You are about to discover the astonishing and quite unusual success of Shirley Temple during the harsh times the United States has ever known - The Great Depression of the 1930s. While people struggle for survival, food, shelter, and money, Shirley Temple rocked the entertainment industry and prevented many of the film companies like Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy. Shirley Temple was shining light in the hearts of people during the difficult times in the United States and this turned her into a true icon, a child star. In this book, you'll learn how Shirley Temple was able to reach the hearts of so many people, how she shaped the entertainment industry and how she was able to become a star during the most dangerous and scarce times in the American history where I doubt people were on the mood for films and entertainment, yet, she was able to influence so many people and bring light in the darkness. Shirley Temple remains the most famous child star of all time, but even this designation fails to reflect the magnitude of her popularity during The Great Depression. While it is true that she was not the first child actor to reach Hollywood fame, she was the first - and to this day, perhaps the only - star who rose to the very pinnacle of the Hollywood elite before she even turned 10 years old. Grab your copy now!

"[An] elucidating cultural history of Hollywood’s most popular child star…a must-read." —Bill Desowitz, USA Today For four consecutive years she was the world’s box-office champion. With her image appearing in periodicals and advertisements roughly twenty times daily, she rivaled FDR and Edward VIII as the most photographed person in the world. Her portrait brightened the homes of countless admirers, among them J. Edgar Hoover, Andy Warhol, and Anne Frank. Distinguished cultural historian John F. Kasson shows how, amid the deprivation and despair of the Great Depression, Shirley Temple radiated optimism and plucky good cheer that lifted the spirits of millions and shaped their collective character for generations to come.

Shirley Temple-Black, the popular child star of the 1930s and 1940s, tells of the ups and downs of life as a Hollywood prodigy. She writes of her relationship with her parents, how her finances were controlled, two attempts on her life, her first marriage at 17 and her second, happier marriage to Charlie Black.

(Applause Books). Shirley Temple was a phenomenon, a child star whose talent and personality earned her a permanent place in Hollywood history. The extraordinary six-year-old entertainer struck a chord with audiences all over the globe. Her career sparked a marketing sensation, spurring the production of anything and everything bearing her image-from dolls to tin whistles-in all corners of the globe, both authorized and unauthorized. Despite the decades-long interest in everything Temple, never before has there been a lavishly illustrated art book examining the phenomenon that was Shirley Temple as a child star in the 1930s. Many of the rare and unusual Shirley Temple collectibles have never been featured in print. Along with an informal, concise history of the childhood career of Ms. Temple (featuring film stills, many never-before-seen photographs, and personal snapshots of Shirley as well as several taken by her), this book is a visual treat befitting the magic of the most famous child star of all time, as well as the Golden Age of Hollywood.

*Includes pictures of Shirley Temple and important people, places, and scenes. *Includes Temple's own quotes about her life and relationships. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph." - Shirley Temple A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Shirley Temple remains the most famous child star of all time, but even this designation fails to reflect the magnitude of her popularity during the era in which she worked. While it is true that she was not the first child actor to reach Hollywood fame, she was the first-and to this day, perhaps the only-star who rose to the very pinnacle of the Hollywood elite before she even turned 10 years of age. For this reason, it is no exaggeration to view Shirley as the progenitor for all of the child actors that succeeded her. Moreover, her cultural importance constitutes an even more important barometer through which to measure her overall significance. Not only was Shirley a film star, but she had a monumental impact on a generation of children who grew up during the Great Depression, with her plucky optimism representing an invaluable calming presence for an American public struggling both financially and emotionally. She was not only a young actress but also a brand name, someone who offered fathers and mothers hope for their children to achieve the same success as the famous child star. For all of Shirley Temple's fame, it is no doubt surprising to many that her actual films received scant critical acclaim. Her films were never mentioned on critical "best of" lists, nor did they regularly appear on the list of nominees for the Academy Awards. In fact, even though most everyone has viewed at least one of her films, it is unlikely that most people could name many of her films. This is not mentioned to degrade her films but instead to identify the way in which the significance of the child star far outshined that of her films. It is worth considering, therefore, what the relationship was between Temple and her films, and how she was framed within the narratives. How exactly did Temple first reach Hollywood fame, and how did the many films she appeared in between 1934 and 1938 - the height of her career - build her fame to its lofty peak even as they were quickly forgotten? Yet another stark difference in Temple's career was the way in which it declined as quickly as it rose. With most famous actresses, a relatively unremarkable childhood precedes an extraordinary film career, but with Temple, the opposite dynamic took place; she led a childhood whose fame has never been equaled, and it has overshadowed the rest of her adult life. Regardless, Shirley Temple remains a household name today, not only for the way in which her career shaped America during the Depression but for the path she blazed for other child stars. American Legends: The Life of Shirley Temple profiles the life and career of Hollywood's most famous child star. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Shirley Temple like you never have before, in no time at all.

At the age of five, Shirley Temple became the world’s most famous and acclaimed child—the most talented, beautiful child performer ever to capture the public’s imagination. By the time she was ten, she had either met or had received words of admiration from almost everyone of distinction. Nine-tenths of the world could recognize her on sight. She single-handedly cheered an entire nation caught in the firm grip of a depression. Her films saved a major studio from bankruptcy. She earned more than the President of the United States and lived in her own junior-sized San Simeon. As lionized, idolized and protected as royalty, Shirley Temple was the one and only American Princess. Shirley Temple is brought into focus in this definitive, intimate portrait of her as a child and as the woman that child became: a woman forced to live her entire life in the shadow of her own past glory. We follow the tumultuous events and disappointments that marked Shirley Temple’s meteoric rise to unprecedented fame as a child star, her fall as an adolescent who had outgrown her appeal, and her surprising ascent into a word figure as ambassador to the United Nations, Chief of Protocol for the United States, and Ambassador to Ghana; her “princess in the tower” upbringing that isolated her from friends and real child’s play and from studio co-workers as well; her obsessive relationship with her mother, Gertrude, who lived her life through her famous daughter; her power over one of Hollywood’s greatest despots—Darryl Zanuck; her fairy-tale marriage to John Agar that became a nightmare filled with flaunted infidelities and alcoholism; her romance with Charles Black and her transformation from film start to society matron, television tycoon, to American diplomat; her courageous battle with cancer; and her ever-present realization that “little Shirley Temple’s” greatness would always exceed that of the grown woman. Shirley Temple’s most notable diplomatic achievement was her appointment by President H.W. Bush as the first and only female ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She was present during the Velvet Revolution, which brought about the end of Communism in the country, and she played a critical role in hastening the end of the Communist regime by openly sympathizing with anti-Communist dissidents and later establishing formal diplomatic relations with the newly elected government led by Václav Havel. She took the unusual step of personally accompanying Havel on his first official visit to Washington, riding along on the same plane. Anne Edwards has had the cooperation of those who have been closest to Shirley Temple in all stages of her unique life. She has written a book that does not spare the truth, and is as glittering an expose of Hollywood and its power brokers as any bestselling novel of that genre. Shirley Temple: American Princess is a moving and inspirational story that gives great insight into the privileged corridors of fame and glory where only the legendary figures of our times have walked.