The Legacy of Shirley Temple - inspirational story #7

We all must learn from the lessons of the past. Unfortunately, some important stories we could learn from are not told loud enough or even at all. With this post, I continue the popular series of inspirational stories to educate and empower.

Shirley Temple in 1941

Despite not considering myself a crazy movie fan, I have always been intrigued by the Hollywood golden era of cinema. In my mind, it was a unique time of excitement, glamour, and cultural boom. I recently read a very interesting biographical article about one of the female movie stars from that era, Shirley Temple. She started acting at a very early age and gained incredible fame. Despite having great success in the movie industry and even in diplomacy, she went through many difficulties in her life. One of the deeply troubling issues in her acting career, she recalled in her memoirs. Being an attractive young actress, she was constantly sexually attacked by powerful executives, producers, and co-workers. It seems the way how it works in the entertainment business: I get sex and you get the job, is apparently a pattern over a century-long and was fully exposed just recently by the MeToo movement. The paradox is, in comparison to the actresses from the modern era, she handled some uncomfortable situations extremely well. I want to share with you an account I took from a media network Ranker.com:

For the entirety of her brief film career, Temple was forced to fight off sexual predators, as she was regularly groped, threatened, and terrorized by men.

After she rebuked one Hollywood producer for his advances, he responded, “Look, I’m going to be a big executive. We’re going to have to get along... What I had in mind was just a workplace formality.”

“It may be in your contract, but not mine,” she replied.

“Sex is like a glass of water,” the man she simply refers to as “Wizard” continued. “You get thirsty, you drink. You want sex, you have it.”

Then there was the beloved comedian George Jessel, who once invited her to his office to “discuss a key role” in his upcoming film:

Lift my skirt without permission, get a knee,
that's how it worked in the golden era of Hollywood. 

We were standing a pace apart, eyeball to eyeball. In one swift movement he opened his trousers and, with a sudden reach, encircled me with one arm… I could feel his other hand groping to lift my shirt. Hard on the heels of the Wizard, this new assault seemed unreal, but little could I do but thrust my right knee upward into his groin... Pain, disgust, and hate flickered across his face, but I felt no mercy. More and more the adult movie business seemed populated with a bunch of copulating tomcats.

Shirley reacted swiftly, responsibly, and resolutely. I assume she had not attended any fancy self defense course and despite that, she was able to handle the situation extremely well. It reminded me of another inspirational story from an actress, I already published some years ago. 

As Shirley said, the asshole deserved no sympathy. Hopefully, he learned his lesson; he could feel lucky she did not use any other more brutal self defense techniques, given his genitals were exposed and in the end did not lose any of his two precious organs. Maybe I would go far with this comment, but I truly think if all young actresses were told how to handle pushy horny men, we could have avoided all those tiring Hollywood sex attack scandals and allegations. What an inspiring story from such a wonderful woman….

P.S.

Some of you wrote me very interesting stories via email and I want to publish them all in this renewed series, just that I must find time to provide the necessary commentary. I ask you for patience.