Cinco años sin Shirley Temple: explotación y abusos tras los míticos rizos de Hollywood

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Pese a lo que pueda parecer, no todo en su vida fue de color de rosa. Fox se enriqueció a su costa y su primer marido, John Agar, le fue infiel varias veces

Despite what it may seem, not everything in his life was rosy. Fox got rich at his expense and her first husband, John Agar, was unfaithful several times

The most famous curls in the history of cinema left forever five years ago. Shirley Temple will be remembered as that child icon a thousand times parodied, imitated, revered and hated with flavor to other times. The 'little girl' died on February 10, 2014 at age 85, leaving behind a legacy of po[CENSORED]rity dating back to the thirties. Despite what it may seem, not everything in his life was rosy.

For example, when Fox, the studio that made her a star, was enriched with films like 'The Little Colonel' (1935) or 'Heidi' (1937), she only saw $ 13 each month. His mother received 250 a week and, later, a bonus of 15,000 or 35,000 at the end of each movie, depending on how successful it was.

Although his conservatism prevented him from speaking ill of those years in which he became the national emblem of the United States without hardly realizing it, he would later admit, with his small mouth, that his father had kept most of the money he earned for their movies. In those years in which his charm and his 52 curls made the Americans happy, who suffered the Great Depression, not everyone agreed with his work and his self-confidence. The writer Graham Green published an article in which he claimed that his films seemed "depraved."

Through scenes like the one in which he played a half-naked Cupid in 'Curly Top', Greene exemplified that the girl had middle-aged admirers and that they were fascinated by her “childish coquetry”. Fox sued the magazine 'Night and Day' and Greene himself for the article and both had to pay $ 3,500 for damages to the child and the studio. That didn't stop Greene from referring to her, in successive years, as "that little bitch."

Shirley Temple in 1934. (Cordon Press)
Shirley Temple in 1934. (Cordon Press)

The truth is that Hollywood defended it only while it was profitable. When his cinema stopped giving money, he did not merit it without mercy. The turning point was not to star in 'The Wizard of Oz'. Unconvinced of the age and commerciality of Judy Garland to embody Dorothy, the Metro wanted to "lend" Jean Harlow to Fox to make a film in exchange for leaving Temple to star in the famous musical. Harlow died in 1937, two years before the premiere of the film, and the exchange of stars was never possible.

Maybe the spectators won with the permanence of Garland on the tape, but for Temple that was the beginning of the end. From then on, everything went downhill. 'The blue bird', an attempt to make a fantastic and technicolor film in the line of Oz, was an important hit that kept her away from the cinema for four years. When he returned he had to forget about being the protagonist. In 'Since you left', 'I'll see you again' or 'Fort Apache', I was just a secondary teenager with little importance in the plot.

Shirley Temple and Cary Grant. (Cordon Press)
Shirley Temple and Cary Grant. (Cordon Press)

In his personal life he didn't seem to do too well either. In 1945, at the tender age of 17, he married actor John Agar. He seemed much more interested in the whiskey bottle than in pleasing his wife. In addition, it was a rare occasion when she did not take several women home while she was pregnant. The matrimonial climax came on a night when he arrived so drunk and bent on hitting her that she had to leave the house in a panic.

Despite all these early ups and downs, Temple ended up finding happiness with Charles Alden Black, who introduced her to the world of politics and guaranteed a new life away from the Hollywood spotlights. Unlike other early stars, he never victimized his role in the film industry. Quite the contrary, she was delighted to remember her films and when Jamie Lee Curtis presented her with a prize for her entire career in 2006, she picked it up with the eyes of a girl. In those years, he also collaborated in the coloring of his old tapes and promoted his image as an eternal vintage icon. If Fox had enriched himself at her expense, it was she who, years later, could exploit her own image, that small pile of curls that made millions of Americans happy. Such was her fame that once, when her mother took her to see Santa, it was he who ended up asking for an autograph from her. At that time I was too small to understand that you have to pay a high price for the king of the North Pole himself to admire you.