January 31, 2010
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Baby Burlesk
Some of Shirley Temple’s first acting jobs were for Educational Films in a series called Baby Burlesk. They’re practically toddlers playing adult roles. They were shown during the Depression Era so there were many out of work men watching these shows. Anyone else besides me find this disturbing?
Comments (5)
ah, wow…it is disturbing. I’m sure it was meant to be funny…but um….yeah.
It is kinda funny, but people did exploit the little cute kids in the past I think.
I know it was during presumably “more innocent times” but even the name Baby Burlesk (which is what the film studio labeled them) is a bit discomfiting.
Adult men would have watched one and never return. There were far more interesting James Cagney movies about for men.
Perhaps, we find this disturbing, because we live in a time where the context of this era has been lost. Perhaps it was disturbing in its day. Perhaps it wasn’t. Keep in mind, that often we judge other societies by standards which they do not recognize. I should look around and see what if any reviews were written about these films at the time.