147th out of 186 books
—
45 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Child Star: An Autobiography” as Want to Read:
Child Star: An Autobiography
Shirley Temple. She was a curly-topped moppet with a saucy grin that lit up the screen and an irrepressible spirit that won America's heart. But what was life really like for this extraordinary child growing up on the back lots and sound stages of Hollywood? This BOMC alternate reveals the ups and downs of stardom at age four and tells the funny, poignant, heartwarming chr
...more
Hardcover
,
546 pages
Published
October 1st 1988
by McGraw-Hill Companies
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Child Star
,
please sign up
.
Be the first to ask a question about Child Star
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
True to being a child prodigy, Shirley Temple Black's memory is remarkable. In her autobiography, Temple Black vividly captures her remarkable childhood and noteworthy encounters with anyone who was anyone during the 1940s. Once, Temple shot a sling shot at Eleanor Roosevelt's behind. Actors with genuine friendliness and actors afraid of being upstaged by a child all surrounded Shirley. Despite being the most famous child star of all time, Temple had "normal" childhood experiences too. When most
...more
That plucky little Shirley! She's the very personification of pluck. And, oh, but she plucked at my heart strings here, too. I'm ashamed of myself for not even SUSPECTING how entertaining this was going to be - but it was. I wanted to be the Depression era's darling as well. What a jolly life. I was moved by the simple secret of her success: she just made people happy. And SHE was happy! That's what so especially delightful about this autobiog. She had a whale of a time. Alright, there was that
...more
I've read A LOT of biographies & memoirs set during the golden era of Hollywood so I thought this was a very interesting book. I enjoyed all the anecdotes about various celebrities. I had read a bio of Lionel Barrymore so I had heard that story from his perspective. I liked getting her side of the story. She meet just about anyone who was anyone! And shooting Eleanor Roosevelt on the butt with her slingshot was pretty funny.
I still can't get over what a talented dancer she was at such an ear ...more
I still can't get over what a talented dancer she was at such an ear ...more
This book has issues but I still liked it. Firstly I love when she shares the juicy tidbits of personal info on fellow actresses or actors. However the down side is her writing is very scattered and paragraphs jump from topics so extremely different it takes you awhile to figure out what she is talking about. The other issue is she gives code names during certain topics to avoid giving out certain celebrities names. The issue is she doesn't say " the boy, lets call him Lancelot, tried to kiss me
...more
I loved this book! Shirley Temple Black has a wry sense of humor that shines through, page after page. Her memory (her record keeping, or both) are exquisite as she offers an often unflinching look back at her past. She is straight-forward and even blunt about the way things were. There is a no-nonsense quality about her and the way she tells her story. With every page turned, I felt that this is a wonderfully fascinating lady whom I would love the chance to meet!
Nov 30, 2007
Graceann
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Memoir Fans
Shelves:
memoir
In 500 pages, Shirley Temple Black really could only get as far as her young womanhood; her life was and is just that full. The never-ending attempts of the studio to keep her as a little girl, her growing pains and her disastrous first marriage are all detailed here in an engaging style. Even if you're not a fan of her films, it is worth the time to read about her life.
Fascinating. As a fan of Shirley Temple, I was easily taken into a lost era of Hollywood and able to observe a life of one of the first child stars ever. A remarkable woman who stayed strong and is a role model to this day for common sense, decency and priorities in spite of circumstances.
Feb 15, 2015
Central Highlands Libraries
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
staff-top-reads-2014
Shirley Temple. She was a curly-topped moppet with a saucy grin that lit up the screen and an irrepressible spirit that won With amazing clarity and total recall, Shirley Temple Black vividly describes her experiences as a child actress. Despite abuses by exploited studio executives, her talent and perseverance could not be thwarted; before long she was making movies with the top stars of the day. And her memoirs reflect the indomitable spirit that has entranced a nation for over 50 years. 24 pa
...more
Well, it was a huge book, took several weeks to read, but enjoyed it! I did think it was going to go into some detail about what Ms Temple did AFTER Hollywood, she enjoyed - and refered to it on a number of occasions in the narrative - an interesting & varied career with the diplomatic/charity service, yet the book stops just after the birth of her 3rd Child.
