Shirley Temple Rare Autographed Page 40s Great Provenance Grauman's Chinese

  

Here is a rare early autographed 4 1/8" by 5 1/2" page of actress Shirley Temple from the early 1940s. Great provenance; still in autograph book. Fan, whose name was "Jim, " details that Shirley signed it for him at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Signed on the reverse by actor John Carroll, signed (during WWII) as Lieutenant John Carroll at The Brown Derby. Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in her films and they ultimately bought millions of dollars' worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there they bought it. Shirley was box-office champion for the consecutive years 1935-36-37-38, beating out such great grown-up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford.

By 1939, her popularity declined. Although she starred in some very good movies like Since You Went Away (1944) and the The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), her career was nearing its end.

Later, she served as an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. It was once guessed that she had more than 50 golden curls on her head.

Carroll was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He performed in several small roles in films under his birth name until 1935, when he first used the name John Carroll in Hi, Gaucho! He appeared in several Western films in the 1930s, including the role of Zorro in Zorro Rides Again in 1937.

He was the male lead in the Marx Brothers' Western comedy Go West in 1940. Probably his best known role was as Woody Jason in the 1942 movie Flying Tigers with John Wayne. He was also notable as a Cajun soldier, aptly nicknamed Wolf, in the 1945 comedy A Letter for Evie. He interrupted his movie career during World War II and served as a U. Army Air Corps pilot in North Africa. He broke his back in a crash. He recovered and resumed his acting career.

Ohn Carroll was a well-established actor and his wife Lucille was a casting director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In 1948, the fledgling movie actress Marilyn Monroe moved into their house. They helped support her emotionally and financially during her difficult transition period. Their support was essential in her success as an actress.

Carroll worked steadily through the mid-1950s, but his career began to fade in the latter half of the decade. He did play a memorable role in the 1957 Budd Boetticher western Decision at Sundown as Tate Kimbrough, the evil nemesis of Randolph Scott's character.

His last roles were in Ride in a Pink Car in 1974 and in Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind, released in 2018, that he joined in 1975.