Shirley Temple Syndrome

Remember back to a moment in your life when you were just standing around, minding your own business. Someone comes up to you and says “Hey, you look like (insert name of famous person”. You’ve all probably experienced this at least once in your life. My most recent one was last year at a bingo hall (lame, I know). The crazy old bingo guy walked up to our table and told me I looked like Chelsea Clinton. Not exactly the greatest compliment, at least not in my book.

When I was little, family members, family friends, and even random strangers would tell my mom and me how much I looked like Shirley Temple. People at the mall would stop my mom to tell her how adorable I was with my blonde ringlets. Now, my love of classic film didn’t begin until I was in high school so I had absolutely no idea who Shirley Temple was. All I knew was that she had a drink named after her and every time I went to a restaurant, the waitress would say “Oh, you are so cute. Would you like a Shirley Temple?” I drank so many Shirley Temples as a child that now even the mention of a Shirley Temple makes me want to vomit.

I finally found out who Shirley Temple was when I was about eight or nine. There was a commercial on television promoting the Shirley Temple video collection. Personally, I didn’t see much of a resemblance between us. I can still remember going up to my mom and saying “I don’t look like her. My curls are REAL. Her curls are fake!”




Eventually, I grew out of my baby face and the resemblance to Shirley Temple disappeared. Nevertheless, I feel like the connection between the two of us was what sparked my love for classic film, even if it took quite a few years before I realized it.