Shirley Temple remembered in Palm Springs

Those corkscrew curls, twinkling eyes and darling dimples – Shirley Temple was born to be a star. In the 1930’s, she sang, danced, sobbed and smiled her way into the hearts of depression-era movie-goers.

Born in 1928, she got discovered at dance school when she was just three years old. Before filming a scene, her mother would always say, “Sparkle, Shirley, sparkle”. Whitch she did, in hit after hit.

In 1934, she even received a special miniature oscar.

The starlet often traveled to Palm Springs: playing badminton during her stays, raising money for the troops downtown, riding down Palm Canyon in a parade as the Desert Circus Queen. Always her favorite place to stay – The Desert Inn.

“She even had her own cottage there called the ‘Shirley Temple Cottage.’ We have a photo of Nellie Coffman, who owned the Desert Inn, christening her cottage with a bottle of milk, we have a picture of her holding the bottle of milk,” Jery Vogelsang from the Palm Springs Historical Society said. “She lived in Hollywood so she was spending a lot of time here with her mother.”

When she turned 21, Temple retired from the movies. She didn’t just leave Hollywood. She also left her first marriage, marrying a San Francisco businessman and entering the world of politics. Under the first President Bush, she served as Ambassador to Czechoslovakia and held several diplomatic posts in other republican administrations. The epitome of a child star, yet so much more.

“She did so much for the community. She didn’t have to but she went out of her way to do things for Palm Springs and charitable causes here. She was very well loved,” Vogelsang said.