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Shirley Temple, the Little Colonel. (actress describes her favorite role and her life)(reprinted from Child Life, April 1935)(Interview) Harris, Genevieve.

Why I Like to Play in Pictures

(As Told by Shirley Temple)

Playing in motion pictures is fun! It is the best game I know because it is like being in a story, and I love stories. I like the big "lot" at the studio, and I like to see all the people and the lights and cameras. Between pictures, I have a vacation and in summertime we go to the beach, and I love the ocean and I am learning to swim. But the part I like best of all is coming back to the studio!

On the days when I am making a picture, I get up very early in the morning. The night before, Mother brushes my hair and curls it over her fingers and fastens it with bobby pins. Then in the morning she just has to brush it out.

Then we eat breakfast and hurry off to the studio.

Mother tells me the story of the picture we are making before I play in any scenes. They give her a big book at the studio. It is called "the script." I'm always excited when she gets a new one and I ask her to read it to me right away. She tells me the story and what I have to do. Then she reads my part to me and I learn the words.

Mother reads the speeches of the other players, and tells me which is my "cue." That means, when I have to say my part.

I learn all my speeches before the picture is begun. At the studio, I get dressed for the part, and then we "rehearse." Then the director says, "Everybody quiet. We'll take it now." Then we take it. I like that. I always remember my speeches, especially the big ones. They are easier than the little short ones.

But what I don't like is waiting and waiting for everything to be just right before we take a scene - fixing lights and all that. I just hate that! I wish we could go right through a scene, and then do another, and another. But it can't be done that way!

On the set, they don't like to have you go around and touch anything. That's naughty because everything has to be just so for the scene. But sometimes I forget!

Before a scene, Mother says to me, "Now you must forget all about being Shirley and remember that you are the little girl in the story, Penny or Markey, or whatever the name is." In "The Little Colonel" I am Lloyd Sherman. I say what Mother has taught me. I say the words just as they are in the script. Sometimes the big players say their parts a different way each time.

At the studio, they have fixed a little bungalow just for Mother and me. It is a real little house, with flowers growing around it. And there is a birdhouse in front.

There is a little kitchen where Mother cooks my lunch, and there is a bedroom, where I have my nap. One room is a schoolroom, with a desk and blackboard and maps and everything. I have lessons every day. I know my numbers and can write my name and I am learning to read in a pretty primer.

I love my little house and I'd like to stay there all the time, all night even. But if Mother and I stayed there, we'd invite Daddy and the boys to come to see us.

The boys are my two brothers, George and Jack. Jack is in college. George is fourteen years old and he says he would like to play in pictures. But I don't think he would like it, unless he could be a cowboy, because that is the kind of story he likes best.

Mother and Daddy have never played in pictures. Daddy works in a bank.

Of course I have fun at home, too. I have a playhouse in our backyard. It has one room, with a stove and table and chairs and a bed. I love to play with dolls. The doll I like best is named Dorothy.

I have a funny toy duck that Joe Penner gave me. I named the duck Joe Penner, but mostly I call him Gogo.

I have two turtles for pets - real turtles.

But the thing I want most is a dog! Mother and Daddy have promised to get me one when they find just the right dog for me. I want a Scottie. They are so smart! They are so cute looking up at you and listening to everything you say. Oh, I do want one!

One day I went to a party. Two little girls, Gloria and Peggy Lloyd, invited Mother and me. They are Harold Lloyd's little girls. They are quite big, nine years old. They have a little brother, Harold Junior. He is just three years old. He called me "little Shirley Temple," but I'm bigger than he is.

Gloria and Peggy have the most wonderful playhouse I ever saw. I'd trade mine for it. It has four rooms, and the kitchen has a sink with real running water. There were little dish towels on a rack and one had S.T. on it for Shirley Temple, and that was for me.

The bedroom has a doll bed big enough for me to get in. I know, because I got into it!

For lunch the girls had everything I like best, even ice cream with chocolate sauce.

When I was very little, I went to dancing school. In "The Little Colonel," Bill Robinson teaches me some new steps.

While I was in dancing school, somebody asked Mother to bring me to the studio for a "screen test." So she did, and then I played in pictures.

I've made lots of pictures, but I like "The Little Colonel" best of all.