Family Plot
Family Plot
Family Plot Podcast
Episode 292 Women's History Month - The Life of Shirley Temple Black
1 hour 7 minutes Posted Mar 19, 2026 at 5:56 pm.
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Show notes
What a show!  WWe dive deep into the life of Shirley Temple Black, from her young life as a precocious little girl with a smile, to her mother's enrolling her in the Meglin Kiddies Dance School at the age of three, to her subsequent discovery a few months later, hiding behind the piano when Educational Pictures director Charles Lamont came to the school looking for talent.  She at first joined the Baby Burlesks, a somewhat uncomfortable series in which toddlers, clad in costumes above the waist and diapers below recreated onscreen moments from more famous pictures...this led to many unclomfortable moments among viewers.  But her performance in Stand Up and Cheer! impressed the directors at Fox who signed her to a simple contract and proceeded to make movies like The Littlest Rebel, Curly Top, Dimples, amd The Littlest Princess where she played an adorable moppet with an unforgettable smile who became the single most bankable star of the 1930's.  Not one performer in that era made as much as this singing and tap-dancing little starlet.  When she aged out of that kind of role both Fox and MGM tried to repackage heer and she made a handful of films that ranged from watchable to deeply forgettable.  MGM released her from her contract and she married her first husband, who was unable to handle the pressure of BEING her husband leading to his drinking and their divorce.  Eventually she would marry Charles Alden Black who would be her husband till his death in 2004.  She would also become a politician and candidate for congress, a stateswoman and a diplomat during the 70's and 80;s.  She would move from this role to a quite life at home, only turning up occasionally in interviews or to collect an honor, though when she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and eventually got a mastectomy she was very public with her diagnosis, treatment and an advocacy for testing early and frequently,  Otherwise she lived a quiet life until she would eventually pass away in the early 2010's.  She would be mourned on morning news programs across the country and we dive deep into her amazing life in this Women's History Month special episode.

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