Shirley Temple Project Update

On March 14, 1935, six-year-old Shirley Temple joined other screen legends by writing her name in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Six years ago, I wrote about the sleuthing process that uncovered the dress Shirley wore underneath her blue coat that evening. Designed by René Hubert, it was one of the many adorable costumes he created for the film, “Our Little Girl” (1935). It has since become known as the Pom Pom dress.



Here is the dress in living color, as it looked when it was auctioned off in 2015 by Theriault’s:



A publicity shot from the film:



Shirley worked with the Danbury Mint to release a doll that recreated the 1935 Grauman’s event:



How the doll looked out of the box:



…and the dress that was chosen for the doll to wear underneath:



Definitely not the Pom Pom dress, but rather the Hubert designed outfit that she wore to the Oscars in 1935:



From the 2015 auction:



I’m a stickler when it comes to detail, so I knew that my Shirley Makes Her Mark set needed to be “fixed.” Below is the doll with a replaced mohair wig (those synthetic doll wigs are awful), replaced glass eyes (the acrylic ones that Danbury used often have turned to pink, green, and purple; not very appealing!), and leather shoes by Kristen Hopkins to more closely match the cute little cutout shoes that Shirley wore at Grauman’s. You might also notice the tiny bit of dress peaking out from underneath the coat.



Thanks to my doll “angel,” I now have a custom-made Pom Pom dress, beautifully tailored to match the original. I did need to replace the original porcelain doll arms with those from another doll, since the original arms only had porcelain barely above the wrists. That doesn’t work very well with a short-sleeved outfit.



That’s probably why the Oscar dress that Danbury created had long sleeves; my doll angel also corrected that slight and added the little flange detail on the shoulder. The bolero top was also dyed a light pink to match the original Hubert outfit. She fits the Danbury Mint antique porcelain replica doll beautifully, which of course also needed a mohair wig replacement! I also swapped the Danbury shoes for a pair of R. John Wright Shirley Temple shoes.



This cutie is definitely Oscar-worthy!



I’m sure if she could Shirley would type a letter of thanks to my doll angel for adjusting the Danbury Mint’s errors!



See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my website.

Temple Tuesday: Wee Willie Winkie Dolls

In 1937, Shirley Temple starred in “Wee Willie Winkie” with Victor McLaglen (typically found in a John Ford movie). In the scene shown above, Shirley wears a Scottish Regimental costume. Below is the outfit and how it looked in 2015 when I photographed it at the Santa Monica History Museum, as part of the Love, Shirley Temple auction by Theriault’s. From their catalog description:

The costume includes plaid woolen kilt, twill jacket with ornate brass buttons with royal crest design of the Black Watch, Third Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, white leather belt with emblem "Dieu et mon droit" (God and my right), sporran, argyle plaid wool leggings, woven spats with buttons, and cap with Latin motto emblem of the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland (translated "no one attacks me with impunity"). Excellent condition. The young star Shirley Temple, named Priscilla Williams in the 1937 film, wore this uniform in multiple scenes alongside co-star Sergeant MacDuff (Victor McLaglen) as he trains Priscilla in the proper discipline of a Scottish soldier. The costume designer for the film was Gwen Wakeling. In later years, Shirley Temple declared that "Wee Willie Winkie", which had been directed by John Ford, was her favorite film of all that she made. Sold for $14,000.



The spats that Shirley wore in the film were in a framed display:



When the film wrapped, the cast gathered around a cake with a custom-made Shirley Temple doll in the center of it. Director John Ford holds the knife with Shirley next to him, Shirley’s stand-in, Mary Lou Isleib can be seen seated, and co-stars McLaglen and June Lang are at right:



A closer view of the cake:



This doll was put together for Shirley by the wardrobe department, who used scraps of fabric from the actual costume for the miniature outfit:



It was also part of the Theriault’s auction in 2015. Edited from the catalog description:

