Curly Top

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Curly Top

DVD cover
Directed by Irving Cummings
Produced by Winfield R. Sheehan
Written by Arthur J. Beckhard
Patterson McNutt
Starring Shirley Temple
John Boles
Rochelle Hudson
Jane Darwell
Music by Ray Henderson
Ted Koehler
Edward Heyman
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Distributed by 20th Century Fox (known then as Fox Studios)
Release date(s) 1935
Running time 74 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
This article addresses the movie...for the plant disease, see curly top.

Curly Top is a 1935 musical starring Shirley Temple, Rochelle Hudson, Jane Darwell, and John Boles. It was directed by Irving Cummings, and featured the song Animal Crackers in My Soup. The film was based on Jean Webster's novel Daddy Long Legs.

[edit] Plot summary

The film begins at the Lakeside Orphanage where Elizabeth Blair (Shirley Temple) is one of many little girl orphans under the care of the two matrons. After saying their prayers and being put to bed, Elizabeth and the other girls sneak out of bed and beckon Elizabeth's pony out of the rain and into the bedroom. The next morning, Elizabeth and the pony are caught and sent to the matron's office. Elizabeth's older sister, Mary (Rochelle Hudson), is a worker in the orphanage's kitchen and tries to cheer Elizabeth up. She plays the piano while Elizabeth sings "Animal Crackers In My Soup" at lunchtime. Unfortunately, the end of the song is interrupted by the arrival of the orphanage's trustees. In trouble yet again, Elizabeth and Mary are remorseful but defend themselves against the trustee who calls them wicked. The newest trustee, Mr. Edward Morgan (John Boles) who has just inherited an estate from his father and signed on to the orphanage board, stays behind to comfort Mary but does not realize she and Elizabeth are related. He finds out they have a common interest in composing music and expresses an interest in hearing more of her songs.

Later on, Elizabeth is yet again breaking the rules by imitating one of the older, miserly trustees. She responds, “Oh, my goodness!” as the other orphans flee leaving her to face the music alone. Again, she is saved from a scolding by Morgan who decides he wants to adopt her and nicknames her "Curly Top." Elizabeth says she would like to be adopted but that her sister has to come with her. Mary tells Mr. Morgan how her parents were killed in a car accident but before they died, they made her promise that she and Elizabeth would never be separated. When Morgan learns that Mary and Elizabeth come as a set, he decides to invent a guardian for them, a Mr. Hiram Jones, so they won't feel grateful or indebted to him, and they'll simply be able to be friends.

Mary and Elizabeth come to live at "Mr. Jones'" seaside mansion. Unfortunately, "Mr. Jones" is in Europe so “Uncle Edward” Morgan stays as their guardian. After settling in well, learning to water ski and hula dance and eat properly at the table, Elizabeth decides she wants to put on a benefit to buy toys for the other girls left at the Lakeside Orphanage. Mary sings a song and Elizabeth dances to the applause of the crowd and the admiration of Mr. Morgan. Jimmy, a pilot friend of Mary's, fancies Mary and asks her to marry him. She has to let him down because she has come to have feelings for Mr. Morgan. These feelings are stomped on when she overhears Mr. Morgan saying she was only allowed in the house because it was the only way to get Elizabeth. Of course, Mary only hears that part of the conversation and not the part where Mr. Morgan admits to his aunt how jealous he is of Jimmy. Mary, understandably upset, runs to Jimmy and accepts his engagement proposal. Mr. Morgan is stunned, but handles the shock well, when Jimmy spills the news.

Elizabeth doesn’t want to go live with Jimmy and would rather Mary married Mr. Morgan. He distracts her and gives her a present—a song he wrote just for her. Elizabeth does a tap dance routine on his piano. Mary comes in and tells everyone that she and Jimmy have broken it off because she didn't really love him. Mr. Morgan is delighted, and he and Mary soon make up and decide to get married. Mary insists Mr. Jones be present for the wedding but Mr. Morgan tells her that there never was a Mr. Jones. Elizabeth comes in to have the newspaper funnies read to her and sees the two embracing. The movie ends with Elizabeth saying, “Oh, my word!” as she realizes that everything will be happy after all.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia/Goofs

  • When Edward sings "Curly Top" to Elizabeth, Shirley's character, he says that her eyes "make the heavens proud to be blue." Shirley Temple's eyes were brown.
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