We're two sisters who are craft book publishers and found ourselves in the midst of an avocado grove. We bought this house where we planned to conduct our publishing business and in the deal got 4 acres of avocado trees thrown in. Now we're not only publishers but ranchers as well! This blog is all about avocados and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Sepia Saturday #213 Trunken Treasure

Here's our theme photo (illustration) for Sepia Saturday this week:


When I start thinking of a Sepia Saturday post, I usually take the theme very literally. Let's see, do I have a trunk similar to this? Do I? Sure I do.

Here it is.


It's an old Shirley Temple steamer trunk that I spotted in an antique store in Denver, Co. several years ago. When I opened it up I found the real treasure - several Shirley Temple doll clothes. Some of the items have the Shirley Temple logo, others seem to have been handmade by a long-ago mom or grandma.

I couldn't find a photo of Shirley wearing the yellow slicker. But here she is with an umbrella:

The trunk was full of cute little outfits, some on hangers and some in the pull-out drawers and cabinet - some in very nice condition.




But not this one. This little sailor suit has seen better days. It was hidden away in the trunk far too long:


Shirley's suit is a lot cleaner and spiffier:


I wanted to add the video of Shirley dancing in her little sailor suit, but then I ran across another video that was much more interesting. This video is so wrong on so many levels. It's so politically incorrect that I didn't want to include it. But it's so bizarre that I had to: 



According to Shirley's autobiography, the director of this shocking short film, Charles Lamont gathered the children together prior to the filming and said "Kids, this is business. This isn't playtime, it's work." He didn't allow the parents on the set. There were two 6' x 6' sound boxes on the set. One was for sound the other for punishment. If one of the tiny actors (most were only 4 years old) acted up, he or she was put in the box and had to sit on a large block of ice.

Shirley wound up inside Lamont's black box several times. She said:
"Take one small, obstreperous child, heat it under bright Kleig lights until perspiration starts. Remove child directly to the chill of the box. Close access door tightly and leave child in box until sufficiently cooled and chastened. Remove child, reheat under the Kleig lights and carry on with the work. The box proved the ultimate enforcer. Increased obedience followed as night follows day."

Can you believe that? I don't think a director could get away with that these days. There are child labor laws that protect young actors and actresses.

It's funny what opening a trunk will lead to - a Pandora's Box to be sure.

To see what's inside other trunks and suitcases, click here Sepia Saturday.


26 comments:

  1. You found a real treasure when you found that Shirley Temple doll's trunk! I watched the video & had to shake my head at what folks thought was cute back then. Obviously it was a very early Shirley Temple film. Her dancing improved a great deal in the next few years! But she certainly had that smile and twinkling eyes from the very beginning. You're right about the director getting away with ill treatment of children, however. He'd be run out of town on a rail these days!

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    1. I also wonder about the dressed up dog films that were made about that same time. I shudder to think how they were treated. Hopefully, we've come a long way from those days.

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  2. Love what happened when you opened the trunk. Amazing video!

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    1. You're right on the mark with this post.It made very interesting reading and viewing, all new stuff to me. The yellow raincoat is used in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya02B1zHdbA

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    2. Thanks for the youtube raincoat video. I've never seen that one.

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  3. Yes, a treasure in the trunk alright!
    The film clip is amazing - so inappropriate - it's amazing the parents didn't do something to stop it after the event at least.

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    1. I have a feeling the parents were "back stage moms" and didn't want to rock the boat. It was during the depression too. That probably had something to do with wanting to keep the kids working no matter what.

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  4. My sister and I happened on that movie last year and it was so bizzare and inappropriate and just wrong, we watched with our mouths hanging open. I am not surprised there was also torture on the set. Wow! Had no one else read the script? Strange.

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    1. I was totally shocked too. And then to find out how the poor kids were treated. Double shocking.

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  5. I never had the trunk but I still have my Shirley Temple doll. ha

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    1. I guess we'll have to get together - your doll and my trunk.

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  6. What an amazing find. I had never heard of a Shirley Temple trunk before and enjoyed reading your post - apart from the disturbing treatment of the children on set. It made me wonder if the children told their parents abut the incidents and why did they not protest. A sign of the times, perhaps.

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    1. Yes, I think you're right about the sign of the times. As I said earlier, this was during the depression and the parents probably didn't want to give up their meal tickets.

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  7. Sorry, but I've always wanted to smack little Shirley Temple (not a particularly Quaker thought, but...). And that video is just dreadful; I had to stop watching.

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    1. Yes, it was pretty difficult to watch. I still can't believe that they got away with making that film.

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  8. oh my! I always love the Shirley clips...but still adorable PC or not. She certainly was charming...

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  9. Love your Shirley Temple post. What a view into Time Travel.

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  10. Fine trunk; when I saw the umbrella I was thinking Mary Poppins but not Shirley Temple. Gave up on the video, I must confess. I hope there was no mention of it being 'Show Business'.

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  11. What treasures for sure, I still adore Shirley Temple!

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  12. "Trunken Treasure" is priceless. What a find! The little sailor suit is adorable and I can see Madonna in a grown-up version at the Grammies:) Was there a designer responsible for all that cute clothing? By contrast to all the cuteness, the video seems doubly bizarre and troubling. Charles Lamont must have been some kind of creep. A great post....I'm so glad you're back.

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  13. It took me a while to work out that it was a trunk for children's clothes! I was trying to imagine how big it would have had to have been to take an adults size coat and umbrella doh! What a lovely thing.

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  14. How serendipitous you should have posted this! My little girls just "re-found" several old Shirley Temple VHS tapes that they've been enjoying -- this is the most interesting background -- off the beaten track, for sure! Amazing what folks got away with back "in the day!" And what was required of those children! Oh my goodness. Sharing this info with my girls so they can see how good they've got it! :) (Your Shirley trunk and outfits is definitely a treasure, btw! Very cool to get to see it!)

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  15. Great Trunk. As for the film - well what can I say! They certainly don't make them like that any more, which, on the whole, is a good thing.

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  16. The trunk is an amazing find - but wow, to think that Shirley wound up as a U.N. representative...

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  17. Oh, you are reminding me that I have a little steamer trunk for my Shirley Temple doll. It wasn't "legit" like this one. Momma fixed one up and filled it with doll clothes she made for my Shirley.

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  18. "Ladies of the Grove" has been included in the A Sunday Drive for this week. Be assured that I hope this helps to point even more new visitors in your direction.

    http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-sunday-drive_20.html

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