Shirley Projects, Pt. 3

In “Curly Top” (1935) when little orphan Elizabeth Blair (Shirley) sashays up the walk with her sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson) to her new ritzy beach home has to be one of the cutest scenes Shirley ever filmed as a child. It’s no surprise that I think the original Ideal composition doll dressed in the same “Duck Dress” is one of the cutest, too. I was able to acquire one, and this is how she looked in the online auction where I found her.





Since I prefer my Shirleys to be as screen accurate as possible, I switched out her white oilcloth shoes for the black Mary Jane variety.



You’ll also note that I added gloves (yup, sewed them myself!) and a purse. Not just any old purse, either. I did my best to match the one Shirley carried in the film.



Zooming into this vintage shot from my collection, I had a very good idea of what that looked like!





A detailed shot of the purse that I made. Not too bad for a first try!



See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Evolution of a Duck

In the 1935 Shirley Temple classic, “Curly Top,” Shirley leaves the orphanage and moves into high society wearing this outfit known as the Duck Dress. Why? Because of the beautifully embroidered detail on the bodice:



How the dress looks today; not bad for over 80 years!



With their Shirley Temple composition dolls of the 1930s, the Ideal Toy Company re-created this cute little number, including the velvet hat with ribbon detail:



I'm still eating saltines after acquiring that one! There were two versions that Ideal sold; one had a flower at center for the embroidery, and the other (which is not in my collection!) was like the one in the movie with ducks:



When the Danbury Mint sold their Shirley Dress-Up doll in the 1990s, they sold it wearing the Duck Dress. I'm not sure who measured the prototype for the hat and the skirt, but I think they were nipping at the sherry, as the scale is way too big for the 17" doll.



Putting the outfit on an 18" doll is much better! Who says size doesn’t matter?



The Danbury Mint also sold the outfit separately. However, in doing so, they went on the cheap with the embroidery and used a garish iron-on patch instead.



Watch out for those little rosettes; they're glued on, too. They could be on the carpet right now.

See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my main website.