Still, as Stephen Sondheim wrote in "Follies", someone said she's sincere, so she's here!
She's been through Heidi, the Blue Bird, and Reagen, gee how crazy that was. When you've been through Heidi, the Blue Bird, and Reagan, can't you get some applause?
As Shirley Temple reached the end of her movie acting career, one thing became very apparent. She wasn't transitioning very well into becoming a mature leading lady, still relying on old tricks from 15 years before. What worked at 8 didn't work in her mid 20's, and even she had to admit that it was time to throw in the towel.
In "Adventures in Baltimore", a period comedy set in the early 20th Century, she is still playing a teenager, facing typical problems but utilizing what is up there in her brain to become a "modern", fighting for women's rights and getting into all sorts of trouble as a result. The unfortunate thing is that her character takes everybody around her down with her, and that includes her preacher father (a very good Robert Young), a candidate for Bishop of Maryland, and her object of affections (real life husband John Agar) whom she embarrasses at a public meeting where he reads a speech she wrote for him where he keeps referring to himself as a woman! (Hey, Johnny, proof read!)
Then, there's Shirley's mother (Josephine Hutchinson) who is the perfect housewife and mom until Temple gets the bee under her bonnet over women's lib which results in a riot and a black eye for the well-dressed matron. Veteran character actress Norma Varden has an amusing small role as Helen Hadley Hamilton with the very Irish Albert Sharpe adding flavor as an eccentric older man Temple encounters while painting. Shirley does score in a dance contest sequence with papa Young, but her baby-faced, pouty acting makes it appear that she is still a teenager playing dress-up rather than an actress playing a part.
She's been through Heidi, the Blue Bird, and Reagen, gee how crazy that was. When you've been through Heidi, the Blue Bird, and Reagan, can't you get some applause?
As Shirley Temple reached the end of her movie acting career, one thing became very apparent. She wasn't transitioning very well into becoming a mature leading lady, still relying on old tricks from 15 years before. What worked at 8 didn't work in her mid 20's, and even she had to admit that it was time to throw in the towel.
In "Adventures in Baltimore", a period comedy set in the early 20th Century, she is still playing a teenager, facing typical problems but utilizing what is up there in her brain to become a "modern", fighting for women's rights and getting into all sorts of trouble as a result. The unfortunate thing is that her character takes everybody around her down with her, and that includes her preacher father (a very good Robert Young), a candidate for Bishop of Maryland, and her object of affections (real life husband John Agar) whom she embarrasses at a public meeting where he reads a speech she wrote for him where he keeps referring to himself as a woman! (Hey, Johnny, proof read!)
Then, there's Shirley's mother (Josephine Hutchinson) who is the perfect housewife and mom until Temple gets the bee under her bonnet over women's lib which results in a riot and a black eye for the well-dressed matron. Veteran character actress Norma Varden has an amusing small role as Helen Hadley Hamilton with the very Irish Albert Sharpe adding flavor as an eccentric older man Temple encounters while painting. Shirley does score in a dance contest sequence with papa Young, but her baby-faced, pouty acting makes it appear that she is still a teenager playing dress-up rather than an actress playing a part.