Curly Top is a 1935 family musical comedy film directed by Irving Cummings. The film stars Shirley Temple, John Boles, and Rochelle Hudson. The film is loosely based on Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs.
Director: Irving Cummings
Production Company: Fox Film
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Cast: Shirley Temple, John Boles, Rochelle Hudson, Jane Darwell, Rafaela Ottiano, Esther Dale
US Box Office: $3,247,500 ($129,500,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: Family, Comedy, Musical
Release Date: July 26, 1935
Plot Summary: Little Elizabeth Blair (Shirley Temple) and her older, young-adult sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson) are living at an orphanage. One day Elizabeth and Mary are adopted by Edward Morgan (John Boles), the orphanage’s wealthiest trustee. Edward does want them to feel indebted or embarrassed around him so he pretends to only work for the man who actually adopted them, a made up “Mr. Hiram Jones.” Edward’s plan is complicated when he starts to fall in love with Mary.
Production: In late 1934 Fox Film (which would soon become 20th Century Fox once it merged with Twentieth Century Pictures in mid-1935) began working on a film adaptation of Jean Webster’s novel Daddy-Long-Legs about a girl adopted by a mysterious benefactor. The novel had previously been adapted into a film of the same name in 1919 (starring Mary Pickford) and in 1931 (starring Janet Gaynor). Fox executive Winfield R. Sheehan intended the film as a vehicle for child star Shirley Temple. Temple had her breakout role in a musical number in the Fox film Stand Up and Cheer! (1934). Sheehan realized Temple’s potential and quickly signed her up for a seven-year contract with her mother as her legal guardian. In 1934, Temple starred in Fox’s Baby Take a Bow, Bright Eyes, and Now and Forever. Director and former actor Irving Cummings was chosen to direct the film, titled Curly Top.
Shirley Temple was cast as Elizabeth, the main character and the titular “Curly Top” in the film. Temple was about seven years old at the time. Her other Fox films released in 1935 included: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, and The Littlest Rebel. Rochelle Hudson was cast as Mary, Elizabeth’s older sister. Hudson was known for starring in both dramatic and comedic films. She notably had a starring role in Les Misérables (1935) that year. Actor and singer John Boles was cast as Edward.
Filming on Curly Top began in May of 1935 and went on till June. The film was mostly shot on set at Fox Film’s studio near Los Angeles, California. Temple’s mother Gertrude coached her daughter at home and on set. Gertrude taught Shirley her dialogue, how to say her lines, her facial expressions, and her other actions in Curly Top. According to Cummings, he didn’t have to do much to instruct Shirley on set because Gertrude Temple was “much more Shirley’s director than I am.” After filming finished, Shirley got to keep the doll house prop from the film. The dollhouse was kept at her parents’ estate, and many years later Shirley would put it on display for children visiting.
Fun Facts and Trivia: Curly Top is the first of four films to feature Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher (Reynolds the butler) together. The other three are: Stowaway (1936), Heidi (1937), and The Little Princess (1939). Treacher frequently played butlers or similar English-gentleman characters. Many years later Treacher and Jane Darwell (Mrs. Denham) both appeared in Mary Poppins (1964), though they did not share any scenes. At the time of its original release Curly Top was banned in Italy over concerns that Shirley Temple’s character would be a bad influence on children. Despite this ban, Curly Tip was one of the nominees for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival that year! Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang), the first lady of the Republic of China, was a fan of Curly Top and watched the film multiple times when it was first released.
Reception: Curly Top was released on July 26, 1935 in the United States. The film was a success at the box office and became one of the top twenty highest grossing films of the year, alongside two of Temple’s other films The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Audiences thought that Temple’s films were fun and adorable, and she was ranked by Motion Picture Herald as one of the top ten highest grossing stars of the year for 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938. Director Irving Cummings would later direct Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl (1936), Little Miss Broadway (1938), and Just Around the Corner (1938).
Curly Top received generally positive reviews from film critics at the time. Helen Brown Norden of Vanity Fair gave the film a positive review and praised Shirley Temple’s performance. Norden criticized the film for having an “absurd situation” and “stupid dialogue” but she noted that Temple had enough charm to overcome these script flaws. Ann Ross of Maclean‘s magazine also praised Temple’s performance and noted that her fans would love the film. Although Curly Top has been somewhat forgotten in the twenty first century, it still receives generally positive reviews. Film critic Emanuel Levy gave Curly Top a mildly positive review. In 2004 Shirley Temple’s song “Animal Crackers in My Soup” from Curly Top was one of 400 songs nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the Top 100 best songs from American movies.
Why You Should See It: Curly Top is a cute and adorable classic comedy film. Shirley Temple does a good in her lead role. Her dialogue, facial expressions, and interactions with the other actors are charming and endearing. Her interactions with Elizabeth’s pony, John Boles, and Arthur Treacher stand-out as especially charming. Child actors can usually either be adorable or annoying (depending on the script as well as the child’s own acting ability) but thankfully Shirley falls into adorable category. Curly Top isn’t a great film, but I think that it perfectly succeeds at what it intended to do: be a cute and fun, family comedy film.