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. Continue reading
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