Why is shirley temple important

So to Shirley Temple, child star and comforter of the worried, weary, and woeful, we say Baby, Take a Bow. Facebook Twitter Email. Shirley Temple and The Great Depression.

The Strong. Share your feedback to help improve our site! Kasson's elucidating cultural history of Hollywood's most popular child star makes it a must-read. Her irrepressible charm and innocence entertained and revived a dispirited nation. While Temple April 23, Feb. As far as her cinematic impact, Temple personified the importance of never giving up. Her breakout hit, Stand Up and Cheer , a musical about the president of the United States using entertainers to help boost morale, inextricably linked Temple with FDR, making her a poster child for the New Deal.

She also redefined cuteness. No one understood this better than Darryl Zanuck, the head of Fox, who did everything to exaggerate Temple's youth and diminutive stature, accentuating her curls, broad brow, dimpled cheeks, small nose and chin, and short torso and legs through careful costuming and camera work. The accolades and honors continued throughout her life. In addition, the American Film Institute ranked her as 18th among the top 25 females among their Greatest Screen Legends.

It was a time when disclosing such personal information was taboo, but Temple opted to go public and held a news conference from her hospital room.

Her candor about her illness and surgery helped to eliminate the stigma of breast cancer and encourage women with symptoms to seek treatment. In , President Richard M. Nixon appointed her a U. Five years later, she served as U. Ambassador to Ghana, and from to as President George H. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Under the leadership of President Gerald R. Ford , she became the first woman named U. Chief of Protocol.

Another first was her appointment as Honorary U. Foreign Service Officer in