or teach school — or be a housewife." Mrs. Temple has turned down well over a million dollars for Shirley in bids for personal appearances and radio work. A London impresario wanted Shirley to play six weeks in London during the Coronation of King George VI. and he told the Temples to name their own price. Shirley was offered $12,000. for a single day's appearance at a New Jersey Fair. She was offered $10,000. a week at the Texas Centennial celebration. There have been many more offers, equally sensational. The name of Temple is such magic that Mrs. Temple was offered $15,000, for the use of her name for a syndicated newspaper column on "Advice to Mothers"! And naturally every broadcasting company in the country would drain its coffers to get Shirley to speak just a few words over the "mike." Not a single day passes that an attempt is not made to obtain Shirley for one form of commercial exploitation or another. During the last two years more than 15,000 different projects have been suggested by promoters ! Fortunate indeed is Shirley Temple to have a sensible woman like Mrs. Gertrude Temple for a mother. "During the next few years I plan to have Shirley continue her music lessons, her dancing and her swimming lessons," resumed Mrs. Temple. "I want Shirley to develop like a normal child and I have alwavs tried not to give her too much to do. She has been eager to take piano lessons for some time, but not until this last year did I permit her to undertake this "additional study. Now she takes three lessons a week. She is also taking French lessons and preparing for that trip to France we expect to take one of these days. She only makes three pictures a year now. which gives us six weeks or more between pictures, so she has ample time for lessons. Her school work takes three hours a day and when she is making a picture she does her school work on the set in her new trailer dressing-room. The State law permits children of Shirley's age to be on the set not more than eight hours a day, three hours of which must be given to schooling. Shirley's contract with the studio calls for her presence on the set only seven hours a day, and requires ample rest periods. Her teacher, Miss Frances Klamt, is assigned to Shirley by the Los Angeles Board of Education. "Shirley and Miss Klamt have great times together. "I believe the studio is planning to put Shirley in several modern comedies during the year. 'Little Miss Broadway.' a modern comedy about a back-stage child, has been announced for her next picture. Mr. Zanuck chooses her pictures. I have nothing to do with that. I would very much like to see her do a fantasy in color, something like 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' Which picture, of course, I took Shirley to see during the Christmas holidays "and she enjoyed immensely. She was most impressed by the wart on the old witch's nose !" Mrs. Temple plans to have plenty of play time in Shirley's life as she continues to grow older. The Temples have bought the'lot next door to them on Rockingham Drive in Brentwood and Mrs. Temple has told friends that when Shirley becomes a young lady she expects to build a dancing pavillion" on the lot so that Shirley may enjoy her dancing parties to the utmost. The "next door neighbor" of the Temples is ZaSu Pitts (Mrs. Edward Woodall). and strangely enough it was ZaSu who first predicted Shirley's future fame. Shirlev had a "bit" in one of ZaSu's comedies. "Out All Night." several years ago and at the end of the picture ZaSu told Mrs. Temple that she had never worked with such a remarkable child. "She is going to be really great," said ZaSu. 74