In the 1938 musical, “Little Miss Broadway,” Shirley Temple sings “How Can I Thank You” to her friends and family when they throw her a surprise birthday party. Below are two screenshots from that scene:
This screenshot with Donald Meek gives you a better look at Shirley’s outfit, which consists of a blouse and embroidered jumper. Deceptively simple, when translated to an outfit for a doll, it could really rack up the costs on skilled labor. Pleating, embroidery, and of course the ability to translate the outfit into doll size ranging from 13" to 27".
The Press Book from the film (courtesy of Melissa, aka “The Colonel”) gives a wealth of information about “Little Miss Broadway”…
Including the doll that was created to commemorate that scene.
The ad copy is a bit suspect, as the “exact facsimile” has painted cross-stitch instead of embroidery. From the below photo I found online of an original 13" boxed version, it’s still a cute doll and includes the pleating seen in the original costume. The faux embroidery was ditched for the blouse.
Many years later, the Danbury Mint did their version of this outfit for the 16" Shirley Temple dress-up doll. While much more authentic to the original movie version, be very careful if you have one of these as all the embroidered details are merely glued on.
Don’t be surprised if you find a few on the floor after handling this outfit.
Flash forward to a few months ago, and I saw this blouse for sale on eBay. An original Ideal Shirley Temple piece from the 1930s, sans jumper. I bought it for a song and hoped that maybe lightning would strike twice and I’d eventually find a lonely jumper for sale!
It fit great on my 13" Shirley, but she felt a little odd without a jumper to cover her vintage onesie.
Reaching out to my good friend from the doll world, Madame X (she prefers anonymity!), I asked if she’d be interested in taking a stab at this. Next thing I knew, we were talking fabrics, doing fittings, and deciding all kinds of other important details. The original doll had grosgrain straps. The color was not a perfect match to the jumper, and I can’t say I was a fan of them. I also didn’t really understand the faux embroidery, but have to assume it was a cost-saving issue for production. Shirley expert supreme Rita D. surmised they were done through a silkscreen processs. In the end, rather than be a stickler for authenticity, I wanted the jumper to look good. Madame X showed me a sample of the belt with both painted X’s and embroidered ones. I chose the embroidery.
Next thing you know, little Shirley was bare-no-more! The jumper turned out great and I couldn’t be happier!
What does Shirley have to say about this?
“How can I thank you? How do I start?” Shirley fans know the rest…
See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my website.