Still, interesting to see how the old Studio System used to work, her professionalism, work ethic & how genuinely she appears to h ...more
Still, interesting to see how the old Studio System used to work, her professionalism, work ethic & how genuinely she appears to h ...more
Sep 11, 2015
Kelly
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bio-memoir
,
years-to-finish
I first came across this book when I was around 10 (I watched a lot of Shirley Temple's movies as a kid, and I also at least attempted to read pretty much anything I could get my hands on), but didn't get very far reading it then. After two more checkouts from the library and nearly two decades, I'm finally done. It was a fairly interesting read, though it's also very disjointed and more concerned with financial minutiae (about the studios, rather than Black's own family) than I would have expec
...more
Jul 27, 2010
ஐ Briansgirl (Book Sale Queen)ஐ
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography-memoir
OMG, I would not recommend this book! First off, little Shirley started in show business at 3 years old. Throughout the book she recollects her time on movie sets but the book also includes details like how much the studio made that year, how much each picture earned, the name of every person she met, who sued her for what, etc. Stuff no child would ever know. She even occassionally says... "I didn't know at the time..." It's half an autobiography of her memories and half a researched biography
...more
Of all the children to grace the silver screen, perhaps no one deserves the title of "Child Star" more than Shirley Temple. In her aptly named memoir, Shirley Temple Black reflects on a childhood that was spent in front of the cameras. At a young age, she enjoyed a greater level of fame, popularity and success than many of her peers in the business. Her success at the box office helped a floundering Fox Film Corporation rise out of debt and near-bankruptcy and created a career that allowed her t
...more
OMG I only made it to 383 and that was really pushing myself to read it and/or skimming a lot. The interesting bits were hard to find and were amongst so much information that I really didn't care about. I have more important things to read besides that! I thought reading about her life through her perspective would be interesting because I grew up watching her movies. My mom loved them so that is how I was introduced to her. But seriously I understand to give a sort of feeling as to what the wo
...more
Shirley Temple was an amazingly gifted child actor who worked hard to share her cheerful spirit.
I had been hoping to read about Shirley Temple Black's experiences as an ambassador and how she felt in her later life, but I was mistaken -- the book focus is only on her very public early life through young adulthood when she decided to retire from acting. ( Who could blame her for wanting to fade from the spotlight into a life with more normal privacy?)
She reveals much about life in the ninetee ...more
I had been hoping to read about Shirley Temple Black's experiences as an ambassador and how she felt in her later life, but I was mistaken -- the book focus is only on her very public early life through young adulthood when she decided to retire from acting. ( Who could blame her for wanting to fade from the spotlight into a life with more normal privacy?)
She reveals much about life in the ninetee ...more
I grew up on Shirley Temple and so when I heard about child star i ordered it from Amazon as soon as I could. It was a long book and took a very long time to finish but that is because I was sidetracked by other things . I really enjoyed this book. It was very obvious how much she loved to act and work and keep busy in general . It was really interesting to hear all of the stories she told about all the people she met and the relationships she had with them people that you and I would only dream
...more
May 25, 2011
Caroline
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography-and-memoir
,
movies
Shirley Temple is the quintessential “cute-child” of Hollywood. In dozens of films of the thirties and forties, she played adorable match-makers, beloved crank-reformers, darling daughters, and plucky orphans. To some cynical naysayers, she is unbearably saccharine. Sentimental sorts find her a heartwarming dear. I usually find her movies soothing. Everything always turns out all right in the end with all problems being solved by a marriage or an adoption.
Child Star chronologically covers Shir ...more
Child Star chronologically covers Shir ...more
I can't help but love Shirley Temple. She was a cute and talented actress for nineteen years, but I respect her off stage too. Although she was immature in the start of her first marriage, she was faithful to him from the wedding and the four years of marriage. He, on the other hand always had some girl on his shoulder to boost his confidence at being Shirley Temple's wife. She really tried to make it work, but whatever it was, drinking or lack of brains, he never seemed to try, including really
...more
Jan 17, 2012
Kathleen Payne
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Kathleen by:
Roger Barton
I was in love with Shirley Temple and watched her every Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. on our B&W t.v. Christmas 1959 when I was 6 years old, my mom purchased a red headed Shirley Temple 18" doll from The Emporium in downtown S.F., CA. Shirley Temple Black made two west coast appearances when this version of the doll was released and one was to The Emporium in SF, Christmas time 1959 and another showing in L.A. I loved this doll to death and watched every Shirley Temple show I could possibly
...more
I adored Shirley Temple when I was younger, and my grandmother bought me all her movies produced by Fox. In her autobiography, Temple acquaints the reader with the Shirley audiences didn't see in her apple pie movies. For example, as a young child, she yearned for dark roles. I was surprised to learn that, even though Shirley earned more then three million dollars in the 1930s and 40s, she only had $80,000 to show for it upon reaching adulthood, because her father had spent almost all of it and
...more
I stumbled upon this in a thrift store, and was very pleased as I had been looking for a Shirley Temple biography for a while. I've not read an autobiography before, so I don't really have anything to compare it to except true biographies, but here goes.
