Shirley Temple’s legacy includes work we should all admire.

Temple’s passing on Feb. 10 leaves a pint-sized hole in the silver screen. Whether you admired Temple for the way she shuffle ball changed into our hearts, or the way she changed the world as a political activist, the late child star deserves our applause.

Temple was born on April 23, 1928. By 3 years of age, Temple’s mother enrolled the darling in dance lessons at Mrs. Meglin’s Dance Studio in Los Angeles, according to her personal website. Even at an early age, Temple’s talents were already in bloom.

Producers Jack Hays and Charles Lamont saw Temple at the dance studio and contracted her to do a series of short films called “Baby Burlesks.” These films parodied famous movies by using child actors — think Toddlewood set in motion.

After “Baby Burlesks,” Temple acted in several films to rave reviews. In 1933, Fox Film Corporation signed the child triple threat to its film “Stand up and Cheer.” In the movie, President Franklin Roosevelt chooses someone to cheer up Americans during the Great Depression.

Though the plot was fictitious, Roosevelt’s adoration for Temple was not. The president dubbed the actress “Little Miss Miracle,” and praised her for the laughter she brought out of a suffering nation.

‘‘It is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles,’’ Roosevelt once said.

This was the first Temple film that helped Fox forget its troubles. It is estimated that Fox was millions of dollars in debt and banking on stars like Temple and Will Rogers to save the studio from its financial slump. When Rogers unexpectedly passed in a plane crash in 1935, all hopes and dreams clung to Temple’s tiny shoulders. Hit films like “Curly Top” and “The Littlest Rebel” kept Fox from going under.

“The Littlest Rebel” was the second movie Temple made with famous black dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. In the dynamic duo’s first movie together, “The Little Colonel,” Temple and Robinson became the first interracial couple to dance onscreen, according to National Public Radio.

Though they were divided by age and race, Temple said she always saw Robinson as an equal and appreciated that he reciprocated this sentiment.

In an interview with NPR in the ‘80s, Temple said, “He didn’t talk down to me, like to a little girl…Bill Robinson was the best of all.”

From 1935-1938, Temple tap-danced on the top of the box office. But as she aged, audiences found it hard to see her in a more adult light.

After leaving show business and raising a family, Temple soon became interested in politics. She ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1967, but was appointed a representative of the United Nations by President Richard Nixon two years later.

She also served as an ambassador to Ghana and later, Czechoslovakia. Temple was also the first female to be appointed chief of protocol of the United States.

In an interview with 60 Minutes in the 1970s, Temple admitted “Little Shirley” opened a lot of doors for her, but encouraged people not to live in the past.

“One can sit in a lovely house and look at old scrapbooks and be extremely lonely. I like to work,” she said.

Whether it was putting animal crackers in her soup or dressing in traditional Ghanaian garb, Temple enjoyed two roles of a lifetime. We should all be so dedicated to the type of work that brings happiness to others, whatever form that may take.

Erin Jensen is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism. Her column appears weekly. You can reach her at ejense01@syr.edu or on Twitter at @erinrjensen.

Published on February 19, 2014 at 2:47 am