Shirley Temple Take A Bow!

1930's movie posters What little girl in the 1930’s didn’t want to be Shirley Temple? She could sing, she could dance and she was totally adorable. She had ringlets and dimples like no other child before or since. As a teenager Shirley remained cute as a button and would make quite a few more movies about teenage romance, mostly during the war years, before retiring from Hollywood. But Shirley was more than just a cute, curly topped child star. She had very strong political convictions and became a United states ambassador to Ghana between 1974 and 1976 as well as ambassador to Czechoslavakia from 1989 to 1992. Even though these positions were held under two of the most unpopular U.S. presidents ever, Nixon and George Bush senior, this is pretty impressive. She also worked hard on behalf of U.N.E.S.C.O. and raised money for environmental causes. A great success in the marriage stakes with her marriage to Charles Alden Black, to whom she was married for 55 years, Shirley led a full and enriched life to the very end. Apparently she was also an adored mother. Another role which she took very seriously. Her three children, two daughters and a son now have grown up children of their own and lead relatively successful lives. This is , no doubt, due to their relatively normal upbringing in stark contrast to that of little Shirley,whose only comment on winning her first oscar, was … ” Mother can we go home now”? The studios worked her hard and Shirley delivered on cue. Apart from running her own show for a couple of seasons, ‘ Shirley Temple’s Storybook ‘, in the late 50s and early 60s Shirley managed to bow out of show biz gracefully with everything physically and mentally in tact. There will never be another Shirley Temple but the world will always be a better place for having embraced her with open arms. A shining example of what could and should be present at all times for one and all. Love. Because in the end that is all that really counts.