Short, blonde, and curly; nothing more angelic and innocent than a cherub in the flesh.
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; 1928-2014) was one of the most famous and influential child actors in film history.
Her sweet and innocent charm won the hearts of the American public during The Great Depression, and as such her public image as a wholesome, feel-good cherub became rife for pastiche and parody as a stock child actor character in a fictional work. Expect such parodies to be of toddlers or early school age girls (or at least those who appear to be of such age) with curly blond hair, a short frilly dress, and an (ostensibly) sweet personality. Interestingly, most if not all Shirley-esque characters tend to be Spoiled Brats, even though the real-life Temple wasn't exactly known for such behaviour except when a role called for it (and that was seldom). A Former Child Star will often resemble an adult version of Temple, and possibly deconstruct the lower standards for child actors of her time by showing the life of a child actor to be much darker than her sugary-sweet screen persona. Despite occasionaly experiencing abuses throughout her career, the real Temple in her adult years fortunately did not end up like this, and she instead became a diplomat, being an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and the first female Chief of Protocol.
Compare Fountain of Expies, Stock Parodies, and No Historical Figures Were Harmed. See the subtrope list at No Celebrities Were Harmed for other parodic depictions of real-world celebrities.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Cyberella had "Li'l" Ella Fiscus, a child actress who was the template for Kelton Mosbey's cartoon character Li'l Ella who eventually became Cyberella. Ella starred in the "Li'l Ella" movies before she was gruesomely torn apart in an industrial accident. A combination of both Shirley Temple and the actresses from the Alice comedies, rumors persisted that the real Ella Fiscus wasn't actually a little girl but an adult midget who was in a sexual relationship with "Uncle Kelt."
- I Hate Fairyland has Gertrude, who is something of a deconstruction. Gertrude used to be an innocent young girl who acted like one, dressing in the same frilly skirts and having the same curls in her hair Shirley Temple had. However, her adventure into Fairyland leaves her stranded, and unable to find the key to leave, she grows sick of the Sugar Bowl atmosphere over the years, and starts to go Ax-Crazy as a result, becomes more unkept, all the while murdering her way through the lands to get the key to leave.
Films — Animated
- Darla Dimple from Cats Don't Dance. Despite having a sweet and innocent public image, Darla turns out to be a scheming, vengeful and manipulative egotist bent on taking down Danny and the other animal actors. For bonus points, her true personality calls to mind a now-disproven rumor that Temple was really a chain-smoking 30-year-old little person who hated children and animals.note
Films — Live-Action
- In Mister Lonely, a struggling Michael Jackson impersonator stumbles upon a motley crew of celebrity impersonators living in a commune after meeting a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. Among those performers was a Shirley Temple impersonator, who turns out to be "Marilyn"'s daughter.
- The 1997 Disney TV film Tower of Terror has Sally Shine, a Temple-esque 1930s child actress who just had the misfortune of having a vengeful sister named Abigail who envied her so much that she hexed her to death in a lightning strike, also sending four other people to their deaths.
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was a 1962 thriller starring Bette Davis in the title role. She had been a child star in vaudeville in the 1910's but her fame had long vanished, and her only reminder was a portrait doll that was made in her likeness as a blonde girl with ringlets.
- Temple lookalike Samee Lee Jones sings her iconic "Animal Crackers In My Soup" at the recital in What's the Matter with Helen?.
Literature
- In the film adaptation of The Day of the Locust, Spoiled Brat child star Adore Loomis has been given a boy's version of blond Shirley Temple curls by his Stage Mom Maybelle. (In both the book and the film Maybelle expresses disdain for Temple in a "What's she got that my boy hasn't?" way.)
- An Infodump in The Shining mentioned that Derwent bought a movie studio that used to have a child star named Little Margery Morris, who "specialized in sweet seven-year-olds who saved marriages and the lives of dogs unjustly accused of killing chickens".
- Markie in the Myth Adventures novel Little Myth Marker is, as the title suggests, very specifically a parody of Marthy Jane, Temple's character in Little Miss Marker. She takes the "fake sugary personality" further by not even really being a child.
