Shurl

The book I mentioned on 13th February about Shirley Temple has now arrived and been read, being designed to be read in the course of a commute. A handy, painless way to get what you need to know about Shirley Temple, very much to my mind, a sentiment of the US, where they are always on the lookout for the golden road to learning or to riches. And to be fair to them, the thing works and you do get the basics in short order, although, in my case, I am left wanting a bit more.

An unusual book in that it appears to have been produced with a kindle in mind, with the layout and pictures well suited to that medium (of which more in a day or so). A booklet rather than a book and mine was actually printed off by Amazon at Marston Gate, a place which houses hubs for both Amazon and FedEx, a place which appears from Google to be a large collection of sheds just off Junction 13 of the M1 and which is rather improbably called 'Badger's Rise'. Perhaps someone involved in building the sheds had seen too much of 'Midsomer Murders'.

The booklet is published by 'Charles Rivers Editors', an outfit which according to their blurb is 'a digital publishing company that creates compelling, educational content. In addition to publishing original titles, we help clients create traditional and media-enhanced books'. Very thick with Amazon amongst others and named for the Charles River in  Massachusetts.

Interestingly, there are two rather different looking publishing websites which use the river name, one at http://www.charlesrivereditors.com/ and the other at http://www.charlesriverpress.com/, and while they both offer ebooks, as far as I can tell they are not connected, with the latter involving at least one attractive Ukrainian lady and being quite heavily into erotica. Furthermore, the latter is into authors, while the former is not. While the Shirley Temple book reads like something from a media studies journal, I can find no author, despite including references which do. All rather odd and one can only suppose that the author was content - perhaps even glad - to hand over all rights to his or her publisher.

But the main thing is that I do now know rather more about Shirley Temple than I did, including the fact that while any piece of classical music in the repertoire that you care to name can usually be found for free on YouTube, the same trick does not work for Shirley Temple. There seems to be the odd freebie but essentially you have to pay to view, at least unless you are a lot better versed in such matters than I am.

She was the greatest child star of all time, being succeeded but not outshone by Judy Garland, being born into the right sort of family at the right sort of time in the right sort of place - that is to say into a comfortably off family living in Santa Monica in California at the height of the Great Depression just as Hollywood, talkies and musicals were taking off. Started stage school at the age of 3, a huge star between the ages of say 6 and 12, followed by an interval at a regular (if exclusive) school and with something of a comeback as a young woman, after which her screen career dwindled to a close on television. Her films were successful but not well regarded by the high brows and beards of the industry, successful because they offered a sugary version of triumphant success against the odds. Successful also because she was indeed a very cute, bubbly and lovable person in a way which translated from life onto screen. Much of her audience was made up of adult males whose interest, subconsciously or not, was probably not all that pure. It is ironic if not that odd that the same country which produces scantily dressed female infants as film stars should also produce tidal waves of paranoia about child sex.

She was also able and energetic, being able to cope with learning lines before she could read and with twelve hour days while still a child.

I learn that she did indeed make a very successful transition to an adult, becoming wife (her second marriage working fine), mother and something of a diplomat, doing several stints as an ambassador. Not to first rank countries but not to islands you have never heard of either. But the booklet is a bit thin on the psychological details of how exactly she pulled it off. Maybe the fact that her life as a star was tidily encapsulated in her young girlhood meant that she could grow out of it. Maybe it was the fact that most of her considerable earnings evaporated while she was still young. Would her autobiography be an interesting read? Maybe I shall look out for a copy during the coming season's car booters.

PS 1: I learn also that the cinemas of the time were regarded by some as dens of ill repute, if not iniquity, mainly patronised by young people who wanted more to paw each other in the dark, away from the prying eyes of their elders and betters, than to watch the film. The family friendly films including if not starring Shirley Temple were part of a conscious effort by the industry to clean up its act and tap into more serious money.

PS 2: plus I think that the booklet was the source for the obituary in whatever paper I read on the relevant day. It includes all the material, including the natty little anecdotes and quotes.