War Babies
About War Babies
In a café, toddlers dressed as soldiers watch a dancer. Two of them then compete for her. The short is played entirely by preschoolers in adult costumes above and diapers below, with Shirley Temple as the dancer.
Cast & crew
More about War Babies
Charles Lamont directed. Jack Hayes produced. Educational Pictures distributed it. It is the second of eight Baby Burlesks one-reelers. Temple was three. The film is her first speaking part, and she has her first on-screen kiss, with Eugene Butler.
Themes
Background
A 1932 Educational Pictures short in the Baby Burlesks series, made before Temple's Fox features.
Making
Lamont shot the café with the Baby Burlesks costume rule: grown-up clothes on top, diapers with oversized safety pins below.
Preservation
The one-reeler survives on the Internet Archive and on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Georgie Billings, Eugene Butler, Philip Hurlic, and Georgie Smith are in the cast. Wikipedia also lists Ted Frye and Ashley Shepherd.
- The children play musicians, soldiers, a bartender, and a dancer.
- The series satirizes adult movies by putting the plots on preschoolers.
Scenes
- Temple dances for the child soldiers.
- She kisses Eugene Butler.
Also available
- Internet Archive (war_babies)
- Wikimedia Commons (War Babies.ogv)