Shirley's writing style is adequate, she delivers information in a forthright, honest way. Sprinkled throughout the book though, are a couple of unnecessarily fancy words (if I'd never seen the 1993 film "Gypsy", I'd never have known what an ecdy ...more
Shirley's writing style is adequate, she delivers information in a forthright, honest way. Sprinkled throughout the book though, are a couple of unnecessarily fancy words (if I'd never seen the 1993 film "Gypsy", I'd never have known what an ecdy ...more
Although I was given this book to read by my theatre teacher due to the fact that I will be interpreting as Shirley Temple next school year I ended up enjoying this book to a very large extent.
Ms.Black is very clear in her writing and inspiring in the way she interprets old Hollywood from such a young age. Not only do you get a inside view on Shirley Temples life but you also get a view of what it took for her to rise to the top and become Americas Sweetheart. "From the day I learned to walk, al ...more
Ms.Black is very clear in her writing and inspiring in the way she interprets old Hollywood from such a young age. Not only do you get a inside view on Shirley Temples life but you also get a view of what it took for her to rise to the top and become Americas Sweetheart. "From the day I learned to walk, al ...more
I read and re-read the first half of this book over and over as a child. I was obsessed with Shirley Temple, and fascinated by her stories of life on the set of 20th Century Fox. I never made it to the second half, though, because at the age at which I read it I just wasn't interested. Id like to read it now. Well told tales from a full and interesting life.
I loved this book. So chock full of fun and interesting stories!! My copy is dog eared and in poor shape due to the several times I've read it. I find out something new each time. I only own a few books that I read over and over and this is one of them. There will never be a time in Hollywood like the era when she was at the top and the characters she meets and works with along the way will never be duplicated. I recommend this highly if you enjoy autobiographies especially Hollywood ones.
This was a good book. Shirley was the golden girl of child stars, she had it all, acting, singing and dancing. But she did not transition into adult roles. She married John Agar who was an abusive drunk, but she found happiness with Mr Black. She then was a diplomat for many years.
Shirley Temple can tell a story as well as she acts one. Seriously fun and engaging look at growing up in the studio system, which, you can imagine, was a challenge, and then on through to meeting her second husband at age 24. I liked her so much.
Sep 21, 2011
Harper Kingsley
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography
,
world-of-awesome
I read this a few years back and found it to be an incredibly fascinating look into the life of Shirley Temple. It showed me some of the realities of life in movies during the early years of Hollywood and how child actors and actresses were treated.
Also, from the time I was a little girl, I loved watched the Shirley Temple movies. So it was kind of nice to grow up and see how her life really was and why she stepped away from the big screen. From cute little Shirley Temple, to super admirable Shi ...more
Also, from the time I was a little girl, I loved watched the Shirley Temple movies. So it was kind of nice to grow up and see how her life really was and why she stepped away from the big screen. From cute little Shirley Temple, to super admirable Shi ...more
Didn't like it. I'd rather keep my childhood “illusions” and simply enjoy her films for what they are now. There were some rather blunt, and I thought unneccesary, comments and stories – one of her mother being burned and exposing her nakedness, and some which felt a bit nasty about how she felt about other people in the acting community, including a few that I liked on film. :(
It was a bit of a disappointing read. A lot of the time her anecdotes made her seem like a bit of a brat rather than the precocious girl I think she was trying to describe. I liked the bits about Uncle Billy, I was curious about that and one of the reasons I wanted to read the book. A lot of the times she doesn't go into her feelings or thoughts on certain events in her life, for example why she decided to retire. And I was disappointed the book ended after the birth of her third child, I would
...more
Sep 02, 2015
DebD
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
20th-century
,
auto-biography
,
back-in-the-day
,
best-of-the-best
,
must-re-read
,
touched-me
,
favorite
LOVE Shirley Temple - Always have and ALWAYS will!!!! I look at and re-read often :)
I thought that this book was really interesting, I did not realize that she was as busy as she was or that it was so difficult to be a child actor. A different side was shown of some of the actors that were famous, and some of the famous people that she met were surprising to me!
The only negative that I found to this book was that there were some events where I would have loved her to explore more. She basically explained that because she was young and naive she did not really think about them ...more
The only negative that I found to this book was that there were some events where I would have loved her to explore more. She basically explained that because she was young and naive she did not really think about them ...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