Composition Doll as Shirley Temple in Scottish Costume from the Film "Wee Willie Winkie"13". Composition doll with socket head, hazel sleep eyes, human hair lashes, open smiling mouth, teeth, impressed dimples, blonde mohair ringlet-curled hair, jointing at shoulders and hips, marked "Shirley Temple 13". The doll is wearing plaid wool kilt, sporran, twill jacket and matching spats, belt, argyle leggings, black wool cap with emblem, and original Ideal undergarment. Generally excellent, few minute age lines. Included is a vintage photograph. The doll is by Ideal, circa 1935. The costume was created in the Fox Studios, according to Shirley Temple's memoirs; it was the habit of the seamstresses to save scraps of fabric from Shirley's costumes and fashion them into a like costume on a Shirley Temple doll, a veritable one-of-a-kind. Sold for $8,500

The Ideal Toy Company also sold their own version of the “Wee Willie Winkie” doll in the 1930s. Below is an 18" sample that recently sold at auction. These dolls are rare and usually sell for well over $1000. Variations abound, as Shirley Temple dolls were sold in different sizes and the outfits were sometimes sewn by different seamstresses across the country using different fabrics.



In the 1950s, when “The Shirley Temple Storybook” anthology series was on television, Ideal brought out a vinyl version of the “Winkie” doll. While not as detailed as the 1930s doll, it is still very cute. Below is a veritable pristine version from the collection of my friend, Lori Breen. She was kind enough to send this photo:



Shirley appeared on “Good Morning America” in February 1983, along with former costar Buddy Ebsen (“Captain January,” 1936):



Shirley posed for pictures with a 1930s Ideal “Winkie” doll from the collection of Temple expert supreme, Rita Dubas:



At about the same time, Shirley partnered with Ideal again to release another series of Temple dolls wearing outfits inspired by her childhood movies. Below is their 12" “Winkie” doll in its original box:



I can’t say I was a fan of this version. The eyes are creepy and the sculpt gives Shirley’s face a very hard edge. The costumes seemed to be of an even lesser quality than the 1950s versions. These are fairly easy to find on eBay for cheap.



When Shirley partnered with the Danbury Mint in 1987, the quality level shot up. Their dolls were much more faithful to the actual movie costumes, like this 14" version which was part of the Silver Screen series:



Danbury also released a series of dress-up outfits that could be paired with their 16" vinyl dress-up doll. I chose to use the 1973 Ideal vinyl doll as the model, since I prefer the look of that doll to the Danbury version! The outfit is fairly similar to the one created for the porcelain version, but when looking closer, you can see that in order to cut costs, there was a bit of skimping done in the construction and choice of materials used. I can’t really blame them, as the purpose of the line of dolls and outfits was for kids to play with them, not to just put on the shelf to collect dust. 



Recently, a collector’s miracle happened. I stumbled upon an original 1930s “Winkie” doll for sale on eBay for under $100 in a buy-it-now auction! I looked at it carefully, thinking it was too good to be true.



I went ahead and purchased it, as I knew it would not last long once others viewed it. 



I was very glad that I did, as when it arrived, I was able to confirm that other than the belt, it appeared to be all original. It was also on a coveted Shirley Temple make-up doll, with perfect curls and the paint in fabulous shape (other than a small missing piece on the leg which was easily covered).



Inside the jacket is the original Ideal label. What a find!



All these years later, collector grails can still be found!
 
See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my website.

Shirley Projects, Pt. 2

It’s common knowledge what Shirley wore to the Oscars in 1935, based on photographic evidence. It’s also well documented what coat and hat she wore when she planted her feet into the cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre the same year.



Yup...put her feet AND hands right here. Note Jane Withers, Shirley’s arch nemesis from “Bright Eyes,” in the upper left corner. It took Jane another four years after Shirley to get her block at Grauman’s!



What we DON’T know is what dress she wore under her coat at Grauman’s. So far, no photos have surfaced that would tell us that information. What we DO know is that when Shirley herself worked with the Danbury Mint many years ago to release a porcelain doll that commemorated that historic moment…



she chose to have the dress she wore to the Oscars as the one that came with the Grauman’s coat.



When it came up for auction in 2015, we learned what color it was. From the Theriault’s catalog:

A sleeveless peach silk crepe dress has narrow pleats falling fron the high waist and self-covered buttons down the yoke. Atop the sleeveless bodice is a pink pique jacket with diamond-point edging and puffed sleeves with matching trim. The dress is tagged "4757".

