February 12, 2014 (Wednesday)
Shirley Temple Black died day before yesterday. News of her death at age 85 stirred memories of her many movies as a child, and also moved us to recall her careers as a diplomat and a corporate board member. She was beloved by her family as mother, grandmother and great grandmother, titles she treasured. I know it sounds silly of me to say so, but knowing of her passing brings feelings of personal loss. In the future, when people discuss the famous actors through the years, doubtless her name will be mentioned. Her “feel good” roles lifted the spirits of many people during the dark days of The Great Depression. In those days, she was one of a kind.
She was offered the role of “Dorothy” in “The Wizard of Oz,” but the studio that had her contract refused to allow her to take the job. Even now, however, many of us identify the character with Judy Garland, with whom we all fell in love. I cannot conceive of anyone but Judy saying the line, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” or “Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh no!” And everyone is still singing, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The movie has become part of our culture, and whenever a person quotes a line from it, everyone immediately recognizes it.
My mother took me to see “The Wizard of Oz” when it was released. She also took me to see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” which had a scene with a witch that scared the daylights out of me. My father took me to see “Thief of Bagdad” with Sabu; how I loved that movie with the giant Genie, all in beautiful technicolor.
I saw “It’s A Wonderful Life” as a first run movie when I was a kid. I kept trying to tell people about it, but no one seemed to care, and it was shelved for many years before somebody trotted it out as a Christmas movie and it’s been on T.V. every Christmas since. Another one I liked was “Random Harvest,” about a guy with amnesia; for some reason that one stuck in my mind. And then there was that one where the song, “As Time Goes By,” kept coming up.
Back in those days, the clean stuff sold well. It was not only clean, but good.