We'll Miss You, Shirley

March 22, 2017

Shirley Temple—the child movie star of the 1930s, who, essentially, made dimples and golden ringlets a thing—passed away Monday night at the age of 85. This is big news considering the huge (and super cute!) contribution she made to the dance world.

When you were just a wee tapper, did you do your first routine to the tune, “Baby Take a Bow”? If you did, you have Shirley Temple to thank. At 6 years old, she starred in the film, Stand Up and Cheer (1934), and performed “Baby Take a Bow” alongside adult tap dancer James Dunn. Take a look (and wait til you get to about 1:15…she makes the most darling face ever!):


Awwwwwww. Did your heart melt? Mine did.

A year later she made more cinematic history by performing next to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in the film The Littlest Colonel (1935). It was the first time that a film featured an interracial dancing duo, and it was so successful that they starred in three more movies together. Here’s the super famous stair dance from The Littlest Colonel, when Robinson persuades little Shirley to head upstairs to bed:

Here’s another great dancing moment from their third film together, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938):




You can’t have a round-up of Shirley Temple moments without this ditty from her 1935 film Curly Top:

Or this number, “On the Good Ship Lollipop” from Bright Eyes (1934):

And did you know that to celebrate her 10th birthday, a restaurant in Hollywood created the first Shirley Temple, the nonalcoholic drink with lemon-lime soda, grenadine and a maraschino cherry? She drank the first one that night, washing down a slice of a 25-layer cake.

Let’s all have a Shirley Temple today in her honor.