Merrily Yours: Shirley Temple, Thelma Hill, Junior Coghlan, Mary Blackford in the 1933 Comedy Short

Finding a faithful, pretty, smart girlfriend begins badly and ends well for an amiably hapless teenager in Merrily Yours by writers Dona Barrell (June 26, 1890 – April 5, 1941) and Thomas Carr (July 4, 1907 – April 23, 1997); writer/director Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 12, 1993); and producer Edwin Hampton Allen (November 15, 1885 – August 13, 1942). Dwight Warren (July 18, 1889 – August 14, 1979) and Walter C. Smith (January 22, 1904 – February 6, 1974) respectively handle cinematography and sound. No information on film editing is given other than stated approval -- from pre-release scrutiny -- by The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Filming showcases the Educational Films Corporation of America production company’s studios.

The 20-minute film acts as the first in four comedy shorts entitled the Frolics of Youth and released by Educational Films under the motto “The Spice of the Program” between 1933 and 1934. Its theatrical release by Fox Film Corporation as the distribution company dates back to October 6, 1933. It is followed by:

• What’s To Do? of November 24, 1933;
• Pardon My Pups of January 26, 1934;
• Managed Money of February 23, 1934.

All four comedy shorts join to present and resolve concerns that arise when Mr. and Mrs. George Rogers, a hard-working father and a stay-at-home mother, experience pre-school years with their younger child, Mary Lou, and the teen years’ ups-and-downs with their first-born, Sonny.

The movie begins with Sonny Rogers (Junior Coghlan, March 15, 1916 – September 7, 2009) and Betty (Thelma Hill, December 12, 1906 – May 11, 1938) fall-registering at Bentley High. Betty considers inserting nickles in Sonny’s jalopy:

• License-plated 4W7647;
• Sloganed “Chickens inside roosters outside,” “Don’t laugh, girls, you look like heck with your paint off too,” “Here’s where the trouble lies.”

Harry Vanderpool (Kenneth Howell, February 21, 1913 – September 28, 1966) drives off with hip-wriggling Betty.

Sonny’s two friends jump-push “Old Ironside.” Sonny praises Mutt’s not being a girl. He resents his mother’s (Helene Chadwick, November 25, 1897 – September 4, 1940):

• Calling him Sonny, not James;
• Having him rake leaves;
• Shopping.

Mary Lou (Shirley Temple, April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) tosses Mutt’s ball into leaf-piles.

New neighbor Phyllis Dean (Mary Blackford, 1914 – September 25, 1937) drops her handkerchief. Mutt lacerates the handkerchief. Sonny promises:

• Replacements;
• Rides to school.

Harry asks Phyllis and Sonny to that evening’s party. Sonny “borrows” his father George’s mothball-riddled tux. Mary Lou and Mutt fall asleep to Sonny’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Harry cripples Sonny’s jalopy while Mr. Dean (Lloyd Ingraham, November 30, 1874 – April 4, 1956) defines curfew. Phyllis has Harry’s ride-offer include Sonny. The two leave after:

• Harry’s un-tuxxed friends mention funeral-catered “ham-on-rye”;
• Long sleeves and trousers sabotage Sonny’s hand-shaking Mrs. Vanderpool (Isabel LaMal, July 16, 1886 – July 20, 1952) and squiring Phyllis;
• Noisemakers slip into Sonny’s rear-pockets.

The movie ends with:

• Sonny “borrowing” George’s (Harry Myers, September 5, 1882 – December 25, 1938) Chrysler;
• Harry calling George about a car -- license-plated 17T552 -- stolen from the Rogers’ driveway;
• Sonny hitting a street-pole while outrunning a squad that he mistakes for Harry’s car.

Two policemen escort Sonny after:

• Accepting the business card “James J. Smith, Chief of Police, Room 16 City Hall” signed “to Harry Vanderpool”;
• Releasing Phyllis.

George initially questions the Sergeant’s (Huntley Gordon, October 8, 1887 – December 7, 1956) describing Sonny as dress-suited and moustached. Sonny triumphs by:

• Flooring Harry with left jaw-landed punches;
• Observing Harry revive-dumped into Vanderpool’s fountain;
• Quoting “Your cheeks are oh so lovely” to Phyllis’s father;
• Retrieving George’s Chrysler.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

The Story of the Three Bears (1880), between pp. 2-3: "Goldenhair eats up Tiny-Cub's porridge.": Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/threebears00newyiala?view=theater#page/n6/mode/1up

the logo of the early film company Educational Pictures: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Educationalpictures.jpg

A ball and then a handkerchief cause delays in raking a pile of leaves in Merrily Yours.: Jeuwre, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pile_of_leaves_001.jpg

PizzaFlix. "Merrily Yours (1933) SHIRLEY TEMPLE." YouTube, Oct. 28, 2012, @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQvdp_vVY

Black, Shirley Temple. October 1988. Child Star: An Autobiography. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hevesi, Dennis. 3 October 2009. “Frank Coghlan Jr., Child Actor of Silent Era, Dies at 93.” The New York Times: Arts>Television. Retrieved on April 25, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/arts/television/04coghlan.html?_r=0

Mendoza, Martha. 2014. “Shirley Temple Obituary.” Legacy Memorial Sites>2014>Actors. Retrieved on April 25, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=shirley-temple&pid=169632179

The Story of the Three Bears. Familiar Series. New York: McLoughlin Bros., n.d. (1880?).

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/stream/threebears00newyiala#page/n0/mode/1up