Shirley Temple Black's Facts

He has to advertise to get people to book him.

Yikes!

Good morning, all.

Hey, Beedle. Oh, yes. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. I think he got to Ava before Frank did.

Raggedy, I remember Butch Jenkins. Big-eyed kid with freckles.

edgar, Dwayne was Dobie Gillis, right? He didn't do much. but that Denver kid did. Ah, Bobby Driscoll. Didn't he also play in "Song of the South"?
That's a very sad thing about him, I didn't know that. Seems to me that Jane Withers became a lady plumber in those commercials.

Butrflynet, I'm not familiar with Ethan Weston.

Thinking of Bette Davis' Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", reminded me of all the child stars.

Actually, although Whiting did start at the late age of 15 (teenager, really, not a child actor), his career was pretty drab and only lasted six years -- I thought he would make a comeback with his role of Victor Frankenstein but considering his filmography, it wasn't impressive:

Rachel's Man - Jacob 1974
Frankenstein: The True Story (TV movie) - Dr. Victor Frankenstein 1973
War Is Hell - Franz Keller 1972
Say Hello to Yesterday - Boy 1971
Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano - Giacomo Casanova 1969
The Royal Hunt of the Sun - Young Martin 1969
Romeo and Juliet - Romeo 1968

Well, Mr. Wizard. I didn't see one of those movies. I did show the film to my students when we studied Romeo and Juliet. I also showed the Leonardo Dicaprio version, because one of my students requested it. The most outstanding thing about Whiting and Hussey, was the fact that they were the actual age of Shakespeare's characters.

That was refreshing considering most productions use actors older than the characters, well except that it is the most popular Shakespeare for high school plays. You probably didn't see the other films although "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" is passable. The Isherwood "Frankenstein" is still the most intriguing version ever put onto film with an extrapolated final reel that would send most reeling. I believe it is available on DVD (it's about three hours long as it was originally a two part TV movie). The book I have somewhere in my library of what happened to actors shows his looking rather dissapated and in some other career.

What about the Bowery Boys? Any of those guys go on to do anything else? I think I remember seeing one in a few films later on but, I loved those guys as a kid...could however be why they didnt get far.
Or Land Of The Lost cast? Most likely another reason for not going far but, you never know.

Darla Hood, of Little Rascals fame, went on to sing in night clubs.
Alfalfa tried, but his only adult role I can recall is a namelsss character in It's a Wonderful Life.

Quinn, I vaguely remember Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey. I think Huntz Hall was killed, but I'm not certain. One line I do remember from one of The Bowery Boys was Gorcey telling a rival gang member at a party. "Hey, you guys stick around, cause we don't intend to pay the band..."

Sheeeeze, edgar. I didn't know that Alfalfa had a cameo in It's a Wonderful Life. I thought he was killed also.

Huntz Hall..heart failure 1999. Long list of items on imdb.com to his credit. Interesting..14th of 16 children. whew.

Leo Gorcey-liver failure 1969. long list of items for him as well.


Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer- yep, homicide 1959

LW: I read that Whiting ended his film career in the mid 70s and focused upon a thearical career as an actor and writer in London. He married and had a daughter, but that was in the 80s. In 1976 he was both narrator and a vocalist on the Alan Parsons LP, Tales of Mystery and Imagination. (based on Edgar Allen Poe stories) I have that Whatever Happened To book, too, but it's buried somewhere in my library. BTW, whatever happened to the Whatever Happened To series?

Letty: You're stirring up a lot of research work here. Alfalfa (Carl Switzer) became a hunting and fishing guide in northern California and eventually a bartender. He was shot in January of 1959 in a drinking brawl with a former hunting-venture partner over a $50 debt. The slaying was ruled "justifiable homicide."

Alfalfa was one of the two guys responsible for opening up the swimming pool.

Hey, Raggedy, and I can always count on you and Mac to do the drudge work..

Thanks, Quinn. Wow! 16 kids?

edgar, swimming pool?

You canusually catch a What Ever Happened to... on VH1 or E or Biography..although Im sure they arent all the same thing..just the same idea.

Letty
I refered to the swimming pool scene in It's a Wonderful Life.

Oh, Ok, edgar. I got that movie here somewhere, but I think I'll wait until Christmas to watch it for the umteenth time. My favorite is A Christmas Story with Peter Billingsly. Yikes! Whatever happened to that kid?

Or Fred Savage, for that matter.

I'm not sure what happened to the kid that played tv's Dennis the Menace; I just know for certain he hated being a child star.
Dana Plato - It's too depressing to discuss that one.

I think Fred Savage is going the Jodi Foster/Brooke Shields route and is or just finished college at a school like Harvard or Yale. --Well, I just looked it up. It's Stanford, which he dropped out of to return to the biz... Looks like he should have stayed there.