Danbury chose to make the entire ensemble the same color. Ho hum.



Recently, the R. John Wright company, known for their high-end felt dolls, announced their second Shirley Temple doll, titled “Hollywood Star.”



The Grauman’s outfit was spot-on; top-quality fabrics and a real ermine fur capelet. The website said the dress underneath would be the Oscar dress; instead of showing the doll-sized dress, they posted a shot of the actual dress Shirley wore from the auction site. At a doll convention (before the doll had been released, but at a point they had already collected money for pre-orders), Wright showed their first Shirley release along with “Hollywood Star” in two different versions, with varying prices. One had the Oscar dress with no coat (but an Oscar), and the other with just the coat and who knows what underneath.



Then abruptly the price disappeared as did the miniature Oscar on the middle doll.



I noticed at the same time on the Wright website that although the Oscar dress was still being shown…



the ad copy had removed any mention of the Oscar dress and just stated this:



I contacted Wright, who told me that “the family” had forbidden them from using the Oscar dress so the substitution had been made. Very quietly. Because the coat is attached with the Wright pin and not easy to unbutton, most of the people who bought this doll would probably never know exactly what was underneath unless they attempted to struggle to remove the coat. I noticed that recently, Wright did put a shot of what the dress looks like. Nice pleated dress...but not as detailed or intricate as the Oscar dress.



At this point, I decided to “plus” my Danbury Mint doll. I preferred the porcelain face over the felt, so I was good on that. While the fur and coat weren’t of the same caliber as the Wright version, they were good enough for me. I did two little upgrades. One was to remove the Danbury synthetic wig and replace it with mohair. MUCH better!



…and I dyed the Danbury Oscar dress bolero top to match the real one. I was one happy customer...and saved a ton-o-money in the process!



The only thing I need now is a Claudette Colbert doll!

See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my main website.

Shirley Projects, Pt. 1

In the final scene of Shirley Temple’s 1934 film “Bright Eyes,” she wears a cute cloche hat and coat set trimmed with foxtail tips. Ideal dolls manufactured this set for their 1930's composition doll in a corduroy fabric; the one I have is modeled by a 20" Shirley doll and I believe the trim is mink (or so I've been told by a fur expert!).



When this very outfit came up for auction in 2015, it was revealed that it was a peach/pink color. This made me like it even more! Here is the catalog description from Theriault’s:

Of a coral-rose wool, the coat has an unusual marble button and loop closure, cuffed sleeves, embroidery detail, and a stand-up collar with attached scarf having foxtail tips. Along with a matching cloche with foxtail tips trim. The coat has the label of "DeBetty Alden Shoppe Los Angeles". Generally excellent. The coat and hat were worn by Shirley Temple in the 1934 film "Bright Eyes".



I’m guessing the label actually says “Ye Betty Alden Shoppe,” as one can see the name of the shop in this vintage 1930 shot I found on the web:



Recently, a set for a 25" doll became available in an online auction without the fur trim. The price was very cheap and I said to Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) in one of our almost daily chats that it would be cool to attempt to dye it to match the screen-worn costume. A few days later, it arrived at my house! What a nice suprirse! Melissa LOVES projects (and so do I!), and this was one she wanted to see what I could do with it.




My first step was to attempt to even out the color of the garment by soaking it in Staintique. I would like to do that for the one I already have, but then I would need to remove the mink fur pieces, and I am not about to muck up the original stitching. Here was the result; much brighter!



Step 2 was dyeing the fabric. I picked Rit’s pink dye. Oops! I love pink, but this was definitely too deep.



A few weeks went by and I decided to try again, this time with Rit’s Rose Quartz color. SUCCESS!! I used RIT’s color remover powder; the deep pink coat barely touched the boiling bath with color remover and it was INSTANTLY white again! Cautiously, I dipped the garment into the Rose Quartz and voila! SUCCESS!



Dimitha on ebay sells doll-sized fur pieces, and I bought a set of ivory and brown mink for the trim. They worked PERFECTLY! I decided to go with the ivory set to more closely resemble Shirley’s screen-worn costume.





What do you think? Ready to give this a shot yourself?

See more Shirley Temple doll photos at my main website.