Somber drama-comedy (more on the drama side, though) musical starring 12-year old Shirley Temple(Wendy). Adopted as a baby by the husband and wife vaudeville team of Joe (Jack Oakie, from "The Great Dictator") and Kit Ballantine (Charlotte Greenwood), she grows into childhood as a vital part of their act. There is an interesting sequence in the beginning that features film clips revealing Shirley's growth from her earliest screen appearances to adolescence. As she approaches school age - and as vaudeville fades with the changing pop cultural times - the couple feel that showbusiness is not the best life for Wendy, so they decide to retire to a farm in Vermont and settle down. There's an emotional "farewell performance" vaudeville scene with Shirley tearfully thanking the audience for their support over the years. (She also announces that next on the program in the theater is a movie; a scene that demonstrates that vaudeville acts often preceded film screenings.) In the new town, the locals have some doubts about show business people, and even snicker at newspaperman Mike Shea (the great underrated actor George Montgomery), the owner of local newspaper "The Democrat". He's among of the few supporters of the Ballantines. When Wendy turns a school play into an jazzy, vaudeville show with lavish costumes and exotic dances. During the performance, the children's parents get furious with the way the kids are dancing ("Tommy, stop that disgraceful exhibition at once!" one says). The show comes to a halt in mid-performance, and the children are pulled from the show one by one. We see a sign hanging backstage that says, "Blessed are the pure in heart". Also, there a few emotional scenes at the end when Shirley learns that she's adopted. Plus: there are a few scenes with child actor Robert Anderson, who played young George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life.
5/02/2009
Shirley Temple in Young People (1940)
Somber drama-comedy (more on the drama side, though) musical starring 12-year old Shirley Temple(Wendy). Adopted as a baby by the husband and wife vaudeville team of Joe (Jack Oakie, from "The Great Dictator") and Kit Ballantine (Charlotte Greenwood), she grows into childhood as a vital part of their act. There is an interesting sequence in the beginning that features film clips revealing Shirley's growth from her earliest screen appearances to adolescence. As she approaches school age - and as vaudeville fades with the changing pop cultural times - the couple feel that showbusiness is not the best life for Wendy, so they decide to retire to a farm in Vermont and settle down. There's an emotional "farewell performance" vaudeville scene with Shirley tearfully thanking the audience for their support over the years. (She also announces that next on the program in the theater is a movie; a scene that demonstrates that vaudeville acts often preceded film screenings.) In the new town, the locals have some doubts about show business people, and even snicker at newspaperman Mike Shea (the great underrated actor George Montgomery), the owner of local newspaper "The Democrat". He's among of the few supporters of the Ballantines. When Wendy turns a school play into an jazzy, vaudeville show with lavish costumes and exotic dances. During the performance, the children's parents get furious with the way the kids are dancing ("Tommy, stop that disgraceful exhibition at once!" one says). The show comes to a halt in mid-performance, and the children are pulled from the show one by one. We see a sign hanging backstage that says, "Blessed are the pure in heart". Also, there a few emotional scenes at the end when Shirley learns that she's adopted. Plus: there are a few scenes with child actor Robert Anderson, who played young George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life.
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Kind of a sad end to a great career at Fox; they really should have given her a better vehicle than this for her swan song.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know; this one wasn't too great.
ReplyDeleteStill better than "Susannah of the Mounties"; personally, I think that one did more harm to her career than "The Blue Bird" or "Young People"!
ReplyDeleteReally-The Blue Bird? I kind of liked that one.
ReplyDeleteI love "The Blue Bird" too, but in most bios you read about Shirley, that film is the one credited as killing her career.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I would think "That Hagen Girl" would be the one that did her in.
ReplyDeleteShe was in two of the biggest hit films of the early 40s - Since You Went Away and The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, both Top 5 Hits of their respective years (though she wasn't top billing)