SHIRLEY TEMPLE’S STORYBOOK (1958-1961) – This time around, Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Forgotten Television takes a look at this overlooked children’s series hosted by an adult Shirley Temple. Like Shelley Duvall’s 1980s series Faerytale Theatre this earlier program managed to attract some big names and soon-to-be-big names for its cast.
With Shirley hosting, this series ran 41 episodes, some fitting a half-hour slot with commercials and some fitting an hour-long slot with commercials. Similarly, some were black & white, others in color. Temple owned the series and released a few episodes here and there on video over the decades.
Shirley Temple’s Storybook was one of Shirley’s A.J.A. (After John Agar) ventures, in fact it debuted 8 years after their divorce. The program aired from January 12th, 1958 to July 16th, 1961.
SEASON ONE HIGHLIGHTS
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – We all know this story, so I’ll jump to the cast – Charlton Heston as the Beast, Claire Bloom as Beauty, June Lockhart and Barbara Baxley as her sisters, and E.G. Marshall as a merchant.
RUMPELSTILTSKIN – In this familiar tale, Pernell Roberts portrayed Count Schoenfeld, Jonathan Harris played Lord Karsch, and among the other cast members were Phyllis Love, John Raitt, John Bleifer and Roy Dean.
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW – Shirley Temple took a role this time as Katrina Van Tassel while Boris Karloff himself played Father Knickerbocker. Jules Munshin was Ichabod Crane, John Ericson portrayed Brom Bones and John Mylong was the Headless Horseman.
THE LAND OF GREEN GINGER – Jack Albertson co-starred as Tintac Ping Foo, Anthony Eustrel played Aladdin, Sue England brought Silverbod to life while Billy Curtis and Angelo Rossitto did what they did best.
RIP VAN WINKLE – E.G. Marshall was in the title role this time as the New York Dutchman who drinks from the brew of the Gnomes of the Catskills and sleeps for 20 years. Leora Dana played Dame Van Winkle. Little actors like Billy Barty, Angelo Rossitto and Billy Curtis appeared as well.
SLEEPING BEAUTY – Anne Helm starred as Sleeping Beauty, with Pernell Roberts as Thorabore, Nancy Marchand as the Queen and Olive Deering as Grimgerda.
THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE – Lorne Greene of all people plays the King, Joan Weldon is Amelia and Rex Thompson is the title prince. The Soothsayer was played by early Horror Hostess Ottola Nesmith, who was the Old Woman aka the Landlady of Nightmare Alley on the late-night movie show Nightmare in the late 1950s.
THE WILD SWANS – Joseph Dr. No Wiseman portrayed the Sorcerer, Grant Williams from The Incredible Shrinking Man was King Julio, Bob Banas was the Brother, Olive Deering played Queen Flavia and Phyllis Love brought Elisa to life.
HIAWATHA – John Ericson starred as the title character with Katherine Warren as Nokomis. Other cast members included Pernell Roberts, J. Carroll Naish and Mickey Maga.
RAPUNZEL – This episode gives viewers Carol Lynley as Rapunzel, Agnes Moorhead as the Witch and Don Dubbins as the Prince.
ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES – Nehemiah Persoff of all people played Ali Baba, backed up by Rafael Campos and Miriam Colon.
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES – This one’s got Sebastian Cabot as the Emperor, Eli Wallach as Simon, Pernell Roberts as Count DeSpard, Barbara Lord as Princess Sophy and Mickey Maga as the little boy who calls out the nude wardrobe.
MOTHER GOOSE – Shirley Temple played Polly Baker, Rod McKuen (yes, Rod McKuen) portrayed Simple Simon and Elsa Lanchester starred as Mother Goose herself.
SEASON TWO HIGHLGHTS
THE LAND OF OZ – Shirley once again assayed a role, this time Princess Ozma/ Tip, Agnes Moorhead played Mombi the Witch, Jonathan Winters was General Nikidik (no General Jinjur, I’m afraid), Sterling Holloway played Jack Pumpkinhead, Frances Bergen was Glinda the Good and Mel Blanc voiced the Sawhorse.
WINNIE THE POOH – Ted “DAVEY!” Eccles starred as Christopher Robin, with marionette versions of the other characters. Franz Fazakas was the voice of Pooh, Fania Sulivan voiced Piglet, while Carl Harms did Tigger, Bil Baird spoke for Eeyore, while Cora Baird did Kanga and Loulie Jean Norman did Roo.
TOM AND HUCK – David Ladd played Tom Sawyer (“Tom, come back! TOM!” Had to be said.), Teddy Rooney was Huckleberry Finn, Ruthie Robinson played Becky Thatcher, Janet Blair was Aunt Polly and Paul “Brian Bancroft” Stevens portrayed Injun Joe.
MADELINE – This episode throws Imogene Coca at us as Miss Clavel, while Gina Gillespie played Madeline, Ann Jillian was one of the other little girls and Rusty Stevens played the Gypsy Boy.
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER – Mark Twain’s famous story is brought to life with Peter Lazer as Prince Edward and the identical Tom Canty, Gig Young as Miles Hendon and Julie Sommars as Princess Mary.
EMMY LOU – You want an oddball cast? This episode has Frankie Avalon, Jimmy Boyd, Fred Clark, Marjorie Reynolds, Jimmy Hawkins, Shirley Mitchell and Bernadette Withers in the title role.
THE RELUCTANT DRAGON – Ignore the IMDb synopsis for this episode. They have the synopsis for The Little Mermaid, while this is an entirely different Hans Christian Anderson tale. Temple herself played Gillian Potter, Jonathan Harris voiced the Dragon (“Oh, the pain, the pain!”), Jack Weston was Amos Overmuch and Dabbs Greer, the Preacher from Little House on the Prairie, played Samuel.
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES – Shirley co-starred again, this time as Phoebe Pyncheon, with Robert Culp as Holgrave, Agnes Moorhead as Hepzibah Pyncheon and Martin Landau as Clifford Pyncheon.
BABES IN TOYLAND – Shirley Temple starred as Floretta with her children in various roles. On top of that, this has Angela Cartwright as Jane, Joe Besser as Rodrigo, Jonathan Winters as Barnaby and Jerry Colonna himself as Gonzalez.
THE TERRIBLE CLOCKMAN – Shirley herself appeared as Gerande, while THE Jon Peters – as in the hairdresser turned Barbra Streisand boyfriend turned movie producer – played the Iron Monger. (No, he did not make a giant iron spider.) Meanwhile, Betty Garde played the Flower Woman, with Garrett Lewis in the title role.
THE LITTLE MERMAID – Temple stepped in to once again take the title role. In support were Donald Harron as the Prince, Nina Foch as Merwitch, Ray Walston as Sting Ray, John Astin played the Coachman, and Nancy Kulp was the Guardian.
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Balladeer's Blog 
Oona: “Oona’s Dada says those marionette Pooh characters are ‘nightmare fuel’, but Oona thinks they would be fun to bat around.”
There you go! Or to use as chew toys!
A fantastic review of a forgotten TV show. I’ve never been a fan of Shirley Temple, so I’m not sure whether I will watch this show. That being said, I’ve always been fascinated with personal lives of classic actors. Shirley Temple reminds me a lot of Marilyn Monroe due to her charming presence. Monroe is one is the finest actresses in the world. There have been several movies made about Monroe’s life. For instance, I really enjoyed “My Week with Marilyn”. It tells the story of Monroe’s rise to stardom in a week of her life. Not a great biopic, but still worth seeing. Here’s why:
Sounds great!