Live-Action TV
- A recurring sketch in The Carol Burnett Show has Burnett play a parody of Temple, aptly named "Shirley Dimple", later named "Rhoda Dimple" because Shirley Temple threatened legal action. One such sketch
mocked Temple's unsuccessful bid for politics. In 1967, Temple ran as an "independent" candidate for a congressional district. In truth, she was a conservative Republican and a close friend of then-California Governor Ronald Reagan. She ran on a platform of support of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In California.
- A sketch in MADtv (1995) had parodies of both Temple and Bill Robinson in "The Littlest Hoochie", taking place in a high school setting.
- Z Nation: Young Lucy Murphy has curly blond hair, a short dress... and a blue skin.
Magazines
- An article about Los Angeles in the January 1979 issue of National Geographic shows a group of celebrity impersonators, among them a child performer dressed up as Shirley Temple.
Theatre
- The Characters Welcome scene "Child Star Sings to Old Man" stars "Curly Pimple, America's precocious little sweetheart" as the pigtailed, frilly-dressed child film star, who's retiring before she turns six years old. She sings an old-timey song about how all of her best friends are old men, and she does... uncomfortably intimate things with them.
- Bayn Johnson (probably best known as Kelly in The Electric Company (1971)) played a Shirley type character in a 1967 satire, Curley McDimple.note In the 1969 series What's It All About, World? she played "Happy Hollywood", an even snottier parody of Shirley's image.
Video Games
- One of the pre-made Sims in the Roaring Heights world for The Sims 3 is Shirley Templeton, a composite of both Temple and Little Orphan Annie, perhaps playing on the popular misconception that Shirley once played the role of the comic strip icon.
Western Animation
- Sugar Dimples from the Madeline animated series is a clear dig on Temple, complete with the initially bratty off-set personality along with the fictional film ''Sugar Dimples in The Alps'' being a thinly-veiled parody of Temple's appearance in the 1937 Heidi adaptation. It is later revealed that her crass attitude towards others was due to her loneliness, and Sugar and Madeline eventually made amends and became close friends, occasionally joining Madeline, the other girls and Pepito in their adventures. Ironically enough, Temple herself had actually produced a Madeline adaptation in an episode of The Shirley Temple Show.
- In Batman: The Animated Series Mary Louise Dahl, a.k.a. Baby-Doll, was a failed actress who was born with a rare medical condition, confining her into an appearance of a toddler despite her actually being in her thirties. Like most other examples, she also bears the hallmarks of a Shirley Temple expy, having appeared in namby-pamby roles as well which she resented as it forever typecasted her, just as how the real Shirley's acting career declined as people associated her more with her younger roles than as a teen actress.
- "Little" Vicki Valentine in The Simpsons is also loosely based on Temple, and is portrayed as a former child star-turned-dance instructor, a reference to Shirley's talent as a tap dancer. Temple herself was offered the role to voice Vicki, but was unable to record her part.
- In the Eloise: The Animated Series episode "Eloise Goes to Hollywood", a blond, curly-haired actress named Debbie is angered at what she perceived as Eloise stealing her spotlight. Temple's handprints at the Grauman's Chinese theatre did however appear at some point during the episode.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Cozy Glow is modeled after Shirley, from her curly mane and tail to her use of "Golly" as a catchphrase. While Cozy seems sweet and friendly when she's first introduced, it's later revealed that she deliberately uses her cuteness and unassuming appearance to manipulate others in her plan to take over Equestria.
- The Pinky and the Brain episode "What Ever Happened to Baby Brain" takes place during The Great Depression and has Brain become a Shirley Temple-esque child star in order to fund his latest world domination scheme. He achieves this by using cosmetics to make himself look cute. At one point he even sings a parody of "On The Good Ship Lollipop".
- The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show has Shirley Pimple as an antagonist in the Pith Possum segment "Bride of Darkness", where she is given a rather manly voice.
