Mary Pickford and Shirley Temple Photograph - 1943

Typewritten snipe attached on verso reads, “There is the picture that has Hollywood tongues wagging. / Not the striking similarity between the winsome sweetness of Mary Pickford and Shirley Temple. / Mary was just 15 when she scored her first success in ‘The New York Hat,’ Shirley is just 15 and about to play her first, real, dramatic role in ‘Since You Went Away.’ / Mary, who rarely appears at studio parties, attended the informal ‘housewarming’ given on the Hilton Home set of the David O. Selznick picture, linked arms with Shirley and walked toward the guests. An alert photographer snapped his shutter. / The resulting picture shows that Shirley, while growing up, has kept the childlike innocence that brought her stardom in childhood. / Observers thought that Mary Pickford, who ruled so long as ‘America’s Sweetheart,’ was deliberately and publicly nominating her own candidate for the throne which has been vacant since she retired.” 1943.