GOODBYE
CURLY TOP
Sheryl
J. Bize Boutte
February
11, 2014
By
the time I saw my first Shirley Temple movie, she had been in the business for
almost twenty years. Starting out
as the child star who brought smiles to beleaguered Americans still trying to
recover from the Great Depression, she began a new life in, what were by then,
old movies for baby boomers like me.
The little girls I knew in the 1950’s did not see Shirley
Temple as a relief or distraction; we saw her as one of our first icons of
girlhood. She was well spoken,
smart, inquisitive, and talented.
All the things a girl should be.
She set the tone for us and we followed suit. She was on screen proof
that asking questions of adults was not taboo and that curiosity was a way to
learn and solve problems. Even if
we did not process it quite that way at the time, it left an imprint along with
other things we carried into adulthood.
It was Shirley
who set our little girl fashion trends with the swirly dresses, coveralls and
little cardigans. It was Shirley
who made us request Campbell’s tomato soup with animal crackers on a regular
basis. It was Shirley who made me beg my parents for tap shoes until they gave
in. I could not dance a lick, but
I remember my father’s best friend Smitty dancing with me up and down the three
steps to our front porch just like Shirley did with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.
But the most endearing memory was her hairstyle. Those “Shirley Temple Curls” would be
why we called her “Curly Top” and
they would be emulated in many forms from the time we first saw them, to
this day. This is me at age four with my mother’s
version of the famous coif.
So it is with the same smile that I wish you safe passage,
Curly Top.
Rest well, my
friend.
